My wife and I ended Latvian winter early by moving to Porto in early March after our daughter moved here in February with her French husband and atelier/e-commerce business. It's my first time living in Portugal in 48 years, since the Carnation Revolution summer of 1974, when I lived in Lisbon and traveled all over the southern half of Portugal. I speak conversational and newspaper reading, but far from fluent Portuguese. Based on this experience, here's a point by point response:
1. On the real estate site idealista.pt the rents and lease terms are clearly posted. You want predatory apartment owners, try NY. But we were lucky and found an apartment through a professor friend of mine. Prime area (metro Francos), newly renovated 70m2 duplex row house for 750.00/month for three months including utilities.
We see construction cranes all over, which shows that developers see returns high enough to gentrify multiple areas. That includes some properties under the bridge in your photo, which I walked over just a month ago.
2. My daughter had some bureaucratic hurdles in registering her business, but it would be the same in Germany. Latvia, and certainly Estonia, would be easier. I'm a permanent resident of Latvia. Why would we even need a CRUE when I have the right to stay as long as we want without it.
3. Our daughter doesn't speak Portuguese and had no language issues in dealing with the bureaucracy.
4. Porto is loaded with marvelous restaurants and Italian gelaterie. Supermarkets have fresh dourada and seabass for 5.99/kg, baguettes that speak French for 40 cents, croissants to die for for 70 cents, Dutch Calve pinda kaas (my special weakness) for 2.26, vinho verde for 3 euros (7 euros in Riga), jam for 1.23, fresh oranges for 85 cents/kg. I spent 46 euros on a first trip to Mercadona (Spanish-owned supermarket chain) and bought what would have cost 80 euros in Riga and well over 100 in New Jersey, Paris or London. I just took my daughter out to a very nice vegan restaurant near 24 Agosto metro station: 17.50 for the two of us. You experienced sampling error or didn't know where to look. Eating badly in Porto requires research; we've managed only once.
5. We bought travel insurance from Compensa Vienna: 74.40 euros for three months. Why should I bother with the local health service. My Latvian and New Jersey vaccination certificates were recognized in Portugal. To get a fourth vaccination (2nd booster) in Portugal you must be at least 80 until the policy is reviewed in September. I had a booster last November in NJ. I'll get another in Latvia in July. Problem solved.
6. Nobody in their right mind tries to fix a laptop anymore when repair costs almost as much as buying a new one.
7. No examples given.
8. People here repeatedly switch to English after hearing even my uneven, and phonetically near perfect Portuguese. There is a monolingual older underclass here. The Portuguese who speak English speak it much better than Spaniards. Portuguese has 14 vowels vs 5 in Spanish. Almost all the guys I play basketball with in Castelo do Queijo, Matosinhos speak good English. It's the Spaniards and Francophone Africans whose English skills are subpar.
9. Crooked landlords are as American as apple pie, as French as croissants and as Italian as gelato and focaccia. Real estate is, and always will be, a contact sport, for landlords investment rugby. I've been a landlord in Latvia and Bulgaria and a tenant in NY, LA, Porto, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan.
Here's a link for filing a small claims case against your landlord from another EU country: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/consumers-dispute-resolution/formal-legal-actions/index_en.htm (up to 5000 euros). But it's likely not worth bothering for a one or two month deposit.
Portugal is a polychronic Mediterrenean country, with a different relationship to time than monochronic northern Europe. Your expectations for getting things done did not align with this reality. So far, in my experience, the incidence of petty ripoffs is less than what I've experienced in Italy, Latvia, Spain and southern France. The probability of our experience being sampling error is lower than you unintentionally appearing as an unusually ripe target.
Boa sorte/Viel Gluck/Buona fortuna.
