Helen and Peter in Portugal

A recent day trip out to an artist in residence village in the mountains has got me thinking…when is art, actually art and when is it a craft?  I mean knitting is a craft, but I think of my friend Jackie creating intricate patterns, putting these on paper then making them up into garments, I think that there is a real ‘art’ to that.   So, I looked it up:  Art noun 1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. 2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection. Craft noun, plural 1. an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill: the craft of a mason. 2. skill; dexterity: The silversmith worked with great craft.    OK so an craft is an art, but related to a special skill….hmm I am still none the wiser really.  I...

I’d judged Caldas de Rainha from the ring road surrounding it.   We’d passed round the town many times before on our road trips.   From the ring road, Caldas seems like a town in need of some love, large supermarkets of every brand, petrol forecourts, modern apartment blocks abandoned and large areas of wispy grass gone yellow in the sun.     One day we took a detour from the ring road and into the centre of what is a charming town.   The town (city in fact) was founded in the 15c by Queen Leonor because it has naturally forming hot springs.   Around these springs a hospital was built, where patients are still sent by their doctors to take in the natural healing properties of this water.   Back in the 15c the queen believed in the healing properties of this stinky egg smelling water so much that she sold her jewels to pay for the hospital. Like so many Portuguese towns, the historic centre is in need of a bit more love.  ...