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I have just been to Portugal once and just two weeks. Portugal is not a large country. It is just 3.5 times larger than Chicago Metropolitan Area. Almost 1/3 of the entire Portuguese population lives in Metropolitan Lisbon. Still, with a very high density I never felt Lisbon to be crowded. There is a lot of part of Lisbon one would like to explore. Apparently, Lisbon is popular among students because it is (for a major city) relatively cheap and culturally more western than let say cheaper Eastern Europe. When it comes to the rest of Portugal I have visit Porto. It was similar to Lisbon but smaller. If I didn’t write it before and I write it know. They have great fish in Portugal. I cannot say it is impressively made but they do serve fresh simply prepared fish. If I could only do one trip to Europe I wouldn’t go to Portugal and I wouldn’t have Portugal on my list if I only could do one trip to Southern Europe. I would start in Italy, than do Southern France, Spain and last Portugal. I would take Greece in another trip because it is only about the Islands and I promise you that Athens is not worth a detour. Eastern Southern Europe like the Balkans (Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania) is more exotic having less tourists I would save it for a separate trip. Croatia is for families but doing the rest of Yugoslavia is maybe not a “family-tour” and can in part still be dangerous. I don’t think there is one who doesn’t like Portugal. It is very easy to like and the locals is pretty okay and you will not feel like they will trick you – which is a common feeling in Greece. Italy, Spain, Southern France, Monaco and Portugal is the civilized part of Western Southern Europe and Greece is not and why we still politically, economically and culturally refer Greece to part of the West is beyond me.
I tell you – go to some of the small towns just outside Lisbon. The locals go there on the weekends for bathing and partying. Some of these towns turn into street-parties around 01:00 and later they open night-clubs at the beach. You drink cheap 1.5 Euro Sangria at the street and talk to tanned women with black hair and a white smile and get to know some people. Then you hang out at the night-club at the beach with mostly locals. I remember they spoke pretty good English. That is the good part being in Portugal – thinks is filthy cheap comparing to Southern France and you are drinking with the “working class” comparing to drinking with the wealthy in Southern France (and in particular Nice) were a bloody Soda goes for 3.5 Euro as a grocery store and in were you are nothing if you don’t own one of the many yacht in the harbor or at least a Ferrari parked close to the restaurant or night-club. When it comes to Spain, it is also pretty cheap just like Portugal, but then you have to hang out with droves of middle-class Northern Europeans and you have to cope with their “off-shore” drinking habits - in particular at the “Sun Coast”. Barcelona is the Hipster-Mecca of Spain – you hate it so much that you will like it. There are fewer of them (us) in Portugal so that may be a better experience. Italy is somewhere in the middle but maybe similar to France but then again – there is a huge difference between Northern and Southern Italy. Northern Italy is filthy rich and civilized and Southern Italy is dirt poor and uncivilized. Greece is just off the map. I have really never liked that country and I have been there three times (though, only once in adult age) including once on Crete.
Greece sounds like a real MUST EXPERIENCE to properly understand. Everyone basically says what you say, which makes me want to know exactly what that experience is, at least once in my life anyways.
I've been able to experience much of Europe up until now, I'm kind of left with everything south of Slovenia on the eastern end....so Balkans and such seems very interesting to me.
Always managed to miss Portugal as well. I'll probably do Portugal combined with Morocco. Two very interesting countries. That's for another separate trip though.
The problem with Greece (if it can be said to be a problem), is the language. It's too different for tourists to attempt, and in towns not as many people speak English.
Greece sounds like a real MUST EXPERIENCE to properly understand. Everyone basically says what you say, which makes me want to know exactly what that experience is, at least once in my life anyways.
I've been able to experience much of Europe up until now, I'm kind of left with everything south of Slovenia on the eastern end....so Balkans and such seems very interesting to me.
Always managed to miss Portugal as well. I'll probably do Portugal combined with Morocco. Two very interesting countries. That's for another separate trip though.
