Cascais - Life in Portugal - pros & cones
How do you do? Nice to meet you, good. So... A lot of people call Cascais a Portuguese Rivera and they call that is like a very special city to live. So, what can you say about this? It`s... Actually, we consider it the best place to live one day in our lifetime not in Portugal, but in the world. It`s a combination of facts and factures, that`s built in our firms, what we believe, a perfect city. And actually, it`s a village, we are still a village of 210 000 inhabitants in territory of 90 sq km. And we construct the city, we think the city
to ourselves, not thinking about others, not thinking about tourism. And we think that it is a positive excellence for others to come just to visit for one day or to establish here and become our beloved expense as we call them - our neighbors like yourself. So it`s a combination of a very-very-very large number of things, it`s environment. You want to keep the territory safe and clean, it`s about security. Portugal is the third safest country in the world,
and Cascais is the one of the safest cities in Portugal. It`s about our natural park, it`s about our ocean. And promote the sustainability. It`s about cleanliness in the streets, it`s about education. We have 4 universities in our territory, in Cascais. And we are only starting, because education is the future. So the territory is worldwide, that the most grow out of three: create, establish and develop talents. So if you have the universities,
after that the companies come, entrepreneurs, investors, little business, large factories with low salaries. No, we want small companies, high potential, high salaries. High salaries - more investments, more investments - more jobs, more jobs - a growth as a city, you know? And we are not trying to create a welfare state, but we want to create a welfare society, when the important things are the neighbors, the communities, etc. That`s how we think the future of Cascais. Nice. And how many ex-pats are living here? Oh, 10% of our inhabitants are ex-pats, some talk about 15%, so we have more than 100 nationalities. That says zero because
we integrate everybody. Neighbors, neighboring, it`s a very important word neighbors, because worldwide people live in buildings, they don`t know the next-door neighbors, right? And integration is done in many, many ways. We have like expect clubs, we integrate them with the cities, they talk with the mayor, with the deputy mayor, and all the counselors. Because we want to integrate them, we want to make them a part of the society. They are in
our local schools, and we have 14 international schools in Cascais, 14 international schools, even a Swedish one, German, French, you know. I have bought a property near the German school, actually. We have 14 international schools and that`s all about integration. And if you integrate the ex-pats,
you can make them contribute to the society as well. And our ex-pats they are mostly are high ranked people from several companies around the Europe. They're working in Lisbon, but they choose to live here, because of the quality of life and the all the things that we've talked about And what nations cover the majority? So we have a lot of French, we have a lot of Germans, we have a few Russians and now a few Ukrainians And one Latin as well. And one of them you told about 100 nations, so maybe I would be the first? 100 nations, and 100 and 1. And hundred and one nations living in
Cascais. We have a few Spanish as well, a large community of Swedish people, and… We have a lot By your forecast, how many people will move to Cascais in the nearest 5-10 years? So, I believe that in terms of population our limit will be 235 000, I don't know the numbers specifically, but we have limits in terms of construction and housing. So we don't want to put Cascais on the map as an ex-pat, it`s an organic thing. People will come, if they enjoy - they stay. And they will create again jobs, they will establish the families. We don't want to be considered as an ex-pat city. We are Cascais. Whoever wants to come, to work, to build with us a better society, it is very welcome to Cascais.
Are there any restrictions you've mentioned like there are some national parks, the height limitation of buildings, so that means that Cascais is very limited. So could you tell us more about it? And we want to keep it that way. We don't want to be like New York or Hong Kong with high buildings, like whatever city in the world. We want to stay just as we are. Beautiful as you can see, with limited constructions in height to maintain the buildings with our architecture. It typical for Cascais, this type of architecture, that came from the kings. When King Carlos the 1st, he established in Cascais and changed Cascais forever. And you will see little palaces in
Cascais, little balconies, and that is the “summer architecture” as we call it. As it is, we want to renovate inside, if the building is the old one. But we don't want like new constructions, huge buildings to increase the capacity of the population. No, the capacity is what it is, what is a plan that we`ve already shown for the next ten years and we want to keep it that way. Oh, nice. Could you, please… What in the national park
you cannot build anything, it is 100 percent protected forever. So the government implemented some laws about national parks and Cascais reinforced those laws to have constructions zero. So 1/3 of our territory is a national park and it will be like that, and in the future, forever. So could you tell us more about the next 10 years. You've mentioned that Cascais has a plan, so, what is a plan?
So, we have a new area next to Nova University, the top 30 in the world Business School. And we have a development area there. We have small development areas in areas of Cascais, which they are building right now. And another one west in the territories, almost center Cascais as well. So we will invest in universities, so we have three more universities in Cascais, the medical school. The high school?
