In Portugal, try to go to the same restaurant more than once…

As with any other country, there are many unwritten rules. If you now live in Portugal, or if you’re just a tourist, read this text to get a tip that will make you more welcome in the country.

You enter in a more traditional Portuguese restaurant or café, to eat a more traditional Portuguese food. You’re nervous, will they scowl you for being a foreigner? You look at the menu or at the exhibited food, and you ask the waiter (or God forbid the manager) what dish they recommend for lunch.

He looks at you with “that” face… You know, the face of judgment… He points to the “house specialty”, like he is screaming “you entered here searching for what other than this?”.

You feel your stomach turning around, and it is not the hunger you were feeling before you entered the place… You feel small, reduced to the position of “uninformed tourist” or something like that. You drink from the water you ordered, looking at the other people in the place. Not that they’re talking about you, but you know that at least one person said “what’s this tourist doing here?”. 

Now the waiter and the manager are looking at you while they speak, as if you needed to feel worse about yourself. Someone in the kitchen calls for the waiter, he goes there and when he’s back he brings a plate, your plate…

He puts it on the table, you say “Thank you”, he says “De nada” with a somewhat long face. “You did nothing wrong”, you say, “So just eat the food”… The meal is very delicious, humble, but very good. The price is even better, and so close to the place where you’re staying… It is just too convenient.

So you go there again, they looked happy when you left, they noticed that you liked the food, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. 

When you enter for the second time you see the waiter that served you the last time, “Hello!” he says recognizing you. The “hello” could be for the worst reasons of course, like “that tourist again…”, but you give him the benefit of the doubt, the “hello” seemed too nice for that…

More at ease than the last time, you order the same dish, but the waiter says “No, no, that dish is beginners stuff. Since you liked it that much we are going to cook you a real traditional dish.”. Wow, you don’t even ask what dish it is, you just say: “Bring it on then…”

And if it’s not better than the other dish… Wow! This one really is incredible! The manager comes to you to ask if you liked the dish, you not only say yes but you also ask the origin of the dish, and he tells you everything about it… You then ask for a desert, and they bring you “the special” with a cup of liquor. And the rest is history…

It may not happen as fast, but this can certainly happen to you. Many foreigners say to me that the Portuguese are not hospitable or nice with them, but that couldn’t be further from the truth… 

The truth is this: Portuguese  (especially the more elderly) are a bit particular, hard to please at first, but the best way to break this “block of ice” is by showing perseverance and especially loyalty.

So, for example, in this story, “you” managed to surpass the initial tension by going there again, showing that even with the suspicious looks you still liked the food/restaurant. 

So you just have to pass an endurance test…

And this “distrust” is not directed only at foreigners, I can certainly relate to this too, so don’t treat it as a “stigma” against you personally… 🙂

What happens if you eat cherries every day?

What happens if you eat cherries every day

The season of fruits and berries has arrived. And already on every counter, you can find ripe, tasty, and most importantly, healthy cherries – it’s hard to resist. But what will happen to the body if you include it in your daily diet? Let’s tell you now.

Memory may improve

Sweet cherries are rich in anthocyanin, a compound that has a beneficial effect on memory and brain function in general.

Iceland’s ring road: Europe’s most sustainable road trip

Depending on the time of year, Iceland can be cloaked in an ethereal palette of green or white, as it experiences the lightest of nights or the darkest of days. And either landscape makes for an idyllic backdrop to a road trip that puts sustainability front and centre.

The capital of Reykjavik embodies traditional Scandinavian design and is home to only 200,000 inhabitants (including legendary artist Björk for half of the year), yet innovation is the driving force behind the bright facades. These principles extend throughout Iceland’s countryside – the island nation is mostly powered by geothermal energy combined with other renewable sources that make it close to 100 per cent green.

Travellers seeking to explore the home of the elves – or huldufólk – take to the ring road. This highway that borders the island was carefully built around the residences of these spirits, in order not to disturb them. And tourists can create even less disturbance by renting a whisper-quiet electric car in the capital; it won’t run low on power as there are plenty of high-speed chargers available to use along the route.

Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant

(Arni Saeberg)

Opportunities to be a part of the rural environment abound on this classic Icelandic road trip, with wild camping allowed on uncultivated land (as long as it’s for one night only) and free campsites available for those looking to pitch up for longer. For those who prefer two wheels to four, the route is used by so many cyclists that drivers happily share the quiet roads. All journeys turn up something unexpected: multiple waterfalls carve their way through the basalt; lagoons hide among the jagged rock formations; pearlescent glaciers and tiny churches built miles from civilisation appear when you least expect them.

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The ring road also provides access to the famed geothermal blue lagoon and spa retreat – another example of sustainability, powered by the landscape. It’s built using durable, camouflaging materials to make the structure a continuation of the moss-covered volcanic rock that encircles it, plus has its own sustainable skincare line made from the silica, algae and minerals found here, as well as serving local, organic food in its restaurants.

Multiple waterfalls carve their way through the basalt; lagoons hide among the jagged rock formations

Locally sourced food is easy to come by in Iceland. Everything from tomatoes and cucumbers to bananas – cultivated in geothermal and solar-powered greenhouses outside Reykjavík – is grown here. The abundance of energy and water means that Friðheimar, one of the oldest greenhouses that’s a half-hour drive inland from the ring road, is able to supply 70 per cent of the country’s tomatoes. Dessert sauce, mixers, juice, chutney and pickles all come from their bumper crop. In the restaurant, tourists can enjoy the novelty of a cheesecake made from green tomato, cinnamon and lime followed by a coffee or beer infused with this surprisingly versatile ingredient.

As green as the road trip itself might be, what about the journey to get there? Carbon offsetting is often seen as an abstract, nebulous concept, but not here: Iceland leads the way on carbon capture by dissolving carbon dioxide in water and turning it into rock. It may sound like science fiction, but Carbfix is happy to bring tourists behind the curtain for a guided tour of this ground-breaking facility.

Road trippers can make a stop at the Blue Lagoon

(Blue Lagoon)

Silja Y Eyþórsdóttir from Carbfix offers an insight into Iceland’s sustainable approach, which started much earlier than other countries. “In the 1950s, Iceland decided to move away from fossil fuels for their district heating system and switched to geothermal heat, perceived as an expensive and bold move at the time. The transition came with a lot of investment in new infrastructure, and it wasn‘t easy, but it paid off in the end.”

It’s why they’ve just started building the Coda Terminal facility in west Iceland, where CO2 emissions from Northern Europe will be transported by boat to be turned to stone, providing storage for three million tonnes per year when it’s complete.

Perhaps the huldufólk are sharing their wisdom with their fellow islanders; not only is a trip around Iceland’s ring road beautiful, it could also provide a vision for the sustainable future of travel.