4 comments about Buying a Property in 2nd editionl: An Insider Guide to Buying a Dream Home in the Sun.

1. This book takes you through the different regions of Portugal, their places of interest, food, life style and types of property. It does so in an easy-to-read, chatty way. The author travels with her husband. 'My husband and I' are often mentioned. They do a three-week train journey in northern Portugal and are invited to the Portwine Institute in Lisbon. The personal touch extends to socialising with the locals and expats.
   How to go about buying property is explained, but advice can be a bit basic. Some is just common sense, like to find your property you look for it in local newspapers or the Sunday Times property supplement for places abroad. There are vocabulary lists with Portuguese words. On page 87 there is an overview of the purchasing process. This is useful, but it can also be found in other books. The thing is that we are spoilt for choice with so many books coming out on buying property and living in Portugal, some very good indeed.



2. This book says the same as others on property buying in Portugal (less than most) but wants to look better than any other. It boasts a lot, unfortunately it boasts a knowledge it has not got. What I find most irritating is the way it uses, misuses, Portuguese cultural items and expressions in a completely misleading way. One example is the Ze Povinho, given as a title in the book. This is translated as Joe Public and left unexplained but serves as title for a section where you are told that the Portuguese like foreigners who speak their language (not surprising!), that they can be officious and intransigent but (contradiction!) are proud of their tolerance, etc etc.
   
   This is all a great mixup and Ze Povinho is not Joe Public. Ze Povinho is the creation of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, a Portuguese who lived in 1846-1905. He was a caricaturist and a ceramist and created several grotesque, comic figures as a means of criticising the Portuguese society of his time. Ze Povinho is one of these figures. It was a satire at the Portuguese people in a period of international political problems.
   
   I lived in Portugal quite a number of years and got to know the country and the people quite well. I feel strongly about the misunderstandings that books like this one spread about such a friendly people.



3. I got to know this book through an American friend who is planning to live in Portugal. My first reaction was trying to forget the book all together but on reflection I think that something must be said.
   
   It starts on the first pages. The acknowledgment lists several names but not the names of the Portuguese people and organizations that provided the information used in the book. They did so in good faith and that information has been used in a book that slags them off. You do not get to the end of a chapter without reading (and again and again) that the Portuguese are "slow". This is one of the many cliches the book uses to draw a picture of the Portuguese as "slow" backward people. Other comments are made like that the Portuguese are ever so happy if only you utter a few words in their language.
   
   This book is obsessed with titles. It says that a Portuguese person with a university degree takes a doctor's title. This is a misunderstanding of the Portuguese education system. Graduates of a 6-year long university course like lawyers take the title dr., and the title Dr. is for those with a Doctorate (PhD). What is wrong is in Britain, where this book was written, where medics take the title Dr. when they have no Doctorate! You go to the doctors, no, you go to the medics, who have a lower degree than that of Doctor. Still on titles this book goes on saying that other people in Portugal take titles, like an engineer, who is called "senhor engenheiro". Here again, better look at what happens in Britain, where a mechanich is called an engineer! The Portuguese senhor engenheiro has a university degree, for which he studied 6 years.
   
   A book like this one that appears to hold the Portuguese in such low regard better leave the Portuguese alone, better not have been written. It does not help anyone. This xenophobic book says that the Portuguese have "no feeling of sentiment towards animals". I would say this book has no feeling of sentiment towards the Portuguese, nor towards those who are not Portuguese and have bought the book trying to get to know the Portuguese!



4. The saying that you must never choose a book by its cover is entirely applicable in this case. For an insider guide, as claimed on the cover, this book is too superficial. It does not come to grips with the key issues of buying your property. The summaries at the end of each chapter are a good measure of the poor level of information. In the chapter on the Purchasing Process the summary has nothing more substantial to say than it is a good idea to give Power of Attorney to a Portuguese lawyer if you are buying from the UK.
   
   An annoying characteristic in this book is that common place statements are delivered with great solemnity. What the book lacks in useful information it exceeds in platitudes.
   
   I fell for the title and the cover. It served me right. I had to spend more money getting another book. I am pleased I have now found a couple of excellent books on buying property in Portugal. I hope my experience can help others.

No comments about Portugal (Travel Time Premium).

No comments about Signpost Guide Catalonia and the Spanish Pyrenees, 2nd: Your guide to great drives.

No comments about Terra Mystica (Kaleidoskop).

2 comments about Call To Prayer: My Travels In Spain, Portugal And Morocco.

1. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I was extremely disappointed with this book. The author took a trip through a travel company called Kon Tiki, and spent as much time talking about the women he met on the trip as he did the actual places themselves. Having traveled all of the same areas, he failed to capture what makes these cultures so captivating (I imagine that would be hard to do in two weeks from a tour bus). At times he was negative about parts of the culture instead of appreciating their differences. He doesn't even come close to articulating the magnitude and beauty of several historic sites, including the famous Alhambra in Granada. I hope that readers do not form an opinion of these 3 counties from this rather poor description, they have so much more to offer!



2. This author takes you on a real, candid journey of his travels with a tour group. He talks about the places, people, and history of each place visited. The book is also is a travel journal of his experiences with the people he meets and befriends along the way. This book makes learning the history of each place less dry that your ordinary history text and his thoughts and experiences add many chuckles along the way as you get a glimpse of the mind of a young man abroad. A very dense book, but a very easy entertaining read.

No comments about El Fado: Portugal.

No comments about Lisbon Insight Guide (Insight Guides).

2 comments about The Rough Guide to Mallorca 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. This is the first and last Rough Guide that I will purchase. One might think that a 272 page book about a fairly small place would be quite thorough. On the contrary, this guide lacked references to some of the best experiences we had on the island. Additionally, the indexing was atrocious (e.g. no entries for boat rental, markets, groceries...I could go on).

   I don't know what the other guide books are like but even the worst of them are probably better than this one.




2. Its not customary for me to address another's review, but I actually find this book very helpful in the times that I have traveled to Mallorca. It is complete with many phone numbers (for ferries, flights, etc) and provides great sections on restaurants and festivals. My only issue with the book is the lack of a historical foundation for the island itself and some more indepth history of the featured monuments.

No comments about La biblia en Espana/ The Bible in Spain: O Viajes, Aventuras Y Prisiones De Un Ingles En Su Intento De Difundir Las Escrituras Por La Peninsula/ Or The ... and Imprisonments (Literatura/ Literature).

No comments about Granada (GUIARAMA) (Guiarama).