Any offgridders in Portugal?

[GridlessSuzy]

Hi there, currently I live in Holland, in the grid, joining the rat race like a good citizen, to earn money for my beloved government so they can life a live of luxury…

If I can get out of this madhouse today, I would, but to be honest I haven’t got a clue how to. My dream is to move to Portugal, to buy  a few acres preferably with a stream and at least 1 water well. To get off the grid and start living. Why Portugal? Because the climate is year round good for gardening, the people are nice, there is much less hectic, I just fell in love with that country! A few months ago I started a course to get to know the language.

Are there any offgridders in Portugal who can help me, give me advice? Or are there any ‘want to be’ offgridders who also want to go off the grid in Portugal with whom I can exchange thoughts?

Hope to hear from you!

Love, Suzan

 

[caroline1]

Bom Dia

Yup there are some of us, but not portugal as you know it, the azores…  look it up, when tshtf this will be a far better place to be, mainland europe is heading for disaster…  lots of ideas for you if you want

[caroline1]

Forgot to mention, a lot of people in the azores speak english…

[Hyra]

Hi Suzan,

I also live in Holland, and I feel like the stress of living here is starting to get to me. I share your dream of leaving it all behind and moving to a less densely populated country.

My first choice would be Costa Rica, as I have done some travelling there and fell in love with the place. However, Portugal sounds very enticing as well, and maybe a little more practical. ;)

Have you found some other like-minded people already?

[GridlessSuzy]

Ola Caroline1,

All ideas are welcome, right now I am in the dreaming process waiting for the right time, place and people to make it happen! The Azores, I haven’t thought of them… yet…, but like you mentioned mainland is indeed heading for disaster, so it is certainly an option to keep in mind.

Do you live there? If yes, for how long and what obstacles did you encounter? I want to know everything!

Because I want to live there the least I can do is learning the language, witch is not to easy… It is good to know they speak English there, in case they don’t understand my Portuguese. ;-)

Love, Suzan.

 

[GridlessSuzy]

Hi Hyra,

Costa Rica sounds mighty good, but Portugal is the place to be for me! I did find a like minded person who currently lives in Sweden. He wants to buy a plot in Carrapateira and is looking for like minded people to buy with him to start a community there. I have been in Carrapateira once, we went to a camper parking at the beach, it was a lot of fun, all kind of people with all kind off vehicles! If you want I can send you his e-mail address.

As you can read in the post of Caroline1 there are some off girders  in the Azores I don’t know if they live in a community or alone.

Love, Suzan

 

[caroline1]

Hi there

We have been living and sailing around on our boat for many years, but decided that perhaps the time had come to move ashore, this was thinking about the onset of old age (not there yet, but to set up a viable and sustainable land base we know will take a few years).  So, we first asked ourselves what we needed to survive.  Good land, sunshine, water, security.  As Europeans we still have (but for how long?) a free health system.  Having sailed through the Azores before we decided to stay a while on our next trip through.  We put our boat to bed for the winter and rented a very small cottage (more like a stone shack!) and hunkered down for the winter.  First I dug over all the garden and planted as many things as I could, learning so much along the way.  We searched for land at a price we could afford on the island that we were staying, but alas the cost of prohibitive, also, there is only one doctor, and when he can’t help, he sends you by plane to another island….   what a hassle.  So that made us decide to move to another island.  We managed to buy a fantastic plot of land, which wasn’t too far off what we really wanted, amazingly it is possible to build (legally) as there is an old ruin that is stated on the deeds to the property.  The winter here is wet, with amazing atlantic storms, the main problem that I have encountered is standing water in my garden, I have now decided that we will have raised beds.  As our background is living on a boat, self sufficiency is second nature to us, you have to know about food, storage, water, power when thousands of miles out at sea… or die!  We would like to go fully self sufficient with power in the future, but will for the time being use the grid as we will not have to put in the initial investment.  Things like lithium batteries are coming down in price all the time.  There are no real problems living here, just remember it is Portugal, and like Spain, they work on a different time scale to the rest of Europe (slow).  Most people do speak some english, which is both a help and hindrance as it makes language learning difficult.

If you are thinking about the azores, spend time on the internet looking.  But if possible, come in the winter, so as you get a feel for the real place, it then gives you a chance to look around and ask people what land is for sale etc.  Buying land/property in portugal is now a lot easier than the past, once you have found something, get a lawyer and he does the rest… allow about 300 euros for his fees (he will also act as the notario).

 

We are living by our selves, not in a community, though we are always happy to help out when others need it, and to share what we don’t need, I don’t know if there are any dedicated communities here, but there are a lot of like minded people.

Good luck with your search…  and to give you an idea, we bought our land for the price of a small second hand family car!

 

 

[indigochaos]

Have you heard of the Hive?  They might be able to give you advice about offgridding in Portugal.  I’ve never been but I’m hoping to visit later this year.

https://thehiveportugal.org/

“Four years ago the Hive launched the open-ended repopulation and revival of a rural Portuguese village, Rossaio…   The current commitments of The Hive are towards defining identity and taking responsibility for the cultural development of the area. A self-build, community-led conservation village rooted in the future living in the present hosting events and doing outreach all year round is an exiting, welcome and necessary project in rural Portugal.”

[GridlessSuzy]

Thanks Indigochaos,

Two days ago I found them on the internet and have made contact! This summer I am going to Portugal (like last year and the year before) and hope to visit them for a few weeks! If, than I will be there three weeks starting july 28, do you have an idea when you will be there?

Best regards,

Suzan

[tippingtipis]

Hi

We moved to Central Portugal in August 2012.  We bought a 3 hectare quinta with 270 olive trees and lots of fruit trees it is heaven!  We had been travelling around Europe for a year in our landrover helping others in exchange for food and accommodation through a website called Workaway.  We fell in love with Portugal the moment we arrived and found our dream land near Penamacor near the Spanish border.

We have been living off grid having installed our own solar, using water from our wells for washing and collecting drinking water from the local fonte. We spent the first year renovating the large barn into living accommodation and built 2 large wooden platforms and put 2 x 6 metre tipis up for friends and family.  We became hosts with Workaway and most of the people who came to help ended up buying land in this area as it is still very affordable.  We are building a wonderful community of like-minded people :-). We are now renovating our a beautiful 300 year old stone house that came with the land and already have bookings for the  summer.

If anyone is interested in finding out more we have a website http://www.tippingtipis.com and would love people to come and see what we have done, share our knowledge and experience.

 

[Moonshine]

Hi there GridlessSuzy,

 

I have been offgrid in  SW Portugal for more than ten years now, What help do you need? Is there a way I can PM you my email or similar?

Best wishes.

Moonshine.

[GridlessSuzy]

Hi Moonshine,

Thanks for your reply, my mail address is poldervolk@hotmail.com. If you send me a mail, I will send you my official mail address later on.

Best regards,

Suzan

 

[Moonshine]

Hi again,

Have sent you a mail. Hope to hear back from you soon.

Bye for now.

Moonshine.

[Televison Casting]

Documentary looking to showcase families/individuals moving off the grid

If you are in the process of moving off the grid or have recently made the move (Within last two years), then we want to hear from you! We’d love to showcase your move and go inside what sort of fun experiences you have incurred while also educating our viewers the benefits of changing lifestyles. Candidates should be self-sufficient, living in a very remote location, and have a unique style home that yells “off the grid.” It can also be an international move or a local move. There is also an honorarium that would be included for those families featured on the show. If you are interested and have questions contact us at globaltelevisioncasting@gmail.<wbr />com, or Skype me at Joefromnyc, or call me at 212-231-7716

[Author]

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