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Boas Festas de Sagres
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…
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Cheapest Happy Hour In Cascais
Oh that first August in Portugal, how I worked hard to save euros. I had savings enough, but not knowing when my next paid gig would come, I fretted a lot. But the weather shined upon us, even if opportunities seemed to bubble up and pop. So we took long walks in the park, finding…
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Waiting For The Ferry
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…
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Ericeira, Mais 351
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…
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Rosé Sparkles & Sushi
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…
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Sagres For Sour Stomachs
I keep the balcony’s sliding glass door open to the breeze, which washes up from the Atlantic down the hill. Thank goodness they aren’t picking me up til 6 pm, I think, as I roll over again in the stiff white cotton sheets on the twin bed in the Eden Estoril. I’m up on a…