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Porto rich night life

For New Year’s Eve there’s nothing like going to praça da Liberdade and celebrate. Everybody is there, there are concerts and at midnight, if nothing fails (as it has happend!) then you’ll get to see wonderful fireworks!

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

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.

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.

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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 .

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

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 …

 

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