Sintra National Palace

It took me five years to really understand how to access and deliver WOW! experiences to my clients visiting Turkey and now I am on a crash course to do the same for Portugal.

View from the castle at Obidos

Last year, I travelled Portugal by car from Oporto in the North to Faro – in the Algarve – in the South, staying in Pousadas and other charming hotels along the way.  After Portugal, I drove to Seville and then up to Madrid.  It was a lot of driving but the roads are fantastic and there are hours of olive groves and changing terrain colours to hold your passenger’s attention.

As I meet and interact with other Virtuoso members in this part of the world, as well as others associated with the tourism industry of Portugal – and especially the beautiful sub-tropical Portuguese island of Madeira – so my library of photographs grows.  So, for now, while I work on private groups and other client files and arrange yet more meetings, I will post some pictures taken in the past week.

Traditional Farming techniques in Madeira (West)!

Madeira - Island of Contrasts (West)

As travellers venture further afield looking for those truly unique travel experiences, it seems to me that what many are seeking is some reassurance that not everybody has succumbed to the material consumerism so prevalent in Western society.  In Portugal you will find warm-hearted, friendly and sincere people, tradition in all aspects of the culture (farming, food, music, dance etc.) as well as keen family values (Sundays are for church and family.)

World-class, contemporary cuisine at Ritz Four Seasons, Lisbon

Don’t get me wrong though, this is not a backward country.  You will see satellite dishes on the roofs, leading edge design in architecture, hotels and cities,  and most people seem to carry iPhone or Blackberry.  But there is something about this country – and if you think Portugal, you must include Madeira Island – that is refreshingly traditional.  Luxury blends with rustic – beautifully. Value for money, I recommend that you put Portugal at the top of your list if you want a glimpse of how life used to be in Canada or England without neglecting your preference for luxury.

Windmills in Bodrum

Every day is laundry day in the Summer … because I can dry it outdoors!   I love watching our laundry blow in the wind!

I’m not sure if its my Italian heritage or the fact that in Britain, most homes have a washing line of sorts, but I love to use the fresh air to dry laundry and have a real aversion to using a tumble drier.  Even in the winter, other than for large items such as sheets, I prefer to hang laundry to dry on a wooden rack that lowers over my sink in the laundry room.  Large items will find their way into the drier in winter, when damp or cold conditions prevail outside,  but I just don’t get the same sense of satisfaction when I remove and fold them ready for ironing that I do when I remove sheets from the washing line.  The scent on outdoor-dried sheets can only be described as “fresh.”Most of my friends think I am nuts as they have grown up with tumble driers and using highly scented fabric softeners.  However, a couple have installed outdoor lines and have grown to love them!

Now, it seems the idea of line-drying laundry may be catching on more widely.  Today’s North Shore News had a great article about a “new” product that will help those living in condominiums and apartments to hang their laundry to dry outside.  There may be a few aesthetic roadblocks in terms of leasing agreements and strata byelaws but I hope that Hogan Wood will be successful in motivating more people to dry their laundry the environmentally-savvy way while saving energy and reducing living costs.

I don’t remember anybody eating anything other than ice-cream in theatres in the UK. As a child, I can remember the thrill during the “intermission” when the ice-cream lady would walk to the front of the theatre and stand there, with her tray of ice-cream bars supported by a neck strap, and a small light focusing on the product. We would line up quietly and take our ice-cream bar back to our seats. I loved the chocolate covered bar and only ever had one at the cinema. I have a vague recollection that she might have also sold small bags of peanuts, but cannot be sure. Regardless, they were not crunchy foods!

I can also recall going to the Royal Festival Hall in London for a classical concert and learning early on that food and beverages were to be consumed outside the concert hall. Woe betide any concertgoer who dared to take in a packet of candies or, worse, a beverage. They would probably have been sent to the Tower!

So why, then, do North Americans feel compelled to sit and stuff their faces with over-priced popcorn during a movie. Is it a ritual that is learned in childhood? Is it brainwashing from the POS marketing materials at the cinema (i.e. your visit is incomplete without …?) Or, is it just that I am of a different generation?

Perhaps future movie theatres will have specially designated areas for popcorn eaters!!

Globally, the annual production of synthetic chemicals has grown from one million tons in 1930 to 200 million tons today. And, here’s the scary part: of the approximately 900 common chemicals tested over a 30 year period, ONE has been deemed non-carcinogenic; 95 are known cancer-causing agents, 370 are possible carcinogens and the rest haven’t been sufficiently studied (Research by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer.)

Pretty scary stuff … and yet more proof that consumers should be cautious about using products with synthetic chemical ingredients. A simple guideline when reading labels seems to be if you cannot read it easily, don’t buy the product!

Today’s Vancouver Sun reports:

OTTAWA — The federal government on Friday declared four chemicals widely used in paints, varnishes, stains and industrial cleaners as toxic to human health, paving the way for their possible ban in products.

Read more at http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/chemicals+slapped+with+toxic+label/1369842/story.html