Notes from a small flat in Lisbon
Seven years, forty-one square metres and one balcony chair: what living small in Graça has quietly taught me.
Lisbon, Portugal
Millie Hart
Writer at Millie
I’m Millie, a Manchester-born writer and copy editor living in Lisbon since 2019. I write about small-flat life, cooking, books and slow trips.
27 Published Articles
Stories by Millie Hart
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Twelve books that stayed with me this year
A dozen books I finished this year and keep thinking about, from Pessoa on a tram to Ishiguro on a rainy Sunday.
Lisbon, with Rick Steves
A gentle half-hour tour of Lisbon’s lanes, viewpoints, trams and fado from Rick Steves’ Europe.
The things I no longer buy
An honest list of the things I quietly stopped buying after moving into a small flat, and the few I still refuse to give up.
A slow weekend in Porto
Three hours north on the train, a francesinha I am still digesting, and the Douro turning copper at dusk.
Lisbon on Foot
A free, hand-drawn walking guide to seven Lisbon neighbourhoods, reprinted every spring and autumn.
Golden hour on the 28 tram
Riding the old yellow tram through Lisbon in the last hour of light, with one small camera and the window pushed open.
Reading in two languages
How I learned to read Portuguese one children’s book at a time, with a patient neighbour and a very stubborn Saramago.
Porto in three minutes
Rick Steves’ Europe squeezes Porto’s bridges, river and port lodges into one lovely three-minute postcard.
My grandmother’s lemon cake, written down at last
The lemon loaf my grandmother made from memory every Sunday in Manchester, finally measured, tested and written down.
The year I stopped planning trips
How I swapped colour-coded itineraries for one booked night and a lot more luck.
On keeping a five-line diary
Five lines a night, no more: the smallest habit I have kept, and the one I would miss most.