Slow editorial about specific places and decisions. Browse by category, or sort by recency or depth.
What public (gesetzlich) and private (privat) actually cover for a 13-week EU workation, where the EHIC ends, and the foreign supplement (Auslandszusatz) most freelancers should have but don't. Compliance written for the other half of the audience.
What I actually had to confirm before leaving Berlin for thirteen weeks in Portugal — the 183-day reality, the employer side, and the freelance side. Compliance written by someone who is not your tax advisor.
What's actually possible in Fuseta, Olhão and Tavira when the body has opinions about cold mornings. A kettlebell, an open-air gym, a Ria Formosa loop, and a community workout that became the anchor of the week.
A regional CP line that turns the eastern Algarve into a string of working-day options. What it's actually good for, what it isn't, and the affection I developed for the staff that the timetable can't explain.
What the line actually does in the three towns most workationers consider. One measured stay, two short-trip observations, and the gap I won't pretend to have filled.
Where the bandwidth actually held, where a lobby is quiet enough for a call, and the café format you should learn to walk past — based on thirteen weeks of running a freelance week from a Fuseta coliving.
The Pomar website tells you what the house provides. This piece tells you what the week looks like inside it. Both are useful. Only the second is hard to find in advance.
Four weeks became eight at the end of week three. Eight became thirteen at the end of week five. The two extensions had different motivations and different costs, and the difference is worth showing.
Thirteen weeks at Pomar gave me a working understanding of the three towns that anchor the eastern Algarve. None of them interchangeable. None of them right for the same kind of day.