Posts by shinypenguin

We arrived in Sintra with no plan, just curiosity and a train ticket from Lisbon. As we stepped into the chaos of buses and tuk-tuks waiting to scoop up tourists, one unassuming man was standing nearby: Miguel. No logo, no hustle, just genuine Portuguese. We introduced ourselves: Pam, Tómas, Ricardo, Juliá. Miguel nodded approvingly at the Portuguese names, so I quickly re-introduced myself as Pamella. He shook his head and said, “We’ll call you Rita.” And in that moment, I knew it was going to be a great day.

Having a freebie day once a week has been a lot of fun. This week we went to the town of Monchique which is situated north of the coastal town of Portimão. Monchique is a mountainous region of the Algarve known for thermal springs, amazing views, and medronho liquor.

If it felt like Tavira Day was more than one day, it is because it was. The summer solstice celebrations focus on two things: the popular saints (Santos Populares) and the day of the city (Dia da Cidade).In Tavira, the saint celebrate was São João.

When you see black pig lizards on the menu, there's only one right answer - order it! This week has been heavy on adventures in eating and furthering our understanding of the portuguese health system. Let's go!

Landing on the other side of the river, we plopped down the bags we came with mixed with the items we accumulated over the past months. Let the construction of furnishings commence! The bed was built, the sofa came up in pieces, and lots of flat-pack furniture was assembled. The living space was arranged and rearranged and it's debatable whether we found the ideal layout or fatigued in the process.

We spent roughly 189 days living in an apartment in the city center of Tavira. With everything packed up and and ready to move just outside the city center, we didn't have much in the fridge. Maybe the chef was feeling a bit spunky when he created this masterpiece. I just kinda feel like it was the perfect last meal.

When we arrived to the apartment in November 2024, we found one knife in the utensil drawer. We came to affectionately refer to it as The Portuguese Knife (A Faca Portuguesa).

It was a deeply dark rainy night, the town was deserted and all I could think of was: what have I done? We arrived the day before with two bewildered cats in tow and duffle bags stuffed with mostly warm weather clothing. We had at least 364 more days in this adventure.

This post is a bit of an everything bagel. Some may say it is a guide but it is way more messy than that, crumbs and seeds everywhere.

In the last blog post, I promised a tale of adventure. And as we headed to the little town of Viana do Castelo in the north, I felt like a contestant on The Amazing Race. After a plane ride, enduring a 9 hour multi-country power outage, and then finding transportation for the final leg, I received the detour card.