It’s not just the British who love complaining about the weather, the Portuguese do their fair share of grumbling when it feels as though it’s been raining forever. No one really minds a day or two of rain. After all, we all know how necessary it is in the schemeRead More →
Sortelha is one of Portugal’s most romantic and atmospheric historical villages. From the castle, you can look down on the butterscotch coloured granite cottages within the village walls or out over the boulder-strewn countryside. Two of those boulders rest on the slope below the castle walls, just touching. It’s notRead More →
Although lace isn’t necessarily a fabric I jump at the chance of wearing, there’s no escaping the fact that it takes great skill to create and can be truly beautiful and surprisingly versatile. During a trip to Vila do Conde to visit the national craft fair, I learned a lotRead More →
Marianne from East of Malaga has picked a theme that’s close to my heart for her monthly blog hop challenge; street art. Portugal has some very talented street artists who express their creativity on walls around their own country and abroad. One of my favourite Portuguese street artists is AlexandreRead More →
I’m still writing up some of my trips around Portugal from 2013 but the new year means it’s time to start planning where to go in 2014. Update, January 2015: I’ve just revisited this list and written a new post about how far I got in 2014. With so many placesRead More →
I’ve never been too keen on being in front of the camera, but since moving to Portugal, and particularly since I started blogging about Portugal, I’ve found myself getting drawn deeper and deeper into photography. I quickly realised that I needed great images to illustrate my stories and since I’mRead More →
If you spend your days on an exposed mountainside watching over your flock in all weathers, you need something warm and waterproof to wear. Portuguese shepherds traditionally braved the elements in cloaks or coats made from burel, a tightly woven wool fabric that kept them dry and relatively cosy. MadeRead More →
Portuguese farmers replaced their ox-drawn carts and ploughs with tractors a long time ago but much of the traditional farming equipment, including wooden cattle yokes, can still be found in their sheds or decorating restaurant walls up and down the country. Some of the farmhouses which have been converted intoRead More →
You might be wondering what on earth thigh tiles are. If you come to Portugal and look at the roofs of older buildings, chances are you’ll see some. They’re the long, curved terracotta or clay tiles that were once made by hand. And leg. If you look closely at anRead More →
