An apartment in Porto 26/08/2009

A place to stay in Porto

A visit to Porto will be best setup if you stay at a studio or apartment.  You have the comfort of a hotel, the privacy of your own home, the freedom of arranging your time according to your interests and needs, the safety of your four walls.

Studio

It is a good alternative, not to small, not to big but with everything you need in it. Here you can have your breakfast, when you want it, with your choice ingredients. No immediate neighbours to make noise at the distance of a internal wall. You can take care of your clothes the way you like them at no extra cost nor fearing they might get lost.

If you are a couple, it surely is an excellent way to get all the benefits of home and hotel all together.

studio with WC, kitchenette and dinning area

Apartment

If you’d like a bit more room, because you like to watch a little TV or work on your computer, and it is nicer to have a separated bedroom, then there are several apartments that will suit your purposes.

2 bedroom apartment, with garage, 2 WCs, in Boavista

What the web says about Porto 30/05/2008

Never been to Porto, Portugal, the so called capital of the portuguese north?

It’s about time to come and visit, and if you’d like to gather a first impression about Porto, there are already some very cool places on the Internet to visit:

• Better than words, you’ll find here excellent pictures of the streets of Porto.
• Another picture blog about Porto with some words in Portuguese.
• And a somewhat sad and abandoned image of Porto.
• Here you can see 360º pictures of some interesting locations in Porto.
• Take a look here of the local beaches! (Also in Portuguese).
• Even though it is written in Portuguese you’ll find here interesting adresses in the city.
• You’ll also need some Portuguese for this site with bars and events in Porto.

The Book Fair – Feira do Livro 23/05/2008

You are a bit bored, the weather isn’t quite what you’d expect from a town in the south,… well that’s normal, as it has been a tradition to have rainy weather when the Book-fair opens to the public.

So instead of hanging around in Cafés (which you should anyway…), just go to Palácio de Cristal and visit the Fair. It´s free and all major Publishing Houses are there presenting their books. This year’s writer is, Germano Silva a writer of Porto with deep knowledge of this city; who knows, you might get into a nice chat with him!

Until the 10th of June there will be all sort of Events and you can buy cheaper Books ( discount of about 10 to 50% – if they are the book of the day). Open every day from 15:30 to 23:30.

The student’s week: Queima das Fitas 08/05/2008

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Portuguese students have a tradition, which started in Coimbra (1919), of celebrating the end of the academic life by burning “queimar” the laces “fitas” representing the near finishing of their studies. As time went by the celebrations extended to all the students.

The biggest Queima das Fitas is held in Porto, having become a festivity of the whole city, it envolves as many as 350 000 students and a high number of locals. It starts Saturday night with a “serenata”, where Fado is sung with fervour and the students’ bags wave in the air making  the attached colourful laces to flutter.  The highlights of this week are on Sunday the blessing of the students’ bags, the parade on Tuesday, everyday in the evening at the Queimódromo there will be concerts and at the end of the week a bull fight for beginners (with cows ) and a gala ball for finalists.

Take a look at the events for this week at the website of the Queima das Fitas 2008 .

 

Learn Portuguese 21/04/2008

 Would you like to learn Portuguese?

There are several possibilities to learn Portuguese in town, it pretty much depends on how much you want to spend, how much time do you have and when are there available courses.

Course levels

To go from Absolute beginner (those who know absolutely nothing – and saying bom dia, boa tarde is something, right?) to proficient in Portuguese, you’ll need to start at Level A1 and make all the way to Level C2 (according to the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages):

Level A1 – You aim at communicating in an extremely simple manner (for example: introduce yourself, name things you own), if your interlocutor speaks slowly, clearly and in a simple way.

Level A2 – You want to communicate in situations involving simple tasks and/or routines, where it is enough to exchange simple and direct information. You want to describe in a simple manner personal information, your surroundings.

Level B1 – You intend to communicate in a simple manner producing small speeches, describing personal experiences or explaining reasons and justifications

Level B2 – You want to communicate with some spontaneity and promptness with native speakers.

Level C1 – You want to communicate in a flexible and efficient way, in any situation.

Level C2 – You intend to speak, write, read and listen fluently, distinguishing the subtleties of meaning of the learnt language.

Course frequency

Each level has been conceived for a period of 60 hours to 80 hours. Then according to your available time you can attend: 

Regular course: Held generally twice a week, this type of courses take about a semester to achieve a level.

Intensive course: Held in a month occupying either mornings or afternoons, from Monday to Friday. Or whole days (generally no more than 6 hours).

Course attendance

Finally, you’ll have to choose whether you prefer groups or individual training: group (6-16 learners); small groups (2-6 learners) or individual training.

Here you have some possibilities:

University

Faculty of Arts, Porto

Private Schools teaching Portuguese with Web sites:

City School      InLingua     International House      Encounter English      Centro Europeu de Línguas      Centro de Línguas de Aldoar

A beer 21/04/2008

How to order a beer?

