Café Saudade

There are some places that to me are Portugal concentrated in one spot. Café Saudade is one of them. It is somewhere to go that just lets you breathe easy and it celebrates the real Portugal. Not the Portugal of shopping centres or highways, but the Portugal of my childhood, of long trips into the countryside.

First of all it is in the magical town of Sintra, but that doesn't guarantee loveliness as many a tourist has found to their cost. Saudade, however is a veritable rabbit warren of loveliness. The building itself was once a queijada factory making traditional Sintra cheesecakes, although factory seems too industrial a word for the authentic beauty of the place.

The café's menu is excellent and offers a variety of traditional Portuguese cakes and sandwiches as well as fruit tarts, an incredible gooey chocolate cake and light lunch options. Whiling away an afternoon with a cup of herbal tea or even a single espresso - nobody will make you feel like you need to have anything more if you don't want it - is something I do far too infrequently to do this fantastic café real justice.

Saudade is the heart and soul of its owners the sunny Mary Pereira and her husband Luís. Mary is Portuguese-American and in spite of, or perhaps because of, this she actively celebrates the Portuguese heritage that so many people take for granted. Saudade sells Portuguese handicrafts - not tourist tat the real deal - and also has its own little silver store (Prataria) offering the most gorgeous traditional Portuguese jewellery.

If you have never been there I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Café Saudade

Avenida Dr. Miguel Bombarda 6

Sintra

2710-590 SINTRA

Tel: 212428804

Cork trees

I'd like to register my vote to make cork oaks one of the wonders of the world. This may seem like an overstatement, but they really are one of the most incredible, sustainable and eco-friendly resources on the planet and Portugal accounts for about 50 percent of the world's cork production.

The cork that most people know in the form of bottle stoppers (corks), floor tiles and trivets starts out life as the bark of an evergreen tree; the cork oak (quercus suber). Skilled workers strip the bark of the cork oak every nine years and the tree is left unharmed to regenerate its bark to be harvested again and again, for up to 200 years. This bark makes corks for wine by the billion.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that the 108,000 hectares of Portugal’s cork oak forests – the largest in the world – absorb about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. It also adds that each cork tree sustains over 100 species of wildlife, including the critically endangered Iberian Lynx.

Portugal's cork forests are under threat, however, as aluminium screw caps and manmade stoppers have replaced natural cork in wine bottles. Next time you reach for a bottle at the supermarket choose natural cork. It's a simple step that helps preserve this small corner of the planet.

The best and safest airline in Western Europe

Say what you like about Portuguese airline TAP Portugal - I remember a joke that said TAP stood for Take Another Plane - but it turns out it's the safest airline in Western Europe and, by some accounts, also the best.

The only fatal crash it has ever had in its 66-year history was in Madeira in 1977 when 164 people died. Not wanting to make light of those deaths, that's still a very healthy safety record. In January 2011 TAP Portugal was named as Western Europe's safest airline in the JACDEC Airliner Safety Report and fourth in the world behind Australia's Qantas, Air New Zealand and Finnair of Finland.

I'll take safety over style and comfort any day of the week. It's at the top of my list for requirements for an airline, but according to Global Traveler Magazine TAP is also Europe's Best Airline for 2011. This award was given to the company based on opinions from 36,000 readers who responded to the magazine's GT Tested Reader Survey.

In 2010 it also won the title of World's Best Airline from the UK's Condé Nast Traveller magazine.

It now serves 66 destinations in 31 countries and operates around 1,850 flights per week.

It's a state-owned airline and there are plans to privatise it as part of the conditions for Portugal to receive its financial bailout package. Here's hoping that whoever takes a slice will keep up the good work.

Neonatal care

Most people would not think that hospital care in Portugal is up to much, even those that live here. Now I'm here to tell you exactly the opposite is true. That's from personal experience, too.

Back in November 2009 I was sent to hospital on total bedrest in danger of miscarrying my baby. I stayed in bed for eight full weeks in my own private room with a TV and bathroom - that I couldn't actually get up to use but that's a whole other story - all to myself. Traumatic as the whole experience was I was treated with nothing but kindness, dignity and professionalism at every step.

