I'm about to go on a trip to Portugal, not knowing any Portuguese. I was planning to learn all the basics (yes, no, hello, goodbye, thank you, etc) but in a slightly more complicated situation it's useful to fall back to a different language.
I have a decent level of Spanish and I heard that most people in Portugal understand it.
However, a friend of mine (Brazilian who visited Portugal several times) claims that falling back to Spanish will be considered extremely rude, even if I try to be polite about it.
On the other hand, the Wikitravel page on Porto says:
If you speak in Spanish to a local, you will be largely understood and as a rule they will freely converse with you, but from time to time, more so with the older generation, you may be politely reminded that you are in Portugal and the native language is Portuguese.
Which one is right?
If it helps, I'll be travelling mainly via Porto and Lisbon, possibly stopping at one or two smaller towns on the way.