This first Newsletter, of the new generation webpage we've just created, intends to revisit from the past, to pay homage to all of those that, with joint wills, launched and managed to keep alive the Associação dos Amigos de Monserrate (AAM). We have therefore decided to do a special edition dedicated to the history of Monserrate and to the history of the AAM, giving voice to their main protagonists. We have always been united by the love for a cause, for a garden, for a palace, for a place with incomparable beauty endowed with an exotic and romantic past that is deeply attractive and demands our best attention and commitment.

The new webpage shows work that, until this moment, has been done by all. Besides projects for the future, here you will find what has been our past and also the history of the Palace, the Garden, the architects, the men and the women that, throughout the years, left their stamp in Monserrate. A special word goes for all the gardeners of the park, for all those that have dreamt and thought about it and also for all its supporters and friends that have been around since the beginning of the AAM, Paulo Marques, Emma Gilbert, Gerald Luckhurst, Professor Fernando Catarino, Luís Santos Ferro, João Sande Freitas and many others, whose generosity, trust, work and attentive look, made it possible for us to fulfil this next step.

I love going to Monserrate, to feel its nature, its isolation and the beauty of this garden that is, for me, the perfect example of globalization. It's fascinating the harmonious coexistence of flowers, plants and trees from the most diverse provenences. We walk from the Mexican Garden with its cactus and palm trees into the Valley of Ferns; from the japanese garden filled with camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons into the Valley of the Roses and to get to the palace we cross the great green lawn. We find large exotic pines together with small ones that are exactly the same as all pines from other typical portuguese pine forests. We see hidden mushrooms and royal trees such as the araucaria, with strong first names that impose themselves to all other trees. We find waterfalls, romantic corners, sacred places, mysterious ways that are theatrical and that follow a horizontal line until the sea.

However to fully understand Monserrate you need to know more than its facts, more than that the property covers 124 hectares, of which 82 are park, 26 woods, and 15 garden. It is not enough to know that the palace is victorian with gothic, indian and moorish influences. You have to go there and stop, allow the atmosphere to absorb you, feel the smell, the beauty, the gentle breeze and the balance of a unique place that is capable of giving living form to all of our dreams and childhood imaginary worlds, as well as our adult desire for nature.

I invite all of you, friends and also those who are not friends yet, to visit and enjoy Monserrate. We need everyone's support and we want to share and spread the "magic" of this place. I also invite you to subscribe to our trimestral newsletter. We will deliver information about all of AAM activities, we will give you the opinions of everyone interested in Monserrate. The newsletter will bring articles about Moserrate's history, as a response to our concern of continuing with the work of research that has been going on and it will also bring news, tips and various curiosities. We intend this newsletter to be bilingual, with contributions both in portuguese and english.