Ever heard of the Big 5? No, not the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, buffalo and lion, Africa’s largest animals. I mean Portugal’s Big 5. No, not the country’s most famous explorers in the 15th century, Bartolomeu Dias (discovered Cape of Good Hope), Diogo Cão ( Kongo & Namibia), Pedro Álvares Cabral ( Brazil), Vasco da Gama […]
Paint the grass the color you want, it will always be grass – Gypsy proverb ‘When other children discover that I am a gypsy, they start cursing and shouting that we are worth nothing’, says 11-year-old Lindinho Cambão. ‘But we are not really that bad.’ Prejudices about gypsies are very persistent. They are said to be […]
‘Senhor, senhor.’ João woke up, turned drowsy around and looked straight into the smiling face of a black man, who was waving with a bunch of sunglasses over his head. ‘Very cheap, very good.’ ‘Thanks, man, I don’t need anything’, João muttered turning back on his bath towel. He was sleeping badly since that horrible […]
‘If it were ever to rain soup, the poor would only have forks’ – Brazilian proverb Poverty and disease go hand in hand, not only in so-called developing countries but also in more affluent societies. ‘The fact that 20% of the population has limited access to healthy food – due to financial constraints – has […]
“When it was the season aunt Emília used to sell roasted chestnuts outside the bar a little further down the street, on the corner of Rua Morais Soares and Rua dos Heróis de Quionga, got drunk on the proceeds, then could be found flat on her back on the bedroom floor with her skirts hitched […]
URBAN ART in LISBON 49 Rua de Xabegras BORDELO II November 4 – 26
‘Everywhere you go it’s buzzing and electric’ – Bloomberg What do have the Portuguese António Guterres (Secretary-General United Nations), the Yemeni Tawakkol Karman (Nobel Peace Prize laureate), the American Al Gore (former vice-president), the Chinese Meng Hongwei (president of Interpol), the British Suzy Menkes (editor Vogue), the French Francois Hollande (former president), the Russian Garry […]
Parliament proposes measures against heavy schoolbags. While the Government is struggling with the aftermath of the most brutal wildfires in history – killing more than 100 people – political parties in Parliament made recommendations last week to reduce the weight of school bags, after a petition on that matter – initiated by actor JoséWallenstein – had yielded […]
‘No one does wrong willingly or knowingly’ – Socrates, Greek philosopher On November 21st at 10 PM, 2014 José Sócrates – ex-prime minister and former leader of the Socialist Party – was arrested at Lisbon’s airport, after flying home from Paris, under suspicion of money laundering, corruption, forgery and fiscal fraud. He was held in preventive […]
Large parts of the countries interior look spooky these days with charred trees and incinerated road signs. 40% off all wildfires in Europe this year occurred in Portugal, far more than in any other country. Last summer schoolchildren from the Leiria region in central Portugal watched their district burn as a result of the most […]