Differences between Portugal and the U.S.—Part Two

Outside—Sidewalks, Smells, Zebra Crossings, Trash, Parking and Dog Poop!

Photo: Streets/Sidewalks in Portugal by Toni Zaat on Unsplash

A Quick Intro

I’m Kimberly Anne and love writing these articles for you. If you don’t know my background: I relocated alone from San Francisco to Portugal in September 2022, sight unseen, and without a built-in support system. Prior to that, I spent a year traveling solo across the U.S., living in a van. I’m also a published indie author with over thirty fiction novels.

On Substack I have two dozen articles about traveling, living in Portugal, minimizing/minimalism and whatever else strikes my fancy. I post a new article (newsletter) each week. I also have a weekly podcast. You can find “all the things” on the main page here or in the archives or on my website! Thank you so much for being here!

To Listen to the Author Read this Article, click here!

The differences between living in Portugal and living in the US are so vast, I’m writing a four part series and this is part 2. These differences are similar throughout Europe.

If you want to read part 1, which is about the differences inside my apartment, please click here.

There were a few items I forgot to mention and I’ll briefly cover those first.

Inside Apartments

High ceilings! I love high ceilings because they’re pretty and offer a more open feeling to the small rooms. In the summer they’re great because, as we know, hot air rises. Therefore, they’re a little bit worse to have in the winter for the same reason.

Another cool thing are most of the keys in Europe. They’re old. My mailbox key looks like a skeleton key. My front door key has four sides, four sides! I’d post a photo but some girl told me on TikTok that my keys can be copied if I post a photo. I have some, minor, knowledge of keys and I sincerely doubt that a four sided key could be copied from a photo because all the teeth won’t ever be showing. Regardless, I’m including a photo here, because they’re so cool, but it’s not of my key. And some minor research tells me it’s called a “cruciform lock”. I love it because it is more difficult to pick and it’s cool looking.

Some fun experiences with a four sided key are: when I first arrived at my apartment I could not open the front door. I texted my landlady to ask how. A four sided key fits into the lock all four ways but only one way will actually open the lock. It turns out you just have to place the notch at the top of the key facing up. 

Well, a few weeks ago I was at my friend Joana’s house for lunch when we heard someone fumbling at the front door. 

“That’s my friend,” Joana said, and walked over to let her in.

Joana’s friend, I’ll call her Sophie, grumbled as she entered, holding up the key. “Sorry for all the noise but it takes me five minutes to figure out which way to put the key into the lock.”

“It has a notch to tell you,” I volunteered.

Sophie looked at Joana. “It does? You didn’t tell me that.”

Joana, who is Portuguese mind you, looked at me and said, “what?”

I held my hand out for the key to show them.

Sophie’s brows raised into her hairline, “Really, it’s that easy? Joana told me to try all the combinations until I found the right one.”

Joana looked sheepish, “I had no idea.”

And there you have it! The one time a foreigner taught two Portuguese natives how to open their front door.

Notice the notch on the right hand side of the top (aka bow) of the key, this is the side that is turned face up.

The other key thing, a bad try at a bad pun… are most of the front door locks must be opened with a key. They don’t really have working  handles here. Many locks on the inside of an apartment or house must also be opened with a key. There are no separate deadbolts. So after you enter your apartment you MUST put your key in the lock inside and close and lock your door that way. And they triple lock so you turn the key three times. It’s quite secure.

All the Smells—the good, the bad and the ugly

I don’t know if this is super common but I do remember a you-tuber complaining about a nasty smell that constantly emanated from their bathroom in Lisbon. It was coming from the bathrooms of other people in the building.

I have a prevalent and alarming smell from the water coming out of my kitchen sink. It’s alarming because, while I filter the water through a pretty heavy duty filter, when I boil the filtered water my kitchen smells like sewage. It also smells sometimes when I just run the water in the sink. That can’t be good.

Most of the Portuguese drink bottled water. Technically the water supply here is potable. But the pipes, are old. And though my apartment was torn down to the studs (video here) and all new pipes were added, the building’s original pipes remain the same. One time I turned on the tap to find that my water was brown. BROWN. It was brown for three days. Needless-to-say, I no longer drink it.

