J is for Jazz in Portugal
I grew up thinking that all jazz was jarring to the ears and a musical genre that was best avoided. Now that I’m a bit older and have more experience of the different forms of jazz, I really enjoy its softer side. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn to appreciate or love the noisy stuff though.
It might be worth giving it another go, however, because along with fado and classical music, there’s rather a lot of it about in Portugal. This week, Coimbra hosts its 10th International Jazz ao Centro (Jazz in the Centre) festival with a series of concerts scheduled in different venues around the city.
Image courtesy of MaAtE http://www.flickr.com/photos/tothmate/
Salão Brasil, with its big arched windows and creaky wooden floors, is one of the main venues and there are already some arty black and white photos of jazz musicians on the walls . The acoustics may not be the best but it draws in people wearing black and looking serious as they appear to appreciate the random pluckings of the double bass player and the flurries of notes from the other musicians. Other people go there too, so don’t feel you have to wear dark clothes.
A couple of years ago, the Jazz ao Centro organisers set up a stage in the ancient cobbled street of Quebra Costas. Just a few rows of chairs on a gentle slope in the warm May dusk and an air of expectation made for a very atmospheric setting. What a shame the musicians seemed hell-bent on ignoring each other. The three or four young men were so absorbed in their own instruments that the effect was discordant and off-putting. But then maybe I’m missing something, not being an aficionado of jazz.
This year’s Jazz ao Centro highlight is likely to be the concert in the recently renovated Santa Clara a-Velha Convent. I can just imagine the romantic effect of soft lighting on the golden sandstone walls. I only hope the music doesn’t spoil it all.
Talking of stone walls and ancient venues, I’m intrigued by the jazz concerts that are planned around the network of central Portuguese schist villages this summer. The schist villages I’ve been to are a mixture of abandoned homes that have disintegrated into piles of multicoloured stone and rotten wood and tiny houses that have been lovingly restored. Tucked away in the hills, these pretty villages will make great venues and are worth the drive even if the music turns out to be rubbish. One of the concerts, on July 14th, coincides with the outdoor art festival, Elementos à Solta (Art in the Wild), which I thoroughly enjoyed last year.
If you can’t make it to any of these jazz festivals in central Portugal this summer, not to worry. A a musical genre, jazz’s popularity has increased enormously in this country over the last twenty years and there are many events and clubs springing up all over the place. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, some of the popular jazz festivals such as the Dixieland Festival, are on hold for the time being but there is still plenty of interest in and demand for the music.
I’m not likely to become a fan of fado music any time soon but I think it might be time to give jazz another chance.
What’s your opinion / experience of jazz in Portugal? Let me know in the comments.
Jazz in Portugal links:
Jazz in the schist villages – X Jazz
Jazz clubs and events in Portugal
Jazz festivals around Portugal
This post is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed my previous posts, you can find them here.
For other Personal A to Zs of Portugal fellow bloggers, check out My A to Z Challenge: Portugal.
If you’re feeling inspired enough to take on the Personal A to Z Challenge yourself, you can find all the details here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: More Hands
Still on an arty theme, I love the smooth skin on this sculpture’s oversized hands. I vaguely recognise the artist’s style but I’m afraid can’t put a name to this work, which was on display at the Lisbon Art Fair in 2011. If anyone can help me out with the artist’s name, please let me know.
It’s over there!
Related posts:
For other people’s interpretations of this week’s photo challenge, click here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands
Gnarled, with impractically long nails and ornate gold jewellery, the hands of ‘Madame Orba’ by Thomas Kuebler are definitely worthy of this week’s photo challenge.
I found this sculpture on a trip to Évora, Portugal, along with many other weird and wonderful things. To find out more about them, you can read my post Évora – Beyond Bones.
