This is me

Hi, my name is Willeke. That´s a difficult name from the Netherlands, so after years of living in the south of Europe I listen to Claudia as well ;-).

I am desperately in love with Portugal. This happened even before I ever set foot there. I saw a travel brochure (you know, when there was no internet yet) and just knew I had to go there. I bought books about Portugal and played fado CDs all the time, but it took me many years before we finally met in person.

First time

I was studying in Spain (my university wouldn’t let me go to Portugal), where I met some fantastic Portuguese people (aren’t they all…?). For Semana Santa we drove from Almería to Portugal, arriving there at night in the dark mountains of the Serra da Estrela. Where most people start in the Algarve, my first meeting with Portugal was the pretty city of Covilhã.

Addicted

After this first time,  I kept coming back, I eventually moved to Portugal and stayed for several years. Personal circumstances brought me back to the Netherlands, but to make up for the loss, I started writing about Portugal as much as I could. Hundreds of articles in Dutch and many, many trips all around Portugal later, I decided this year to sing my love song for this country in English. That means I can tell many more people about this amazing place. I am still Dutch though, so please excuse my very mediocre English…

My bucket list

I have been so lucky to travel to all parts of Portugal. From north to south, from the Azores to Madeira. But there are still a lot of places on my bucket list. Most of the Azores island are still on it, as I have only been to São Miguel. And I really want to go hiking in Montesinho Natural Park. For some crazy reason Arraiolos and Elvas have never been on my Alentejo programme yet.

Talk to me

Are you a Portugal lover as well? I would love for you to share your experiences with me. Also, if you have any thoughts or ideas for the website: let me know! Please get in touch through one of the channels below.

You can email me at hello@bucketlistportugal.com or find me on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.