The point of this post, though is about what happened after that. My baby was born at 30 weeks, which is ten weeks before his due date. His care was second to none. He had access to all the necessary technology to keep him breathing and to develop outside the womb. In all, after some respiratory complications, he spent nearly four months in hospital. Not only did it not cost us a single penny - other than the taxes we pay of course - but he got state-of-the-art care and I was extremely thankful that he was born right here in Portugal. If it happened again I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else.

It turns out that Portuguese neonatal care is ranked amongst the best in the world. I know because I checked while I was on bedrest because I'd been convinced by all the bad press, too. We would have been worse off in both the UK and the US.

In terms of the overall infant mortality rate Portugal also fares better than a number of nations that you might expect to outrank it. According to indexmundi Portugal's infant mortality rate stands at 4.66 deaths out of every 1,000 live births, just behind the UK with 4.62 deaths per 1,000 and Australia with 4.61. New Zealand's infant mortality rate is 4.78 Canada's is 4.92 and in the US it is 6.06 deaths per 1,000 live births.

My son is now nearly two years old and thriving. He's had a lot of hospital appointments to check on his progress over his little lifetime, but he's doing great. We never had to fight for treatment or wait to be admitted to hospital. He's never been on a waiting list or had to be approved for hospital care or vaccines. He just gets what he needs; no questions asked.

This stuff really matters and Portugal is very good at it.

Fado ... oops I'm mentioning it

I know, I promised when I started this blog that I wouldn't mention Fado. Well, I'm breaking that promise today and I'm unashamed.

Fado - Portugal's national music - has been given UNESCO World Immaterial Heritage Status. Hurrah to that!

I sometimes wonder if you have to be Portuguese to get it. It certainly embodies a very particularly Portuguese way of viewing the world. The name Fado itself simply means fate, so that gives you an idea of where it's coming from. It's a melancholy type of music/song that tends to be all about what has been lost. Sounds like a bummer, doesn't it? Well, it's actually astoundingly beautiful coming from the right vocal chords and the dextrous fingers of a master of the Portuguese guitar (similar to an onion-shaped mandolin). A good Fado will make you tingle all over; there's something guttural and primeval about it.

On a trip to Lisbon a visit to a Fado venue is a must. The best, in my opinion, are those where amateurs get up and sing. This can make the quality a bit hit-and-miss but that's also part of the charm and makes the good ones all the more worth the wait. Try Tasca do Chico in the Bairro Alto neighbourhood or Tasca do Jaime in the Graça neighbourhood for an authentic and far cheaper experience than the Fado houses catering for tourists. Tasca do Chico for a late night and Tasca do Jaime for Fado in the afternoon (very unusual).

The most famous of Portugal's Fado singers was Amalia Rodrigues and though she died in 1999, she is considered a national treasure. Here she is at her best:

Nem às paredes confesso

More recently the most widely-acclaimed Fado singer is Mariza. And here she is at her haunting best:

Ó gente da minha terra

make sure to listen at least as far as 01:25. I promise it's worth it.

Roast chestnuts

At this time of year the smell of roast chestnuts is everywhere.

For two or three euros you can buy a dozen roast chestnuts off a street seller and fill up your stomach with stodgy loveliness that warms up chilly hands to boot. These days they'll also sell you half a dozen... times are tough.

When you approach the chestnut "cart" the seller gets a sheet of telephone directory paper fashions it into a cone and drops in the chestnuts giving the cone a final twist to seal the heat in.

The chestnut sellers have a wonderful contraption especially designed for roasting the nuts - the design of which has probably not changed much in 150 years - that is oftentimes mounted on the back of a motorcycle. You only see them at this time of year - chestnut season - and I suspect that they've been under lock and key whilst their owners have been selling ice creams over the summer.

Hurrah for little warm parcels of Portuguese autumn pleasure!

Baby love

I have never been anywhere in Portugal where my babies/toddlers/kids have not also been welcome.

