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"I used to be a basket case but now I live in
Lisbon," she wrote on Instagram on Sunday under a photo of
baskets hanging from the ceiling of an old Portuguese kitchen.
Local media say she has bought a 7.5 million-euro ($9 million)
estate in the mountains of Sintra, outside Lisbon, and will
continue to stay at the Pestana Palace hotel, where she is in
the royal suite, while it is refurbished.
The 18th century Quinta do Relogio estate mentioned by various
news outlets was still up for sale on the Engel&Volkers real
estate agency's website on Wednesday.
If the reports are true, Madonna - who wrote that "the energy of
Portugal is so inspiring" - joins film stars Michael Fassbender
and Monica Bellucci who have bought properties in Lisbon in the
past year.
Among the reasons the pop star has come to Lisbon is that her
11-year-old son David Banda has started soccer training at the
youth academy of Benfica, according to the Lisbon club.
She also arrives as Portugal has been named Europe's best
destination for expatriates to live in 2017 and the world's best
for quality of life, in a survey published by social network
InterNations on Wednesday.
In the overall global rating for best expatriate destination, it
soared 23 positions from 2016 to No. 5, making it the leading
gainer worldwide.
Portugal, which boasts sandy beaches, golf courses, historic
castles and some of the lowest prices in Western Europe, was
hard-hit by an economic and debt crisis in 2010-13, but has been
on a steady recovery since and is going through a tourism boom.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Axel Bugge and Robin
Pomeroy)
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