Didier Mimoso remembers a time back in 2008 when the monthly revenues from his bike rental service in Lisbon totalled what they now make in one day. He told his manager, Tania Galda, to hang in there–things would get better…and six years later, both Didier and Tania have lots of […]

When I am traveling, sometimes I tell people about the part of the USA where I live. If I’m traveling in May or June, I often explain that I come from the part of the world where the finest asparagus on Earth is grown.  That’s one of the best ways […]

Central Portugal. Visting Viseu Serra da Estrela a mountainous region with great wines and ancient history and places to see.

  After a day touring the historic sites of Coimbra, Portugal, my head is swimming with the stunning works, buildings and monuments of this city of 120,000 in the central part of the country. As a travel writer, museums are pretty much a part of every trip I take, yet […]

Throughout my visit here in Le Gers, Midi-Pyrenees, there has been one consistent element that has bound together every person we met, every place we saw, and even what we ate. That has been the ancient, sacred drink of Armagnac, which we have sniffed, sipped and quaffed in elegant salons, […]

Denise Simeon-Lambert has a blue Jaguar parked outside her blue shop which is called Bleu de Lectoure. Her house is blue and she wears a lovely blue scarf on top of a shirt that’s stained with blue dye. Behind her sit vats of dye and every imaginable thing you can […]

Here’s a fantastic use for an unused train track, without having to rip up all of the rails.  The Velo-Rail was built a year ago and has been a hit with families in the town of Nogaro. The machine uses the power of two humans to turn the steel wheels […]