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About Our Spring Issue

I enjoyed the article on the Worst Tour of Porto—it’s a lovely city and their tours strike me as a very good idea. I haven’t read any of the novels on your list, which is very remiss of me, but I did enjoy A Small Death in Lisbon and In the Company of Strangers, both by Robert Wilson. Finally, a mention for the bombeiros on the cover. When we would visit Portugal all those years ago, it was July or August, and the fires were in full swing. Though we never saw anything bad, we did see charred hillsides and, occasionally, exhausted bombeiros by the side of the road. I’m moved even now as I write—it’s great to see this tribute to them. Evan Byrne Semi-retired journalist here (ex-CNN, NBC, StL local TV, print/digital). Coming to Portugal (Lisbon/Lagos) for first exploratory trip w/wife. Just came upon your mag. Love it! Substantive, well-written, smart layout. Congrats! Especially liked article about far-right in Iberia. You have an attractive, thoughtful publication. That’s rare enough in general. When it comes to covering Portugal in English, it’s so rare as to be non-existent. You should be proud. Compliments to you and entire staff. Charles Jaco

Just a note to say thank you for a very interesting and informative read—a big step up from the other English language media around in Portugal. I was intending to read “The ten best novels set in Portugal,” but it took me an hour to get there because I got hijacked en route by some excellent reads, most notably on “The radical right in Iberia.” Keep up the good work. Best wishes from historic Monsanto. John Pearce

Just finished this issue—extremely informative in banking, housing, culture, immigration, and so on. Leslie E Barras You are doing a great job. I’m really impressed at your efforts to make the magazine of interest. Great subjects and good content. Well done. Mark Hayler I am a Singaporean residing in Portugal. Regarding this statement by Christopher Hanson, “Are Indian construction workers in Singapore that you see on construction sites ex-pats? Yes, they are too,” I want to say that construction workers are NOT ex-pats in Singapore. They are categorized as Foreign Workers. To qualify to be an ex-pat, he or she, regardless of white, black or yellow skin, is to have a certain salary and status in a private, public, or multi-national corporation. Limei Shimmen Congrats on all that you have accomplished. Justin Robichaud Knepper Another great issue! Susan Lindsey Wow—what a fantastic magazine, a lot more content than I was expecting! Mark Nash Excellent publication, full of interesting articles. Congratulations on your good work. I enjoy reading it and being informed about Portugal. Pam Hoffmann

Not Those Folks

My husband and I have so enjoyed reading the articles in your magazine! It’s such a great view of everday life and so many of the things we were curious about have been addressed in just the first few installments that I’ve read. I’m a retired teacher and we will both be living off my one pension, so I have grave concerns about our ability to be able to do the move and live comfortably. Seems like most folks have two retirement incomes and significant savings and we’re just not those folks, lol. Melissa Powell

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I’m so glad I subscribed. Good articles, lots of info. Even the ads are helpful! Marianne Mitchell

To share your opinion(s) about Portugal Living Magazine and its content, please write to us at: letters@PortugalLivingMagazine.com.

Rant!

Cell phones have been auto redialing SEF since 08h00 this morning; it is now 13h00. My phone has reached the male recorded voice three times, but immediately after is the female recorded voice saying that holding isn’t possible and to visit the sef.pt website. I sigh in frustration. Anyone who has reached that male voice yipes for joy, as if we’ve won some sort of lottery … only to find out by a female voice that the ticket we bought was a fake one. Line disconnects. The sounds of busy signals and then disconnection are almost constant. SEF announced that there were finally openings for Family Reunification, something like 9,577. Later that same day, they reported that all the lines were down and that they were working on it. You call ... if you do not have an autodialer it is more difficult. It might take you over 100 manual calls to actually reach the automated voice telling you that your call is important and to please hold the line. If the universe is smiling at you, and you do not get the lady telling you that all lines are too busy and to go to the blasted website, you experience a hold time from five minutes to almost an hour. You then get to speak to a human. “I would like to schedule a family reunification appointment please.” “One moment ... “What country are you from?” “United States.” “I’m sorry, there aren’t any appointments available right now, you’ll need to try back tomorrow.” That has happened nearly every single weekday for almost a year. The calls we make to SEF are not free. We’re charged for every call, and we still do not have an appointment. I know it’ll happen. Sometime. Want to get something off your chest—anonymously? Send your rants to Publisher-editor@portugallivingmagazine with “Rant” in the subject line.