You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: 11 Strange, Remarkable, and Unexpected Experiences with the Culture in Lisbon, Portugal

in #travel7 years ago

On several of your points, it is the same in Chile. In fact, when we landed in Lisbon and took an Uber from the airport to the hotel, we both said to each other, "We're back in Santiago again."

#11, tax is included. This is going to be standard in all countries that follow the VAT format which is most of Europe and South America. Chile has a 19% tax on everything, but it is included in the marked prices

  1. Water - same in Chile. The water in Chile is safe to drink, but it tastes unpleasant because it is full of chlorine and the like. So, again, all over Europe and South America, very difficult to get water from the tap that you actually want to drink. Same goes for New York.

  2. coffee after dinner. Same in Chile.

  3. music in English. Same in Chile. It's even more drastic in Chile from my opinion. In Chile, only a small percent speak English whereas in Lisbon, I only met one person who did not speak English and fortunately he spoke Spanish so I could communicate with him. he was an Uber driver.

Great post and I hope you're enjoying your travels

Sort:  

It's remarkable that two places so far apart could have such striking similarities!

As for the water, I wouldn't recommend drinking it out of the tap in Arizona, either. Most states for that matter. The only place that it was actively encouraged was Portland, Oregon because it's all well water—and delicious stuff at that! And now that I think of it, Oregon also doesn't have sales tax!