Perfume

I’ve never been in a culture that loves their perfume so much. And I’m not talking aromatherapy or anything natural. The perfume smells here make me physically gag and often times bring on a headache. Unfortunately most items, including trash bags, are scented with this cloying, fake, chemical smell. It’s rare, almost impossible, to find “scentless” items.

The fake scents are prevalent whether you walk by someone on the street and their perfume crawls up your nose, or you’re sitting in your apartment minding your own business, and the cleaners outside use cleaning solution with a noxious flowery scent. I usually keep my windows open.

The Sidewalks

They’re crazy different. They’re super narrow in many areas and only one person can walk down them at a time in the old town. When I first arrived here, I could not figure out how to pass anyone, walk with my dog or even not be worried a car wasn’t going to accidentally hit me. 

There was one cool little bungalow I rented in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the Douro River from Porto old town and there was a permanent pole in the middle of the tiny sidewalk. I was so freaked out that I took videos. You had to walk in the street, in traffic in order to get by. 

I’ve learned that walking in the street is very common here, which is counter-intuitive for so many reasons. But even I do it regularly now.

Many sidewalks are also made of calçeta, which people mistake for cobblestone. Regardless, when they’re wet, they’re as slippery as a slip n’slide! It’s absolutely terrifying when you accidentally hydroplane on your feet. The stones are also uneven so even when they’re not wet, you have a high probability of tripping on a regular basis. I like to look at this as built-in balance help. Ha! Keeps ya on your toes (idiom wise, not literally).

Crossing the Street

Oh this one, I’m still getting used to. 

In California, pedestrians have the right of way. If someone steps off a curb at a crosswalk, it’s illegal not to stop and you will get a ticket. Not here.

First of all, you cross at what they refer to as the “zebra stripe” and you can figure out what that looks like by the name. But they are not at the corner. They are several feet back. Now that I understand how these work, it does make more sense. It’s so the cars can pull forward, past the crosswalk and only look one way before turning right. I still look left because habits are hard to break but, it is a better system for drivers and pedestrian safety. However, this also means that as a pedestrian, you have to walk a bit farther up the next block before you can cross the street. Living in Europe is a great way to always hit your step count, that’s for sure! Even when I’m not walking my dog seven times a day and I’m just living a more sedentary life here, I still average 6,000 steps each day.

The main problem with the “crosswalks” is this… cars stopping at a zebra crossing, to let a pedestrian go (as well as stop signs themselves) are merely a suggestion here. I’ve been in the middle of a crosswalk on a three lane street and had cars pass both behind and in front of me, going over 30mph while I stand in the middle of the crosswalk shaking in my boots. 

And if you have a dog, forget about it. My veterinarian has told me horror stories of dogs who have been run over in the crosswalk. 

When I mention this to other Portuguese, they tell me people are supposed to stop. Sure, they’re supposed to, but they don’t. And it’s not a hundred percent of the time either way, you have no idea when you stop off the curb into a crosswalk if they will stop or not. Many cars speed up! My Brazilian neighbors assure me that it’s much worse in Brazil. 

I’ve seen more than a few people stride confidently across the street, regardless of oncoming traffic, believing people will stop. And I’ve seen them almost get hit by cars, time and time again. Yesterday the nine year old child of my downstairs neighbor was stuck in the middle lane in a crosswalk as cars speed by him either side. And today a couple crossed two lanes fine but then a car slammed through the third lane, which is a right turn only lane. But they were going straight, trying to pass the cars that had stopped for the pedestrians. The couple had to jump backwards in order not to get hit.

I also saw an accident where one car stopped for a pedestrian and the car behind them, who was tailgating, slammed into them. The force of the accident plowed the first car forward and they almost ran over the pedestrian anyway!

For me, it’s not worth it to take this chance. I wait. I wait until at least all three lanes stop or until there is no traffic or until someone else is crossing. And even then, I’ve been stuck in the middle lane on more than one occasion.

I’d probably never cross the street except that my trash bins are across a major three lane highway, and it’s nerve wracking on a regular basis. Which brings me to… the trash.

Trash

The trash here is also… so different. There are large, dumpster size bins plus huge recycling containers every two to three blocks. The entire neighborhood uses these. While private trash cans do exist for a few houses, they’re rare. Even a friend in the Algarve who lives on a farm uses the neighborhood dumpster and recycle bins down the street from where she lives.

