Portuguese culture, inspiration and travels!

Do you love tradition, history and a slower pace of life? Then Portugal is a place for you to consider moving to or retire. It's not only that, we Portuguese have a very welcoming spirit, the food is delicious and the weather, specially in the south of Portugal where I am from is absolute perfection. Rain is the south of Portugal is almost as strange as a sunny day in Scotland! Yes you will see people washing their cars outside and doing normal life in Scotland when there is a mist and light rain.

In the Algarve (the southern region of Portugal) if there is a sign of rain, the shopping centers are quite empty, we know it's not good for your hair either, lol (specially me with very curly hair), and hair is quite important! The best part of being home is that I not only get to eat all the food I missed and seeing my family and friends, I get immediate help finding an hairdresser at the last minute without an appointment or anything I need to get done!

I am from Faro and being such a small town, people know each other and help each other. If I need a seamstress, between my family and friends I can find one or two right away. Also when I talk about a business or a street, my family specially dad who has so many connections to businesses in the area knows immediately who I am talking about. He had his own business for over 60 years can share insight on what I need or where to go and I am so very grateful for that.

I have been traveling all over Portugal (in Castles and Palaces and you have been seeing in my social media stories) but I will highlight one are each time.

Now let's talk about my little town of Faro (the capital of the South). Who was going to guess that this country specifically my home town “Faro” was going to make a destination with the biggest airline in the world?

When I came back from visiting my family after Christmas this year (who all live in Portugal and my family is like the movie “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding), I was in the airplane when I picked up the United Airlines 2024 magazine from the seat in front of me and there it was, saying that now the biggest airline in the world has flights there!

I am Portuguese - American as you know and each time I go back home to see my family, I always get to see how the town and the area has changed! Although I like change, what I love the most is what has not changed like those tiles on the steps of homes, tiles on churches, homes and buildings, old narrow cobbles streets filled with coffee tables and chairs and all the town's character!

When I go for my morning walk in downtown of Faro, the seagulls own the skies by the marina and the smell of the ocean is truly a delight. The warm sunlight gliming on your face is like you are being sunkissed.

Below you can see the Forum Faro Shopping Center entrance.

As you walk downtown, you will see the Faro older homes original stairs with their beautiful blue and white tiles.

 Our tiles are so famous that through the town there are tiles walls just so you can take a picture.

You will find tiles in buildings, churches, famous monuments and pretty much all around the towns in Portugal.

 This blue and white coffee shop next to my parents home, is the perfect spot for you to work with their wifi.

 If you would like to see more blue and white tiles, checkout my latest textile print design "Casa Bela" collection  it has the most serene and calm blues and what a great way to have a bit of the Portuguese culture in your own home. I got inspired to paint this exclusive design for Diga Linda from all the blue and white tiles in Portugal, however as a creative I designed this pattern to reflect what I love most about Portugal. If you look closely, you will see in the center of this handpainted time a circle representing the sun, (there's about 365 days of sunshine there), then that circle turns into a flower (there's flowers everywhere), you will also see hearts representing the love for the country, birds, and more. As you all know every print design has a story attached to it making it a more interesting and meaningful piece of art in your home. 

I hope you love it as much as I enjoyed creating and painting it.

🇵🇹 More inspiration from Portugal is coming, I have so many great places and pictures to share. From the most delicious and famous dessert in the world (yes it's Portuguese according to Taste Atlas - Pastel de Nata) to favorite shops, restaurants, palaces and castles, keep posted and follow me on social media to know more about Portugal 

Thank you for reading and following along, I appreciate you!

😍 By leaving a comment, you are supporting my small business.

😍 Thank you so much for reading and I want to invite you to subscribe to my newsletter on top of the page for the latest and the greatest news.

You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and more social channels when you click ➡️     https://linktr.ee/cecimasonart

xo Ceci Mason founder and artist

 Diga Linda ✨ Say Beautiful