‘Madame Orba’ by Thomas Kuebler as seen in Évora, 2010
For more ‘Hands’ photos, check out the links at the Weekly Photo Challenge.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Blue
Since it was first established in 2003, the International Dixieland Jazz Festival has made quite a name for itself on the international jazz scene. The festival is usually held in June, with jazz and Dixie bands playing various venues in and around Cantanhede in the weeks leading up to the main event.
On the big day, crowds line the streets and gather on balconies in Cantanhede’s city centre to get caught up in the spirit of fun and celebration as the participating bands parade through the streets.
The bands with their tubas, drums and trumpets are interspersed with teams of dancers in flapper costumes from surrounding schools. Vintage cars and motorbikes join the procession, along with circus performers. And let’s not forget the beer trucks and donkey-drawn carts distributing food and drink to fuel the festivities. A great day out for all ages.
Unfortunately, due to the current economic crisis in Portugal, Cantanhede city council have been unable to justify the cost of running it for a couple of years now. Like many others, I’m hoping that the crisis will soon pass so we can get back to enjoying this kind of fun again. I’ll let you know when it’s back on.
In the meantime, to fit in with the theme of this week’s photo challenge, ‘blue’, here’s a taster of the festival:
To find out how other people have interpreted this week’s theme, or to take part in the challenge yourself, follow the links in the comments here.
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I is for Ice Cream!
The sun is back and ice cream season has officially been declared open. By me.
One of the happiest discoveries I’ve made in Portugal is an ice cream parlour in Figueira da Foz that sells the best ice cream sundaes in the world (in my experience so far, at least). They’re so good that we take all our visitors there and make the trip for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Or just for fun.
Although Figueira da Foz is best known for its massive sandy beaches, they’re not the main attraction for us. I’ve always been a bit of a beach bum but my husband and stepkids aren’t really into the seaside. To be honest, even I’m not that keen on spending the day at the beach in central Portugal. The Atlantic waters of Portugal’s Silver Coast are freezing, even in August, and a bit too choppy for my liking. And when the wind picks up, as it often does, your face gets sandblasted while you lie on the beach, making it a less than relaxing experience.
For all these reasons, as well as the distance from the coast, we tend to go to river beaches in the summer months so the main reason to suggest a trip to Figueira da Foz is the ice cream at Gelataria San Remo. It’s probably just as well that it takes us an hour and a half to get there from our house otherwise I’d be broke and even fatter than I am.
The terrace of this ice cream parlour is slightly raised from the road and separated from the pavement below by a low wall that leads onto a tiny square, Largo Dom Margarida Mendonça Barraca. In the summer months, there’s often a flea market in the street below. Just across the road you can see the beach and its blue and white striped restaurants and beach huts.
Old men with cloth caps sit on the wall, chatting away, while couples and family groups look for shade at the tables outside the yellow tiled gelataria. There’s a bright, roomy seating area inside, with air conditioning but I prefer to be outside if possible. It feels more like a holiday that way. Waiters in bright T-shirts weave their way through the crowds balancing impossibly tall glasses piled high with fruit, cream and ice cream.
Mum with a mango sundae
Just looking at the ice cream menu is enough to make my mouth water. I already know what I want, though, unless they haven’t got the forest fruits needed to make a Copa Silvestre (fruits of the forest sundae). If that happens, I go for the crepes. Mike always has a Copa Primavera (spring sundae) which has so much fruit wedged around the glass that it’s bigger than his head.
Mike with a Copa Primavera
Me with a crêpe
It’s been months since we last went so I can feel a trip to Figueira da Foz coming on very soon!
Do you know of any better ice cream parlours in Portugal, or anywhere else for that matter? If you do, let me know in the comments.
This post is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed my previous posts, you can find them here.
For other Personal A to Zs of Portugal fellow bloggers, check out My A to Z Challenge: Portugal.
If you’re feeling inspired enough to take on the Personal A to Z Challenge yourself, you can find all the details here.
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N is for Nata, Pastel de Nata
How could my Personal A to Z of Portugal not include the nation’s most famous cake, pastel de nata?
