former Marketing Executive
This answer is from my experience going to Porto, Portugal 2 months ago for a month. It was also my first time experience going and staying in Europe.
A bit of my background, I was born in Indonesia with Chinese background. But I grew up most of my life in Australia and I speak 4 languages (I mainly speak English and Japanese though).
What I’m trying to say is that I do assimilate and I do have innate natural curiosity towards other culture.
I’ll just say what happened in Porto, Portugal:
- I went to a nice and quite famous Francesinha restaurant for late night coffee with my new Portuguese friend, as I was about to pay, the manager said, “It’s for free” and my Portuguese friend said, “this never happened to me!”
The same manager also invited me back to the restaurant for after work’s birthday party of one of the staffs which I did attend.
2. I was at some cafe, having dinner. The waiter was so friendly and offered to introduce me to his friend who is working in property business to hook me up when I wanna rent/buy a property in Porto
3. I got invited by A Portuguese man who became my dear friend and mentor to his home for nice Cervejas and Vinho until 3 AM with his wife, father and mother in laws
4. I met my brother from another mother. He is a Portuguese man who shares the same birthday as mine including the year. Despite He can’t speak English and I can’t speak Portuguese yet, we became really close and he invited me to his home.
5. When I was going to Capella do Senhor da Pedra, it was raining hard and I needed an umbrella. I went to a supermarket and asked for umbrella. A nice lady took me all the way back to the stock room and pulled out a brand new umbrella with €4 label written on the handle. I pulled out my wallet to pay, she insisted it was for free. I was shocked and I hit my head on some board. All I could say to the lady was, “Muito Obrigado”.
6. I became friend and I was invited For dinner by someone who happened to be one of the members of a famous Portuguese hip hop band. I adore his daughters, his cats and his family. The hospitality was just beyond expectation. I’m so grateful. His father in law cooked octopus and rice which I had 6 servings and I was encouraged to eat as much as I wanted and drink as much wine as I wanted to.
And there are many more kindness that I have received while staying in Porto for a month, heck even most of uber drivers were so friendly and nice to me. For example, I arrived in Porto and the uber driver waited with me for the owner of the Airbnb to come and check me in (15 minutes of the driver keeping me company!)
However, there was one story that I wanted to share. Note, I might be wrong or overthinking and I do hope I am wrong.
The story is, I caught a bus to go to Saõ Bento and in the bus, one guy kept on talking to himself which I didn’t understand. He sounded upset and then he started saying audibly, “cheeng chang chong, cheeng chang chong”. He must been talking about me.
I thought it was funny and I laughed my arse off and then I decided to have a bit of fun by staring him and intimidatingly. The much older gentleman wouldn’t even look at me in the eyes and looked at his feet which I declared, “that’s right! Filhos da Puta” (To Portuguese people reading this, I gotta start somewhere learning the language, right? Kkkkk ).
I don’t know how Portuguese people treat foreigners generally. But they treat me so WELL and I could feel the love and the sincerity from them, gently yet with intense passion.
I am going back there. Viva Portugal!
PS. Although for some reasons, people kept on staring at me in Porto and some of them even smiled at greeted me with gentle and warm, “olà”.
COMMENT:
Obrigado to people who upvoted my answer and took time to comment on my experience. I read all of your comments and I could feel most of your love from reading comments here.
I do feel blessed and extremely grateful of my experience of being in Portugal and I already made my plan to Porto again.
More Comment: I am really happy that my answer to this question is upvoted 100 plus times and I’m so thankful how people commented on my answer very kindly and warmly.
I wrote of my experience in Porto on my blog, I finished writing the first part (out of 2 or possibly 3 since it will be long), there will be lots of photos, adventures, and even a video (linked) on my blog. Please have a read on MANABU TAKEI - The Magical Entertainer .
Obrigado to my Portuguese friends the Quorans who are reading my answer and my blog.
Answer Luz Compasso :
I believe that if you go there again you will continue
to have positive experiences.
Moreover, the Portuguese have the idea that people
from the Orient are desirable in our country because they are known to be
hardworking and honest. Who has ever seen a Chinese or a Japanese man being
detained or as a beggar in the streets?
I am Portuguese, born in Africa and I know that the
people of northern Portugal are very hospitable.
When I had my first fashion business, I traveled at
night to buy in factories because the North is rich in industries. The
manufacturers would take care of me at any time during the night, then I would
return to the South at dawn because I had to deliver the goods at 9:00 AM.
The owners of the factories of the North surprised me
by giving me food: sandwiches, cookies, and a bottle of coffee with hot milk
for the return trip. At that time there were not so many service areas open at
night and they knew I would go on a long trip with no place to eat.
Oftentimes I would fall asleep and park the car near a
closed restaurant; I would eat and sleep during 30 minutes, then I would
continue my journey. I could sleep anywhere and was not afraid to be robbed.
Was this naivety due to my youth? Today I would not do the same, but Portugal
has always been a country with a low crime rate compared to some other countries.
Perhaps because it is a small country it is better controlled.
Forget now about the quality of human relations!
I
have traveled all over Europe and I recognize that Portugal has very good
quality of service in inns and hotels and also when you compare prices!
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