“We’d rather not take a photo” my Israeli guest says upon departure. I asked if I could write a blog about them. They may want to come and live in Portugal, so who knows, that might help them find a place. Israel is not a very relaxed place to live at the moment Everyone understands […]
Visit from Israel and beach art Read More »
The first thing she did was carry the garden table and a few chairs to another place, behind our kitchen. I suddenly saw them sitting there, mother and daughter, both with hair down to their waists. Son Remi also wants to let it grow again, and when I first met father Erwin, he also had
The eye and the hand of the Master Read More »
It was the week of unexpected visits. Randi suddenly came by. We have known each other for a long time, from rare encounters. We’re not BFF’s, but people who like and respect each other a lot. Randi is Norwegian, and was married to a Portuguese man (emphasis on was), and has a Portunorwegian daughter. There
Portuguese foreigners and foreign Portuguese Read More »
The building we live in is more than a hundred years old. The core was built as a bathhouse, with fifteen bathing cubicles. The water is medicinal and good for skin diseases. It was done according to good old Portuguese building traditions That building tradition is called: piecemeal. First the core, the bathing area. It
Portuguese building traditions Read More »
An orange light came on on the dashboard. Our Citroen is a beautiful and nice car but is in poor health. Burning lights on your dashboard are never a good sign Now I know from my incomparable brother-in-law that orange is never a reason to stop immediately. If it’s red, then yes. Then it has
Okay, then we’ll go to Roady Read More »
Did you know that there are more than 30,000 saints? I would never have thought of it, pagan that I am, if I hadn’t seen a pop-up shop in one of the small alleys in the heart of Coimbra, selling beautiful kitsch clothing. Specially for the occasion of one of those Saints birthdays, it seemed
“I’m now at about three and a half thousand kilometers,” René says nonchalantly, and I almost fall backwards. That doesn’t seem to be a big deal for a passionate cyclist; last year it was six and a half thousand. René is the first guest via Friends on the Bike – dutch organization “Vrienden op de
Friends on bicycles Read More »
If you are as much of a football fanatic as I am, a European football championship could easily pass you by, if it weren’t for the fact that a few football fanatics in my network will prevent that. (I’m calling it football, by the way, not the american style “soccer”. Those americans are playing a
UEFA Championship 2024 – and the fraternization of people Read More »
Only when I take her to the station for her return trip, we find out that Joyce was here because a friend of her neighbor knows me and said that she would end up well here. As a woman alone on holiday, you look for a trusted address “How is Jan’s caravan going?” Joyce suddenly
Woman alone on holiday Read More »
An entire wall will take you about a year and a half. Not a 40-hour working week of course, and not 8 hours a day… but still, quite a few hours went into this. We think it’s a nice result, but very difficult to photograph! The mosaic is located at the front of the hotel
Mosaic – it’s finally finished Read More »
