Europe
Learning to live with eating seasonal fruit and vegetables
Travelling around rural parts of Europe we regularly spot roadside fruit and veg stalls, a good way of seeing what are the seasonal ‘in things’ in any destination. […]
Portugal
Portugal
Slow travel, overtourism and rural locations
“Bom dia,” the woman smiles at us. She leans on the granite window frame of a traditional farm labourer’s cottage, watching inquisitively as we stroll through the tiny hamlet. “Little does she know we might be harbingers of a mini invasion,” Andy ponders. […]
Europe
The end of spring in central Portugal
The season has changed. This hit home on Friday in the supermarket where there was a distinctly different vibe. People were dressed in full on summer uniform. There were telling empty places on the shelves where boxes of Sagres beer and sacks of BBQ briquettes should be. […]
Europe
No magic required, how to make cities smaller
Meeting up with a friend from Manchester for an afternoon and evening in Lisbon recently, the realisation dawned that in the last two years Lisbon had also shrivelled in size. […]
Chile
The good, bad and ugly of hire cars and airports
A factor often connected with satisfaction levels is picking up/dropping off rental cars. The experience, good or bad, doesn’t impact on how we view a destination, but it can leave a lasting impression. […]
Douro
Plain Sailing on a Douro River Cruise
…the bridges and houses of Regua give way to layer upon layer of slopes braided in vines as the river narrows and the banks draw closer, embracing us in their unbridled beauty. […]
Aveiro
The saucy canal boats of Aveiro
Lounging beside a lagoon on Portugal’s north west coast, Aveiro is often referred to as the Venice of Portugal. Quite a few places with canals are referred to ‘the Venice of… ‘. It’s a description which dangles a pretty picture on the end of a fishing hook. […]
Europe
Choco frito, the taste of Setúbal
The obsession with choco frito is said to have started in the days when cuttlefish had no commercial value. So the fishermen who sailed the waters south of the Tagus, from the Sado Estuary down to Sines, tended to keep chocos for themselves […]