By Sandra Florindo, founder of Portucale Tours
Northern Portugal is not a destination for me; it is my origin, it is my heart. I spent my entire childhood there, from baby to ten-year-old, raised by my grandparents in a world that breathed simplicity yet was incredibly rich. My memories are still everywhere there, in the hills, among the enormous rocks, in the scents, in my grandmother's kitchen where life unfolded.
I can see myself standing next to my grandmother again, while the whole family slaughtered pigs and made sausages with a matter-of-factness that I considered normal back then. Traditions were passed down without anyone having to put them into words. My cousins were waiting outside, and together we ate seasonal fruit, ran through the hills, played hide-and-seek among the cork oaks, and invented our own worlds. We had hardly any toys, but we had something better: freedom, space, and a nature that challenged us anew every single day to discover.
That nature still lives inside me. Trás-os-Montes, and especially my beautiful village of Larinho, remains the place that makes my heart beat faster. Every time I round the final bend and see the village lying before me, I feel butterflies in my stomach. It is as if time suddenly dissolves and I am once again that girl who spent hours outside, oblivious to time. The rocks, the cork oaks, the scent of lavender in the summer, the rugged landscape that refuses to be tamed—it is a kind of purity you won't find anywhere else.
During one of my walking holidays, many years later, I suddenly realized that I had continued to take that beauty from my youth almost for granted. As I walked through the landscape that had shaped me, I thought: how is it that so few Dutch people know this? Why does almost no one know how special the north of Portugal is? That was the moment the idea arose to start organizing trips. Not because I was looking for a new career, but because I felt that this was the part of Portugal I wanted to share and return to. It is a place I know through and through, and precisely because of that, I can pass on my love for it in an honest and sincere way.
The people in the north are just as special as the landscape. Generous, big-hearted, humble, helpful, and always authentic. It is a mentality that I inherited myself and that defines my sense of home. Every trip to Larinho feels like a return—to my family, to my friends, but also to the memories of those who are no longer here.
Sometimes people ask why I don't also take my groups to the Algarve or the south; these are places everyone already knows. That is precisely why I don't go there. The south is beautiful, but the north tells a different story. It is less developed, less touristy, less rushed. It is a region that is still raw and honest, full of character and unadorned. Here you taste the real flavors of Portugal, smell the delicious bread fresh from the oven, hear the sound of the wind through the olive trees, and experience hospitality that is not feigned, but deeply rooted.
When I started Portucale Tours, I knew I didn't want to become a standard tour guide giving a rehearsed speech. I want people to feel the Northern Portugal that I know. My Northern Portugal. The place where I grew up, where I learned what freedom means, where I discovered how beautiful simplicity can be. I hope that travelers not only see the landscape, but also take away the feeling of it. That soft, melancholic feeling that the Portuguese nostalgia to name, a longing for something you have known and always carry with you.
And that is exactly why I chose Northern Portugal. Because this is my home, and because I want nothing more than to let others experience what this place has left behind in me.
