A YEAR EXPERIENCING LIFE IN PORTUGAL
Living a Local’s Life in Nazaré
In Search of My Next Home in Portugal
People often ask me what sights I am going to see as I head to a new location. While it’s always tempting to be a tourist, my goal is to live as much like the locals of each place as I can. I strive to get to know them and learn about their local shops, cafés and restaurants while settling into their pattern of daily life.
Nazaré, a town of 15,000 residents, was the perfect place for that. Outside of being a beach town that also attracts people during the winter who are trying to see the big waves, there really aren’t any tourist attractions.
At the halfway point of my time in Nazaré, I was settling into local life nicely!
The Local Market
If you are going to talk about local life in Nazaré, you must start with the nerve center of it all: the “Mercado Municipal da Nazaré”. Here at the market in the center of town, locals come to buy the fresh fish, fruits and vegetables they will need for today’s meals. There is a butcher on one side of the market if fish, the main attraction in most local meals, is not your thing that day. A café sits on the edge of it all, where you can have your morning coffee while watching all of your…
