A Portuguese Love

From top to bottom: one of the new advertising posters, the censured poster, and the most famous one. Over a century ago this Licor Beirão sweet beverage was already being produced in Lousã (Coimbra's District). It's made from several different plants from Lousã's mountain and aromatic seeds imported from Turkey, India, Brazil, and Sri Lanka. The story is that a Port Wine salesman passing by fell in love with the local pharmacist's daughter and they got married. The pharmacist was selling natural liquors and this maybe was kind of usual in the XIX century because my grandfather also runs a pharmacy and he also knew how to produce liquors. A new law then makes it forbidden to attribute medicinal properties to alcoholic drinks. The Port Wine traveler took at his charge the production of liquors. The name Licor Beirão comes from the region where a congress took place in 1929. Beirão is a native of Beira’s province. The liquor was then baptized to honor the r...

Click to discover more! Bellow red square with information and Mimi's photo, click Ver Galeria, on your left! http://www1.ci.uc.pt/cd25a/wikka.php?wakka=coleccaoConceicaoNeuparth Today is Freedom Day. It’s a national holiday in Portugal. 37 years ago by sunrise, the Movement of the Armed Forces, or MFA, took control of Portugal's destiny. After almost five decades of dictatorship, MFA promised to restore civil liberties and hold general elections. The people longed for the replacement of state institutions that included political police that imprisoned and tortured people. Six civilians were dead during the outburst. The 25 April coup became known as the Carnation Revolution. (Florists distributed the flowers they were selling to the military on the street.) It ended the longest dictatorship in Europe, the Estado Novo. The new regime pushed decolonization. Over the next few years Guiné -Bissau, Moçambique, Cabo Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Angola became indepen...

Vinho Verde is a unique product. Portugal is the one place to find it. This great wine has a blending of aromas that makes it one of the most delicious natural beverages. Some of it can have light bubbles. I love to drink it very fresh on Summer days - 8-10º C is the ideal temperature. It's ideal to go with seafood. Most times I just pick a beer because it's less expensive. Vinho Verde is Medium in alcohol and has great digestive properties due to its freshness. In the market, you can find red and white wines. The reds are full-bodied wines with an intense color and a rosy or light red foam. The whites usually present a lemony or straw color. Verde is the Portuguese word for green. But Vinho Verde hasn't relation with the color. Verde also means not ripe. But that does not mean that this wine is made from unripened grapes. The main characteristic is that Vinho Verde should be drunk while it's still young. It will not get better as time goes by. The Demarcated Region ...

It has just been announced that Bertrand, the Chiado (Garrett Street) Lisbon bookshop, is the longest-running bookshop. Guinness World Records certified it. There’s an ad from Bertrand where one can read: “Founded in 1732. We witnessed 1 earthquake, 1 civil war, 9 kings, the assassination of a king, 16 presidents, and 48 prime ministers. 3 republics, 6 coup d'état, 2 world wars, the fall of the wall, the unification of Europe, the introduction of the Euro... and, we also sell books!” The original bookshop was devastated by Lisbon’s 1755 big earthquake but the business was settled elsewhere and kept going. This house was a space of culture where many of our most important Portuguese writers met for a debate. Today is a regular bookshop where I went maybe a dozen times because if I go to Chiado – that Lisbon city area is called Chiado - I always get in to have a look. José Fontana, the founder of the Portuguese socialist movement, brilliant activist, and spokesman, killed himself ...

Mothers Cards  by  ontopsell Join one of the biggest  artist affiliate programs In Portugal, until a few years ago, Mother's Day was celebrated on December 8, Immaculate Conception Day and a religious national holiday. Nowadays Mother's Day takes place on the 1st Sunday of May. Anna Jarvis is the woman behind the official establishment of Mother's Day in the USA. Anna Jarvis lost her mother and become utterly depressed. She had then the idea of creating a Day dedicated to honoring all mothers. She campaigns for it writing letters to politicians, clergy members, business leaders, women's clubs, and everyone she thought might have influence. In 1914 the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it, establishing Mother's Day. She was concerned over the commercialization of Mother's Day wanting it to be a day of sentiment, not profit. 1. Send your mother a card and a few nice words! You can also buy a beautiful flower to go ...

Portugal has got the Sixth most beautiful café in the world. It's Café Majestic! This is what UCITYGUDES - The ultimate travel guides - wrote about it: "It's in the country's second city ( Oporto ) that we find the most stunning of all cafés in the nation and one of the most attractive in the world. From its façade to its interior, Café Majestic remains a beautiful setting for cultural events, making it more than just a tourist attraction. It continues to live up to its name with a wonderful Belle Epoque atmosphere in its main room and attractive winter garden which have guaranteed it a spot in every café-themed coffee table book." Here's the list. 1 - Café New York, Budapest 2 - Café Florian, Veneza 3 - Café Central, Viena 4 - Café Imperial, Praga 5 - Café de la Paix, Paris 6 - Café Majestic, Porto 7 - Café Confeitaria Colombo, Rio de Janeiro 8 - Caffé Gambrinus, Nápoles 9 - Café Tortoni, Buenos Aires 10 - Caffé Greco, Roma

From Zazzle, you, and me, to Japan: some money and emotional support! Just read this on Zazzle blog: "The accountants did the final tally and the check is ready. Thanks to the efforts of everyone in the Zazzle Community that helped build the Support Earthquake Relief in Japan Store , we all donated $12,507.34 to the Japanese Red Cross to aid recovery efforts following the terrible earthquake and tsunami. It was a truly worldwide effort. Zazzle created the store and an official shirt, Sellers created their own special products and donated royalties, and customers donated by purchasing all of these items. We at Zazzle would just like to say thank you to everyone! It was great to see folks from every corner of the globe helping those suffering in Japan, and we are proud that the power of the Zazzle platform was able to make it possible. Of course, recovery efforts in Japan are not over. For those wishing to continue to assist in the ongoing recovery efforts, we encourage you to ...

Mermaid and dolphins birthday party throw pillow by  aportugueselove When I have some money to spend I always go to Central Algarve, in the south, for a short Summer holiday cos I love a good warm beach. It’s the most geared up Portugal’s region for the tourist individual. If you visit you’ll find the largest concentration of hotels and apartments in the country and also a vast selection of sporting and leisure activities like golf. But it's the warm weather of the south that makes all the difference. Central Algarve in the west, it goes from Faro to Portimão, along 45 miles. District’s capital is Faro and that’s where foreigners land at Faro’s airport. For years I’ve been spending summer holidays at Armação de Pêra. Pêra is the name of a small village and Armação is what we call to the industry of making boats. It’s a 40-minute car drive from the airport. A few years ago I took a boat trip along the coastline to watch more closely the amazing sandstone caves, rock forma...

cat Frenchman Throw Pillows by strange_images See other throw pillows . This is a post for cat lovers. Recently, I mean, last year, I fell in love with cats and since then I've been reading a lot about this incredible animal. In this selection, I am trying to show different styles and different kinds of approaches to the subject. There's traditional, there's digital, vintage posters revival, photographs... Zazzle is full of wonderful artists. What's your favorite Zazzle product? Are you a feline lover? Enjoy. This post was refreshed in 2015 cats with sunflowers mouse pad by sandygrafik Browse more Cat Mousepads Edgar Poet Spiral Notebook by sandygrafik Check out more Edgar allan poe Notebooks at Zazzle Kitty Cat Mouse Pad by sandygrafik Create own mousepad on zazzle. Custom name seafoam green glitter black cat faces wireless mouse by Brothergravydesigns Look at Animals Wireless Mice online at Zazzle.com ...