Portugal my love

Why do I love Portugal?

Just spent a week with lovely friends touring Central and Northern Portugal, looking at rural properties ripe for renovation as I’ve decided its time to make my move to the countryside.

People of Paredes De Coura

At the Grotto at Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira with Hans and Manuela

At the Grotto at Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira

Traffic!

Castle walls at Tomar

Manueline Style At the Grotto at Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira

At the Grotto at Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira

Medieval church and other architecture – town square Tomar

Antonio’s palacio

Stairs to the Library – At Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira

Paving stones

Doors to the Country house of Sintra’s Quinta Da Regaleira

Smart car with Diamante decals

Waterwheel at Tomar

Solar Power

Wind Turbines outside Lisbon

Stone houses between rocks - Paredes De Coura

Stone houses between rocks at Paredes De Coura

Stone house in Soaju

Soaju – amazing medieval or earlier town – with beautiful ancient vines all shading the pavements and Hortas (vegetable gardens)

Espiguieros in Soaju

Health and Safety warnings

Dolphins off the coast at Cascais

At Cabo Da Boca – westernmost point of mainland Europe

For the people

And the fact that there are relatively less of them, this is peak hour traffic at 8am (Portuguese, especially in Cascais, rise later, so actually there was a little traffic, but an hour later!!)

And the stone castles and walls

Hidden grottos to hide from the heat, and marvel at the beauty

Lizards and benches everywhere,

And the ingenuity – of building between two rocks, because why not?

And the ingenuity of an espiguiero – a stone carved corn store on mushroom leggies, that stays dry, and rat-free – for centuries

And the ingenuity of vineyards with ancient vines which are pinned up on stone pillars to shade sensitive vegetables from (this day) 42 degree C temperatures

And for getting the job done – sans ladder or any complicated expensive stuff like that, even though you probably will not get planning permission for anything that is done without a suitably qualified (And heavily insured) engineer present, even if he hangs out the window to do it!

And I love the Manueline style and all the other architectural styles, so much art and craft – all mixed beautifully together!

And new architecture everywhere – my friend Antonio’s new look Sao Tome apartments in Lisbon

Stunning red staircases, old stone ones, and old and new wooden doors,

Smart cars with diamante (why not?) amoung the mercedes and the tractors

And wavy grey and white stone block paving

I love Portugal for their resilience – ancient waterwheels – this in Tomar

And modern use of solar power – a whole solar farm just outside newly refurbished town of Soaje

And wind power – with towering turbines on ridges absolutely all over the place

I love Portugal for being the western-most country on mainland Europe, only a tiny piece of Ireland is more westerly than this point

And for the ocean which is still pretty clean, cold and surfable for wild Dolphins (this is just off Cascais, near Lisbon!)

A country full of space – to dream while doing, places of beauty to see while the silence and the stillness of the land allows you to easily slip into “just being” mode,

a country full of history so deep it flows in the rivers, and art and creativity so new the artists don’t even know what will happen next!