A Terra Liberty

The Country We Fell For Before We Ever Lived There

From the outside, nothing was happening. From the inside, Portugal was in every conversation. There were four years between the first time we came together and the day the removal van arrived at the house in Scotland. Four years of ordinary weeks, in a country we already knew was not going to be our final one. It did not go anywhere. It sat in the small hours. It came up in the middle of Wednesdays. It was still there in the morning, waiting.

Two Years in a Motorhome Across Europe: What It Taught Us

Before Portugal became permanent, it was a stop on a long road. Here is what years of nomadic living distilled down to one clear truth.

Raising Young Children in Central Portugal: Four Months After Moving From Scotland

The Gas Bottle, and What It Taught Me About Time in Central Portugal

The man arrived in the late afternoon. He was dressed in the simple working clothes of someone who has done this same job for a long time, and he was helpful in the unhurried way that I have come to recognise here, in this part of central Portugal where not everyone speaks English the way they do in Algarve or Lisbon or Porto. We had asked him to come. The bottle we use for cooking, the large one that lasts us roughly three months, was almost finished, and I had wanted to be sure.

A Slow Morning in Central Portugal

No alarm. No rushing. Just bread from the village market, strong coffee, and the sound of the valley waking up. This is what we came here for.