In the early 16th century, Lisbon was one of the world’s richest cities. A constant stream of caravels departed to far-away destinations like India and Brazil. Some of these ships perished tragically on the high seas. The ones that returned brought their hulls crammed with gold, silver, and spices.
During the day, sailors relied on the sun to measure their latitude. At night, they were guided by the stars. Skilled pilots pointed sextants at the sky to estimate the ship’s position and evaluate its course. On the last night of the year, we too look at the stars for guidance on where we are and what lies ahead. We hope they can point us all to a blissful, healthy New Year that brings us back to Portugal.
Salt of Portugal 
Feliz Ana Novo!
Good to see you are back online. Can’t wait to get back to Portugal…
Hi Matthias we also hope that 2021 will bring you to Portugal. Happy New Year!
Se já era uma apaixonada do seu trabalho, este post confirmou a supremacia, a magia, o encantamento e a arte com que todo este trabalho é desenvolvido.
Sem duvida a mais bela mensagem que li em toda a minha vida.
Como escreveu o meu poeta favorito, que em 2021 as suas palavras e as vossas se tornem realidade
“Porque aquilo, exatamente aquilo que hoje nós percebemos como pedra, Deus vem ensinar-nos a transformá-lo em estrela.”
Jose Tolentino Mendonça
Olá Ana Cristina, que comentário mais maravilhoso para começar o ano! Muito obrigado pela generosidade das suas palavras. Votos de um Ano Novo cheio de estrelas.
Amen.
Sent from my iPad
Blessed new year! Thanks to this blog, my husband and I actually took the trip from Malaysia, halfway around the world in 2019 to Portugal. We’ve only been to Portugal once, for 2 weeks. We cycled from Porto to Lisbon, stopping by delightful little places along the journey for a night or two. But Portugal has been on our mind since then. Until the day we can go there again, take care.
Dear Melinda, it is so great that you made the trip to Portugal. We hope to see you back soon, there is so much to discover and enjoy. Happy New Year!
Yes, indeed so much more to discover. We took one of your audio tour in Lisbon and loved it. Tq for what you are doing for this beautiful country and its people. Blessings!
Hi Melinda: we’re so glad you enjoyed the audio tour. We hope to see you back in Portugal soon!
Hi Francisca, Sergio, Maria, Rui (love your drawings!!), Pedro, Pedro, and Tomás, (I hope I’ve gotten your names right),
Dropping by to say hi!
Not only we are back in Portugal soon…but we will be moving to Portugal this summer under the D7 visa!! 😱
The years of reading Salt Of Portugal has sown some seeds in us, and we’ve been wanting to be able to slowly take our time to explore your country, in between our work. The D7 visa and our current phase of life made it possible now. We are excited yet nervous on this huge change!
If you are interested, I’ve written a piece about our move here: https://hopemail.substack.com/p/im-moving-from-malaysia-to-portugal?r=fmhof&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you for your heart and effort in faithfully sharing about your country through the blog. Who knew it’d bring this odd couple to Portugal? 😄
💖
Hi Melinda, what wonderful news! Thanks for sending the article. We wish a great time in Portugal!