Pavilhão Chinês in Lisbon is one of my favourite bars to take visitors to because every surface is crammed with collections; over four thousand pieces in total. You could spend hours just looking at all the oddities so it’s a good job they have an extensive collection of cocktails and exoticRead More →
Judging by the number of craft fairs in Portugal, handmade arts and crafts are popular here. Most reasonably sized towns hold at least one dedicated arts and crafts fair, and there are usually a liberal sprinkling of handicrafts for sale at foodie fairs if you’re on the lookout for PortugueseRead More →
The sun is back and ice cream season has officially been declared open. By me. One of the happiest discoveries I’ve made in Portugal is an ice cream parlour in Figueira da Foz that sells the best ice cream sundaes in the world (in my experience so far, at least).Read More →
The rejuvenating properties of white cement are noticeable in the lakeside town of Santa Comba Dão (aka the ‘Princess of the Dão) in central Portugal. Like botox for buildings, the cement has been used extensively to smooth out the deep gaps that had formed between the granite blocks of traditional buildings. The roughRead More →
I have a certain fondness for quirky hotels, especially ones that I can afford to stay in. That’s why I couldn’t resist when Casa de Sezim Hotel popped up in my search for a hotel near the UNESCO World Heritage city of Guimarães, the ‘birthplace of Portugal’. Casa de Sezim isRead More →
Part of my ‘Personal A-Z of Portugal’ series of posts. D is for Daisy, the rescue dog we adopted from the municipal kennels in Coimbra.Read More →
Look downhill from my balcony and you’ll see a U-bend of the River Alva flowing past our house before it curls back around the village. The water froths and tumbles over the rocks beneath the tiny weir, providing a constant soundtrack to life in Moura Morta. I hardly notice it theseRead More →
Dreams come true in various ways at the Santa Catarina Castle Hotel in Porto.Read More →
I can’t remember the last time I went anywhere as touristy as Albufeira and it came as a bit of a shock to the system. I haven’t seen that many pink shiny people in one place since one August bank holiday weekend in Rhyl (but that’s another story). In August,Read More →