Poelzl V. Culture Shock! Portugal: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

To Paula,

in appreciation of a long friendship across three continents.

DEDICATION

CS-00-Portugal.indd x 6/23/09 1:58:26 PM

A traditional folk procession.

CS-00-Portugal.indd xi 6/23/09 1:58:26 PM

xii

MAP OF PORTUGAL

The islands of Madeira and Azores are not shown.

GOLFO

DE CÁDIZ

PORTUGAL

LISBON

SPAIN

NORTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

NORTH

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

CS-00-Portugal.indd xii 6/23/09 1:58:26 PM

‘Europa é longe como um raio, ﬁ ca lá para o ﬁ m do mundo.’

(Europe is as far away as lightning,

it’s out there near the end of the world.)

— José Saramago,

A Jangada de Pedra

(‘The Stone Raft’), 1986

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

CHAPTER 1

CS-01-Portugal.indd 1 6/23/09 2:11:06 PM

CultureShock! Portugal

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PORTUGAL go back several decades, just a

few years before José Saramago wrote the above-quoted book

The Stone Raft. I felt strangely taken back to a different era

then, and I really had the impression that for the Portuguese,

the rest of Europe was far, far away. It seemed that Portugal

existed in its own time zone far behind the modern Europe I

knew. People were dressed conservatively in dark clothes, the

facades of most buildings were crumbling, and the vehicles

looked like leftovers from the 1960s. Portugal has changed

signiﬁ cantly since then, but for most visitors, Portugal is still

a quaint and old-fashioned country at ﬁ rst sight, mired in its

traditional ways from decades, if not centuries ago. Wandering

the streets of a Portuguese town or city, historic façades and

buildings from the middle ages take visitors back to a distant

past. Instead of supermarkets and shopping centres, people

still love to shop at small grocers around the corner, and

cafés and smoky bars in the neighbourhood, not shopping

centres, are still the favourite places to socialise. A friend of

mine who visited Portugal had similar ﬁ rst impressions: “I

was wondering what this country was all about. It wasn’t

going anywhere, it just seemed to be stuck in time.”

But amid this apparent backwardness and traditionalism,

there is an underlying impulse for change that is not easily

noticed at ﬁ rst. After decades of recovery from the stronghold

of the dictatorship, the Portugal of the 21st century is

determined to become a modern nation. From the very

CS-01-Portugal.indd 2 6/23/09 2:11:06 PM

First Impressions

beginning, Portugal surprised me with the contrast of its

ultramodern architecture and its vast heritage of historic

buildings. Coming in from the Lisbon airport, I passed

the Gare do Oriente railway station with its modern glass

and concrete structure, and shortly after I found myself

in Lisbon’s historic centre, watched over by the large São

Jorge castle. But in many ways, Portugal’s modernisation,

now so noticeable in every city, is mostly an attempt by the

government to catch up with the rest of Europe. While the

Portuguese government has used extensive funds from the

European Union to modernise the country, many Portuguese

continue unabatedly in their old ways.

Throughout my explorations in Portugal, I encountered

this contrast between the old and the new. History is not

just present in the form of old buildings, but actually forms

part of the life and world view of everyday Portuguese. In

conversation I have heard more references to historic facts

and personalities than to current events, and the lifestyle of

many Portuguese is reminiscent of a bygone era. Although

Lisbon and Porto are large cities in terms of inhabitants,

they appear to be little more than a conglomerate of small

villages, where life has not changed much in the past century.

There are alleys and stairways without vehicle access, where

laundry hangs from every window and balcony, and where

patches of kale grow in tiny backyards. Bar owners know

their patrons, grocers know their customers, and neighbours

regularly run into each other on the streets and parks. The

pace of life is slow here and you can enter a narrow alley

and instantly go back in time.

ABOUT THE LAND

Portugal is home to a picturesque landscape dotted with

small family-owned farms surrounded by small vineyards,

almond groves and ﬁ elds of kale. Rural Portugal gives the

impression of being underdeveloped and backward, but

traditional farming techniques and manual labour are often

the best solutions in regions, where agricultural cooperatives

are rare and where modern farming equipment is hard to

come by or not useable on steep terrain. Portugal’s idyllic

CS-01-Portugal.indd 3 6/23/09 2:11:06 PM

CultureShock! Portugal

countryside also hides the fact that many rural areas suffer

from depopulation and structural problems. Many of the old

stone houses and small farms are abandoned, and many

remote villages are virtually deserted, resembling more

outdoor museums than thriving settlements.

Despite the impression of being largely unspoiled,

Portugal’s countryside has been shaped by human activity

for millennia, from neatly sloped vineyards to the pine forests

Whitewashed villages are a common sight all over the country.

CS-01-Portugal.indd 4 6/23/09 2:11:06 PM

First Impressions

along the coast that have been reforested and managed since

the middle ages. With the country’s history as an independent

nation going back to the 12th century, there is always more

to Portugal than meets the eye. The Portuguese landscape

reveals the country’s eventful history at every turn. There

are prehistoric burial sites and fortiﬁ ed towns from Celtic

times, Roman roads and temples, and ruins of Moorish

castles towering on hilltops. Even Portugal’s characteristic

land distribution, with small holdings in the north and large

estates in the south, goes back nearly a thousand years to

the time of the crusades. In this sense I have always felt that

travelling in Portugal is a fascinating real- time history lesson,

where the country’s past reveals itself in every wall, in every

olive grove and in every pigeon tower and windmill.

ABOUT THE PEOPLE

My ﬁ rst impression of the Portuguese people was that they

are friendly in their dealings with foreigners, but at the

same time reserved. Rarely did conversations go beyond

the necessary dialogue to conduct business, answer a

question, or exchange minimal small talk. I soon realised

that the Portuguese are polite people, but that they do not

easily strike up a conversation with strangers. They are

also non-confrontational in conversations, and courteous

in a charming old-fashioned way. Even among younger

Portuguese there is a certain formality and consciousness

of etiquette, largely forgotten by young people elsewhere in

the Western Europe.

Although the Portuguese are generally described as a

mediterranean people, they are far less extroverted than the

citizens of most other mediterranean countries. The different,

almost northern European mentality of the Portuguese

was noticeable right away during my ﬁ rst visit, since I had

just arrived from Spain. The Portuguese seemed strangely

reserved and quiet, compared to their extroverted Spanish

neighbours, and much more concerned about behaving

properly and not attracting attention in public.

The Portuguese spend a lot of time in public places, but

conversations are rarely extended to include a stranger or

CS-01-Portugal.indd 5 6/23/09 2:11:07 PM

CultureShock! Portugal

This village in upper Alentejo is typical of many in Portugal.

CS-01-Portugal.indd 6 6/23/09 2:11:07 PM

First Impressions

CS-01-Portugal.indd 7 6/23/09 2:11:07 PM