It`s university. So we made a deal with Nova. Nova is one of the public, best public universities in Portugal. That is an amazing job in ______? No, they are in Carcavelos, it the frontier with the Vedush. The business school is there,
the medical school is coming and two others are coming as well from Nova. So as I said we believe - education is the future. New projects are developing up there. So we will have a few new hotels, international hotels: Sofi Hotel here in Medina, will have Illton back there in Cascais, we have the student hotel from Dutchland in Carcavelos and two others are projected in the north of Carcavelos. So, yeah, we would like more choosing, quality choosing, we want more in housing quality, quality housing as well and of course more education and all the externalities are coming from there. My favorite balcony.
Architecture like “summer architecture”? Yeah. That top house will be mine someday Okay. Hope we will have some breakfast there with you. Could you provide any statistics on how many tourists visit Cascais annually? 2020? So, in normal years we have roughly around 2 million room nights. So, we are the fourth touristic destination in the country. But we don`t want, myself and my team, working in tourism,
we don`t want 5 million room nights, no. We want more quality, increasing the average room rates, increasing the ref part. More income to the owner to create more jobs, again, yep, more jobs, and economy flowing again. So, I believe we will be 3 million room nights in the future. And we will stay like this. And how many hotels will be there in the next 5-10 years? 5-10 years - 7 more hotels. We have 43 at the moment,
some of them are still closed because of the pandemic, of course. But mostly of the 43 hotels, they are 5- and 4-star hotels, and I believe this will continue this way. We want more quality. And there will be eligible for Golden visa purposes as well.
The discussion is still going with the governments. I believe that till the end of 2021 there will be Golden visa for the Lisbon area. Residential property? Residential property and the cultural Golden visa, and the business Golden visa as well. But I believe it is still in negotiation, So, we'll hear more about it in the nearest future. But think about investment opportunities here.
So, what can investors expect here in Cascais? So, first of all, Investors can expect a filial, a deputy mayor and investment agency, working all along with them. So we have a green line instead of municipality for investors. So if you want the meeting, that meeting will occur in one week 15 day-time. So municipality supports? Municipality supports investors. Of course, we select the type of investment that want. I said we don't want large factories in Cascais. First of all, we don't have a territory, and second
of all that will bring low salaries, etc. So what type of investments? We are having here in Cascais a lot of hedge funds, a lot of real estates, lots of real estates, small hi-tech companies. We are investing a lot in smart cities. And we are the reference of smart cities in the world in
partnership with the Lloyds.Sell smart cities for us for sure will be the future. We are already an example internationally And we've already become a role model. So, we know that. So hi-tech will come in the universities more as a raw material, come from there, from those kids every year will put Cascais even more in the map in new technologies and in thing that you and I don`t know yet. Because the world is changing so fast. But I believe that is the main business roads,
we are focusing on right now. And can you describe the situation around these smart cities? So the deputy mayor always says and I believe he's right: “We only talk about smart cities because we built stupid cities”. Right? Yeah, actually. Where you need to change something.
The smart city it's not only about to connect and connectivity. It is also not about new technologies talking to your smartphone. It is much more about that. For example, we have a smart bin over there, for you to put your garbage. And it automatically divides the garbage on categories. And it connects with the guy that will collect the garbage. And all the bins all over the city they're talking to the system. And the routes of the truck that will pick up that garbage will be smarter routes to pick up that garbage. Less gasoline, less time,
more efficiency, you know? And smart cities is everything. It`s having a control center for all police forces and civil protection and so on. Everything is connected in the same space. And automatically you can control all the CCTV cameras, all the police, all civil protection and so on. So examples are enormous about everything, you know? But in future in tourism
that mopi that is standing over there probably will tell you that about our 18 museums: you shouldn't go to Paula Rego because you have a queue for 10 minutes, but you can go to the Ocean museum, where there is no queue over there. So the possibilities are enormous we are working in the variety of things, sustainability, etc, etc, etc. You've mentioned that you were born here in Portu. Yeah, I had three very happy days of my life in Portu, my mother was there. No, I am from Cascais,
ever since I`ve lived here, ever since. What do you like the most here? In Cascais? Yeah. The people. The people. You look to the people, usually, I say that people from Cascais they walk
differently, they talk differently, they dress differently. We are different and we are proud of that. We dress, like we are almost on holidays, But working, working a lot every day. But the people of Cascais is a person if I can say, personality of someone from Cascais, it is someone who loves to talk, who loves to host, loves to show you around. Yeah, that is a thing about Cascais, it is atmosphere, the ocean always next to us. We`ve been hosting forever.
The king started that. And as you know we were a neutral country during the WW2, so we hosted all the exiled kings from Europe. And I believe the history showed us that. That is, we are just like that, we are people that love to host, love to create, love to renovate. So, what I love the most about Cascais - the people. Then our territory,
the territory is amazing. It`s clean, it`s safe. It`s very different 00:16:07 And it`s different, it feels different. The weather, we have 300 days of sun. And it makes you smile every day. When you go home, and you are driving in your car or walking or on a bicycle, you are smiling, because, how can you not smile with this, right? The food is outstanding. Our gastronomy is very, very good, based on the Mediterranean.
