We wanted to move for a number of reasons, one of which was simply itchy feet. We met while working in Vietnam and then went on to live in Tunisia, Thailand and Jordan before moving to Portugal. However we had both lived and worked in many countries before then and wanderlust was something we had in common. After 10 happy years at Casa Azul we wanted to discover new places.

Secondly, the weather. Despite choosing Portugal because of its Mediterranean climate we actually wanted cooler and wetter summers. We missed the green! We also wanted to live nearer to the coast and nearer to Spain. This meant searching a bit north of central Portugal where we used to live. Our search actually started in the Rias Baixas in Galicia (we are huge fans of the area) and slowly we edged further south until we found an (almost) perfect spot on the outskirts of Ponte de Lima. We made an offer on a house (practically a ruin) on 18 November 2019 and 12 days later it was ours. This is where our saga story begins.