Not that I know Portugal well but smaller cities have attractions in many countries. In SE Asia the big cities would have zero attractions to me—not that multi-months of living elsewhere interests me at all.
The article is about tax breaks in Portugal, the comment was that Portugal is not only Lisbon. I don't think Asian or African countries or Siberia qualify as Portugal.
If one wants to move to Portugal, then they could consider other cities than Lisbon as an alternative because the real estate market in Lisbon is quite intense.
My first source says: The average price for an apartment in Lisbon is 21€ per square meter, in Coimbra it's 12€ per square meter
See also (the numbers differ a bit, but similar ball park) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1416178/portugal-rental-...
OTOH there are reasons for the higher price (beyond hype). Lisbon feels more like a big city than Coimbra.