Greece, Spain and Portugal are classical Scandinavian tourist-countries. In the early 1950, when three weeks semester was introduced as a second step in the socialist Swedish project people started to buy package tours to Greece, Spain and Portugal. Those countries were at that time very cheap. About 2.1 million Swedes (in an almost ten million population) buy package-tours ever year – mostly to Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey and relatively recently also Thailand. You saw the same development in United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and the rest of Scandinavia. When you jump islands in Greece you soon discover that it all about selling the same stuff to Germans, Scandinavians and Brits.
You walk into a place in Greece and the waiter’s tries to smooth you through tell you a few words in your language. The food in Greece is just the same thing all over. You eat white bread, Greek salad, grilled fish, Pita, Moussaka, Gyros, drinking cheap red wine and Ouzo and that kind of things in two weeks and spend your days at the beach eating ice-cream and look at other central and northern Europeans. The only thing you can really do is to hanging out on the beach, shop fake products (I think it is more regulated now than before), rent a car and look at some dusty temples or a monasteries and just hope that you don’t throw up your international breakfast – which is of course is getting better and better at all Charter-hotels in Greece because they know what Northern European like, Fruits and plain coffee for the Scandinavians, Waffles for the Germans and bacon and egg for the Brits. Greece, Spain and Portugal have resorts that are pretty much only housing people from the same part of the world. There are for example Scandinavian resorts that are “all-inclusive” meaning that you never really have to leave the compounds. You have Scandinavian play-leaders for the kids, Swedish ice-cream, Swedish break-fast (which is mostly about having no fat or taste in it), a private beach so you don’t have to “be scared for the brown people” and dinner-dishes which is mostly about making locally and internationally dishes with an Scandinavian taste. Often they hold a Scandinavian head chef. Germans and Brits have their own versions.
The thing with Greece is even when you leave your compound (which I learned when I visit as an adult and not with my parents) you discover that it cannot offer more than sun, beaches and a few white painted villages filled with tourists and souvenirs. Greece is like a Scandinavian Disney-land and when they entered the Euro is not even cheap anymore. Spain, Italy, Southern France and Portugal offer something culturally and it can even be an experience. In Portugal, Spain and Italy you can even make friends among the locals – which is impossible in Greece if are not a blond woman – who will be constantly hit on by Greek men.
Greece, Spain and Portugal are classical Scandinavian tourist-countries. In the early 1950, when three weeks semester was introduced as a second step in the socialist Swedish project people started to buy package tours to Greece, Spain and Portugal. Those countries were at that time very cheap. About 2.1 million Swedes (in an almost ten million population) buy package-tours ever year – mostly to Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey and relatively recently also Thailand. You saw the same development in United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and the rest of Scandinavia. When you jump islands in Greece you soon discover that it all about selling the same stuff to Germans, Scandinavians and Brits.
You walk into a place in Greece and the waiter’s tries to smooth you through tell you a few words in your language. The food in Greece is just the same thing all over. You eat white bread, Greek salad, grilled fish, Pita, Moussaka, Gyros, drinking cheap red wine and Ouzo and that kind of things in two weeks and spend your days at the beach eating ice-cream and look at other central and northern Europeans. The only thing you can really do is to hanging out on the beach, shop fake products (I think it is more regulated now than before), rent a car and look at some dusty temples or a monasteries and just hope that you don’t throw up your international breakfast – which is of course is getting better and better at all Charter-hotels in Greece because they know what Northern European like, Fruits and plain coffee for the Scandinavians, Waffles for the Germans and bacon and egg for the Brits. Greece, Spain and Portugal have resorts that are pretty much only housing people from the same part of the world. There are for example Scandinavian resorts that are “all-inclusive” meaning that you never really have to leave the compounds. You have Scandinavian play-leaders for the kids, Swedish ice-cream, Swedish break-fast (which is mostly about having no fat or taste in it), a private beach so you don’t have to “be scared for the brown people” and dinner-dishes which is mostly about making locally and internationally dishes with an Scandinavian taste. Often they hold a Scandinavian head chef. Germans and Brits have their own versions.
