We Portuguese love Christmas and start our build-up in mid-November. In Lisbon the lights go up all along the Avenida Liberdade and the smell of chestnuts, wrapped in newspaper and sold from small stands fills the air. While temperatures are a little cooler, the days are generally sunny with the beautiful clear light that Lisbon is known for bouncing off the Tagus river. It’s a great time to be in the city.
The focus of celebrations are meals with family and friends. Christmas Eve is spent with close family, eating a traditional dish of salted cod, eggs and potatoes – or octopus for families in the north. At midnight someone will dress up as St Nicolas and bring presents which we open around the tree.
There are more celebrations on Christmas Day when we eat lamb or turkey and among the many puddings there’s always a Bolo Rei, our traditional fruit Christmas cake.
My wife and I spend New Year with friends, often at a restaurant in Lisbon, before strolling down to the Praça do Comércio for the spectacular fireworks display which lights up the Tagus and its beautiful bridges. It’s also traditional to welcome the New Year by eating 12 raisins and making a wish on each one.
The past year has been challenging at times but from spring onwards, as the market opened up and international tourists returned, we’ve seen transactions increase, helped by the changes to the Golden Visa programme in Lisbon from January 2022.
The prime areas for buyers remain Avenida Liberdade, Príncipe Real and Avenidas Novas and on average, buyers looking for a Lisbon apartment want a two or three-bedroom home for €700,000-€1,000,000. However, we have been dealing with high-end buyers and had many transactions above €1,000,000.
Outside Lisbon, the beach area of Comporta, 80 minutes from Lisbon, remains hugely on trend. It’s one of those places that once you arrive, smell the pine trees and walk on the beach and feel the spirit you understand the uniqueness and its beauty. We are doing more and more business in Comporta and there are some significant projects coming to market in villages nearby next year.
Portugal’s potential is huge and the country just gets better and better. It has great weather, attractive property prices and a good infrastructure for people working from home. The talent here is strong with good quality schools and universities. Kings College has just announced it will open an international school in Cascais in 2022.
Then there’s the booming tech industry. Last month Lisbon hosted Web Summit, Europe’s biggest tech conference. Every day I meet international people who have moved to Lisbon to live and love it here. Portugal has the nickname of 'California of Europe' for the amazing weather and beaches but now also as the dream location for tech and start-ups.
In my adult life I’ve spent two Christmas periods abroad – New York in 2007 and Miami in 2019 – and both times I missed home a lot. This year my wife and I will spend Christmas Eve with my parents in Lisbon and Christmas Day with her parents in Cascais, 20 minutes away by the sea. Then for New Year we are flying to Madeira where their annual end of year fireworks display over the harbour is one of the biggest and best in Europe, a great way to welcome 2022.
Feliz Natal from Lisbon!
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