What is your favorite location? Oh, look, the mayor is there. That is our mayor Carlos Carreiras, so he is the one, who will be changing Cascais forever. So, my favorite locations. I love all the restaurants next to the shore. I love one inside the Cascais. The gastronomy is amazing and the service is amazing. You won`t find them very expensive, in international terms it`s not very expensive.
But you will find the gastronomy absolutely amazing. The wine is very good, the Portuguese wine is very good Yeah, I bought a fish liver here in Mercado, and it is just 10 euros for the whole liver. And we grilled it, we covered it by honey. So that was maybe the best food I`ve ever tried here, in Portugal. And imagine the fish. Comes from here, goes by fishermen boats. Every day
we have fresh fish on our tables, and that is absolutely amazing. We consider that we have the best fish in the world that slides every day from here to the best restaurants in New York. Every day. Isn’t it amazing? I didn`t know about it. Mister Miguel mentioned that Ronaldo, Johnny Depp invest something here in Quinta da Marinha.
So, yeah, could you tell us more about this? 00:18:06 About famous people? About the celebrities, about celebrities, who invest. Back in the days, and it still goes that way, people from around the world choose Cascais to live. And celebrities, they are no exception, they are people as well. Ronaldo, Ronaldo just bought the house here in Cascais and a few other players, they just bought houses here in Quinta da Marinha. Also Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Formula 1. Johnny Depp also owns a house here in
Cascais. But King Juan Carlos I of Spain, he lived in Cascais. all other kings from Romania, they lived here in Cascais as well. Ian Fleming. Ian Fleming wrote his first line of Devil 007, when he was a spy in Palacio hotel in Estoril. So, famous people have been all over Cascais and they will continue to come here because they feel at home, they feel safe, nobody will approach them on the street, no. We are used to hosting celebrities in Cascais from the variety of international events that we have here. So they will continue to choose Cascais.
In this particular square I took a picture with president Marcelo last year. Yeah, our president also lives here. And he swims here every day. Yeah, I also saw him another day. Yeah, he lives here, every day he walks. Sometimes with no security, with no bodyguards, with a towel and he just goes there to swim.
There is about the safety, so we can see how safe is here and I feel it because we can talk about ratings, but one day you should feel it, how safe is here. Honestly speaking, I am living in the given community, but anyway I don`t close my door. One day I forgot my key inside, so I just crossed the garden and entered the terrace. So I`ve never faced any crime situations here.
The thing is, as you say, it`s not about the statistics of safety, it's about you feeling safe. And you know that if you are walking with your phone, you won`t be robbed. or your watch, or with wallet in your hand, you can cross the street to the station - no problem at all, right? And it's a perception of safeness. And a mayor invested a
lot in safety and security. So we have 3 police forces, 2 national ones, and 1 local police. They speak English? Yeah, they speak English. And the mayor, he provides everything: buildings, cars, boots, guns, everything. Because we want those policemen to feel good with the best materials possible. So if they feel good, they will smile more, you know? A combination, as I said. Cascais has a load of advantages, but what do you dislike here? What do I dislike about Cascais? Woah, that is a tough question. Sharp one.
Sharp one. I can say, what I would like to improve. Because I don't know if there is something that I dislike. I would like that people in the interior have the same mobility as people in the sea level, you know? And they are all on the same territory. So equality again. The mayor is reinforcing the new bus lines, the new buses in Cascais and actually, they are all for free. So all inhabitants of Cascais have buses, bicycles for free. So, mobility is a good
question and we are trying to improve that. So, education again. We are improving a lot education, we are investing a lot in the primary schools and high schools and also universities. So they can grow as a whole. So you need to increase education level throughout the society. We need better salaries but it's the country. Again, if we have more Investments, higher salaries, and then society that improves as a whole. So I cannot say that I dislike, I can say to you things that I would love to see improved. It's more about improvements instead of dislikeness.
I have very a precise checklist because I used to live in the United States, in Brazil. I've changed three locations before I get here to Portugal, and I didn't find any. I got 0 dislikes here. For example,___ is an amazing location, but there you feel seasonal changes. It's all crowded in summer, it`s empty in winter. Here there is not a touristic place. That is a touristic place,
but it is still a very residential one. So, besides of that Exactly like I said, we build a territory for ourselves and expecting that this will be the external thing that others can see. Could you tell us more about your lifestyle, your activities? Myself? Yeah. You as a resident of Cascais. Yeah, I am a resident of Cascais. My wife and I, we walk a lot, we live here, 2 km away from here. So will leave the house
and we go to have breakfast, to the center of Cascais, here, to Cascais bay. My kids, they study in Estoril. So, picking the kids from school, going to the park to play a little bit. Fortunately enough we have a lot of gardens, so we spend time in our garden. I love to read and to listen to some music, sitting… 00:24:19 So one day we can meet here, in this area. 00:24:21 Oh, for sure.