The thing with Greece is even when you leave your compound (which I learned when I visit as an adult and not with my parents) you discover that it cannot offer more than sun, beaches and a few white painted villages filled with tourists and souvenirs. Greece is like a Scandinavian Disney-land and when they entered the Euro is not even cheap anymore. Spain, Italy, Southern France and Portugal offer something culturally and it can even be an experience. In Portugal, Spain and Italy you can even make friends among the locals – which is impossible in Greece if are not a blond woman – who will be constantly hit on by Greek men.
As to tourists - it's truly remarkable to me how in Spain, a huge number of them go to specific places only - primarily certain very touristy beaches that have nothing but beach, sand and sun, liquor and food. Not much else. Huge numbers of them go every year only to get toasted by the sun, to get drunk, and to get laid with one another, then they fly home without having gotten anything more.
I suspect that these tourists do the same d*mned thing in Portugal, Greece, and Italy - get toasted, drunk and laid with one another, then fly home. What a waste of good money, but hey, they leave money, which is great! Cool! Keep coming back to get toasted, drunk and laid, folks! Whatever floats your boat!
But seriously, I would be p-o'd if I'd paid money and that's all I got. Miserable vacation, which they could've easily had back home and saved their money, getting under a sunlamp, then getting drunk at the pub and hopping under the covers for some action, and nothing more.
I have just been to Portugal once and just two weeks. Portugal is not a large country. It is just 3.5 times larger than Chicago Metropolitan Area. Almost 1/3 of the entire Portuguese population lives in Metropolitan Lisbon. Still, with a very high density I never felt Lisbon to be crowded. There is a lot of part of Lisbon one would like to explore. Apparently, Lisbon is popular among students because it is (for a major city) relatively cheap and culturally more western than let say cheaper Eastern Europe. When it comes to the rest of Portugal I have visit Porto. It was similar to Lisbon but smaller. If I didn’t write it before and I write it know. They have great fish in Portugal. I cannot say it is impressively made but they do serve fresh simply prepared fish. If I could only do one trip to Europe I wouldn’t go to Portugal and I wouldn’t have Portugal on my list if I only could do one trip to Southern Europe. I would start in Italy, than do Southern France, Spain and last Portugal. I would take Greece in another trip because it is only about the Islands and I promise you that Athens is not worth a detour. Eastern Southern Europe like the Balkans (Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania) is more exotic having less tourists I would save it for a separate trip. Croatia is for families but doing the rest of Yugoslavia is maybe not a “family-tour” and can in part still be dangerous. I don’t think there is one who doesn’t like Portugal. It is very easy to like and the locals is pretty okay and you will not feel like they will trick you – which is a common feeling in Greece. Italy, Spain, Southern France, Monaco and Portugal is the civilized part of Western Southern Europe and Greece is not and why we still politically, economically and culturally refer Greece to part of the West is beyond me.
I tell you – go to some of the small towns just outside Lisbon. The locals go there on the weekends for bathing and partying. Some of these towns turn into street-parties around 01:00 and later they open night-clubs at the beach. You drink cheap 1.5 Euro Sangria at the street and talk to tanned women with black hair and a white smile and get to know some people. Then you hang out at the night-club at the beach with mostly locals. I remember they spoke pretty good English. That is the good part being in Portugal – thinks is filthy cheap comparing to Southern France and you are drinking with the “working class” comparing to drinking with the wealthy in Southern France (and in particular Nice) were a bloody Soda goes for 3.5 Euro as a grocery store and in were you are nothing if you don’t own one of the many yacht in the harbor or at least a Ferrari parked close to the restaurant or night-club. When it comes to Spain, it is also pretty cheap just like Portugal, but then you have to hang out with droves of middle-class Northern Europeans and you have to cope with their “off-shore” drinking habits - in particular at the “Sun Coast”. Barcelona is the Hipster-Mecca of Spain – you hate it so much that you will like it. There are fewer of them (us) in Portugal so that may be a better experience. Italy is somewhere in the middle but maybe similar to France but then again – there is a huge difference between Northern and Southern Italy. Northern Italy is filthy rich and civilized and Southern Italy is dirt poor and uncivilized. Greece is just off the map. I have really never liked that country and I have been there three times (though, only once in adult age) including once on Crete.
