Lisbon

Maria de Assuncao Cunha and her two small boys come out of a hilltop church carrying a handout of rice, cereals, milk and cookies. "It helps a little bit, but it's not enough by a long way," says the 43-year-old, who has three children ages 5 to 14. "Things are just really, really tight." The mothers, elderly people and middle-aged men standing in line at the Church of the Sacred Family in Lisbon offer grim evidence of how the economic crisis is hurting one of the world's wealthiest continents.

We returned last month from a driving trip in Portugal and Madeira. Following three nights in Lisbon we visited the small towns of Sesimbra, Setubal, Obidos and Nazare, then flew to Madeira to drive and explore, our favorite way of traveling. Last July a letter appeared in your column recommending a map and bookstore in Los Angeles. We took the writer's advice and visited the store before the trip, probably one of the smartest things we've done. Even with jet lag we were able to easily find our hotel in Lisbon, and had no trouble finding the small fishing villages, lovely experiences made even more so by being well-prepared.

LISBON - For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills. The cost of seeing a doctor in Portugal has more than doubled, from about $12 to $26 a visit. Reposo used to pay nothing for dialysis because he's a blood donor, but that exemption was lifted, and he now pays about $53 for each session.

A 15-minute car ride west of downtown Lisbon, on a sliver of farmland cloistered by tightly bunched apartment blocks, the grape harvest is just in. And it looks like a storied Portuguese wine will be rescued from near-extinction. The recent harvest of Carcavelos fortified wine coincided with the centenary of a 1908 law demarcating this wine region. "From what we've tasted I think this will be a good year," said head winemaker Estrela Carvalho. Local authorities are spending $1.3 million to expand production and reinstate the reputation of what was once known internationally as "Lisbon wine," one of Portugal's old and almost forgotten treasures.

Lemons are most in demand in summer, for making lemonade, serving with cocktails and squeezing on fish. There's a little bit of a disconnect with production, which is concentrated, from different growing areas, in the fall to spring months; but there's still plenty of supply throughout the summer from coastal districts. Most commercial production is of the standard Eureka and Lisbon varieties, but in the last decade a few farmers market and specialty growers have planted Italian varieties, famed for their romantic history and intensely aromatic rinds.

Lisbon will host an international conference in May to plan aid for the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Portuguese Foreign Ministry official said Friday.

A bomb exploded before dawn today, destroying the front of the downtown Air France office and damaging a nearby TWA facility. A pro-Libyan French terrorist group claimed responsibility.