The small community of Alter do Chao lies on the bank of the River Tapajos and is around twenty mile upstream of Santarem. Until the 18th century the village was inhabited mostly by the Boraris people who lived principally by fishing, today the 1298 citizens still depend on fishing, but have added handicrafts and tourism… Continue Reading

The ship arrived off the shore of the small town of Parintins situated on the southern bank of the Amazon just after breakfast. From November to January the town becomes an island and can only be reached by river. We anchored midstream making for a 20 minute tender boat ride to the town pier. Parintins… Continue Reading

The one and only overnight stay is here in Manaus. It is the base from where most rain forest expeditions begin and in similar fashion it also offers the greatest number of tour opportunities for visiting cruise ships. Last night we could have forgone our evening meal (god forbid!!!) and joined a caiman hunt in… Continue Reading

We woke this morning to find that in the Brazilian rainforest during the rainy season it does actually rain. Spoiled by good weather since entering the Amazon we had begun to think that perhaps my school geography books had got it wrong or that global warming was having an affect. It was tipping it down… Continue Reading

We arrived at the tiny fishing village of Boca da Valeria at breakfast time. It is situated at the confluence of the Rio da Valeria and the Amazon, midway between  Paritins and Sanatarem, it is a remote and primitive village of around 75 souls, descended from intermarriage between Portuguese settlers and local Indians, they are… Continue Reading

Six days at sea while we traversed the Atlantic Ocean from one continent to another meant that we had a chance to settle into the ship’s routine of eat, entertain, eat, entertain, eat, entertain, eat, entertain, sleep. A slight adjustment had to be made on those days that we crossed one of the date lines,… Continue Reading

We arrived during breakfast at the largest and capital city of Portugal’s Autonomous Region of Madeira, Funchal. The twinkling lights of little settlements dotted along the coast slid by enticingly in the dark as the Magellan slowly made its way to a secure berth alongside the Aida. There were already two other cruise ships in… Continue Reading

The afternoon of the first sea day on the stretch to Leixoes we discovered that our cabin stewardess had removed all the bottles, glasses and kettle in the room and arranged them neatly on the floor. Had she forgotten to replace them when cleaning the surface on which they were seated or were the sea… Continue Reading

It has always seemed best to start a new year as you mean to carry on and this one is no exception. In previous years (too many to recall) during January we have embarked on one travel adventure or another, last year was a cruise to Australia via the Panama Canal and this year we… Continue Reading

On the very last day of 2019 I bottled the last of my wine. The whole process of wine-making has been a bit of a struggle this year, a very wet summer meant that my vintage babies often had their roots submerged underwater and the lack of sunshine didn’t help the ripening. Surprisingly the sugar… Continue Reading