O Meu Diário de Coimbra

Lost in a lot of translations

This probably won’t make it into the travel brochures as an example of how friendly the Portuguese can be, but back when I thought my apartment might not satisfy the tax authorities for my residency application, due to it being an Airbnb, I looked around Coimbra for other places just in case I had to move. I found one that looked interesting — large terrace, nice building, great part of town, big windows. There was a sign on the railing with the phone number. I called. I tried speaking Portuguese; the man who answered didn’t speak English. We got disconnected. I then texted and used Google Translate to indicate that I would like to see the apartment at his earliest convenience.

This is what I received back. Apparently, we weren’t disconnected.

He hung up.

Translation: Visit only after Easter. Find someone who speaks Portuguese.

Jesus Cristo