A light, slightly flaky, crispy pastry cup holds a sweet, smooth creamy custard filling which is browned off in the oven, giving them a home-made, slightly burnt appearance. They may not look especially appetising to the uninitiated but trust me, these little custard tarts taste delicious.
Pastéis de Nata, image courtesy of ART-Ko. Click photo for link to Flickr page
Many of Portugal’s best cakes were originally baked by monks and nuns, and the original recipe for pastéis de nata came from the monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belem, Lisbon. These days, people queue outside the most famous specialist bakery Casa Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon which began producing these cakes using the monks’ secret recipe after Portugal’s monasteries and convents were closed down in the 19th century.
Don’t worry if you can’t get to Lisbon, pastéis de nata seem to be the nation’s favourite cake and you’ll find them in almost every café, pastry shop and bakery across Portugal. In fact, the Portuguese are so fond of their little custard tarts that they can be found pretty much anywhere where there’s a strong Portuguese presence.
The first time I tried one was in a little Portuguese café cum delicatessen in Barcelona’s Gràcia district where they just couldn’t bake them fast enough to satisfy the queue of people. Pastéis de nata gained such popularity in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, that they’re also loved on mainland China and sold in places like KFC!
Back in Portugal, if you’re looking for a bit of variety, during the annual chocolate festival in Óbidos, you can even get freshly baked chocolate pastéis de nata. Yum!
What’s your favourite Portuguese cake? Let me know in the comments so I can track it down and try it.
This post is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed my previous posts, you can find them here.
For other Personal A to Zs of Portugal and other countries by fellow bloggers, check out My A to Z Challenge.
If you’re feeling inspired enough to take on the Personal A to Z Challenge yourself, you can find all the details here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocussed, Again
After posting my first set of photos for this week’s photo challenge, ‘Unfocussed’, I remembered this shot. I hadn’t planned it at all and was surprised, and pleased, by the blurred effect created by this passer-by as he walks past Lisbon’s iconic Chiado café, ‘A Brasileira’.
If you’d like to see other people’s interpretation of this week’s Photo Challenge, ‘Unfocussed’, follow the links in the comments here.
For more of my posts about Lisbon, click here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocussed
I’ve never been able to bring myself to delete the only photos I’ve got from a visit to a bizarre museum in Tomar, central Portugal. Nestled within the old convent of Saint Francis (Convento do São Francisco), Europe’s largest collection of matchboxes is on display; all 43,000 of them!
I hadn’t expected to enjoy the matchbox museum (Museu dos Fosforos) but it was fascinating. So many colours and designs it made my head spin. Which is why I was so disappointed to find that none of the photos I took came out clearly.
I suppose I’ll just have to go back another time and be more careful! I’m looking forward to it already.
If you want to visit the matchbox museum, you’ll find it near the train station in Tomar, at Largo 5 de Outubro. It was free when I went but only open in the afternoon (2-5pm).
I found another ‘Unfocussed’ photo, this time in Lisbon. Click here to see it.
If you’d like to see other people’s interpretation of this week’s Photo Challenge, ‘Unfocussed’, follow the links in the comments here.
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S is for Safe, at Last!
A friend recently visited me here in Portugal and when I asked her what she liked about the country, I wasn’t surprised when she said, “I feel safe here.” I do too. I feel free to explore and enjoy and that’s not something I take for granted. Let me give you an example.
When I visit a new place, I like to get lost. Not on my way to the hotel, or anywhere I need to be by a certain time, of course, but if I’ve got a map in my bag for when I’ve done roaming the streets, I prefer to choose my route based on whatever catches my eye at the time.
As a result, I often find myself way off the tourist trail and sometimes in decidedly less salubrious areas. This happened not so long ago when I visited Vila do Conde, a lovely seaside town just north of Porto which is famous for its lace-making and hosts a big national arts and crafts fair every year.
