To say that I had been curious about what Madeira was actually like would be the understatement of the century! Marco's entire family are traced back to this small island which lies in the Atlantic, its location is actually closer to Morocco than the mainland of Portugal itself. Of course most Australians (bar the indigenous population) immigrated to Australia some way or another be it by force, or by choice. I have always been fascinated that the De Freitas fam...

With the Crazy lady of Braga long behind us, and a happy and healthy Oscar back to his cyclonic self, I finally have a moment to reminisce our experiences in Porto as I sit bathing in the Madeiranese sunshine on the last leg of our journey. As I may have mentioned, Braga and the extreme sport activities it required to get there was not high on our list of great experiences had along the way! But never the less you learn to appreciate the good stuff by travellin...

I am not usually the superstitious type, nor do I regularly look towards the 'stars' in order to make decisions in my life. However when in Portugal perhaps one should do as the Portuguese do, and let our Mother Mary guide us towards safety and prosperity. But by the time we were due to leave Lisbon my piece of orange peel was lost for good, my gypsy friend in Madrid had not warned me about driving in Portugal, and we had run out of time to visit Fatima. Yet may...

A young Queen Marie Antoinette once said 'Let them eat cake!' Its lesser known in history that this saying travelled west through the porto grapevine to Portugal, the people taking it literally, and deciding that life simply could not exist in Lisbon without at least one pastry shop on every street. Most people have at one time or another tried the delicate dessert known in Australia as a Portuguese Tart, in Portugal these are called pasteis de nata. Just out...