In the Blog "Fish and other flavors", Tia Ana publishes some recipes and curiosities about different subjects, but always related to cooking.
Below is a small example of what you can find there.

Almond trees, the snow of Algarve

Today there are few almond trees, but in the old days when large fields were covered with almond trees, by the time they bloomed, between december and februery, the field seemed covered with snow.

There is a story about the arabe king, Ibn-Almudim, when Algarve was called Al-Garb. He had a nordic wife (her former prisoner) who became ill without apparent cause.
An old prisoner, from her land, told the king that the queen´s illness was longing for the snow of her country and so the king order the plantation of almond trees throuh the fields, so that every year the queen, from her window, could relive her memories of her distant country. ......