Alexander Spatari via Getty ImagesLisbon, Portugal, has plenty to offer visitors.Lisbon’s appeal to tourists is easy to understand. The Portuguese capital boasts incredible castles, charming streets, delicious food, a hip music and art scene and so much more.But as with any place that has a large tourism industry, the locals are not shy to point out the mistakes that visitors to the City of Seven Hills often make during their stays. We asked people who live in Lisbon, both expats and natives, to share some of the faux pas they’ve observed.Advertisement
From misguided culinary moves to major communication issues, here are 13 common blunders among tourists visiting Lisbon ― and some advice for avoiding them on your travels.Trying To Communicate In Spanish “Don’t speak Spanish to the locals. They find it somewhat offensive and don’t like to be confused with Spain. It’s a long story, but it’s better if you make a terrible attempt to speak Portuguese.” ― Stéphanie Pons, founder of Lisbon Insiders“A big mistake is to assume that speaking Spanish will earn you brownie points in Portugal. In fact, most Portuguese don’t like to be mistaken for Spanish! (There’s quite a bit of friendly rivalry between the countries). English is by far the preferred language by locals when speaking with tourists. I once stood in line at a museum ticket booth behind a Dutch tourist who kept speaking in Spanish, to which the staff member just repeated ‘no, I don’t understand you’ in Portuguese. Even though I suspect he knew perfectly well what the question was, I think he simply refused to answer!” ― Marek Bron, travel blogger at Marvellous MadeiraWearing The Wrong Shoes“Girls, leave your high heels at home! Lisbon is known as the City of Seven Hills, so make sure to bring some comfortable shoes because you will walk up and down a lot. Also, we have a particular kind of floor, which is called ‘calçada Portuguesa,’ which consists of different stone types placed together to draw an image when seen …
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From misguided culinary moves to major communication issues, here are 13 common blunders among tourists visiting Lisbon ― and some advice for avoiding them on your travels.Trying To Communicate In Spanish “Don’t speak Spanish to the locals. They find it somewhat offensive and don’t like to be confused with Spain. It’s a long story, but it’s better if you make a terrible attempt to speak Portuguese.” ― Stéphanie Pons, founder of Lisbon Insiders“A big mistake is to assume that speaking Spanish will earn you brownie points in Portugal. In fact, most Portuguese don’t like to be mistaken for Spanish! (There’s quite a bit of friendly rivalry between the countries). English is by far the preferred language by locals when speaking with tourists. I once stood in line at a museum ticket booth behind a Dutch tourist who kept speaking in Spanish, to which the staff member just repeated ‘no, I don’t understand you’ in Portuguese. Even though I suspect he knew perfectly well what the question was, I think he simply refused to answer!” ― Marek Bron, travel blogger at Marvellous MadeiraWearing The Wrong Shoes“Girls, leave your high heels at home! Lisbon is known as the City of Seven Hills, so make sure to bring some comfortable shoes because you will walk up and down a lot. Also, we have a particular kind of floor, which is called ‘calçada Portuguesa,’ which consists of different stone types placed together to draw an image when seen …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]