The month of August in Portugal means a circuit of the festas that make the rounds of the towns that surround us. The carnies who set up the arching lights and bumper cars live near Mucifal—I found their off-season lair once on a run—and starting in Azenhas do Mar they continue through Janas to Almoçageme…

It’s July, and seemingly everyone in Europe has decamped to the beach. Used to be that folks took off for August, but these days people tend to stagger things a bit, so offices can keep a nominal schedule, and restaurants stay open a few more days. Still, the masses concentrate on a handful of beaches—in…

We pass by doors that frame what must have been fishermen’s cottages, back when Ericeira, Portugal, was the town of pescadores, not surfistas. Now the main praça on a Friday afternoon is lined with stalls, the keepers of which sell knick-knacks. Around every corner lies a board shop, or a café selling vageuly Portuguese favorites…

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been opposed to cream cheese in sushi…but it’s just plain wrong. And for whatever reason, it’s a real thing in Portugal. They call it “philadelphia,” and it took me some pondering to figure out what they were talking about when I first read it on a menu in…