Browsing:

Category: Arrived in Portugal

D.I.Y – Oh, My!

Retirement means taking it easy, sleeping in every day,  and lots of relaxation, right? Not if you’re us! Now that we have a new (old) apartment, the real work has begun. This week we made countless trips to the local Read more…


Closing & Moving

We closed on our apartment in Matosinhos (pronounced mat-o-zeen-yoush) on the evening of February 28. As reformed real estate agents ourselves, it was fascinating to observe how very differently the sale and transfer of properties are handled here compared to Read more…


Down-Time Before the Move

We knew this would be an exhausting week with the move to our new apartment at the end of the week. So, we took advantage of the great weather Monday & Tuesday to have some relaxation time. Monday we road Read more…


Some Work; Some Play

Most of the week we spent running errands and prepping for our move to the apartment in Matosinhos. We met with our attorney. He made us feel really good about our apartment choice. He thinks we got a good deal Read more…


Residents!

Talk about a roller coaster ride of highs & lows! Such was this past week – and why this post is too long. The high point of the week was our appointment with SEF to apply for and get (yipeeee!) Read more…


Big Decision

This week the big milestone was choosing where we will live for our future expat lives. Maybe forever. We found an apartment (condo) in the town of Matosinhos. After a few tense days of negotiations with the seller, we reached Read more…


Wet & Windy Week

Forcing ourselves to go walking in the pouring rain. The weather was crap all week due to a depression named Helena which blew through. Lots of rain and winds. We got out a couple times to see apartments and just Read more…


Out & About

After a solid ten days of both being sick and miserable, we finally felt well enough to get out and timed it to match a couple days of unseasonably pleasant weather. Both Friday and Saturday were lovely.  We were disappointed Read more…


The Inevitable Happens

We knew it would happen. Everyone warned us it would happen. Still  we were surprised and annoyed. In our second week in Portugal, we were both hit hard with cold-flu symptoms. (Resfriado – Gripe.)  You work extra hard running on Read more…


Still Hard to Believe

Pinch me! We now live in Portugal! And we are Retired! Less than a week ago we were enjoying our last day in the USA having Sunday brunch with two daughters and their families. Anxious about our impending flight and Read more…