In the small hamlet of Achadas da Cruz on the island of Madeira I made a pilgrimage to the home town of my maternal grandparents. I found the post office / general store where I had sent a letter many years ago looking for relatives. Amazingly I received a response from a distant cousin and was able to obtain valuable information about my family which led me to be able to obtain my Portuguese citizenship.
I was able to mail my brothers postcards from the post office! The ladies out front waiting for the bus were able to give me some more information about the town.
There was even a tiny police station nearby.
