A Portuguese Love

To those who are already bored with my postages about Oporto here's something new with a taste of Summer. Buarcos is a fishing village, or, at least it was. When I moved to Figueira da Foz in the '80s there were lots of boats like this you can see in the photo below and maybe bigger, the dory boats, in the beach sand in front of this ancient XVIII century fortress wall. I remember fishermen sewing fishnets too. That's all gone. I believe some still live in the village and some live there and have bigger boats, like  traineiras , that are used to fish sardines. Many were dedicated to codfish fishing and sailed away for the high sea for months.  Buarcos has some good fish restaurants, narrow streets, and small houses, some covered in tiles. There's a nice public garden there and some cultural infrastructure too. I have to mention a curious theatre room called Trindade that was built in 1910. Inside it looks like a regular theatre with a stage and galleries....

A friend of mine, Lia Flora, - thank you Lia! - went to Monsanto and made a couple of nice photos. I asked her if I could share it with you and she said yes. I prefer to show you photos taken by Portuguese people on travel than to show you the ones I have from advertising sources. Sometimes these late are digitally retouched. This way I give you what you could really see if you were on the spot. Monsanto is a peculiar village. It belongs to Castelo Branco District. It's in mid-Portugal, nearby to the Spanish border. Look at the map. In the summer the temperature is very high in this region, in winter it can get very cold. I am sure you would love the local scenery where the houses are built only with granite stone, a local and natural resource. Some of them are built using rocks as walls or ceilings and one of these big, huge rocks has a restaurant below in the basement. Monsanto really rocks! It's a remarkable village and at the top of maybe 1500 feet high hill, the...

Mondego river enters the sea right at my door. From Serra da Estrela to Figueira da Foz - the city where I live - Mondego makes an amazing journey. Daniel Pinheiro is the name of the enthusiastic wildlife filmmaker who shot this film. It's the final Project of Daniel Pinheiro Masters´s Degree in Wildlife Documentary Production from the University of Salford and it won a distinction. It was filmed in Portugal during May/June 2011. Here's what the author wrote about it: A river acclaimed by poets and songwriters, closely entwined in the History of Portugal. As its waters merge with the sea, a small stream, hidden in the high mountains of Serra da Estrela, continues to ensure the Mondego breathes life into its great variety of habitats and wildlife. MONDEGO from WILDSTEP Productions on Vimeo . Mondego from Daniel Pinheiro on Vimeo .  

Yesterday I took an hour and went to the beach in the afternoon. The summer end is fast approaching and so I try to enjoy the last warm days every minute I can. With the start of school next 13th September, most families with children are no longer at the beach. The background noise is different. The light is different. Now everything is more quiet and slow at Figueira da Foz beach. In photo number four you can see a lifeguard talking to some boy surfers about the sea conditions. Lifeguards dress in red and yellow. In photo number five there's a man dressed in white with a container. He sells bolacha Americana, literally, it means American wafer(or cookie?!). It's thin and crispy like the one in the photo below. (That last photo isn't mine because I always eat the waffle before I remember to click the machine...!) These men walk the beach all day long selling bolacha Americana and some are witty and say funny things to catch people's attention an...

Since 1998 Google creates special logos, called doodles to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and special events. This one came out on August 31st and celebrates the first electric tram's 110th anniversary. If you visit Lisbon or Oporto you can still watch these vehicles on the street. In Lisbon, they are driven through narrow streets, up and down the city’s hills. The most famous is the tram 28. They are cute and quite a tourist attraction! I have to say I never traveled in it! But I want to! Don't miss the video where you can watch trams and tour some beautiful Lisbon spots and monuments while you listen to lovely guitar music...enjoy!(You can check this page if you want to discover more Google doodles.)

Travel+Leisure picked the 16th most beautiful railway station in the world. S. Bento's Oporto railway station made the list. You know, a list is just a list made by people. But most buildings picked are really awesome. You can check it here . "While the exterior is certainly beautiful—and brings to mind 19th-century Parisian architecture with its mansard roof and stone façade—it is the front hall that will make you gasp. The walls are covered with 20,000 splendid azulejo tin-glazed ceramic tiles, which took 11 years for artist Jorge Colaço to complete."

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 ...

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

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...

My Oporto   Facebook photo album Just a few things I like at Oporto - River Douro - Gustave Eiffel's Dona Maria Bridge - Rem Koolhaas' Casa da Música - Port wine and wine cellars at Gaia - Lello’s bookshop - Riverfront at either side of the Douro river - São Bento Train Station's tiled walls - Charismatic old quarters - Soares dos Reis’s Art Museum - The gigantic shovel by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at Serralves - Shopping on the street stores and not at shopping centres – Festival of Saint John's Day - The bronze cube surrounded by coffee tables at Ribeira - Bolhão market - Café Majestic - Sweets from Arcádia - Siza Vieira's Serralves Museum and its exhibitions that have included "Andy Warhol: A Factory," "Francis Bacon: Caged - Uncaged," and "Paula Rego." - The way people talk...my Oporto friends.

Today I spotted a nice spot on the net! It's a web page where you can find interesting information about Lisbon. If you are planning a visit you can check tips from locals instead of reading one or two guide books bought in the airport. Don't get me wrong, I do like city guide books. But this perspective is up-to-date and personal...and this site looks good! http://www.spottedbylocals.com/lisbon/category/activity/art-culture

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Last Sunday, October 25, we've had Daylight Saving Time clock usual change - 1:00 AM back to 12:00 Midnight. I hate it. As a result, we´ll get an early evening with the sun going down too soon for my taste for the following months. I took this photo 45 minutes ago.In Summer at this same hour we have still a lot of natural light...