Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category
What should you eat and drink?
Which dishes and drinks can’t you miss? Start with the appetizers.When you go to a restaurant, bread, cheese, olives and butters will be put on your table without you having ordered it. That is pretty common around here. It is not included but it is not so expensive. So, you’ll pay it only if you
Portuguese food habits
Portuguese people love to sit down to eat and drink, specially accompanied by their friends and family. Portuguese are very proud of their gastronomy and wines. Maybe that is why there are so many meals: – Breakfast: on the table there is bread (we can’t live without it), butter, cheese, ham, sweets, coffee, tea, milk
Shopping
Lisbon is a paradise for shopping lovers. There several shopping districts at all prices. Traditional shops are located in Baixa (downtown), Chiado and Bairro Alto districts. Bairro Alto This is a 16th century district considered to be very picturesque. It used to be a district of homeless, prostitutes and Fado singers and now it
Schedules
Commerce: Working days – from 9 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm. Some shops stay opened during lunch time. Some shops close on Saturdays afternoon and on Sundays. In shopping centers, shops are opened almost everyday from10 am to 00 am. Banks: From Monday to Friday between 8.30 am and
Tax Free
At the moment, goods VAT in Portugal is generally 23%. If you live outside European Union you’ll have the right to the devolution of VAT on your way out of Europe. To have the right to Tax free you’ll have to do shopping over 61,35€ euros in one shop adherent to Tax Free (the logo
Safety
Lisbon is a quite safe big European capital. There isn’t a significant violence crime rate, you can even walk safely at night. The safety major risk is pickpockets inside the most touristic districts and in public transportation. In Lisbon there are “professional” pickpockets disguised as tourists, carrying cameras and maps and they work in couples
Telecommunications
There are public payphones where you can use coins or telephone cards on sale in Post offices and newspapers kiosks and shops. To call from Portugal you must dial 00, your country code, your city code and the telephone number. Portugal’s international code is 00351.
Language
The official language is Portuguese. It has a Latin root and it is the 6th most spoken language in the world, by about 200 million people. The Portuguese official language countries are: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea, Mozambique and Saint Tome e Principe, in Africa, Brazil, in South America and East Timor in Asia. However, most
Tips
Portugal is a country where the habit of tipping as been growing. You should tip in restaurants, hotels and in other services. It is common to leave between 10 and 15 % of the total amount, although It is not compulsory. Never leave low value coins!
Electricity
The used voltage in Portugal is 230 volts with 2 pin-plugs. Please check if your equipments need an adapter. Here you can see the adapters used in Portugal and in most European countries.
