We celebrated the New Year by eating grapes, but in the Portuguese style: twelve raisins, one for each toll of…
We didn’t expect the medronhos, or madrones, to last so long. Those Christmas ornaments hanging from the trees all over…
As we look to the northwest from the hill, as the sun sets over the ocean 30 kilometers away, the…
Silver light of the morning. As I drive through the valley of Galamares up towards Sintra, the light filters through…
Three years ago, we moved into our home on the Sintra coast, just hours after a pleasant immigration officer stamped…
This morning I saw a squash blossom trumpeting its way through the tangled leaves of our Random Garden. Sigh. A…
As I turned the corner on one of my usual running circuits, I hit the sandy track that takes me…
Last year, during the time of figs we flew over to the Açores (Azores). A friend had just decamped back…
You hear the tram first, dog-like, at the edges of your hearing: the squeal of wheels along rusty tracks, the…
We completely missed the cues during our first summer in Praia das Maçãs. Granted, the town hadn’t advertised Nossa Senhora…