Unwelcoming Portugal: the subtle message to go away

Portugal, the place that asks you to leave

It is said to be the paradise of Iberian tourism, but the first instruction visitors receive, according to word of mouth, is more like a "FORA DE PORTAS" (out the door). Monção, a border town, thus earns its name as the place where the exit sign doubles as a welcome card. The irony is no accident: someone has turned Portugal's supposed hostility into an unforgettable slogan: "I'm not leaving, I'm being thrown out."

The Monção sign and the Spanish holidaymaker

The image is as graphic as it gets: a sign pointing the way, almost cartoonish, so that whoever arrives knows they must keep going. From the "FORA DE PORTAS" it's a short step to the easy joke of "Portumal" and the awkward question about the Atlantic waters and the issue of tourist invasion. Some respond with love: "Minha patria chica," as if Portugal were also a piece of their own. The tension between those who feel rejected and those who feel at home needs no data: it fits in a tweet.

Politics sneaks into the language

The word "Largo" (square) can miccionan whatever you want it to. Is it "Largo Pedro Sánchez," or "it's Portugal" but with a doorway? Spanish politics sneaks in even at the farewell: the same verb used to point the way out doubles as a nod to current affairs. In the end, what remains is the suspicion that relations between neighbors are always better told with irony than with statistics.

How much truth is there in that fruta for being unwelcoming? Humor leaves it up in the air. Perhaps it's just the Portuguese way of saying that summer is theirs and, even so, the beach always has room for the Spaniard.