Couldn't agree more. If you have any pointers (to web sites) that were helpful to you as you were making your decision or preparations, please do post them.

Also, did you consider any other countries that you later struck from your list?

I used an immigration service to help me through the process. Alongside that I spent several months learning the language then weeks traveling through PT before making the decision.

You can do the immigration process yourself, but it's a long process with a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross. It was helpful to have experts guiding me through the process. Learning the language also helped a ton. The Portuguese in cities all speak English extremely well, but they really embrace you when they see you putting in some effort to speak Portuguese. I learned with Pimsleur for native pronunciation and Anki frequency vocabulary decks. I had some background with Spanish, so it was easier for me to learn Portuguese than starting from zero.

I also considered Uruguay and Malta but preferred the safety of Portugal and its bigger size.