Portugal is Portuuugaaaal

Slovenia is the smallest European nation I have travelled to. Portugal is maybe thrice its size but it feels small.  By small I mean it doesn’t feel European enough. In its appearance maybe yes, the streets, the traffic etc.

However once you go inside a cafe and the meet the people running the place, it feel’s different. More intimate to be precise.  Eating is a different thing! Nowhere else in the world I have seen the guys who run the place so interested in recommending you, what to eat. At certain places the recommendations stretch to much more than just that.

When I first came to Portugal in December 2012, I realized that I had come closer to finding the place I want to live in if not in India. It maybe just a childish fantasy, like the way we want to be pilots or doctors when we are in our primary school. Who knows? but I have come back twice after that and the liking has only grown. Yes there are other countries in this continent, which are appealing, but Portugal is just so different.

Today I met a woman in a café who said to me, ‘all the Portuguese run shop’s are closing down being replaced by Chinese or Indian owners. She didn’t seem to be upset by it. Maybe the Portuguese don’t know how to do business? Is this the thing that pulls me towards towards this country? The non commercial attitude in the majority of people I have met. On a personal level even I get told, “you don’t know how to make money”.

There is an underlying current, which only grows stronger with every visit. I remember in East Europe when my Polish driver enters his home country from Czech republic, the smile on his face is different. Someone said the same thing about me when I entered Portugal through its southern border with Spain. Even my Spanish driver after saying, “Well, Portugal is 10 years behind Spain” was quiet happy about it.

Maybe the extreme west, geographical location helps. Maybe bordering with no other country but Spain keeps the Portuguese traditions intact. Whatever the reasons are.. I hope through its entire economical crisis, this country stays the way it is.

I hope Portugal stays as Portugal!