Position: 36° 48′ 51″N 2° 33′ 40″ W The origin of modern Thanksgiving in America is probably apocryphal. As schoolchildren Americans are taught that the Pilgrims celebrated their deliverance to the New World in harmony with an indigenous people. A …
Position: 36° 59′ 4″N 7° 50′ 46″W Over the last year we got pretty good at gunkholing around the Caribbean. Finding anchorages out of the way of local fishing boats, in the lee of impending weather, we’d hang off our …
Position: 38° 43′ 20” N 9° 8′ 21” W Just as Dr. Pangloss is about to prove à priori the Bay of Lisbon was purpose-made for drowning James the Anabaptist, the ship he and his ward Candide are sailing on …
Position: ATLANTIC SPAIN AND PORTUGAL Portugal and Spain have lively street art scenes. There is hardly a public space, or public vehicle, that’s not tagged with slashes of black spray paint. Some are covered in the flowing, garishly coloured letters …
Position: 38° 41′ 51” N 9° 11′ 27” W Banksy, the reclusive street artist and practical joker, has dominated the very public art form s/he created for over 30 years. It is unclear if the anonymous Banksy is a man …
Position: 38° 42′ 7” N 09° 10′ 41” W Lisbon’s Lx Factory is a little confusing. It’s billed as an artsy center for creatives and while there’s a bit of that, it seems like it’s mostly tourist shops with cutesy …
Position: 41° 8′ 23” N 8° 36′ 35” W From my walking notes of Porto I remember the following: Incongruous banjo player outside the cathedral. He wasn’t Béla Fleck, but this gentleman playing classical music on an anachronistic five string …
Position: 38° 43′ 20” N 9° 8′ 21” W ‘Arrigato!’, called Carol as she waved cheerfully to the chap who had just delivered our morning bread. Berthed as we were in Porto, I’m sure she meant to say, obrigado. In …
Position: 41° 47′ 37”N, 87° 34′ 51”W Back in June I mentioned my late father Kenneth’s love of humour and especially his love of limericks. At his memorial service in Chicago a couple of weeks ago I told one of …