Most of the town is well-maintained and quite pretty but I’d found myself in a residential area where the views were of cheap patterned sheets flapping about in the breeze, coarse insults scratched into someone’s garage door and makeshift outbuildings of red brick and splattered cement.
Granted, I’ve been in far worse places but this was definitely down-at-heel and in other countries I might have felt on edge. Not so in Portugal. It struck me that even in a place like this, I felt safe.
This feeling of personal safety is one of the things that I immediately noticed when I first moved to Portugal from Venezuela; the simple freedom to walk down the street without the very real fear that someone might rob or even kidnap me.
Crime Scene Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelmelchiorre/
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just in Venezuela that I’ve felt restricted by the threat of crime. When I lived in Tanzania, there was always an underlying concern, especially after dark or away from busy streets, which made it prudent not to take risks. In my home country, the UK, the media-hyped danger of rapists and muggers made me wary of going for walks alone or late at night.
So maybe I’m being naive, after all, crime is on the increase in Portugal, especially now that times are tougher financially. Or maybe it’s just the contrast; from having had to be extra vigilant, I now feel I can relax.
I don’t skip around the streets in blissful ignorance; there have been a couple of times when I’ve felt the need to keep a tighter hold of my bag and be more alert in Portuguese cities and I once had an unpleasant encounter while walking in the woods but these instances are few and far between.
This overriding sense of security is something I frequently feel grateful for, particularly when I’m walking the dog in the forests near our village or travelling alone. It’s one of the many reasons I’m happy I moved here.
How safe do you think Portugal is? Let me know what you think in your comments.
This is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed my previous posts, you can find them here.
For other Personal A to Zs of Portugal and other countries by fellow bloggers, check out My A to Z Challenge.
If you’re feeling inspired enough to take on the Personal A to Z Challenge yourself, you can find all the details here.
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A cheap massage becomes water torture
I thought I’d found myself a real bargain when I got 70% off a massage in Coimbra through an online voucher site. I won’t be doing that again!
Never having been for a Vichy Duche and massage before, I imagined that I would be blasted by jets of water for a while and then given a massage. I like to be prepared for things so I took a spare pare of knickers and some moisturizer with me. I didn’t, however, take a swimsuit. It never occurred to me for a moment that the shower and the massage would happen at the same time.
A far more relaxing massage than mine!
Image courtesy of o5com http://www.flickr.com/photos/o5com/
It was only when the receptionist showed me to the changing area and pointed out the packets of hospital knickers for people like me who hadn’t brought a swimsuit that I realized I would not be alone and happily naked. Yet even at this point I thought, “Hey, ho, so be it”. Then she introduced me to André. It turned out that the young man fiddling about with the row of shower heads above a massage table was to be my masseur.
I opened the packets of disposable underwear, expecting one to be for the top and one for the bottom. Wrong. She’d given me two see-through paper g-strings. I tried one on, looked in the mirror and whisked it off again. I put my big black granny pants back on again – at least they covered some of my bum. I still had nothing to cover my top so I put on the robe and stepped out to the steamy massage area.
André held my hand and guided me to the table, making sure I didn’t slip on the wet floor. The water was already running so there seemed nothing else for it but take off my robe so it didn’t get wet when I sat on the massage table. As I sat there in my pants with my arms folded across my chest waiting for further instructions, the receptionist came through again, took one horrified look at me and rushed out to get me a towel to hide my breasts.
Feeling marginally more at ease, I lay down on the bench. Warm water sprinkled my chest, stomach and legs, a cool mist of back spray wet my face. André began to gently stroke my leg. With my eyes wide open and jaw clenched, I was far from relaxed. My arms were outside the reach of the showers and getting chilly. The piano music was jarring and distorted. André’s touch was pointlessly light.
I considered stopping the whole thing but instead just asked for the music to be turned down and the water temperature up. That helped a bit but each time André’s hands gently manipulated my flab I felt old and fat.
Once my front was ‘done’, I flopped and slopped over on the table like a massive jellyfish so that he could massage my back. Lying on my front with my face through the hole in the massage bench, it was hard to find a position that stopped the water from running up my nose.
