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I make the point we are only interested in selling our villa in Northern Portugal in order to be able to move to the other side of the world to be with friends and family (we lived for many years in Asia and now a large part of our family in the UK are immigrating to Australia). We would not consider moving if it were not for this and certainly we can think of nowhere, family and friends aside, we would want to live more than here. We chose our home very carefully after a lot of research and thought. Compulsory land purchase and rampant development in other countries made us think of Portugal, but we liked the idea of Spanish life so we decided to have the best of both. Climate wise we get four distinctive seasons. From early June to late September, it can get very hot here, 40° Celsius of a little more. During the winter, if a low pressure system comes down through France and then Spain, you can get down to -4° Celsius with winds. Being on the large river, we tend to be a little cooler in the summer and a little milder in winter than other nearby areas. For example, when I drive from our home and it is say 3° Celsius in winter, when I go on the road just a few Km away between Salvaterra and Ponteareas in Spain, I expect to find freezing fog and -2° Celsius. If it is a normal winter, there is snow on the mountains around Melgaco. If it is a cold winter, snow falls and lays on the mountain tops across the river from us in Galicia (Spain). We get through about 700 litres (about 500 or 600 Euros) of domestic gasoline in winter (this heats the water and radiators which we use in the mornings) plus 2 small trucks of firewood (we use this in the fire from around 4pm onwards); a truck of oak or mixed wood already cut for use in a fire costs 120 Euros delivered. Unless it gets bitterly cold, the fireplace is ample for heating the middle (main family / accommodation) floor. Many winter days are actually sunny and around 14° Celsius; we are generally 4° or 5° warmer than southern England. During the summer, when it is 40° Celsius just up the road on the main road, it is around 35° Celsius at our house because of the cooling effect of the river. During the summer our winds normally come from the South / South West. During Spring and Autumn, normally from the South West. The winter can see winds from any direction. Winds from the South West normally mean rain, but we get less than the UK. Air quality here is exceptionally good most of the time. We are on the edge climate wise of where you can successfully grow certain (hardier) bougainvillea and guava outdoors. The pace of life is much slower here but people jump to your help when you really need them. Ask your plumber to come and service your boiler and you will have to make several phone calls over a couple of weeks to remind him. If you boiler breaks down, he will drop everything and be there within half an hour. Go to the Post Office and people will jump the queue but only to ask for a form; old ladies will sit on the bench inside and expect to be let in at the point they would have occupied if they had stood in line. People are curious, and you will be aware of old ladies looking out of their windows to see what is going on. This is so they do not miss a passing neighbour or friend and to keep an eye on the world; as a consequence and because of attitudes generally, crime is virtually nonexistent. People greet each other by kissing cheeks and they like to get to know everyone, so strangers stand out but not in a bad way of you have just moved here. There is a health centre in Monção, but serious cases get referred to the public hospital's emergency department in Viana do Costelo, an hour away. Actually the local public doctors and hospital staff are well equipped, exceptionally dedicated and do an amazing job, but adages regarding the Portuguese health care system do have a good deal of truth to them. Actually, if you were to fall seriously ill, it is an option to simply drive one minute more and go to the health clinic in Salvaterra, which has a paramedic service to the large public and private hospitals of the area (they have a legal obligation to treat you, not that they consider it just a legal duty). We are registered with the health centre in Salvaterra and a superb full service (including emergency) private hospital just 20 minutes away in Vigo and would use this option in an emergency. The same for check ups, screening and general health care needs. Porto in Portugal is another option, but this is a 50 minute drive away. We consider the Spanish health care service much faster and more extensive (most Portuguese private medical insurance programs cover treatment in Spain); being on the border we have immediate access to this and so can benefit from the best of both worlds. Portuguese residents are able to take out a health policy with Spain's largest health care provider Sanitas (you need to organize this with a Portuguese insurance agent as the online application is for Spanish residents only). When it comes to schooling, you have the option of free (if you are legally and registered resident in Portugal) public schooling from the age of 6, plus superb state run pre-schooling from 3 months old if required. The local pre-school is exceptional and costs around 75 Euros per month for each child of foreign residents without special allowances (some locals are not charged, then there is a sliding scale up); the actual cost depends on the child's age. Classes are limited to 25 children and have two teachers per class, often plus one trainee / attendant. Preschool hours are 7am to 7pm and include all meals / drinks for the children during that time; they have a good old fashioned school canteen which prepares fresh food dishes daily. Portugal views preschool as a service to parents to allow them to continue to go and work, hence the low cost and hours covered. We can not speak highly enough of this school and its staff which both of our children go / have been to; they have frequent school trips out and festival parades through town (like the one below). Moncao has comprehensive public schools and now a technical college. Private International schools exist in Galicia (Spain) approximately 40 minutes away, and in Porto, around 50 minutes drive from here.
