We spent Saturday night in a hotel in the park next to Bom Jesus, got up early to take pics without hundreds of folks around, went to Mass before heading down to the town of Braga. There we found thousands of young people who had assembled for pre-World Youth Day events. We mingled in with…

With many others, we followed the music and voices and came upon a Taizé service organized by a Portuguese youth group. For those not familiar with Taize, it is an ecumenical worship service mainly through simple music with chanting and repetitive verses… kinda meditation. (One of our favorites Veni Sancte Spiritus · Taizé). Joe’s created…

We rediscovered a certain freedom when we rented a car in Porto. Not bound by plane, train, and bus schedules, we’ve totally enjoyed unrestricted wandering all over northern and central Portugal. Sometimes we just laugh – we can’t believe we are seeing and hearing some of this wonderful history of our Church and the country…

World Youth Day is in Lisbon August 1- 6. Started by Pope John Paul II in 1985, its goal is to “assure young Catholics (age 14-30) of their capacity to perpetuate the Church’s traditions spirituality and work within the world”. The final Mass given by the Pope has had anywhere from 500,000 to 5 million…

We’ve spent the last several days just meandering through some of the Madeira neighborhoods and restocking our gear preparing for our next move. We’ve also had several appointments with Portugal immigration, a bank, and the equivalent of their social security office as we establish temporary residency. We peak into pretty much every church we pass!…

It’s our last day on the gorgeous island of Madeira. It’s been wonderful, we’re totally refreshed and ready to move on! Some of our plans are firming up, and as always, if you have favorite churches, landmarks, or restaurants in any of these places, please share! July 26 – Porto, Portugal August 9 – Ireland…

We spent Thursday morning with our heads above the clouds and it was absolutely incredible. Watching the sun rise from that perspective was awesome. We took so many pictures as we hiked the pass between the two highest peaks on Madeira, and were disappointed that we couldn’t capture all of God’s grandeur that we experienced….

Went on a “moderate” difficulty-rated hike yesterday and it felt like we were back on the Camino Del Norte. It felt good to spend our energy again. Fitness app shows we climbed the equivalent of 116 flights! We’re giving ourselves a rest day before exploring another trail tomorrow. As always, pictures can’t do it justice….

It’s interesting spending the 4th of July away from America. It makes you appreciate the freedom we have and thankful for those in the past or currently willing to put their lives in peril to defend it. The US is far from perfect, but it sure is interesting to visit countries that don’t embrace diversity….

It took us a couple tries, but we made it to Madeira. Our first attempt was July 1. We flew from Madrid to Lisbon, then after a three hour layover, made the two-hour flight to Madeira. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong to land, so, after circling for awhile, we flew back to Lisbon. After…