My closest ones are across that busy three lane highway I mentioned  above. It’s terrifying when I’m carrying a large load of heavy bags in both hands and people won’t stop to let me cross. Therefore, I’ve learned not to carry heavy bags and usually only take out one or two bags at the most and I keep them small. That way if I have to wait at the corner for several minutes, or in the middle of the street as traffic zooms by on both sides of me, it’s not too uncomfortable. 

They also started a compost trial in many neighborhoods and mine is one of them. There’s a compost sized dumpster next to the trash and recycling. You have to sign up for the free service and receive an electronic card that allows you to open the dumpster. While I composted religiously in California and my compost bin was a block away, it’s much harder to do here. The fly situation in the summer is out of control. I used to keep my compost in the freezer in California but the freezers and refrigerators are smaller here. Not by much but by enough that by keeping my compost there, it significantly reduces the space I have for my food and my dog’s food—which I make and freeze. 

While I still compost when I can, if I use the small plastic container the city provides, I  have to walk up and down six flights of stairs, across the busy “death” highway twice, and deal with the flies… I’m embarrassed to say that most of the time, I have no energy for it.

In addition to all of this, every block or so, is a small trash receptacle attached to a post which is great for dog poo and other “little things”.

I’ve rarely seen litter in Porto. It exists but city workers clean it up and most people really do use the trash bins. 

Street Cleaning

This too exists but you don’t have to move your car! There are city workers that walk along behind the truck and sweep the trash from between the cars and on the sidewalks into the streets for the cleaners. It’s so civilized.

Parking Tickets and Parking

Unless you park in a zone where you need to purchase a parking ticket and it expires, it’s rare to get a parking ticket here. But if you do, it’s around $10. There are areas that have machines for paid parking but I have accidentally parked in these areas on several occasions, forgetting to buy a ticket and so far… no tickets.

Otherwise, you park where you can, even when it’s illegal. Some years ago they changed the laws so that “meter maids” can only ticket someone who is in a spot where a parking ticket is needed. 

Police are in charge of ticketing everyone else and they’re just too busy. In my neighborhood everyone parks illegally and no one gets ticketed. And by illegally I mean, behind, or in front of another car in a “made up” space. Or along the curve of a curb (for real). The one thing I have seen a cop ticket for once (downtown) was parking in a pedestrian crossing (zebra) but many times people park there anyway and are fine. 

During football (soccer) games, if you live near a stadium, people will park on the sidewalks, on grass areas that are not meant for parking and even in the center of wide streets, all in a line. I’m told by my Portuguese friend that the police give a pass for this on game nights.

Dog Poop

A lot of people don’t pick up their dog’s poop. When I first moved here this freaked me out to no end. But I’ve learned that it’s mostly on the sides of the sidewalk, and rarely in the center, though that happens sometimes. You have to be aware of it, at all times or you absolutely will step in it. On the grass, on the sidewalks and even in the streets. The reasons for not picking it up are many. Culturally, it’s not as strict, people are used to it, some people are lazy, but mostly it’s a lack of funds. Poop bags aren’t free.

Street Names

The street names here are crazy long and are predominantly named after men who have three names. Therefore you will see such directions as: Turn left on Avenida dos Combatentes de Grand Guerra, then right on Rua de Paulo da Gama and another right on Rua de Duarte Barbosa to arrive at Obra Diocesana de Promoção Social. Which is enough to make your head spin, especially when you’re new here.

I will say that I learned, from Portuguese friends, that most Portuguese who live here don’t even know the street names. They use icons or stores or landmarks. But when I had newly arrived, the person who I mention a lot because she had such a huge negative impact on my life, constantly put me down for not knowing all the street names in Porto by heart!

Well, I’m proud to say, that after living here for two years, I still don’t know them! And that’s normal!

I have to end this here because it’s running super long. But since this will be an ongoing series for a bit, I look forward to sharing even more next week. I hope you enjoyed reading!

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Resources or Mentions in this Article:

The Differences Between Portugal and the US—Part One.

My Apartment Video — before and after!

First Six Months of Living Abroad

How/Why I Ended up in Portugal

Living Abroad After Two Years

If you’re considering moving abroad I have a series of articles to help.

Archive of all my Articles and Podcast Episodes

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—Expat on a Budget AKA Living Abroad on a Budget and My Unknown Adventure by Kimberly Anne

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