In fact, the only time anyone has openly complained was in an Indian restaurant in the Algarve and the complainer was English. That's the only time in the last five years. Truly.

The very opposite is true in fact. Wherever I go with them and regardless of the mess they make - and they do make a monumental mess, especially in restaurants - I have had nothing but kindness and understanding.

They are always invited to weddings, parties, dinner parties, nights out and every event I've ever attended since my first was born. This doesn't mean I'm not embarrassed sometimes by their screaming or when a spoon goes flying across the room. Instead of the eye-rolling and tutting I have had in other countries, though, here I get supportive comments and people actually communicating directly with my children. Interacting with them; Wow!

This is one of the greatest blessings of bringing up children in Portugal. They are a part of daily life, seen as a part of society as a whole and barred from almost nowhere.

"Desenrasque" or the Portuguese art of improvisation

Portuguese people are very proud of their ability to improvise under difficult circumstances and rightly so. There's even a special word for it - desenrasque - and in translation this means something along the lines of muddling through/improvising/getting out of a scrape. It's an extremely useful way to deal with the world.

It brings to mind Macgyver - remember the 80s TV series where the main character got out of all kinds of trouble with nothing but chewing gum and a cocktail stick? - well, that's the kind of imaginative problem solving that desenrasque is all about.

Examples would be useful, I suppose. Just off the top of my head I can think of a couple that demonstrate exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that comes naturally to most Portuguese folks:

One time I took my mini - the old-fashioned kind - to a mechanic because the battery was not being charged. It was a problem with the alternator. The car needed a brand new one, which would take six long weeks to be shipped in from the UK. Un-phased the mechanic broke open the old alternator to see its component parts only to find that the part inside that was broken was exactly the same as the part used in a Fiat Punto alternator. Long story short: I paid for a Punto alternator at less than a fifth of the price of one for a mini, which the mechanic proceeded to take apart for parts for my old alternator. Et voilá! One alternator for a Rover mini in perfect working order in less than 45 minutes.

The other example came from an executive of a Portuguese blue chip company who told me his boss was was from Sweden and believed the best companies are run by a mixture of Scandinavian and Portuguese workers. Intrigued I asked him why. "Well," he said, "When a machine breaks down the Portuguese roll up their sleeves and try to fix it whilst the Scandinavians identify the part that has failed, track down its number and order a new part in case the Portuguese solution doesn't last."

That's what I call a can do attitude.

Sunsets over the sea...

When I was little I thought that the sun always set over the sea. Then I took a trip to Brazil where the natural thing to happen is for the sun to set behind you while you're looking out towards a dark sky hanging above the ocean. It was sad to watch the sun disappear into the landscape and especially tragic when it ducked prematurely behind a mountaintop.

In Portugal - except perhaps for some places on the southern coast of the Algarve - the default setting for sunsets is over the sea. It is a quirk of geography for a country that faces West along almost the entirety of its coast.This makes for absolutely spectacular sunsets that glimmer and glint in the water and in the height of summer you get to watch a fiery sun extinguish itself in a rainbow sea.

It is a wonder of the Portuguese natural world and it costs nothing at all.

Soup... yes really... Portuguese Soup

Yes, soup. This is no small deal. Portuguese soup is one of the unknown treasures of the world.

It's nutritious, low fat and absolutely delicious. No cream here, but it's lip-lickingly scrumptious and a great way of filling up on low cal veggies before a main meal and practically getting your "five-a-day" in a single bowl.

Some of my favourites are: Caldo Verde (literally green soup, but it's kale and potato with Portuguese saiusage), Sopa de Abóbora (pumpkin soup), Sopa de Agrião (watercress soup) and Sopa de Feijão Verde (green bean soup).

For something heartier try Sopa de Feijão (bean soup - usually kidney beans), or Sopa de Grão (chick pea soup).

Order soup in a café or restaurant and you are unlikely to spend more than a couple of euros for a nutritious lunch. It always was poor man's food but it's rich pickings as far as I'm concerned.

