Residents should not become victims of speculation and mass tourism Lisbon’s housing crisis has escalated into a political nightmare. House prices as well as rents for new leases have more than doubled over the last ten years. And prices are still climbing. Idealista – a real estate marketplace and the largest property portal on the […]
Carving portraits out of walls Vhils – Alexandre Manuel Dias Farto – is a Portuguese street artist born in 1987 near Lisbon. He studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London and nowadays lives and works between London and Lisbon. He is best known for his unique technique in urban art: carving portraits out […]
GLAZIG ‘Denk je dat ie het gedaan heeft?’ ‘ Wie’? bromt Douwe, die zijn zakken afklopt op zoek naar sleutels. ‘Als je hier wacht, loop ik gauw terug naar binnen. Misschien dat ik ze in de squashzaal heb laten liggen.’ Op de uitgestorven parkeerplaats van Holiday Inn danst warme lucht boven gloeiend asfalt. De geblutste […]
Portuguese consume twice the recommended calories ! Some foods in Portugal still feature a ‘snout-to-tail’ culinary tradition, a practise of cooking that utilizes every edible part of the animal. Organ meats like liver, heart, kidney, tongue, tripe (stomach) are often hidden in sausages or served in specific regional varieties. Iscas com Elas is iconic to […]
Dogs have owners, cats have staff Besides Fado, Football and Fatima, Portugal is well-known for its native dogs.Certainly no lap dogs, but rather working dogs with specific roles in hunting, guarding or herding livestock. Estrela Mountain Dogs are large hairy dogs, bred as livestock guardians, and indigenous to the Serra da Estrela mountain range in […]
Trade routes disappear but words remain. Over the centuries, Portuguese explorers, traders, and colonists have left marks on words used around the world. Take the word Albino that comes from the Portuguese word albino (‘whitish’). Portuguese explorers coined this term in the 17th-18th centuries to describe persons with an unusually white skin they encountered in […]
Portuguese artistic pavement under threat In almost every village, town and city in Portugal you will find parts of the unique traditional Calçada Portuguesa pavement made up of black and white decorative cobblestones. This masonry art craft is unique to Portugal – mainland, islands and former colonies – and an iconic part of its cultural […]
Recognition of the Iberian rabbit as a ‘distinct species’ prevents its extinction International research from Portugal and the UK say the European rabbit is in fact two species split two million years ago, the Iberian one now being in decline.Until recently, scientists took it for granted that only a single species of rabbit lived on […]
Increase in number of immigrants from other Portuguese-speaking countries At the inauguration of his centre-right government in May 2024, Portugal’s prime minister Luis Montenegro, promised that all Portuguese citizens would have a family doctor by the end of 2025, but this promise seems increasingly out of reach. This year there were over 1,6 million patients […]
Worldwide there is a ‘silent majority’ in favour of action on climate change The world is on fire and climate action very popular. So why is it not realised? Research shows that the vast majority of people around the world want more to be done to fight the climate crisis but mistakenly assume their peers […]