u/Agile_Analysis2603

I am a Bulgarian and quietly following this sub. I got interested, was a bit bored, tired (after an elections campaign and I did not get elected for the parliament) and decided to check on Portugal. 2 weeks. Lisbon, Porto, Lagos, Coimbra. Returned yesterday.

- Climate: similar, a bit warmer, like Southern Greece. Visible by the streets and vegetation that never sees snow and ice.

- People: extremely nice and kind. Very kind, welcoming and smiling (which is kinda rare in Balkans). A lot calmer and relaxed. Even more than the Italians.

- Food: worse. By far. And roughly twice as expensive (for example a streak in a normal neighborhood restaurant in Sofia would be around 7-8 €). Wine: better and cheaper;

- Service: buy far better and kinder, but somewhat odd for us (a typical restaurant here would operate from about 10 a.m. to 24), a lot of convenience 27/7 convenience shops and supermarkets. It is never a problem to shop or dine at 3 a.m. That seemed a bit problematic in Portugal. But also the most restaurants are usually kind of... empty. Strange... People must be extremely conservative and home-loving.

- Properties: around the prices on Bulgaria

- History and culture: to be frank you can't really just impress us much but it is great.

Considerably better cars on the street, much better infrastructure and maintenance. High prices, but calm nice happy people... Portuguese must be rich.

Sorry, you can't qualify as Balkan!

Then I googled the salaries and taxes...

Damn it! How do you even survive?!? Oh, dear!

Literally the incomes in Bulgaria but twice the prices, taxes and unemployment. Now I just want to hug you. You should be considered eligible as refugees here. Be welcome. Anytime!

Bonus: more fun neighbors like those in https://www.reddit.com/r/balkans_irl/ . Always ready to start a pillow (or chair) fight. You can't get bored with them.