Postcards from Portugal

Recently, I was rearranging my home-office, which forced me to do some sorting and tidying and chucking-out. During this tedious process I came across a bag (shoved under my desk) of ephemera collected on my overseas trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco years ago.

I kept the travel journal (naturally) and a few other design-related items like these reproductions of quaint vintage postcards, and threw out the remainder.

Unfortunately the reverse sides of the postcards are singularly uninformative, with only the words ‘Publicidade e ilustração, Portugal século XX’, along with an obscure edition number and web address that goes to a blog about unique engagement rings.

Fado is a traditional style of Portuguese music, which can be traced back to the 1820s, and is characterised by mournful tunes and music. I guess in this case these songs are about cigars?

I never sampled Ginja de Portugal while on holiday in Portugal, but it is a liqueur made from sour cherries with sugar and alcohol. Possibly it is similar to the Croatian Maraska cherry wine, which is neither a wine nor a liqueur, but is a perfect accompaniment to desserts.

The other two cards show a naïve folk style of illustration lauding the joyful, sun-filled lifestyle to be found in Portugal.

I found these postcards in an intriguing store in Lisbon, which was part-giftshop, part-design-emporium. I also purchased a book on vintage packaging, and a few pieces of vintage ephemera – random collections of actual items packaged in cellophane envelopes. It was a lovely little shop to spend an hour browsing in.