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Bom Jesus Do Monte
Cousin Susie had this sanctuary on her “must-see” list and we wanted to visit different regions, specifically the north of Portugal, to scout locations for a future relocation. Could we really trade 300 days of sun and bright blue skies in the Algarve for a rainier, cooler climate in the north? We couldn’t even remember
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Olhão – Lisboa
Our first extended vacation in Portugal was in September. We had finally arranged pet sitting for our unruly furry kids (thanks neighbor Paulo) and there were still a couple of weeks of summer vacation left before Portuguese language school. We headed to Lisboa the day before a scheduled meeting with my cousin Susie and her
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GOAL, GOAL, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal… Goal!
Michelle and I begrudgingly watched the Super Bowl about every other year, before moving, for the commercials and a reason to make themed food, but otherwise we had little interest in football in the United States. American football (to me) seemed like a bloated, over-commercialized, and excessively violent waste of an afternoon. Other than the
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Weekend In Coimbra
When we were preparing to move to Portugal our real estate agent introduced us to another couple (Randy and Corinne) who were also preparing for their international move. Their house had just sold, they had already been on a scouting trip to Portugal and fell in love with the country. We moved about a month
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Finazzo Fun On Twitch
Michelle and I are going to try streaming some video games on Twitch. We’d love to have you stop in and say “hi” in the chat. In addition to talking about the game we are playing we will gladly answer any questions about our adventures in Portugal. This will be very casual, and just for
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Festival Med 2023
Our wonderful friend Jorge (our Portuguese professor) loves live music of almost any variety. Jorge had been telling us and other students in his classes that Festival Med in the nearby town of Loulé is an amazing event, he was going and offered to have us join his group if we were interested. The festival
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We Made It 1 Year
June 20th marked 1 full year in Portugal and the time blasted by like a bullet train. Maybe that means we have been having plenty of fun (“day drinking” European style is next level – even our background in emergency services did not prepare us for this), or perhaps we are just oldish now and
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Day Trip To Spain
One of our classmates/friends and her husband invited us along for a shopping trip and lunch in Spain. This sounds exotic from an American perspective but it’s quite commonplace here in Portugal. Spain is about a 45 minute drive from Olhão and public transportation options are also available. It is a popular destination because a
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New Year’s Contemplations
Many people use the word resolutions to describe their aspirations at the beginning of a new year. This is a bit too rigid and doesn’t inspire motivation for me. I like to use contemplations instead, which conjures feelings of reflection, thoughtfulness, and a long term analysis of a particular situation. Here are some areas I
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We Skipped Ugly Christmas Sweaters This Year
Andrew: Brother Visit: Rob made his first trip to Olhão in early December. His arrival matched up almost perfectly with the beginning of the rainiest week of the year. The rain poured down and both Michelle and I got horrible head colds two days after he got into town but we still had plenty of