celebrating with baloons

Summer break report (week 4) – Smashed it!

pastel_de_nata76 Bilingualism, Blog, Family, Life, Portuguese, Travel 2 Comments

    After the unbearable heatwave of last week we finally set off on our road trip adventure in Portugal.   The Road Trip Actually, it was more of a mini road trip. We had intended to cover more geographic areas and to visit family around Portugal but as this was our last week, time was limited. We had intended to …

Summer break report (week 3) – delayed by the heatwave

pastel_de_nata76 Bilingualism, Blog, Family, Life, Portuguese, Travel Leave a Comment

    Our third week in Portugal brought with it an infernal heatwave and some of the highest temperatures in Europe on record, which affected our plans for the rest of the holiday… Read on to see how was our third week visiting Portugal. This post includes affiliate links, marked with *. See disclaimer for details. Farewell We had to say farewell …

Festas_Populares Portugal

The joy of popular festivities in Portugal and beyond

pastel_de_nata76 Blog, Food & Drink, Foodie, Traditions Leave a Comment

    June is a much-anticipated event across Portugal, especially in Lisbon and Porto, the two largest cities which are taken over by the Popular Saints (Santos Populares) festivities that make them feel like a big, giant neighborhood party. If you ever visited Lisbon or Porto during the month of June, in particular between 13 to 29 June, it’s unlikely …

Portuguese and Brazilian events in London this Summer                                                

pastel_de_nata76 Blog, Family, Food & Drink, Foodie, Life, Portuguese, Resources, The Lusophone Series, The World, Traditions Leave a Comment

    I talk about the allure of the Portuguese Santos Populares and the Brazilian Festa Junina in this post. But what to do if you can’t travel there to experience these fun gatherings? Try the next best thing: organise your own themed party or find one organised by the local immigrant community. If you live in London and you’re …

A flor mais grande do mundo Jose Saramago

Spoken Word YouTube playlists in Portuguese

pastel_de_nata76 Blog, Everything else..., Listening & Watching, Portuguese Leave a Comment

        This is a list of Youtube channels in Portuguese (European) that focus on the spoken word. There’s a list of our favourite YouTube shows in Portuguese for under 5 year olds here, which includes song and animation, but sometimes, we just need a good old-fashioned story. If you’re interested in resources about History for children in English or …

historia de portugal espreita cover

History of Portugal for Children (English and Portuguese)

pastel_de_nata76 Blog, The Lusophone Series, Traditions 4 Comments

    For Portuguese expats, emigrants or second and third generation Luso descendants around the world, it can be difficult to educate children in their Portuguese history and heritage, especially if you don’t have access to a community, materials and schools in Portuguese. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of resources about the History of Portugal for children. The list …