We said good-bye to winter  with a four-night road trip with friends through the central Alentejo region and into the southwest corner of Spain. We mostly puttered along the backroads and enjoyed a change of scenery. Central Portugal: Abandoned iron Read more…

I just realized that I have not posted anything in five  months. Ooops. Much of that time was unfortunately tied up making use of the excellent healthcare system in Portugal. It seems that when you get to be our age, Read more…

We continue to enjoy traveling from our home base in northern Portugal.  We can drive to the border with northern Spain in just over an hour on well-maintained and uncrowded highways. We have also enjoyed many slow drives on the Read more…

Throughout the summer months, towns and villages across Portugal hold local festivals (festas.) Most are in honor of favorite saints or religious holidays and include traditions that date back centuries. After two years of canceled festas, they are now back Read more…

The annual celebration of São João returned after two long, depressing years of endless cancelations due to Covid. The sheer joy was palpable. Everyone was ready to party. We always enjoy the amazing and wholesome street atmosphere. This year, together Read more…

For this adventure, we flew to Zurich then took the famous Bernina Express train through the Alps to Tirano, Italy. It was stunning. Photos do not do it justice, but I tried. From there, we took a local train to Read more…

We finally made it to the island of Madeira. Our trip to this autonomous region of Portugal was canceled two years in a row due to covid. It was worth the wait! We timed the visit to see the annual Read more…

For the past three months we have been very busy with traveling and hosting visiting friends and family (finally.) Even some major surgery in the middle of it all barely slowed us down. Since March, we have traveled to central Read more…

With the gradual easing of Covid restrictions, some of the traditional festivals and parties are returning to Portugal. We have missed them for the past two years. First up: Festa de Carnaval dos Caretos de Podence. In the hilly and Read more…

Still making up for lost time, we decided to take another two-week trip with friends. We traveled to Slovenia & Croatia with a day-trip into Montenegro  and a necessary crossing through Bosnia & Herzegovina. When living in the states, a Read more…