Family Storybook: Finding our Apartment

There are moments in life that get packaged into “A Tale” rather than just “a story”. You tell it practically the same way each time you share it, and you tend to share it a lot. Each new person you meet, they’re going to hear your Tales as part of the get-to-know-you process. Here is our Tale of how we ended up living where we do.

Our first apartment was rented as a way to get through the visa process. (We literally signed the lease the Friday before our Monday VFS appointment.) But a mere four months into our time there we knew we had to move as soon as possible. Fortunately, Portugal’s renter laws are reasonable, and usually once you’ve fulfilled a third of your lease, you are free to move out. We took advantage of this, gave our notice, contacted our original realtor, and started to look around. Our realtor showed us a few places that were ok, but not great. It occurred to us that we might do better if we had a local realtor as well/ instead, so we found one, and he showed us a few places that were closer to what we wanted, but still not quite right.

One of the things we agreed on was that we wanted a place on the cobblestones. You see, the center of town is old, and it’s all cobblestones wherever people walk. So this was our shorthand for “in the heart of things.” (Have you caught on to our habit of foreshadowing yet?)

Then the day came when our realtor showed us a place that ticked a lot of boxes for us. It was literally up the block from a major city point, and just 2 blocks down from the central plaza, right in the heart of the pedestrian-only area. Across the street was a charming grocery that always had fresh fruit and flowers for sale, we would hear the church bells all through the day, and were steps from a vast variety of restaurants and cafes. The apartment was on two levels, both with huge terraces. There was a modern kitchen, movie screen setup, professional sound system, and lovely furnishings all throughout. We would be able to entertain like mad. However, it was four flights up with no elevator, had no AC, and lacked a separate area for a second office. We left, talking ourselves into it. It was just so ideally located.

Then our phone rang. Our local realtor had a place to show us, could we come by? We shrugged, thinking we’d be polite, and walked through town, up a (gentle) hill, and into a neighborhood that was all apartment buildings and schools. Compared to downtown, the vibe was quiet, sleepy even. Like an in-town suburbia.

The apartment was in a modern-ish building with an elevator that took us up to the 4th floor, which only had one other tenant. Our realtor opened the door and invited us in . . . to an open space of hardwood and marble floors covered with tasteful rugs and good furniture. Everything felt welcoming, right out onto a small terrace connecting the living room with the kitchen, which was huge. Down a hall were two good sized rooms for us each to have an office, and then a large main bedroom ensuite. There was tons of closet space, and a two car garage for any overflow. The landlords were a youngish couple who spoke excellent English and were charming as all get out. We found ourselves wandering around, making eyes at each other like, “This is perfect, right?”

We stepped out on the terrace for a quick confab and confirmed that yes, we both felt right at home. No, it wasn’t in the center of the city, but it was otherwise just what we wanted. Together we went in an started talking about leases and when we could move in. An hour later we had a new apartment.

Heading to our soon to be old place, we stood on the sidewalk for a moment, then looked down. It was paved in cobblestones.