A morte é a curve na estrade ( death is a bend in the road ) – Fernando Pessoa According to the 2019 edition of the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, which ranks 169 economies by factors contributing to health – overweight, lifestyle, tobacco & alcohol use and quality of health care – Portugal is in […]
Trees are sanctuaries. Those who know how to talk and to listen to them will find the truth – Hermann Hesse Portugal’s oldest tree – 3350 years old – can be admired in Mouriscas, the municipality of Abrantes. As one of the oldest trees in the world, it has provided shadow to innumerous people, from […]
Portugal is one of the most racist countries in the EU – European Social Survey Once again police violence against an underprivileged community has hit the headlines. This time the battlefield is called Jamaica. Not the home of Bob Marley’s reggae but a ghettoized neighbourhood of merely black Afro-descendants in the southern outskirts of greater […]
Over het gladde houten bruggetje met de vertrouwde vijvereenden, kraaloogjes nieuwsgierig schuin omhoog. Zigzaggend tussen vuilwitte happende hondjes, achtervolgd door rochelende slijm opspugende scootmobiels. Langs de uitpuilende aluminium vuilnisbak op één poot hangend in een afvalplas. Dan een lusteloze bank met laveloze ragebol, alle aandacht voor vroeg vloeibaar ontbijt. Voorbij de donkere dichtgetimmerde blokhut rechtsaf […]
For about 70 years Madeira was the most important sugar producer in Europe The introduction of sugar cane farming by the Portuguese into Madeira towards the first half of the 15th century – some decades before Columbus discovered America – meant that sugar could be exported, at first through Lisbon and then directly to the […]
January 6. Epiphany – Kings Day – Dia de Reis. In Portugal the day to eat Bolo Rei, a ring-shaped cake with a small hidden surprise inside. Also, the day to put all Christmas decorations away. In neighbouring Spain, the presents under the Christmas tree will only then be unpacked as it were the three […]
Five years after the peak of its economic crisis, Portugal’s future looks bright. There is more confidence, more consumption and there are more young people in college. In December the country succeeded in paying off the last installment of the 78 billion euro loan to the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The accelerated […]
There is place for everyone
‘Assistance, work and independence’ ‘We aren’t 2nd hand citizens!’ Last May, Joao Rodriguez – a 95% physically restricted and wheelchair dependent quadriplegic from Figueira da Foz – was happy his brother could bring him to Lisbon, to attend the nationwide demonstration of disabled people, demanding a raise in the budget for the Support Centres for […]