Eventually, it was over. André handed me the robe which I gratefully wrapped myself in and retreated to the safety of the changing room. In my silly imagination I had expected there to be a hairdryer in the changing room but sadly, I was wrong about that, too. I left with wet hair, tense shoulders and absolutely no desire to repeat the experience.
Have you ever had a regrettable massage? Let me know in the comments.
Iberian masks parading through Lisbon
The last thing I expected to see in the grid of shopping streets in Lisbon’s Baixa district was a couple of men in hessian suits wearing blood red devil masks. They weren’t alone, either. A very odd couple with distorted, bubble gum pink papier maché faces danced past me and the other bemused onlookers to the beat of the drums of a marching band.
As the booming and banging of the drums began to fade away, jangling and clanging of bells became louder and louder as the people who were wearing them around their waists came into view. I can honestly say I’ve never seen more ridiculous costumes; as if the white bobbly tights, and white skirts with rows of fluffy pom poms weren’t silly enough, the hats depicting an Iberian animal took the biscuit.
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Once it seemed that the flow of bizarre costumes and masks had dried up, what else could we do but follow them, like the Pied Piper, to find out what they were up to. Praça do Comércio was teeming with colour and sound as groups of people, mainly from north and central Portugal mixed with a smattering from Spain, gathered at the end of the procession.
The reason? A festival to celebrate and show off the wonderfully weird masks from around Iberia. Apparently, the festival lasts for several days, with traditional dance displays and regional food, arts and crafts on offer. And why not?
The street parade was certainly an unexpected highlight of our trip to Lisbon. If you can get there this weekend, you could be in for a similar treat. The stalls and stages will be set up in Rossio square from 10th to 13th May and the full procession will brighten the streets of the Baixa from 16.30 on 12th May. Have fun, and don’t forget your camera!
If you can understand Portuguese, here’s a link to the programme for the 2012 Iberian Mask Festival.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Together
For this week’s challenge, I found some wonderful examples of togetherness in the photos I took at an outdoor art exhibition in central Portugal. Every year, different artists are invited to display their work in the tiny mountain schist village of Cerdeira, near Lousã. To find out more about last year’s ‘Elementos à Solta / Art in the Wild’ event and how to get there, read my post about it here.
Otherwise, just relax and enjoy the mini slideshow.
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To check out my other Weekly Photo Challenge interpretations, click here.
To see what other people have done with this week’s theme, ‘Together’, follow the links in the comments here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun
Yippee! A chance to use this photo, taken from my balcony as the sun came up one morning. I’m not usually up this early but I couldn’t sleep and decided to take some photos as dawn cracked.
To check out my other Weekly Photo Challenge interpretations, click here.
To see what other people have done with this week’s theme, ‘Sun’, follow the links in the comments here.
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G is for Gold
I’ve never been remotely interested in gold jewellery but a friend of mine who came to visit dragged me round every jeweller’s in Coimbra and in doing so, introduced me to some exquisite filigree pieces. I’m especially taken with the traditional curved hearts that are icons of Portugal.
Although I can’t see myself ever wearing them as a pendant or earrings, they’re delicate and beautiful and worthy of admiration, in my opinion.
This video shows a team of Portuguese goldsmiths making gold filigree jewellery from scratch, with a soundtrack of traditional Portugese guitar music as an added bonus. The picture quality improves once it gets started and you’ll see some fine examples of their work, better than the photo above.
If you’re visiting Porto and want to see filigree-making in action for yourself, you could stop by O Cântaro, a souvenir shop near the river that specialises in traditional Portuguese handicrafts.
My jewellery-loving friend also raved about the quality of Portuguese gold compared to that of the rest of Europe and especially the UK.
