“Buçaco forest demands a whole vocabulary which, once spoken, tells us that there’s still everything left to say. You don’t describe Buçaco forest. The best thing is to lose yourself in it.”– José Saramago Bussaco (Buçaco) Forest, first settled in the 6th century by friars from the nearby Benedictine monastery in Vacariça, evokes the exact […]
“. . . inching across the land at two or three miles an hour, is like eavesdropping on a public conversation. It has its own syntax.”– Paul Salopek When I had to fetch Michael from the airport in Lisbon the previous time he visited, I decided to spend the night before he arrived in Ericeira, […]
“. . . each of our lives traces its own map onto the shared terrain.” – Rebecca Solnit A couple of olive trees in Portugal are said to be older than 2000 years. One of these can be found in Mouchão, not far from the highway that links Central Portugal to Lisbon. Millenial olive trees […]
The striking modern design of Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosarrio de Fátima (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima) in Lisbon, with its plain, mostly white exterior, single geometrically shaped tower and horizontal roof, caused a stir and heated public debate when it was built. Unlike older churches it is surrounded by […]
“Some places are for going through, others are for going to – and Monsanto is definitely one of the latter.”– José Saramago In his book Journey Through Portugal, José Saramago explains that he went to Monsanto expecting to find slate roofs, but instead found red Mediterranean tiles, and ‘imagined narrow, winding dark streets that would […]
Surrounded by a cork oak forest and giant granite boulders, the chapel of São Pedro de Vir-a-Corça looks small and plain. Insignificant even, as it is the landscape that makes the strongest impression on visitors. It feels wild, mysterious, and ancient. The inselberg, against whose flank this chapel nestles, rises sharply from the surrounding landscape […]
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