We have a vegetable garden, fruit trees, grape vines, etc. but it gets very "disheartening" when you can buy peas, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, mandarins, oranges, pears, apples and other produce in season for less than 1 Euro per kilo! Our neighbour often stops us in citrus season to ask if we want any mandarins (for free); they once gave us a whole lamb because we allow them to graze their sheep on some of our land. Pork is very inexpensive here, as are certain fish; sardines are only 1 euro a kilo in season (2 Euros a kilo the rest of the year) and often dorado (sea bream) and the local sea bass can be bought for 1 to 2 euros per fish. If you are prepared to eat the same produce as the locals, you can live very cheaply indeed. We blanch and put a lot of seasonal vegetables into our large chest freezer not just because of cost, but because of taste; local and our own produce is grown organically and tastes better than packaged frozen food. We grow our own super sweet corn for example, as the locals prefer a variety we only give to our chickens, then blanch and freeze it. The water of the River Minho is exceptionally clean where we are and the trout from the river can be caught for next to nothing and taste a hundred times better than farmed trout. With access to several supermarkets and local open markets, we are able source an incredible range of products not just to eat but for the house and clothing. We tend to go to one of Vigo's hypermarkets once a month to stock up on certain items (including English beer at a third of the price it is in England) and look for promotions and anything different, but we are spoilt for choice locally. Large supermarkets in Monção include Modelo, Feira Nova and Coca (local supermarket). In Valenca you will find a Lidl, Intermarche and Froiz (Spanish supermarket chain with outlet in Portugal). Across the river / border in Spain between Salvaterra and nearby Ponteareas is an exceptionally good Eroski supermarket. In Vigo just as you enter the city and therefore very conveniently located for us, we often visit Alcampo Hypermarket. Moncao market is every thursday (normally) and the alrger market at Valenca on wednesdays. Ponteareas Spain has an excellent market (especially for cured hams and breads / cakes) every other Saturday. The fish market and butchers which form part of Moncao market are open most days. Bread and fish can be delivered to your door / gate early each morning; our family gets a large wholemeal long loaf, 4 rolls and a baguette 5 days a week delivered for 21 Euros a month. We can chose between Portugal and Spain as to what we buy for a large number of goods and services, including petrol / diesel and domestic heating oil. About the only thing we have to buy in Portugal are cars, which have to be licensed here as we are residents of Portugal. If you bring a car from another country to Portugal, you can only use it for 6 months before you have to register it here. At the moment, cars are much more expensive in Portugal than in Spain because of a luxury tax. Because the Portuguese people are notorious tax cheats (everybody, but everybody it seems cheats on tax if and when they can), the government desperate to collect taxes to pay for public services slapped a luxury tax on things like cars and TV's. TV's are no problem, as you can buy them in Spain and use them in Portugal under EU law. But cars are different as they have to be registered in Portugal and the Portuguese use bureaucracy and high processing fees to prevent people buying cars in Spain at a lower cost and using them in Portugal. The EU has already declared the Portuguese system illegal, a de facto / hidden tax, and are now suing the Portuguese state into compliance. This is not as dramatic as it might first seem, but basically Portugal has around until mid-2010 to get tax revenues elsewhere (enforce income and regular sales tax), before it will have to tax cars at the same rate as Spain. The best interim legal solution would perhaps be for a contract hire agreement on an ex-demonstrator vehicle or to buy a second hand car. We cook mostly using propane gas (replacement cylinders) which are delivered to our house for 18 to 19 Euros each per 11 Kg tank (11Kg being the weight of the propane not including the tank); I think we use around one tank a month or just longer. Mains water costs us 55 Euros per quarter (3 months), except when we fill our large swimming pool up in late May / early June (costs about 25 Euros extra). Our rates / land tax / house tax / council tax costs us 316 Euros per year. Our electricity bill during the summer (highest cost period as we use air conditioning and certainly use pool plus irrigation motors) is 175 Euros per month. Although the basic minimum wage for Portugal is lower (EU minimum wage levels), 5 Euros per hour is what most people here work for; our hard working gardener comes in 2 days (normally 4 mornings) a week and we also have a housekeeper. If you employ someone full time, you will need to pay National Insurance (about 9%) and holiday pay - In both Portugal and Spain this works on the basis full time workers get 14 months salary per year plus around 3 weeks actual holiday time off (plus public holidays); part time workers are paid for the time they perform with no social security payment. The local contract gardening company quoted us 300 Euros per month to maintain our grounds, but we get much better value and more from our part-time gardener. A list of typical items' costs Lean beef noveau - 5.90 Euros per kilo For eating out, see our Monção / Valença / Melgaço and Salvaterra do Miño / Porriño pages. The whole Costa Verde region is famous for two wines; Vino Verde (literally "green wine" although it is not green, but either purple red "tinto" or white "blanco" - the "green" means "young") and Alvarinho (Portugal) / Albariño (Galicia Spain), suspected to be from and similar to the Riesling grape variety, which is the prestigious wine of the area with a considerable following in France. Men rarely if ever drink white wines in public here, except at special occasions for a toast with Champagne (or more likely Portuguese Spumante or Spanish Cava). Vino Verde tinto is actually traditionally and normally drunk from ceramic bowls, attesting to the humble traditional past of this area when glassware was only used by the affluent. Actually, red Vino Verde is actually normally chilled for a short while before serving, which makes it a good summer drink with a BBQ. If you ever cook chicken with Vino Verde Tinto, it turns the chicken breast meat purple! |
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