Portugal Tips & Tricks

We thought it would be good to document or summarize what we have found is peculiar to Portugal and prepare travellers for this excellent travel destination.

• ATM's will only dispense 200 Euro at a time so plan accordingly. Also, not all ATM's will be on the PLUS international system that allows you to withdraw funds from your bank account in Canada. Check the screen on the ATM machine, it will show the PLUS logo and other's if it's connected. We used Millennium Banks (easily spotted due to hot pink signage) and there were locations all over the country.  
• If you rent a car definitely get the electronic toll device to allow you to drive through the quick pay lanes. It will cost you 1.50 Euro/day but it's totally worth it.
• Tipping in the country isn't required, but if wish, generally you round up 2-3 Euro's on the total bill.
• All restaurants will bring you some small dishes (petisco's) as soon as you sit at your table consisting of bread, olives, cheese, butter. These come with a charge so if you're not interested, just tell the waiter and they will be removed--no offence taken.
• The Metro in Lisbon requires each passenger to have a passcard. You scan in and out and it deducts the appropriate fare. You can load trips or a total amount--whatever works best for you,  but you can't buy four trips and use them with two people.  
• Room numbers do not always correspond to the floor of the hotel you are on!! We were in room 1107 but it was located on the 3rd floor and the button on the elevator was -1. Confused yet?
• If you decide to visit the wineries, you really need to book or reserve in advance. They often don't have the staff available to do ad-hoc tours and tastings.  
• Dinner is later than North American standards. Restaurants usually open between 7-7:30 PM and some not until 8 PM with the bulk of people starting to arrive after 9 PM.  
• As is typical in Europe, the server won't automatically bring you the bill--this is considered rude here. Only when you ask for it, will they bring it. Saying "ah-cont-ta por favour" is how to ask for the bill in Portuguese. 
• Food portions are larger than Canadian standards. A shared starter and one main entree can be plenty for two people. Entrees come with a few sides like potatoes, rice and salad. Perfect for sharing. 
• We noticed that everyone we saw was pretty casually dressed for dinner but then again, we didn't go to any really fancy places either. It's safe to say that there is no need to dress up too much for dinner here.
• Walking shoes are especially important while travelling in Portugal. Why? The streets and sidewalks are all made out of small cobblestones and walking in heels (for women) would be a challenge for sure, especially taking into account the hills in Lisbon.
• Cities here are NOT on a grid system--nothing is at 90 degrees so you require a map and need to know where your heading as it's easy to get lost. Even with a map as we experienced :)
• If you do get lost, remember that the street signs are not on posts at the corner like we have in North America. Street names are posted on plaques attached to the sides of buildings.  Sometimes, you really need to search to find the street sign!!!