It turns out that she’s right about that. Pure gold is too soft to work with so jewellery is made using a blend of metals which affect not only the colour but the hardness of the gold. Most gold that’s sold in Europe is 18 karat, which means it’s 75% gold and 25% other metals. Portuguese gold, on the other hand, is 19.2 karat, or 80% gold.
With this in mind, Mike and I decided to buy our wedding rings in Coimbra and were introduced to a lovely Portuguese tradition. The jeweller had our rings engraved with the name of our future spouse and the date of the wedding. Now there’s no excuse to forget our anniversary!
Sadly, though, not all Portuguese gold jewellery is for keeps. With the country in dire straits and unable to tap into it’s mega gold reserves because of various legal restrictions, many people are feeling the pinch. Over recent years, I’ve noticed that the main boom business these days seems to be buying second hand gold.
Thankfully for those needing to sell, it’s no longer necessary to deal with dodgy looking characters who lurk downtown and approach people in the street offering to buy their unwanted jewellery. Nowadays, almost every street in town centres has at least one new shop, usually plastered with black and yellow signs, calling people to sell their gold. With other shops forced to close down, there are plenty of places to set up a gold trading business.
And in the swish, modern shopping malls, having to part with family heirlooms to pay your rent can be handled by friendly young women in suits and smiles, giving it the illusion of a simple, everyday transaction. I’m sure that however much you dress it up, parting with the family jewels out of necessity has got to hurt. Especially if it’s one of the beautiful filigree pieces.
This is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed my previous posts, you can find them here.
For other ‘G is for…’ posts by fellow bloggers, check out My A to Z Challenge.
And if you’re feeling inspired enough to take on the Personal A to Z Challenge yourself, you can find all the details here.
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Arranged
I’m not sure how much longer this classic glove shop in Lisbon’s Chiado area will be able to remain open as I find it difficult to imagine there’s much demand for custom-made leather gloves these days. I’ve never been through the doors but I always pause to admire these carefully arranged gloves, relics of past fashions. The tiny shop has been open since 1925 so next time I’m in Lisbon I’m going to try and get there during opening hours to find out what’s inside before it’s too late.
If you’d like to see my other Weekly Photo Challenge interpretations, click here.
To see what other people have done with this week’s theme, ‘Arranged’, follow the links in the comments here.
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Seven Super Shots of Portugal
Having been tagged by Fiona at Scribbler in Seville to take part in HostelBookers 7 Super Shots photography challenge, I’ve spent many happy hours browsing my photo collection. However, rather than go through the thousands of photos I’ve collected over years of travelling and living abroad, I decided to limit myself to photos of Portugal. I hope you enjoy them.
A photo that takes my breath away
I’m in total awe of Olive Tree Dance, a Portuguese band who I first experienced in a small venue in Coimbra. I had seen a couple of their you tube videos but nothing could have prepared me for the way that they filled the room with pulsating sound from just a tiny drum box and a digeridoo. Renato Oliveira, the digeridoo player, worked pure magic using incredible energy and breath control to create music that had me dancing like a loon for hours.
I’ve been to a few of their gigs and now that they’re becoming more widely-known, they play bigger venues and involve more musicians and instruments. They’re still amazing but I prefer their more intimate, simple gigs like this unscheduled performance on the beach at Cortegaça at the 2011 Surf at Night festival.
A photo that makes me laugh or smile
I had lots of contenders for this category but this “Slow Down, School Ahead” road sign in São Miguel de Poiares never fails to make me chuckle every time I drive past it. I just love the way this little girl is gaily skipping across the road on her way to school, flashing her knickers without a care in the world.
A photo that makes me dream
This was another tricky one to choose but ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to live in a castle. Despite the Disney colours of Pena National Palace in Sintra, I can easily imagine living here, without the tourists, of course. While it was being built in the 19th century, the reigning king and queen of Portugal insisted on incorporating elements of Islamic architecture, which I adore, as well as medieval features and Manueline trimmings. It’s a bit over the top, granted, but the grounds and views are gorgeous. And mine, in my dreams.