Completely wrong, the mainland has more to offer than just Athens
Portugal and Spain are very similar, culturally. If you look at all the countries they colonized, they are all 3rd world countries with high levels of income disparity, poverty, low levels of educational attainment and usually high crime.
Unlike India, Jamaica or Nigeria...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Repubocrat
The Portuguese and Spanish way of doing things is very similar-both have this inability to deal with reality as is, they live in a reality that only exists in their minds. The guy from Lisbon who says that Portuguese people are like British is a great example of what I am talking about.
Unlike the Americans who believe in creationism and think Obama is a communist Muslim.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Repubocrat
Both have a huge inferiority complex compared to other more developed European countries- Often when I met a Portuguese person, they have this need to brag about how great their country is in an almost delusional manner.
That doesn't sound like any Portuguese person I've met.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Repubocrat
And one other cultural factor that is interesting, they always blame their faults and misfortunes on others, which goes together with their inability to face reality as is.
Could you share your research with us, Professor Levi-Strauss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Repubocrat
Both cultures can be incredibly racist and classist- they treat South Americans like garbage but then when they go to a more developed country like Switzerland or France, they complain about being treated badly.
Bull****. American poor shaming is very much absent in Spain and Portugal, and there aren't any notable xenophobic movements like the Tea Party o Switzerland's People's Party. It that wasn't enough a few hours of browsing the Internet will show you that the percentage of racists is much higher in the States. Of course you wouldn't know since, for all your supposed first-hand knowledge, you speak neither Spanish nor Portuguese.
It's also quite rich to accuse others of classism when you had "Universal healthcare is socialism" as your status. I still haven't found one single person in Spain or Portugal, no matter how rich or right wing, who was against universal healthcare.
And if you think the British are organized you obviously never caught a train in Britain in the last decades. In fact, have you ever left the States at all?
Last edited by Perfect Stranger; 07-20-2014 at 05:23 AM..
Bull****. American poor shaming is very much absent in Spain and Portugal, and there aren't any notable xenophobic movements like the Tea Party o Switzerland's People's Party. It that wasn't enough a few hours of browsing the Internet will show you that the percentage of racists is much higher in the States. Of course you wouldn't know since, for all your supposed first-hand knowledge, you speak neither Spanish nor Portuguese.
You are so clueless! I am not going to waste my time addressing all your nonsense but have you ever heard about Mario Machado, Portugal Hammerskins, Partido Revolucionario Renovador? Mario Machado was idolized by many Portuguese people until the ended up in prison.
Portuguese skinheads is such an odd concept, especially when most Portuguese people have Jewish blood. It shows the backwards mentality of the people in this country.
You are so clueless! I am not going to waste my time addressing all your nonsense but have you ever heard about Mario Machado, Portugal Hammerskins, Partido Revolucionario Renovador? Mario Machado was idolized by many Portuguese people until the ended up in prison.
Portuguese skinheads is such an odd concept, especially when most Portuguese people have Jewish blood. It shows the backwards mentality of the people in this country.
BTW, I am fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.
The Portuguese Xenophobic party is very small (especially compared to other European nations as we saw in the 2014 European elections). Barely anybody votes or suports them.
Portuguese skinheads are not against Jews since they are so small in number. Most Portuguese people don't have an opinion on Jews due to their small number. The Portuguese skinheads are mainly against Africans and Gypsies the two largest minority groups in Portugal.
Have You ever heard of the expression "the pot calling the kettle black". Because this is exactly what You are doing here. Hammerskins were created in the United States. I find more odd that there are skinheads in the US since it has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel as well as most Americans are anti-immigration even though the vast majority of Americans do descend from an immigrant. Just look at they treat the Mexicans and other Central Americans immigrants. This just shows the hipocrisy and backward mentality of your "amazing" country.
FYI I never nor the vast majority of Portuguese people heard of Mário Machado, I had no idea who he was until you mentioned it. Prehaps you're the one who has similar political ideas (which wouldn't suprise me).
Do us a favour and leave us alone and why don't You waste your energies in doing something nice instead of insulting other countries.
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