Some Thoughts About Portugal

There are some differences between Portugal and Spain. Yes, Portugal had it´s very own dictator, Antonio Salazar but there was no civil war here and after his death the transition to democracy was bloodless in the April 25, 1974 military coup. Some of the locals I talked to admit the Portuguese are not as positive as the Spanish. When you ask how they are, they tend to respond with just ´O.K.´ or make some compliant. An ache in the back or foot, there´s too much sun, there´s too much rain, and of course, it´s too hot or it´s not hot enough. A local speculated that people complained because they were afraid of losing what they have. Still, the locals are very friendly and helpful. Just yesterday I got into town and was asking for directions at a cafe. Ten minutes later, I was in a workman´s van getting driven to the hostel.

Portugal is about 20 to 30 percent cheaper than Spain and definitely not as prosperous. Some of the locals explained that it wasn´t because the government is corrupt, it´s simply incompetent to manage a small country with a small population. Some of the older people reminisce about the old days, even in a dictatorship when the country was bigger and had control of Angola and Mozambique. Portugal does not have the illegal immigration issues that Spain is undergoing. I was surprised that Spain is actually the number two consumer of cocaine in the world after the United States. I guess with its prosperty, easy access to Latin America, number of Latinos and foreigners visiting and living there, and the party scene in places like Ibiza, there´s a lot of cokeheads there.

As for food, no tapas in Portugal and Lord help you if you are a vegetarian. This is the land of meat and bacalhau eaters (interestingly, they´re not crazy about jamon here). Usually salads are limited to green salad and Ruso salad (why Russian if there´s tomatoes and cumcumbers with the lettuce, I don´t know) and even with mains, there is no vegetables usually as it´s served in a soup earlier. You are almost guaranteed to have bacalhau in every restaurant menu. Bacalhau is essentially dried cod usually from Norway which they put in water to get rid of the salt, and then cooked in stew, grilled, etc.

I´m in Aveiro now and plan to head to Viseu this afternoon. There´s really not much to see in Aveiro except walk along the canals, which probably explains why it´s not mentioned in the guidebook. Before I left Porto, I found out that a small percentage of the port wine is still made the old fashion way, by stepping on the grapes. Admittedly, when I saw a video of a bunch of sweaty, smiling Portugese men knee-deep in wine, stepping on the grapes with their hairy legs, I wasn´t exactly rushing for a sample tasting. The locals swear the port taste better but I laughed it off as another myth to tell a tourist (like every Portuguese home has a colourful clay rooster). But the locals explained that when the machine crushes the grapes, the seeds gets crushes as well and then makes the liquor more acid. If you crushed the grapes with your feet, the seeds would float to the top and could be skimmed away the next day, and not affect the wine. Sounds good, but I still wasn´t thirsty.