Pedro and Inês: Portugal’s Tragic Love Story

Some stories of love withstand time, echoing across centuries as both a warning and a wonder. Few tales capture the imagination like the story of Pedro and Inês, two souls whose love defied convention, politics, and even death itself. Known as the “Juliet of Portugal,” the love story of Pedro and Inês is a tale …

Festivals in Portugal: A great way to connect to the culture and community

Portugal is known for its strong cultural heritage. One of the first things we learned in Portuguese class was the 3 F’s: Fatima (religion), Família (family), and Football (that’s soccer to all our American friends).  However, I think the festa should be added since it is an integral part of Portuguese culture. You can find …

São Martinho Day: Celebrating Magusto with the locals

It’s November and the growing season has ended here in Portugal. All the vegetables have been harvested, the olives shaken from the trees, and the grapes picked, stomped, and processed. So the only thing left to do is celebrate! São Martinho Day or Saint Martin’s Day is celebrated as the last day of the harvest …

All Saints Day: A Popular Tradition in Portugal

Before moving to Portugal, Halloween was my favorite time of year. Six weeks in advance, we’d start decorating every corner of the house—pumpkins on the windowsills, lights strung around every room, and crates of decorations brought down from the attic. Weekends were filled with stringing lights outside, hunting for the perfect haunted house, or wandering through …

From Panic to Relief: A story of kindness in Portugal

Embark on a heartening journey as we recount an unexpected act of kindness in Portugal. Lost wallets, friendly strangers, and a genuine sense of community redefine our experience abroad. While we were standing in the beer isle in Lidl, an employee approached my wife and said “be careful of your phone.” He pointed to her …

Summer Festas: Celebrating the heart of Portuguese Community

Summer in Portugal means beaches, vacations and festas! These festas are popular parties that each village has during the months of July through September. Some last for a weekend, some go through the week. This years festas for Serra d’el Rei was four nights of a grand party. Last may, our town had a festa …

Living in a small village in Portugal: Is our life really any different?

Since we moved to Serra D’EL Rei, you can say our life is pretty different. After all, we live in a totally different country with a different culture and language. We don’t work a 9-5 job anymore so our days are slower and more flexible. And this has also allowed us to be more social …

19 Weeks Living in Portugal. Have we found Paradise?

In case you haven’t heard, we sold everything, moved and are now living in Portugal! We loved it so much that we decided to sell everything and move. But since we’ve been here, the blog has sort of been on hold. But we’re back!! And we are back with a podcast! Wondering Works for us …