Find some recipes here. Enjoy!

There's something about Santo António...

The night of 12th June is party night in Lisbon. Thousands of people pile into the narrow streets of the city’s traditional neighbourhoods to celebrate its patron saint by sitting at makeshift tables eating sardines, salad and boiled potatoes at more than twice the usual price for such things, listening to cheesy Portuguese tunes and drinking beer from plastic cups. It’s smoky, noisy, stinky and absolutely wonderful.

As my partying days have been put on hold for a few years because of my kids my last few Santo António nights have been pretty tame. I remember a few - way back when? -when I only made it to bed after sunrise and in time to watch the street cleaners fire-hosing the night’s revelries down the city’s drains. Not so any more, but last night had me remembering earlier Santo António nights with my father and staying up way past a normal bedtime. I watched the sheer joy on my five year-old’s face whilst eating a fartura(think long donut with brown sugar and cinnamon) at almost 11 o’clock, my 17 month-old jigging to the sound of the cheesiest and rudest of all the Portuguese traditional songsters - Quim Barreiros - and went back to how lovely these nights felt when I was little, too.

There’s something very democratic about Santo António. Almost every kind of person and of every age is out on the streets and all are doing the same things. Eating, drinking, dancing, laughing. Kids are definitely part of the party and nobody is wondering why you haven’t put them to bed yet or why they’re on their third bowl of arroz doce (rice pudding). It was great fun and my kids will enjoy it next year, too.

Positively portugal... the blog post that started it all

First posted in May:

You’ve probably heard. Portugal is having a rough time at the moment. The IMF and the European Union are bailing the country out of a spot of financial difficulty and - all being well - will be providing 78 billion euros of cash to get the country out of a very tight squeeze. If you listen to the Portuguese news, and to the international news for that matter (I heard Jeremy Paxman refer to Portugal and Greece as “feckless Southern European nations,” last night), Portugal is a miserable place to be right now and we should all be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.

I won’t try to pretend that measures imposed on the country by the IMF will lead to what in Portuguese is called, ” a sea of roses.” It’s going to be tough and there will probably be a lot of hardship. In Portugal this does not mean that some unfortunate people will have to do without a foreign holiday this year, or won’t be able to refurbish the kitchen. What this means is that the huge number of people who already live on less than the minimum wage (485 euros per month) will have to choose whether to pay the rent or eat. Feckless or not the social dangers are very real.

On a beautiful, sunny day in May like today, though, these worries seem a world away. The sun never shines more beautifully than on this glorious corner of Europe. It is a place worth living in for many reasons. The food is fabulous, the people even more so and for every financial negative that can be railed at us there is a non-financial positive.

I, through no fault of my own, am no longer able to get a new mortgage. Because of the financial situation here all the banks seem to have shut up shop to freelancers like me. It will not stop me enjoying my little piece of Portugal, though. The IMF cannot stop the poppies growing in the fields around my house, take away a free afternoon at the beach, ground the peregrine falcons swooping overhead as I drive to the supermarket or stop my neighbours from leaving gifts of fresh vegetables at my door. Portugal is wealthy indeed.

Start feeling positive...

So I'm a bit sick of all the bad news. In fact, a bit sick is probably putting it lightly. Portugal is bottom of the list in everything, Portugal is going to default on its debt and Portugal is the smallest, worst, ... bla, bla, bla!

I choose to live in Portugal - I could move to the UK or US in a heartbeat because I am British as well as Portuguese and my husband and children are US nationals. I've decided to make a point, though, of remembering why we choose to live here, so this blog is going to be all about why Portugal is worth it.

I know all about the bad stuff, but I'm choosing not to highlight it here, so... if anyone is reading please keep your downers to yourself, but if you've got any good stuff to add or helpful suggestions then go for it.


It's going to include some very trivial as well as some very serious positive things about this small corner of Europe, but it will certainly not be mentioning Fado, Fátima or Football... there are better places to discuss all three of those.


So, here we go. Enjoy the ride.