Madeira’s High Country

It may come as a surprise that Madeira has a high country, but Pico Ruivo is Portugal’s third highest peak at 1861 m (6,106 ft). There is a fantastic hike from Pico do Arieiro at 1,818 metres (5,965 ft), Madeira’s third and Portugal’s 5th highest peak. We drove up in complete darkness to witness the […]

Hiking Levadas in Madeira

Apart from seeing all the flowers, the main reason to visit the Portuguese island of Madeira is to go hiking, particularly along levadas, i.e. irrigation channels which bring water from the wetter regions of the island to the drier. On our last trip to Madeira 8 years ago we didn’t see much of the island […]

Aglio e Olio

As much as I love cooking and baking elaborate things, every now and then I want to make a quick dish packed with flavor and be in and out of the kitchen quickly. Enter this simple and classic dish which is delicious anytime. As the name suggests, there is no need to scrimp on the […]

The Garden's Seasons

Whenever the first pear drops to the ground, I feel as if late summer has started and we are quickly making our way to autumn. The past two years, I posted first a recipe for zucchini rolls and then two summer salads. This has been an interesting garden year to say the least. We had […]