10 Things That Surprise First-Time Visitors to Portugal

Nobody warns you about these, and none of them are problems. They are just the things that make the first two days feel slightly off balance.

## The ten 1. The bread and olives arrive before you order anything. They are charged if you eat them, and you can send them back. 2. Thank you changes with the speaker. Men say obrigado, women say obrigada. Getting it wrong is charming, not rude. 3. Coffee is small. Asking for a coffee gets you an espresso. If you want something longer, ask for an abatanado. 4. Lunch is late and dinner is later. A restaurant at seven in the evening is often empty for a reason. 5. The pavements are polished limestone and genuinely slippery when wet. Every local has a story. 6. Hills. Lisbon is built on seven of them and Porto ignores gradient completely. 7. Custard tarts are eaten with cinnamon and icing sugar added at the table, not baked in. 8. People are formal at first and very warm five minutes later. Titles like senhor and senhora are still used. 9. Cash still matters in small villages, even though cards work almost everywhere else. 10. Everyone will tell you it never rains, and then it rains in January, hard, for two days.

## Two more that help Tipping is modest. Rounding up or leaving five to ten percent for good service is normal, not expected.

English is widely spoken in cities and tourist areas, less so in the countryside. Learning bom dia, por favor and obrigado covers most situations and is always appreciated.

## The useful conclusion None of this needs preparation. It just helps to know that the slow lunch, the small coffee and the surprise bread are the country working normally, not a mistake.