We have been busy these past few months exploring Northern Portugal as well as dealing with many government offices on our path to becoming official “Temporary Residents.”

For my birthday, in May, we took a little trip to Porto by train. Our AirBnb was in a great central location and the space was incredible. I would definitely stay there again. We explored the city but the highlight of the trip was a city e-bike tour. E-bikes because Porto has crazy steep hills 🙂 We like Porto for the fact it is only an hour away by train for easy day trips. But definitely feel like Braga fits us better and are happy with our decision to call Braga home.

Now that the nice weather is here, that means festivals! Portugal is crazy about festivals. There is one in Braga almost every week. Our first big festival experience was Braga Romana. A week-long celebration of Braga’s Roman history — yes this city was originally settled by the Romans. The food, the drink, the art, the shows, all make Braga Romana really something special. My favorite was the small batch sangria — both the red and the white — and the fresh baked bread on an open fire stuffed with cheese and chorizo. I had one of them almost every day of the festival 🙂

The next big festival was Sao Joao. Another week-long celebration complete with a carnival and a wide array of food from deep-fried treats to several pop-up restaurants. Grilled sardines are the big thing so we had to try some. You press them into a piece of rustic bread, releasing the oils into the bread. After you finish your last sardine, eat the oily bread. Very good.

We completed our annual health check-up. It was our first experience with healthcare here in Portugal. Our private insurance provided it as a member benefit. The experience was fine but the doctors spoke very little English. I think next year we will switch to a hospital-based plan where the systems are more modern and we can request an English-speaking doctor. Our appointments at the dentist, on the other hand, have been very good and very smooth and the equipment has been more modern than what we were used to in the US.

We had several visits to various government offices but the big one was our SEF appointment. SEF is the department of borders and immigration for Portugal. SEF authorizes residency permits. At this point the goal is to achieve “Temporary Resident” status which will be good for 2 years with an automatic renewal for another 3 years. Emi and I had our appointments on the same day, same time, but a few hundred kilometers apart. I arrived to my appointment on foot since it was in Braga. Our friends, Alan and Julie, were kind enough to drive Emi to her appointment since they also had appointments on the same day. It was a stressful process but we were prepared with all of the required documents. We both were awarded our residency permits. We are now officially legal residents of Portugal!!

Besides all that, we are always busy with bike rides and hikes…stay tuned…Part 2 of this post will be ready soon.