A photo that makes me think
The ruins of Monsanto castle sit on top of a hill in the Beira Baixa, a part of Portugal which is strewn with granite boulders. Being resourceful folk, the townspeople of Monsanto made full use of what nature had supplied them with and built their homes around the gigantic piles of stone. I can’t help thinking that I’d be worried about them shifting somehow. Can you imagine this roof falling down? I’m not sure how soundly I’d sleep at night in that house.
A photo that makes my mouth water
I’ve just come back from the chocolate festival in Óbidos and as well as sampling some very yummy treats while I was there, I’ve got a lasting reminder in the form of this photo of chocolate Johnny Depp. Enough to make my mouth water for more than one reason.
A photo that tells a story
I spent a few hours in Ponte da Lima last year and was intrigued by the legend of the river. Apparently, when the Roman army arrived there, long before the bridge, they were so struck by the natural beauty of the place that they became convinced that they had reached the mythical River Lethe. The soldiers believed that the river had the power to erase their memories and refused to cross it.
Their general, who you can just make out on his horse on the other side of the water, needed to get his men across so he went first and called them over by name from the opposite bank. The soldiers were amazed but reassured that he could remember their names and followed him to the other side.
A photo that I am most proud of (aka my worthy of National Geographic shot)
I don’t think this photo is quite that worthy but I do really like it. I took this shot through a hole in the walls of the hilltop castle of Marvão, looking back across its manicured garden hedges and over the whitewashed buildings of the beautiful ancient village.
Now I’d like to see what these bloggers make of the 7 Super Shot challenge:
For more of my Portugal-related photography, check out these Weekly Photo Challenges:
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F is for Fame!
Thanks to Alyson Sheldrake, the Personal A to Zs of Portugal have been featured in the Algarve Resident newspaper: http://www.algarveresident.com/44976-0/algarve/promoting-portugal-out-of-love-for-the-region
click the image to see a larger version
To read my Personal A to Z of Portugal so far, start here.
To read other bloggers’ Portugal A to Zs, click here.
To read about other countries or topics, or join in with a Personal A to Z of your own, click here.
Happy reading!
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Through
It was difficult to choose which photo to use for ‘through’. So I picked three and decided to let you vote for your favourite.
1. A view of the splendid monument to Dom José in Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio through the archway on Rua Augusta.
2. Still in Lisbon, Mike walks through a piece of Jesús Soto’s kinesthetic art at a temporary exhibition in Museu do Chiado.
3. Beautiful coloured light bathes these church pews as the sun shines through the stained glass windows of the 16th century Igreja Nossa Senhora da Graça in Évora.
Decide which one you like best and vote for it by leaving me a comment.
For my previous interpretations of the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.
For other people’s versions of ‘Unusual’, follow the links in the comments section of the Weekly Photo Challenge.
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So that’s how they make Licor Beirão!
Being a dedicated fan of this sweet, herby Portuguese liqueur, I couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the Licor Beirão factory. The event was organised for expats living in central Portugal by Dot Bekker of Portugal Friends. After lunch at a restaurant overlooking Lousã we headed in convoy to Quinta do Meiral, where ‘the liqueur of Portugal’ is produced.
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We were greeted by the owner, José Redondo, who inherited the business from his father and now runs it with his own son, Daniel. We stood amid the clanking, hissing and whirring of the bottling machinery, trying to identify the scents of the spices that were mingled in the air as he began to explain the packaging process.
A group of workers stood at the beginning of the conveyor belt, applying gold ribbons to the distinctive green bottles by hand. Once this is done, the bottles are filled and the rest of the labels attached by a series of machines until they’re ready to be boxed up in an impressive display of hydraulics and automation.
This was all very interesting but what we really wanted to know is the secret recipe of herbs and spices that make the unique natural flavour of Licor Beirão. José led us into another building, past steaming copper distilling contraptions and rows of shiny steel vats. The smell of aniseed was strong here. In a small central room, sacks of spices imported from far flung corners of the world were stacked, waiting to be ground and macerated in pure alcohol.
