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Women Travel Writers: Two Episodes complete, and the Road Ahead to Spring 2027
My neighbour, the travel writer Stephen Powell, and I started this series with a simple question, what did it take for a woman to travel, alone, and write about it, in centuries that gave her almost no permission to do either? Two episodes are now complete and the answer is turning out to be different every time. Two women, living nearly 80 years apart, travelling for entirely different reasons, and writing books that still need to be read. In May 2026, we facilitated a Travel Writing Retreat at our homes in the Algarve. For a few years I have offered writers the opportunity to meet and learn together in a…
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Easter 2026 São Brás – Torch Flower Festival
The Resurrection Procession in the eastern Algarve town of São Brás de Alportel is a deeply felt, singular expression of local faith and community connection. Yesterday, Sunday 5th April 2026, we visited the vivid, communal, and welcoming celebration of renewal that invites everyone to share in São Brás’s traditions. The procession route usually winds from the Igreja Matriz through the historic centre, pausing at small chapels and squares. Each Easter Sunday the town transforms, residents carpet the streets with intricate mats of purple, white, orange flowers and greenery. Locals don their best clothes, and men from associations, the council and community groups lift flower torches high as a procession moves…
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Join us in Portugal on 18-21 May 2026 for our Travel Writing Retreat
For me, travel writing is about connection and community. It is about exploring myself as much as it is discovering new and challenging places. Stephen and I, are inviting you to a journey. This retreat is not just about improving writing skills. It is also about discovering why travel writing matters. We draw inspiration partly from 19th century English art critic John Ruskin, for whom beauty was key. Ruskin taught drawing to working men and he wanted to go beyond technique. His fundamental aim, he said, was to develop in his students a deeper appreciation of beauty. Writing works in much the same way. To describe a place well, a…
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California 2019 – Maybe our last long trip?
In 2017, Jim and I started talking about a trip to California. My ageing hippy consciousness kept telling me to go and visit the places I grew up in films and books. I also now have a couple of dear American friends, one of whom lived in California and helped with ideas for the trip. I don’t know why I didn’t write much as the journey progressed. Somewhat saturated, I guess it has taken time to reflect on the colours and stories. We visited friends along the way, a couple I only know from Facebook and a kind ex-Jehovah’s Witness who invited us into their home in Tucson. The visit…
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New – History tours of Tavira
As part of her master’s degree, Isabel Macieira has published several studies about the History of Art. She is the author of the book – “A Pintura sacra em Tavira, séculos XV a XX – estudos e inventário” (The Sacred Painting in Tavira XV to XX centuries). As a teacher between 1983-2014, she developed with various groups an awareness of local history involving the natural and built environment. So it could be said that she knows something about the city of Tavira, its heritage and architecture. Once a month or so since September 2016, she has offered a city tour to residents, visitors and tourists. The tours are grounded in…
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Flipside – Brazilian Literature and Music – the start
Snape Maltings, in west Suffolk, is the home of Aldeburgh Music, which is renowned as an outstanding year-round performance centre. On Friday evening, the Flipside Literature and Music Festival opened with “The boys from Ipanema”, by paying tribute to the composer and essayist Vincius de Moraes and the musician Antonio Carlos Jobin. They “boys” (actually two men and a woman) sang and played their way through a fabulous and clear explanation of Bossa Nova, illustrating the entwining of Greek myths and African rhythms. Author and composer, Jose Miguel Wisnik, Arthur Nestrovski, a very talented guitarist and Paula Morelenbaum, one of Brazil’s great singers, entertained and enlightened an appreciative audience. The…
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FLIPSIDE in Suffolk
Last year we went to Brazil and one of the highlights of the trip was the Paraty FLIP book festival. This weekend some of that glamour, joy and humour of FLIP, will be in Snape Maltings in Sufflok and I am going to bask in the experience. I received the press release this week and here are some of the highlights. “Brazilian literary stars Bernardo Carvalho, Milton Hatoum and Adriana Lisboa, Ana Maria Machado, Patricia Melo and Ferréz, are just some of the headlining authors taking centre stage in Suffolk this weekend for the inaugural FLIPSIDE Festival of Brazilian literature, Music and the Arts. As they line up alongside UK…
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A few photos from the launch of the Copacabana – Panoramas of Rio de Janeiro Exhibition
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The route of cork
Did you know that there is an interpretation room in São Bras do Alportel Museum, dedicated to Cork? The town has a long history of its production and extraction as well as the creative use and development of the product. This room is where the Cork Route Tour starts, if you sign up with the Rota da Cortiço Association. They offer a range of tours for the young and those less agile. Many cork trees, along with carob and olive trees were destroyed in last July’s fires. Cork farmers have lost not just one crop but many years of cork harvests. Although they are replanting, the new trees will not…
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Books, London Book Fair and Tavira reading “flash mob”
A couple of years ago a few book enthusiasts organised an event for young people at the Library in Tavira. The idea was that children of different cultures would come together and share their favourite books and read in their own language from those books. Children practiced their reading aloud to an audience and each other and on the performance day they were very excited about being heard and being able to read their treasures. This last week in Tavira, there has been a celebration of reading and young people from many of the local schools have organised themselves with the help of their teachers and the Library to read and create…