You can ask for a fino (phihnu): “um fino, por favor! “; which is 20 cl, small wider necked glass, this is the most common request when it comes to beer, served with “tremoços” (En:LupineLupinus albus L) a kind of big peas only pigs eat elsewhere, but a treat for the portuguese palate. Mind you, they require an eating learning process, if you want to be seen as a regular guy in town: you’ll have to tear the skin with your teeth and just eat the inside.

Should your thirst require a softer but beerish drink, then try a panaché (pahnahsheih) a mix of beer and seven up, quite refreshing in the summer which goes also nicely with a francesinha.

But this is not all! You can order a tango, instead of the dance you get a beer with red-currant sirup. A bit sweetish for my taste, but …

Francesinhas 23/02/2008

Ever tried a frenchy? No? You definitely need to come to Porto.

 

 The Past

Once upon a time, some say, during the period of the French Invasions, the french soldiers used to eat sandwiches of mixed meats and a lot of cheese. One main ingredient was missing: the sauce folks of Porto poured over the sandwich. But in fact it most probably is only 60 years old, when an ex-emigrant, Daniel David Silva, then working in the Restaurante a Regaleira, created the francesinha based on the french speciality croque-monsieur.

 What is it made of?

You put steak, cooked ham, sausages or roasted meat between 2 slices of bread. Cover it with a layer of cheese, let the cheese melt a bit and then cover it with a sauce made of tomato, onion, garlic, pepper, beer and some more ingredients. And there you are a delicious francesinha

Where can you eat a francesinha?

Café Pontual, Rua do Almada Its a regular cafe in Porto, but the owners came from the late Café Luso, where you could eat probably the best francesinha in town.

Capa Negra, R. Campo Alegre 191, Porto  This is one of the most famous in town for this speciality, its open until quite late and always serving delicatessen of the kind

Convívio, R. Arquitecto Marques Silva 303, Porto Another famous place to go late hours!

Tascas 20/02/2008

I’m hungry! Walking down the street I look for a place to eat. There are several possibilities, if you take into account the fact that in Portugal there is one restaurant for each 131 inhabitants (375 per restaurant in EU). So the choice is rather big, and what I’d really like is one of those traditional, quite old, and rather messy Tascas.

Most of them are gone, now that more fashionable and neat places are available, and they might scare you off at start, with that odour of used frying oil or even wine turned vinegar… but don’t let yourself be put off: it is still worthy to go inside and try some of those typical, greasy treats we have in our Portuguese menu and be with the one side of the genuine Portuguese folks…

Be warned: Nothing really for the weak and frail…

Here are some of the places you can try (it might be handy to speak some Portuguese!)

• “A Badalhoca” – R. Dr. Alberto Macedo (Ramalde)
• Adega Leandro – Rua de Trás, 12, aos Lóios
• Tasca O Alfredo Portista – Rua do Cativo, in Sé
• Adega Quim – R. da Madeira, S. Bento Station

interested? Then you can find the existing 80 of them in the book:

 

Stay in Porto 29/01/2008

Where do you prefer to stay when travelling?

To stay in an hotel? A boarding house? Bed and Breakfast? Maybe an apartment/flat?
You can stay in one of the above flats (check their pages), but you can alternatively stay either in an hotel (you have all major known hotels) or in more traditional, mostly family run boarding houses or guesthouses. You’ll find the neat, clean, cosy type; the familiar clean but rather scanty type, and the somewhat not so clean, decayed, definitely cheap, where you never know what’s going to happen next type. (If you want to stay in one of these, just tell me and I’ll point the perfect one for you…)

Guesthouses/Boarding houses

Try for instance the Residencial Brasilia in an old building close to Praça da República, walking distance from Cedofeita, one of the traditional shopping streets in town. Quite between old, historical center and the modern center of Boavista.

There is also the Residencial Portuguesa, Travessa Coronel Pacheco 11, Tel.: 00 351 222 004 174 / 00 351 229 012 211. Very central, close to Clérigos Tower, close to “Piolho” the traditional Student’s Cafe.

Also in the center, on a beautiful street, you have the Pensão Cristal , also central, in an area which is becoming rather fashionable, near some interesting bares.

There are more, may more, therefore these are mere examples of what you can find in town.

Hostels

Black & White Hostel (B&W), Rua Barão de Forrester nº 944 4050-272 Porto, Portugal. Art, style and comfort for cool demanding travellers. Opened in August 2007, B&W is located in the centre of Porto, in a 19th century family house transformed in an Art house. B&W is located near Boavista, and near a metro station (Carolina Michaelis),and many buses. Walking distance to Casa da Musica, Cedofeita and Torre dos Clerigos. We provide clean and modern commodities (comfortable beds, hot showers 24 hours, with Internet for guests, lockers, a terrace and a garden) as well as inside information on Porto. Last but not the least, and although our high standards, B&W is the CHEAPEST hostel in Porto NO GROUPS OF MORE THAN 6 PERSONS