Portugal is kind of a mess. I agree. There was so much construction going on in Porto it hindered my experience there for sure. On the one hand it’s good to see them repairing things that need it but there’s still a lot behind the scenes there that’s just ramshackle. I much preferred my time outside the city centers in Portugal than I did inside of Porto and Lisbon. The people in Portugal were great though. Very warm, welcoming and kind. Can’t say the same for London but as you say, it’s kind of like a mirror of NYC in many regards.

I also think we sell our food/restaurant scene short sometimes in comparison with Europe. If we’re just going to compare the scenes in cities alone I’ll take major US city restaurants in many regards. The tipping culture here is incredibly flawed but it does lend to a totally different experience from a guest perspective, for one thing. Plus we have plenty of world class chefs and restaurants all over this gigantic country.