Interest is growing in the rural life and traditional agriculture. As America has been run out of real farmers by publicly traded industrial crap food corporations, tasty food has also left the building. The profit is in seeing how close these corporations can come to an industrially-modified animal-based tofu—the other white meat. Cheap and tasteless. Food you don’t say grace for, you ask forgiveness.

But there’s a movement on to get some of the taste back by exploring the way the last remaining small farmers in Europe deal with food. Portugal has just announced a new program to link up interested individuals with traditional farmers.

And you can get paid!

Farmer’s Life Experience offers you the opportunity to turn your vacation into a working experience in portuguese farms. Once selected, you will be included in a multicultural team working within a host agricultural structure. You will be paid under a contract that you sign with the farmer. ~ Farmers Life Experience

According to Portugal’s office of Tourism, there have been “40 hosting farms and about 170 participants in the last months.”

How does it work?

Here’s how the office of Tourism describes the obligations of the participants:

We also connected with several farms that invite you to come spend a weekend: one of which is in the fields of Alentejo and the other one is located at the gates of Lisbon. You will be asked to help around the farm, but also to help with your room and board by milking goats to make your own cheese or learning how to bake the bread. What we want here is to allow you to get closer to this Portugal we love so much, and to show you the simple lifestyle that we so appreciate.

It sounds like an interesting program, especially if folks come back to the US with a decent notion of what making real food is all about.

Check out the Farmers Life Experience

Portugal Daily View has come up with the kind of post I can get excited over. Sure, everyone knows the palaces of high cuisine. Their virtues get passed on like a foodie plague. But anyone who’s tasted a mussel fresh from the sea knows that with good ingredients food can be incredibly simple and still make you happy without the cost of having a chef at the helm. Tavern food in Europe; I love it!

So, here’s the post that you must bookmark and save for your trip to Lisbon: Tascas: A short guide to Lisbon’s no-frills eateries.

I also love the idea of “fado vadio (literally, vagrant fado)” I’ve seen some of the big fado shows with noisy coach tour groups at the foot of the stage, yammering away as the musicians struggle to be heard. It’s not often you can get a humongous busload of humanity to agree to listen quietly.

But not in these little taverns:

The owner and founder of A Baiuca, Henrique Gascon, also stresses that silence must be strictly observed during a fado performance.

Hurray for Henrique! Someday I will shake the man’s hand.

Lisbon Travel Resources

Lisbon Weather and Historic Climate

Lisbon Vacation Rentals

Lisbon User-Rated Hotels

As the world fills up with industrial products, all the same, all spit out by factories in third-world countries, handled by workers who work for a pittance—the surviving traditionally-produced goods take on a greater meaning. Portugal has many of these traditional products ranging from ceramics to toothpaste—and now you can buy them online.

I first tried Couto Toothpaste (invented in 1932 by a pharmacy manager) in the Lapa Palace hotel in Lisbon, who offered a tray of traditional products in its impressive marble bathrooms. The formula, logo, and packaging has remained the same since 1932. It’s odd, you know, using a vintage product. You seldom think about toothpaste and resign yourself to using a mass marketed commercial product. Well, you don’t have to. Then again, if you want to avoid products that are tested on animals and fluoride, Couto might be for you.

The new site is A Vida Portuguesa and it has a fine English translation. The online store is here. There’s more than toothpaste, of course. You can get a real orange toilet paper, not to mention pencil boxes, embroidery and ceramics.

Perhaps you should buy something handcrafted. You never know when it will be the last one.

In any case, here’s a movie that’ll get you thinking: Ode to a Toothpaste, about Couto and mass produced products in Portugal.

If you’re one of those people who likes to go native on your European vacation, you want to make every minute of your vacation count towards living like the locals. Where you stay makes a difference then. If you’re also on a budget, or would like a romantic and historic place to stay that would normally be above your means, then Portugal is the logical choice.

As a travel writer who specializes in Europe, Portugal stands out to me as a country that’s done the most to make visitors welcome with a rather diverse catalog of vacation rental properties. At the same time, Portugal also stands out as a country of great value. Below are some vacation rental options you might want to consider if the standard hotel isn’t your thing.

Solares de Portugal

Solares de Portugal offers an interesting range of lodging broken into three categories.

• Casa Antigas – Manor houses and country estates largely from the 17th and 18th centuries. An elegant and romantic choice.

• Quintas & Herdades – Agricultural Farms and Estates in a rural setting.

• Casas Rusticas – As the name implies rustic cottages, comfortably furnished, in rural villages or within farm estates.

Let me throw out an example, a rustic cottage I’d be interested in staying in: Casa dos Tres Irmãos. This is the type of classic stone architecture you’ll find in the Portuguese countryside, with outer walls of shale. It’s near a historic town: Cabração, a town whose wealth was based on mining, even in ancient times.

What does a place like Casa dos Tres Irmãos cost per night for two people? €50. For a house with cooking facilities, no more than a decent hotel! Of course, you don’t have to cook; they’ll even provide breakfast stuff. On a summer’s night, you can get a hunk of Pata Negra, the fantastic black pig found in Portugal and Spain (the full-flavored opposite of “the other white meat”, and barbeque outside, just like the natives.

Solares de Portugal also offers special itineraries so that you can plan your Portugal vacation stays around a theme; say Garden Itineraries

See: Solares de Portugal on the web.

Pousadas de Portugal

Pousadas are historic properties run as luxury hotels. You might stay in a place that was once a monastery or convent. Each has a restaurant run by a chef who is devoted to exploring the regional cuisine, often with modern interpretations that don’t stray too far from tradition. I’ve never eaten in a bad Pousada restaurant.

At one time Pousadas were run by the government. Today, most have transferred to private ownership, which offers the visitor a more personal treatment in a unique setting.

Pousadas de Portugal on the web. Note that there are many special offers, including discounts for those over 55 years of age and for longer stays.

Other Vacation Rental Ideas for Portugal

HomeAway lists over 7000 Vacation Rentals in Portugal.

Besides rural properties, remember that you will also find short term stay apartments in the heart of Portugal’s cities. For example, if you’re searching for someplace romantic with great views, you might find this apartment near Lisbon’s castle enticing. It sleeps 4 for a mere €95 a night. There’s free wifi, the owner speaks English, and the eight user-reviews are all positive, 5 stars out of 5.

I hope this convinces you that Portugal not only offers a great value on unique lodging, but also gives you some ideas for a vacation in a fascinating country with extraordinary tourist infrastructure.

Foodies have yet to discover Portugal. Let me tell you, not only are there some fantastic Portuguese recipes, but Portugal is also home to some great and unique cheeses, like Queijo do Serra from Serra da Estrela Natural Park in Portugal’s Centro region. The Alentejo, the rural region east of Lisbon, is also known for its soft cheeses.

The Serpa Cheese fair runs on the 24, 25 and 26 February. There will be lots of demonstrations, including cheese making, sheering, and milking sheep. Of course, there will also be music—the festival ends with choral and traditional music of the region.

Serpa is an evocative town tucked into the south-east corner of the Alentejo regions map. The walled village was founded in 400 BC by the Turdelos, one of the original Iberian tribes. It has a 13th century castle as well as a palace built into the town’s walls, the Palace of the Counts of Ficalho.

Serpa Cheese Festival Travel Essentials

Serpa Cheese Fair

Serpa Hotels

Alentejo Vacation Rentals