Things I'm in love with

I think I may have travelled too much. I've been really fortunate in that I've gotten to see so many places in world on both sides of the Ocean. It's sort of an overdose because of my nomadic personality, a general sense of being unsettled. Even worse during this time in my life. I mean really, what's stopping me from just packing up the cat and backpacking all over Europe?

So I can literally fill one of those Italian charm bracelets with my name and a flag from every country I've ever seen.

My last trip, aside from Canada was to Portugal with the guy I was dating. If you've never been.. go. Look up flights to Lisbon and get out there. Less of a touristy feel than most of the Mediteranean places, the whole place is nooks and crannies of some truly amazing things. Add on the absolutley amaziong food, amazing wine, and general ability of this country to have fun and really taste and enjoy what's around them, and I was totally in heaven. A country that enjoys being sad as much as it does being happy, the home of port.. and still THE best producer of port in the world (Australian and South African vineyards don't get it), and I swear they have ten million different ways to prepare and serve codfish.

The wines from Portugal are desperately underrated. Most of what we see here is Matteus.. which, as you know, is a nice table water, but doesn't speak well to the breezy complexity of the Alentejo region. The combination of sun and sea and soil that makes bright wines with a bubbly complexity. The Literature equally so, Eca de Quieros, Pessoa, Camoes are all epic names within the country, but virtually unheard of beyond. Brilliant nostaligic pieces that investigate the sorrow, joy, passion.. typical of a country that prides itself on a past of pushing the world' s boundaries.

But things I'm in love with. Fado. I have become an incredible fado junkie. THE voice in modern Fado is http://www.mariza.com/ . Fado is a style of music typical to Portugal, laden with that same breezy sadness that just sort of sucks me right in. It gets even bnetter when you understand the actual words. http://www.madredeus.com/entrada.asp Madredeus, while not technically fado, seriously has deep fado roots. Fado is typically sung and accompanied by a viola (what we call a guitar) and a Guitar (A 12 stringed incredibly complex sounding mandolin-like thing). Fadistas, or Fadistos MUST have an epicly strong voice, and every song has these incredibly deep feelings. National pride, sorrow, loss and that untranslatable Saudade all have to come out in this voice that should be able to almost knock down the walls. Talk about once more.. with feeling.

Give it a listen, or don't. Just one of the many things I'm in love with.