A new venture for me- I’m creating a page to “house” my personal A-Z’s of Portugal.
What’s it all about? Well, the idea of a series of personal A-Z’s came initially from Julie Dawn Fox. Based in Central Portugal, this lovely lady set herself the challenge of writing at least 26 posts (one for each letter of the alphabet) describing different aspects, likes and dislikes of life in her adopted country.
She kicked off the series with A is for Alva, relating to the River Alva which flows past the end of her garden. Julie’s enthusiasm was catching and before too long lots of people were taking up the challenge, myself included. I’ve had a home in the Algarve since 2004, and part of my reason for starting a blog was to share aspects of my life there. So it wasn’t long before I’d contributed A is for Alte – a lovely inland village of natural springs, bougainvillea and whitewashed houses.
B is for Beaches (what else?) was the natural follow up,
and then a tiny nearby favourite of mine, C is for Cacela Velha.
Time to spread my wings and fly up to Porto, and the river of gold, for D is for Douro.
Next came E is for Elvas, Evora too.
F is for Fonte , all about fountains and springs.
What would “G” be for? The River Guadiana, of course.
H is for Happy Heart tells of Guimaraes, European City of Culture for 2012.
I is for Ilhas is devoted to one of my favourite aspects of the Algarve, the offshore islands of the Ria Formosa.
Cabanas at sunset
You remember my D is for Douro post? Well, I finally made it! And the result, of course, is P is for Porto. I absolutely loved it!
The cable cars over the River Douro
A bit of a leap forward into T is for the Tavira Vase. The Islamic Museum in Tavira contains this fascinating piece of pottery.
The Tavira Vase
Still in the Algarve, O is for Olhao is my jump off point to get to the islands of Armona and Culatra- two of my favourite places.
Every kind of craft comes idling home
As Winter approaches I always start to daydream, so Q is for Quinta was born.
And a barco rabelo! What more would I need?
Trying to keep my Polish A-Z level with this one, having written about Queen Jadwiga of Poland, next I introduce the six Portuguese kings named João and a tale of wild boar in J is for João and “javali”.
“Javali” or wild boar
Meantime the challenge is growing. Such diverse places as Australia, Dominican Republic, Greece and the Netherlands have champions. Not only that- the alphabet challenge is being interpreted in new ways. Alyson Sheldrake of The Thought Palette has chosen to apply it to Art, her specialist subject, while Susan Writes Precise focuses on her fascination, Words.
No reason why you couldn’t join in. What’s your passion? What could be better than a forum to write about it? Read more about the challenge by clicking on the logo below, designed by Alyson.
Never one to do things by halves I’m also completing My personal A-Z of Poland – my father’s homeland. Why not join me there?
restlessjo 
How lovely !
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Thank you! 🙂 It’s time I produced another A-Z post.
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This is a lovely idea Jo. I wouldn’t mind looking at doing something like this about the Gold Coast next year. I will have a closer look at Julie’s blog as well.
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The more the merrier, Michelle. I probably shouldn’t have taken on 2 at a time 🙂
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I think this is a great idea and I’m tempted to do it for Scotland.
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I’d enjoy reading that, Lorna. I often forget to update this page though. 😦
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Thanks Jo, but I can imagine I would get into the same position very easily.
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Pages seem like such a good idea till you realise the maintenance side. Another reason I should revamp the site. Crack on with “A”. Aberdeen? I like a guessing game.
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I had a different idea for A but it could easily be Aberdeen.
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Great idea that can be applied to any city or country. I liked looking at your travels around Portugal, it is a lovely place and must be very nice to have a second home there.
Jude xx
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We plan to retire there, Jude, but home ties don’t really allow it just yet so we simply go when we can. 🙂
I’m doing a Polish A-Z too. My Dad is Polish and I have been visiting family with him over there for the last 5 years or so
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Jo, this is such a great idea for everyone! I’d love to take this A-Z challenge with my beloved New York one of these days!
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Oh you should, Antoinette- that would be brilliant! I will so look forward to that.
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great pages!! 🙂
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Wonder how that came about? Seriously, many thanks- still a work in progress.
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