'Espera' – wait and 'calma' – easy are the words most often heard. If you go to the restaurant for dinner or lunch you have to remember it’ll take you at least an hour, especially in small, family restaurants serving delicious, fresh food. It’s there where waiters often leave to do something or cooks are just on the way to the restaurant. Being 2 hours late is not considered to be a problem at all so you have to be patient and should not wait to go there until you’re starving.
Also, working hours, when restaurants open and close are not very rigid. Most places open at 9 or 10 o’clock but actually it’s 15 minutes later or some time earlier when it comes to closing. You may often see a card 'Volto já' on doors or shop windows, but be careful – it often means that the owner has left on holiday and is coming back in a month or has closed his/her shop a long time ago leaving the card on the door..so it does not make any sense to wait.
The people´s national longing found its vent in fado music. If the Portuguese changed their life for the better they would lose what is already their national property – their longing, their nostalgia. Nevertheless they are warm – hearted, kind, friendly and helpful people, even though they do not speak foreign languages (the younger generation and those related/working in tourism do).