From holiday to a second home on Portugal's Silver Coast

Portugal the Simple Life
3 days ago
4 min read

Could a holiday become your dream location to buy a second home?

That's exactly what happened for Victor Dée, originally from Belgium, who now calls Portugal's Silver Coast his second home. In a heartwarming turn of events, what started as a borrowed holiday home became the spark for a life-changing decision.

My Home in Portugal with Victor Dée from Belgium

In this 'My Home in Portugal' episode, Vic joins Dylan from his beautiful property near Óbidos to share an inspiring story that many dreamers will recognize: the moment when a place stops feeling like a destination and starts feeling like home.

A journey that started with a holiday

Vic's path to Portugal began in an unexpected way. “When I was young, we visited with my parents a lot of European countries,” Vic explains. “Also, when I got married with my wife and child, we visited a lot of European countries as tourists. But never Portugal.”

That changed in 2017 when one of Vic’s clients mentioned he'd built a house on the Silver Coast through Immo Portugal. Intrigued by the idea of building a home 2,000 kilometers from Belgium—something Vic admits “can be a real disaster” back home—he and his wife accepted the invitation to stay at his property in Salir do Porto for two weeks.

It was April, the weather was beautiful, and something magical happened. “We came here, we were two weeks in Salir do Porto. And for us, as we like to visit a lot of things, and we like to walk a lot, it was very interesting,” Vic shares.

The diverse landscapes, from beaches to forests, captivated them so completely that after two weeks, Vic called his client: “Can we stay a week longer?”

Sea-facing hiking trails along Portugal's Silver Coast - Salir do Porto

The decision that changed everything

During that extended stay, Vic and his wife visited Immo Portugal’s office in São Martinho do Porto. “Two days later, I spent a lot of time making calculations and we bought this house,” Vic recalls. Within days of first setting foot in the region, they'd made the decision to build their second home in Bairro Senhora da Luz, near Óbidos.

Bairro Senhora da Luz, in Caldas da Rainha

What attracted them wasn't just the stunning scenery, it was something deeper. “We come to the Silver Coast and, for us, it's quiet. After spending some hours here, it's totally different. All the stress is gone,” Vic describes, noting that many Belgian visitors say exactly the same thing.

Building a home in Portugal

The journey from an empty plot to a finished home had its anxious moments. Vic and his wife returned to Belgium while construction progressed, relying on regular photo updates and the expertise of the Immo Portugal’s team to guide them through.

Construction of Villas Moinho by Presprop - Portugal Construction

The day they received the keys to their new villa was deeply emotional. And just days later, they faced an unexpected surprise: a hurricane. “We came here on the 2nd of October and the hurricane was here, I think, five or six days later,” Vic remembers with a laugh. “We thought, okay, now the house is gone. It's finished with the hurricane. But the hurricane was gone. One day later, the house was still here. All was still good.”

Villas Moinho - interiors and architecture details — ‘Villas Moinho’, a new neighborhood of modern villas built by Presprop

Embracing local culture & landscape

Since 2017, Vic and his wife have spend about five months a year at their Portuguese home, splitting their time across several visits of five to six weeks. They've embraced the local hiking culture, exploring the PR routes around Óbidos and discovering the villages that represent “real Portugal.”

Their approach to exploring is refreshingly authentic. “We are always looking for things besides what people know,” Vic says. When they visit Lisbon and Porto, they will go on Sunday mornings between 8 and 9 AM, when they can actually see the streets, buildings, and architecture rather than just “the back of a tourist”.

Living near Óbidos Castle also has its unique charms. Vic and his wife often walk the few kilometers to the castle early in the morning, enjoying their coffee before the tourists arrive. “Then we go back,” he smiles. And the traffic jams? “You have the sheep that come past the houses here,” Vic laughs. “That's the main traffic jam here in Bairro Senhora da Luz.”

Exploring Portugal? What's still on the bucket list

Despite years of exploration, there's still more to discover. “The only thing we haven’t seen is the north of Portugal, the Douro,” Vic mentions.

Vic and his wife have uncovered Portugal's treasures at their own pace, always seeking the authentic, always avoiding the crowds. In Alcobaça, for example, they went beyond the famous monastery and discovered the Museum of Talking Machines, which is unknown to most visitors. Other places they’ve enjoyed recently the boulder-strewn village of Monsanto, or quieter Algarve towns like Tavira.

Perhaps most touching is how Vic describes returning to Portugal: “When we leave Belgium, we say that we are going back to our home. So, yeah. Portugal became our home.”