The August phenomenon
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Portugal has a well-deserved reputation for being in a lower gear, having a slower pace of life. While were surprised by the general approach to the work day, that turns out to be just a small taste of what happens in late summer.
It is common for the folks around here to go on vacation in August. Like, all of August. Many of the little shops around us, especially those that are more traditional, are closed. Same with restaurants. Often for the entire month.
This seems to be not just a Portugal thing necessarily but we’re not sure how widespread the phenomenon is. The net net, though, is that Lisbon being a wonderful place to visit (hint, hint), the area around us is seeing both a considerable bump in tourists and the aforementioned closing of some of the places that might benefit from their patronage.
We get it; it’s a different lifestyle here. We approve. Taking a month off has got to be good for the mental health (we’re assuming, never having actually done so ourselves).
It also affects our day-to-day lives, sometimes in unexpected ways. For example:
Right now we’re trying to figure out which private health insurance to buy. We’re running into August problems trying to get information. On a recent Friday evening we replied to the broker who emailed us a quote earlier that morning asking if we could set up a call for the following week. The auto-response: “I will be out of the office for the next few days, returning on August 26.” Two things we love about that: 1) the characterization of at least two weeks off as “the next few days” and 2) that he returns on a Friday. Not the first time we’ve seen that here.
Why return from vacation on a Friday? Have you ever done that? What’s the benefit that outweighs having the extra weekend on the end of the trip? We’d love to hear from you about this.
The fairly upscale restaurant across the street usually provides a pleasant aural backdrop of gently clinking silverware and quiet conversation. It’s changed its tone a bit this month. For the first time since we arrived, we’re hearing children. And not just young voices chattering away. Screeching, wailing, “I don’t want to be here” type noises. Well into the night.
We’re also noticing a significant uptick in passengers on public transportation who ignore the still-mandatory mask requirements. It’s less of an issue on the buses, where the driver can encourage riders to follow the law, but the Metro does not have employees available or security on patrol nearly as often. The number of visible lower faces on the subway is considerably higher this month.
We had a vegan friend visit last week. There’s a vegan restaurant about four doors down from our apartment. We were excited to experience this with him. Until just a couple of days before he arrived, when the sign appeared in the window.
The August Phenomenon has even struck our own building. The mysterious motorcycle man who manages our garbage cans appears to have taken some time off. How do we know? His replacement seems to have trouble figuring out the chart in the cave - the basement where the cans are kept.
This week on segunda-feira, the gray can was on the curb. On terça-feira, the yellow. Scott returned from a board game session at The Whisk late on quinta-feira to find the blue can out on the sidewalk. The next morning, it was not only still full of trash (the truck drivers skip cans that don’t have the correct “waste o’ the day” in them), it wasn’t even paper trash. It could take a while to recover from this.
The pop-up fruit stand outside of Rato, our closest Metro stop, hasn’t popped up in quite some time.
Rumor has it that some of the more “touristy” places actually raise their prices in August, or even for the entire summer. It’ll be interesting to see if prices drop come fall.
The bottom line is that, yes, you should absolutely come visit Lisbon. It’s a wonderful place to spend some time. Just maybe think about the fall. Or spring. Or even winter.
That’s all for now.
Love from Lisbon,
Scott & Amy