I love to sit there above, to read a book and just looking to the ocean or to listen to some music. But we have a lot of cultural activities, we have 18 museums. And we love to explore them and go to the openings of the exhibits. We go to the symphonic orchestra concerts. Cascais has its own symphonic orchestra. Oh, I didn`t know. Yeah, with 4 concerts per year plus two. One it is in our music festival that happens here. So we have a lot of events, and we try to make the most of those events and bringing the kids along, of course. So we go to restaurants every weekend to have lunch, dinner,
if possible. So, yeah, we explore everything, like you do. We love to live here. Cascais hosts the Ironman. I did half of Ironman in the United States, so I am awaiting… You can do a full distance? I should do it. It will happen this year? Yeah. We will have both Ironmans, will be the second place in the world that has it.
And we will have the half distance and full distance in the same weekend. Only to cities in the world? Yeah, have the two distances. Together. The first one..? It`s in France, I believe. But it is a hard race here. Because of the mountains. Yeah, it`s crazy! Someone will swim 8 kilometers, and then ride on the bicycle 180 kilometers and after that run a marathon. I believe that it's outstanding, it's taking men or women to the
limits. But you will do it with the best view in the world because you will run here, you will swim here, you will battle on your bicycle. Yeah, you should do the full distance. We have a marathon as well. That starts here and till Lisbon. We also have a marathon, if you don`t want to battle and swim 8 km plus 180 km. Yeah, and I see, that the people who are driving the cars here, they are very tolerant with the bicycles. And if it is a slow speed, they are just
riding behind you and nothing happens. If you live here, you feel the atmosphere of surroundings. And if the streets are red, this shows that bicycles should come through here. Yeah, we have to respect everybody, it's about tolerance, integration again, and so on, and so on. So if you want to promote a healthier lifestyle, you should prioritize bicycles, right?
Absolutely. And how many golf courses are there in the area? 7 golf courses. I started to play golf 2 years ago and I'm really bad about it. We have 7 amazing golf courses. One of them is the top 100 of the world, in Oitavos, Quinta da Marinha.
So, 7 very good golf courses. Do you feel the demand of immigrants from the United States, from Russia. Because as I see a lot of Americans start moving to Portugal. I cannot say that it is like extreme growth, but yeah. I believe, Portugal, as a whole, it is very attractive to multiple nationalities.
Politically speaking, we are very stable. In terms of criminality, the third country in the world. In terms of education, we are as good as any country in the world, at least. And we are going and going, and investing in education and etc. So, nowadays, being digital, in digital nomad you can work everywhere in the world. Why not Portugal? Right? We have the best: international schools, the best universities, weather, you can work from here. You
are in the center, in Europe. So in two hours, you are in London. In 3 hours, you are in Paris. 4 and half hours and you are in Russia or Ukraine. And Brazil in 7 hours. The United States from 5, if you go to San Francisco - 11 hours. Yeah, we have a very good international airport. Here in Cascais, we have private airports, owned by a city, but it is an international airport as well. For private jets. So, you can land here and live here. So, I believe Americans, Brazilians, people from Ukraine, from Russia, from China From Monovato ????? For sure, fo sure. Yeah, why not. And what about healthcare system?
So that is another topic, where the mayor is investing a lot. So, all our healthcare centers, that have general practitioners when you go and do your day today. So they're all renewed. 100-percent renewed in September this year. So we have our own public hospital, private-public hospital, we have a lot of private clinics, and have agreements with all the insurance around the world. They all speak English. Our system is a social system in Europe. and in Portugal,
it`s free. So if I will go to the doctor as an inhabitant, I will pay just €1 or €2 or so. Yeah, insurance that costs like 70 euros per month, and they pay 2 or 3 euros for the appointment. And the thing is that I don`t need to wait for a long time. And especially when I come to the hospital and I wait like a half an hour. In the United States, not for the camera, I used to wait for like 2 hours. Even if I came in my appointment time. And it's very cheap. 00:30:37 Yeah, different systems, some countries they have low taxes, low taxes, but an expensive heath system. You can agree with that
or not. In Portugal it is free. So free access, universal access for any kind of disease. If I fall to the side right now, and the ambulance comes, picks me up and takes me to the public hospital and I will have the surgery, and every material that I'll need for free. And in my opinion that is how it's supposed to be. That is like schools, public school is for free. The university has a small tuition per year. It`s very small and it's for university. And if you are a good student you have a scholar. If you cannot afford it, you have scholar as well. So, yeah, it's for free.
2021-10-05 06:36
