Every time I enter an airport , whether leaving or returning, this song by Maria Rita echoes in my head. In fact it’s about a railway station but I think it applies just as well to an airport. Because for me that’s what an airport is – a place for meeting and saying goodbye.
In the old science fiction movies, of which I’m not a great fan (I’ve never seen ‘Star Wars’, but don’t throw sticks and stones), they were always imagining how the future would be in the year 2000. Everything always seemed ultramodern and spectacular.
As son as I’ve got past the airport metal detectors, my heart starts racing. First, because it means I’ve passed with distinction without being beeped from all sides and having my conditioner confiscated. Second, because I’m ready to board and I’m not exactly a woman who loves not having the ground beneath her feet. Third, and best of all, because I’ve got so many shops to look around.
In this whirlwind of people arriving and departing we can probably detect where they are from, but it is not so easy to work out their approach to beauty care!
There is no better way of paying homage to the extraordinary flavours of Portuguese gastronomy than by gathering family and friends together round the table to share a typical Portuguese meal prepared with selected ingredients. Chef Henrique Sá Pessoa offers his suggestion for a masterly starter.
It was in the north, in the bygone times of the ninth century, that the country which we now know as Portugal began to take shape. At that time it was a condado (countship) which even in those early days longed for independence and struggled to break free from the neighbouring kingdom of Galicia.
