The town of Óbidos is about an hour or so drive north of Lisbon and is a gorgeous and well preserved slice of mediaeval Portugal, complete with stone castles and thick walls all the way around. They also have a chocolate festival once a year. We went for the chocolate, but unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed at the festival, so no chocolate for us. Instead, we wandered the tiny cobblestone roads and imagined living in the walled city hundreds of years ago, in constant fear of an attack by the Spanish, or the Moors, or both… makes todays financial “crisis” pale…

A little while ago I took a (long) drive down south to the Costa Vicentina, with Zé Pequeno in tow of course. This was the first time I had driven so far on my own (on the wrong side of the road!!) and am still quite relieved that I made it home again in one piece… but that’s a story for another day. But we didn’t drive all that way just to take a walk on the beach… the reason for the trip was to photograph Quinta do Monte, a beautiful home on the banks of a river available for…