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Olá Portugal

If we are lucky in our lives, we get unexpected windows of opportunity, a chance to do something totally different, to change tack or to travel a different path. Two years ago this month, I was offered an impromptu visit to Portugal – it was to change my life for ever. I knew if I missed this opportunity I would regret it for life. Six weeks later, I relocated here.

I moved from South West England to South West Portugal. As one of my best friends rather quaintly put it, “I moved from the ass end of nowhere to the ass end of the ass end of nowhere.”

From Here to there:

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The European Rules of Social Kissing

Two years ago, I moved to Portugal. I moved from a culture where kissing and hugging as a greeting was reserved for family and close friends to one where kissing and hugging are a far more widespread form of greeting. This is further complicated by the fact that my partner is French and that our social circle includes family – English, Portuguese and French, friends – English, Portuguese, French, Danish, German and Dutch and business colleagues and acquaintances which include all of the above plus Spanish and Italians as well. They all have different rules for social greetings!

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Festival Day in Portugal: We Celebrate with Yellow

In the UK Shrove Tuesday — the day before Lent commences — is celebrated with pancakes. In Portugal, it is the last day of Carnival or Festival.  In other countries, the period is celebrated as Mardi Gras.

In Portugal, the time is marked by parades which include all the populace from the local nursery group to the pensioners who have their own specially adapted float. It is also celebrated with flowers:

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