José reached into a wooden box and pulled out a handful of coriander seeds to show us, then a handful of mint leaves, some oregano and aniseed. Whilst he was happy to tell us which spices are used, the exact recipe remains a family secret and is known only to José and Daniel. Every week, he personally weighs out the required quantities that are used to produce around 4 million bottles of this lovely liquid every year.
We followed him back to the main building and up to the bar / mini museum area where a photo of his father graces the walls alongside the history of Licor Beiraõ. I’ve read up on this already for a previous post about my favourite Portuguese drink so I happily accepted a glass of Beirão on the rocks and took in the framed posters from the company’s notorious advertising campaigns.
Hearing laughter, I wandered across to where José was having fun with a small wooden box. This time, he’s willing to share the secret with us and showed us the trick to opening it. After that, there was little left to do but stock up on a few bottles on the way out.
For more information about Licor Beirão, recipes for cocktails and the online shop, visit the official website.
For details of walks and other events in central Portugal, visit Portugal Friends.
Related Post: B is for Beirão, Licor Beirão
You might also like: Honey and Chestnuts in Lousã
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Q is for Quotes
No, not witty or inspirational things that other people have said. I mean estimated costs.
One of the things I find frustrating about living in Portugal is how difficult it is to get quotes for work that needs doing. To my way of thinking, it’s in a company’s interests to provide potential clients with the information that they need promptly and with a smile to maximize its chances of getting the business. Especially in the current financial climate.
That’s not how things work here, it seems.
Word of mouth and personal connections go a long way in Portugal so I’m guessing that most Portuguese people can put out feelers within their extended family and social network to rustle up a suitable person for the job at a reasonable price when things need doing.
For expats without such contacts, the ridiculously hard work of tracking down and arranging for someone to work on a property can be enough to make you scream, or at least it has been for me.
Even when you manage to identify and get a contact number for, let’s say, a builder and ask for a quote, it can take weeks of chasing to even get someone to come to the house to look at the job. Don’t bother trying to pin anyone down to a specific time; you should count yourself lucky if they arrive on the day you specified.
Give yourself a pat on the back for getting this far. Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the quote to arrive. Better make yourself comfortable; it may take some time. And you will have to ring up and hassle them for it. More than once.
Don’t even bother with email. You may as well stand on a cliff and shout into the wind.
That goes for most services in Portugal, by the way. I’ve lost count of how many unanswered emails I’ve sent asking for information about travel, banking, shopping and, of course, quotes.
The larger building supplies and DIY shops in Portugal such as AKI and Leroy Merlin are set up to provide a range of services from installation to renovation and you can go through them to arrange quotes. Just don’t expect smooth sailing through them, either.
Since you’re paying for the quote, they’re obliged to send someone around and make it happen within an agreed timeframe but it will:
a) be expensive because they are acting as an agent for the contractor and obviously need to take their cut
and
b) not necessarily include the cost of all the materials which means you’ll still have to traipse round the shop trying to work out how many of which bits might be needed in order to work out your final price. And chase up estimates for things you need that the store doesn’t sell.
If you finally manage to get one or more quotes to choose from, well done for getting this far; it’s no mean feat!
And I wish you the very best of luck with arranging for the work to be done when and how you want. I could go into details but that’s another story…
This little rant is part of my Personal A to Z of Portugal. If you’ve missed any of my previous A to Z posts, click here to read the others.
For other bloggers’ Personal A to Zs of Portugal, click here.
And to read A to Zs from around the world or join in the fun with a Personal A to Z of your own, visit My A to Z Challenge.
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Hi, I'm Julie, a British expat living in central Portugal. I blog about my experiences of living in Portugal and travelling around this diverse and beautiful country. Whether you're thinking about moving to Portugal, looking for some out-of-the-ordinary trips within Portugal or just fancy a spot of armchair travelling, read on and enjoy.
