Fellow steemians.
We all know someone that moved, to southeast Asia, to a country like Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, to live a easy life, healthier do to all the good organic quality food/fruit and good weather. I have been in southeast Asia also, concretely in Thailand. I do agree, that life there is pretty good, with the only cons being the huge amount of tourists (not to mistake with travelers) party people, huge amounts of traffic and pollution associated to it. But what if there was a solution, closer, as cheap, but without most of those cons!?
I'm talking about Algarve, the southernmost region of continental Portugal. The region has as its administrative center in the city of Faro, where the region's international airport (FAO) is located. This airport is one of the major perks of the region, since a direct flight from London to Faro costs less then 60 euros with a little bit more then 2 hours of flight. Once in Faro you can take a train basically everywhere, and they do allow bicycles on the train! So we got transportation covered.
Climate:
The maximum temperatures in Algarve fluctuate between 25 °C in winter and 48 °C in summer, with the temperature rarely falling below zero in the winter months. So is a extremely warm and inviting weather, that makes it possible to go to the beach basically all year round.
Note, that this temperatures are for the region of Faro, more to the center in the region of Albufeira, Armação de Pêra, Carvoeiro and Portimão the temperatures are always three degrees warmer all year round.
Food:
Production of fruit like oranges, figs, plums, carob beans, almonds, strawberry's, melons, avocados makes it a really tasty destination. The starches like potatoes, sweet potatoes - the yummiest from Europe - corn are also available.
Pomegranates.
Almond tree flowers.
Cost of living:
The cost of living depends where you want to settle. To be on a city near the beach, can be extremely costly. Thankfully the inside of Algarve, and by inside I mean being only at 7klms from the coast is pretty cheap. You can find extremely good deal like renting a self sustainable farm for less then 400 euros a month. Or if you don't want to run your own farm, renting a room in one of these farms can start from 100 euros, with everything included plus the benefits of getting some biological food (my landlord gives me everything from sweet potatoes to oranges!) no extra charge! So with this mind, is pretty easy to live a comfortable life with less then 300 euros a month just for yourself.
Sports:
All sports, except cold sports, can be practiced in algarve. From surfing to rock climbing, a paradise for cyclists, water sports, or just trekking trough the famous Via Algarviana.
One of the most famous trekking paths in peninsula Iberia.
Some wave checking for a surf session.
And if you love cycling just like me, we have Fóia,with is highest point in 902 meters (2,959 ft), is the mountain range of Monchique.
People & Work:
People are friendly, everyone speaks some sort of English. There's a lot of Portuguese customs that are very interesting to get to know. You can find all sort of services very easily. The internet is good, every place as wifi available. All sort of works are available for foreigners. Specially Nordics or german/french speakers. You can be a hostess in a Hotel, play some guitar at the streets/bar, be a waitress, or just go full entrepreneur mode and explore one of the many agricultural projects available on the region.
My summer job - pool boy.
Security:
Portugal is one of the few country's in Europe that haven't suffered terrorists attacks. Besides that is pretty safe to live in Portugal. The sense of security is always very present, of course with normal common sense. As an example, I used to live in a auto caravan for a while and most of the days, when parking in the public roads, I fell asleep with the windows and main door open.
I will leave you guys with some pictures.
The famous sea caves by the coast.
Winter sunsets.
Hidden gems.
Beach sessions in January.
Arrifana surfers paradise.
Summer sunsets.
Bodyboard session.
Some secrets lakes on the interior of Algarve.
Climbing school Rocha da Pena.
Still not convinced, so let me tell you that the worldwide famous and prestigious Forbes magazine, elected Algarve has the best place to retire in the world, but why wait to retirement come live your dream life now! You can check the forbes article here.
Note: All photography's published in this post are my original work.