Portugal (1994, 1997, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013)

Where time stands still…

Lisbon is a bustling city, with great restaurants, modern nightlife and beautiful old quarters. People in Portugal’s interior provinces, however, live just as they did a hundred years ago.

The pictures above are from the old village of Tomar.

My art teacher from high-school lives in Marvao, close to the Spanish border (indicated on the map), with his Brazilian wife. Visiting them is like a journey back in time. On their beautiful farm, friendly neighbors help with the olive orchard and bring around fruit and vegetables they grow in their own gardens. People are very poor and still live off the land. When the tomatoes are ripe, there are LOADS of them, and everybody invents recipes to use them.