The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Is Porto Our Next Home?

When we thought about relocating to Portugal, Porto seemed like our landing spot of choice. We spent a week here last December and there's a lot to like about the country's second city. But is it in the running as our new home? Maybe the bigger question is are we even "city people" to begin with?

In my late 20s and through most of my 30s I lived in San Francisco. Life didn't get much better than being a straight, single bachelor with a hot restaurant in San Francisco in the 70s! But that was then, this is now. I have found my tolerance for cities has declined markedly. Some of that is undoubtedly due to age, you could attribute some of it to marital status and I'm sure my preference for the slower pace of life in smaller towns figures in as well.

We have been fortunate to spend time in some of the world's most famous cities, but I notice no matter how grand the metropolis, within about two days we crave the relative serenity of the countryside. For example, we really enjoy Paris and we've probably spent eight days there, but those eight days have occurred over four different visits. Would our tolerance change if we stayed in Paris long enough to really learn our way around? Would it become less intimidating with time? Perhaps ... but even if we could afford to do so, would that be enough for us to embrace living there long term?

Porto proper is no Paris, but it's no Gig Harbor either. There are close to two million people in the city itself and another million in the general metropolitan area. Does that move it into the big city category? Does size matter? What are our search criteria as we look for a place to write our next chapter?

As a start, Margene wants to live with a view of the water, she needs to be on one floor, no stairs, and within walking distance of shops and restaurants. Aside from my need to see her have what she wants, I can be happy with good internet access, secure parking and monthly expenses less than our Social Security. (I don't intend to stop working, I just don't want to be in a situation where I MUST keep working!) Of course we both need a safe place to live and access to affordable health care.

I like having access to the activities and resources of a city without the need to live in the middle of it, so an apartment in a neighborhood or village near the coast could work. Certainly we can find all the other pieces here. So I'd say we definitely could live happily somewhere in the Porto area. Will we? I'm curious to find out.

We head to suburban Lisbon tomorrow -- certainly a bigger city but perhaps towns on the periphery hold promise. Stay tuned.

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