I learned about Portuguese explorers like Vasco De Gama for example, and their colonization of Brazil. But that was the most I knew about historic Portugal and I’d be a ‘dealer in alternative facts’ if I denied knowing about Portuguese history and culture, or that it was on the top of my European travel to do list. But with low season airline fares and being on only a six-hour flight from New York City, I booked my trip, packed my passport and new film bag (a holiday gift from my dad) and traveled across the Atlantic. Now I have a new found love for this small country hugging the rocky coast along the Atlantic Ocean.