Of all the places and faces we have seen over the past seven weeks, I can honestly say that Portugal has found a place in my heart that already has me yearning to return. So much living history, spectacular scenery and wonderfully welcoming people so very proud of their home. I am especially going to miss the excellent cheap coffee and pastel de nata, roast chicken and have a renewed appreciation for port. I could fill pages with notes about our time with th...

We arrived at Casa Esteves, the home of the parents of our travelling companion Maria late Monday afternoon and have settled in so well it feels like we're already living like the locals. I've already eaten way more pastries than I should and enjoyed eating more fresh fish than I normally would, and of course there's plenty of tasty local wine fresh from her father's favourite farmyard supply to sample. It helps that we have use of a local car, and are travellin...

After the unexpected detour to the Isle of Wight the day after Brighton, our plans for the reminder of our time in the UK were looking overwhelming and unattainable. There are simply too many other vehicles on the road causing wear and tear which results in road works and traffic jams and frustration for everyone, especially our party of four with limited knowledge and experience of local driving conditions. Factor in the need to locate accommodation and a car ...

With no definite destination in mind we farewelled Arcadia after 29 nights, wrestled our luggage into and headed off in our rental car from Southampton just after ten this morning. The lush green landscape lining the A27, reminiscent of WA's South West, provided a refreshing contrast to the maritime scenes we had become accustomed to, but still we found ourselves happy to be back by the sea at the end of the day. Less then two hours after heading off we arrived...

316 nautical miles at an average speed of 17 knots since we left Lisbon, we are now around 16 nautical miles from Spain, and have just been informed that the captain is available for any wedding ceremonies. Our last port of call, Lisbon yesterday, was a stark contrast to what we experienced in Malta last Friday mainly because of the seemingly omnipresent graffiti. Our day in Lisbon on an insiders tour led by Maria and Ramsay commenced with a walk from Arcadia to...