After 3 Years, It Was Time to Go

It feels crazy to write this, but in August of 2021 after arriving back from a 90 day content creation tour of Portugal from south to north, Kalie, Valencia, and I arrived back in Porto. We had booked 2 weeks in the Ibis Porto Central Mercado do Bolhão in the historic city center. It’s a hotel that we know well and still recommend. On our first visit in late 2020, when the hotel had recently opened, we had befriended the staff and manager. This would be our landing place as we needed a little bit of time to decompress from the whirlwind tour we had just completed and to find ourselves an apartment to live in.

The lobby and bar at the Ibis Porto Central Mercado do Bolhão.

As our 2 weeks drew nearly to a close, we were really under the gun. We were starting to compete with university students moving into the city to start the new school year and apartments were flying off the market. So our strategy was to schedule as many apartment visits in a 24-48 hour period as possible, make a decision, and move on and move in.

We actually documented this on our YouTube channel but spoiler alert, one of the apartments we saw that day, we got a contract on the following day. Things were moving so fast that we saw apartments in the morning and by the time we called the landlord or agent back to inform them that we didn’t want the apartment, they said that they were already taken. If memory serves me, 4 of the 6 apartments were like that.

This is the way our old apartment looked when we moved in. To the left is a bunkbed set in the area that’s designated as the +1 of this apartment. To the center and right, it’s the dining and living room space.

So the apartment that we took was really just a medium term solution. It was a T1+1, which means that in Portugal, it is a one bedroom apartment and then it has another space that can’t be officially classified as a bedroom, however this particular apartment had a nook with bunkbeds. We’re a family of 3 with an 18-month old daughter (at the time) and we felt like we could fit this space, at least in the medium term. All we needed to do was move some furniture around and we should be okay.

There was a catch, at least initially. Our landlord to be was a bit anxious to offer the property to us because they’ve had issues with bad renters before. Rental laws are very tenant friendly and she didn’t want to feel bad if anything went wrong (because we have a child) and she needed to evict us.

Kalie and I have been landlords for years since leaving the U.S. We understand the challenges and anxiety that comes with bringing new renters in. You try to vet people the best you can, but you kind of never know. We actually told their family this when we met them.

I think meeting them in person was the best thing we could have done because it seemed to put them at ease.

Once we got into contract negotiations, we asked if we could make the contract for 6 months to start because we just weren’t sure the space would work for us in the long term. They happily agreed. They had fairly recently acquired this property, which had an AL (alojomento local license aka short term rental license) license but they did not want to rent it on the short-term market. They don’t like all the turnover, and we get it.

So we move in, we move the bunk beds into the big room and put the big bed in the nook of the plus one space. The bed just fit, but it fit nonetheless. We pushed the dining table to the sidewall to open up the floor space in the living room and we were in business.

The outside of Wilson Cafe is unassuming but we’re sure you’ll be wow’d by the space once you step in.

As time passed, we grew increasingly rooted to this apartment. To say we fell in love with it would be a bit dramatic, but we did really enjoy the space. It worked for us. The location was phenomenal. We were a 20 minute walk from our daughter’s school. We were a 2 minute walk from our barber and 2 great local cafes for coffee in the morning and beer or wine in the afternoon. In 2022, a hipster restaurant opened up in the plaza, an American-style diner opened up in late 2023, and a healthy cafe with a stunning patio space opened up soon after. This little area was buzzing! In fact, it was just a 5 minute walk from our apartment door to Trindade station where all the metro lines cross, which also meant that it was 30 minutes from sitting on our couch to sitting in our seats at the Estádio do Dragão where our beloved FC Porto play several times a month. We’re season ticket holders so that convenience is awesome.

It wasn’t just the buildings and businesses popping up around us but we started to befriend many in the neighborhood. Tiago and Cristina at L’Atelier TF - Porto have gone beyond being the people that cut our hair to people that care about us and we care about them. Our daughters have grown up knowing each other, sharing hugs, kisses, and “ ‘tás boa?’ ”s. (ya good?)

Monika from the Bee Garden, a wonderful health focused cafe, always greets us with an enthusiastic smile. She also has a daughter who is friends with ours now. Gil and Shanny, an Israeli couple that have been in Porto about as long as us are the owners of Monteen, a mid-market Mediterranean restaurant that focuses on fresh and seasonal foods, have been friendly faces as well as we pass through the plaza. Then there’s a sweet old man with his dog named Rex (pronounced hex) that we saw him get and raise as a puppy. In fact, a good half dozen people we know in the neighborhood are because of dogs.

Pincho (the dog) just lounging around.

Our pup, Pincho, not the friendliest canine, was still a magnet for conversation. We met several dog owners that we still speak with despite our dog passing almost a year ago. Maybe that’s a good reason we’re leaving this place. I think it’s giving us greater closure. Literally, every time I would pass the threshold of the apartment, I can’t help but say something in my head like “Hey, buddy”, “Hey, pup!” or just “Pincho!” I’m going to miss him, but it is nice to not have the constant reminder as I enter the new apartment.

So how did this new apartment come about and why in the world would we leave the awesome spot we had established?

Our daughter is no longer 18 months old. She is 4. As she grew, so did her toys and the kinds of things that would interest her like scooters and soccer balls. These kinds of things need more space to store or even use if we get them out in the apartment. She can be more independent but needs the space to do it efficiently.

All the meanwhile, as we’re discovering how her development and physical growth stages impact us, our landlord had bought a new apartment. Since he’s always been focused on just having good renters and not maximizing profit, he asked us if we would like to change into that apartment since it’s a bigger space.

Scared of what the price increase would be because the new apartment is significantly nicer and moderately larger, we timidly asked him how much it would be. He gave us an incredible price. Yes, it was an increase but it’s certainly well under market value and an offer that we couldn’t refuse. Okay, we could have refused it, but we didn’t. We were ready to move.

We knew that we had outgrown our old place. We needed closure. We needed to change things up to keep our creative juices going.

How long will we be here? The answer is, it depends. We are building a house in Porto. Those works have been going on since early 2024 and are scheduled to be completed in 2025, but will we move in straightaway? Who knows? Only time will tell.

But right now, we love this place.

Check it out here