Festival do Achiga & Sabores da Aldeia

At Santa Clara’s Sardine Festival, someone leans in and says, '‘There is an old post office up for rent, right in the village centre. Just for a year.'‘

And that is how Chop Suey’s first live-work space in Alentejo is born. The walls still hold the scent of slow days and handwritten letters. The rooftop terrace opens up to wide views, the Lisbon train passes in the distance. The church bells near, loud enough to pause conversations.

It’s Santa Clara’s Summer heartbeat. Long metal grills glow as tiny fish, peixe dos rio,  roast by the hundreds, skin blistered, crisp and smoky. Drinks flow freely. When the live band kicks in with Portuguese classics, the whole square moves. Locals, expats and travelers sing shoulder to shoulder, dancing well into early hours. Here life follows its own rhythm, unhurried, grounded.

Alentejo Campo & Barragem

In the post-pandemic years, new opportunities are drawing people to Santa Clara-a-Velha, a quiet village best known for its dam and the vast, untamed reservoir it created.

For Chop Suey, life here feels different, woven from soil, stories, and second chances. Locals and newcomers share a layered history. In the 1970s, the first wave of hippies arrived, drawn by the land’s slow rhythm. Some stayed, putting down roots among stone walls and olive groves; others eventually drifted on. New generations, often homeschooled and raised off-grid, move easily between worlds, grounded in the earth yet fluent in digital life.

Across the hills, small cabins rise on former farmland, solar panels flashing in the sun like quiet signals. Counterculture has settled into a way of being.

This landscape is also shaped by resilience. Many lives were altered when, under the Salazar dictatorship, large dams were built, submerging hundreds of villages and forcing families to rebuild their lives elsewhere.

From Attic Finds to Kombucha Brew

Markets form the social heart of the area. Musicians cycle through the small stage, shifting from techno pulses to choir harmonies, theatre scenes, or circle dances that draw everyone in.

Families drift between stalls as children weave through the crowd, learning social life through play. Local producers arrive with baskets of olives, jars of honey, and crates of fresh harvests. Alongside them, neo-hippies lay out handwoven blankets from distant journeys, ceremonial herbs, natural soaps, fermented vegetables, and bottles of homemade kombucha.

Every exchange carries a story, a laugh, or a piece of advice, here, connection matters as much as what’s being sold. In the park, trees offer deep shade, while the dock stretching into the lake invites a somersault into cool, refreshing water.