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Guilhermina Suggia
10 January, 2019 / ,

She was born in Oporto in 1885. Guilhermina Suggia grew up surrounded by music, much due to her father who was a cellist. Very early she began to take cello lessons and at the age of 7 she made her first public appearance in Matosinhos. At the age of 13 she was already a member of the Orfeão Portuense and quickly fell in love with Porto. It was a step up to give the first shows, often accompanied by her sister. At age 16, she received a grant from Rainha D. Amélia to attend the best European Conservatory. She passed the most respected rooms in London and around the world, but never forgot her hometown. It is in this course that she meets the director of the Conservatório de Música do Porto it is also in this saga that the Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório is born. Guilhermina Suggia travels Portugal from North to South and enchants everyone with her talent. In the Florbela Espanca Municipal Library, in Matosinhos, there are various documents such as her personal and official correspondence, photographs …

She passed when she was only 65, but left her mark as the best Portuguese cellist.

Hidden Porto
9 January, 2019 / , , ,

Cities are built over cities. This is an idea that both archeologists and architects notice in the reality of their daily work, which conditions them, motivates them and is at the root of the future of any city.

Since humans became sedentary, that is, since the groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers in search of the best hunting grounds gave rise to permanent settlement in villages whose inhabitants began to live from agriculture and livestock, the type of housing was modified and became stable, with the adoption of materials such as adobe, brick and stone, in addition to wood, which has always been used.

We find this in settlements as old as Çatal Hüyük (Anatolia, southern Turkey) or Jericho (Palestine), perhaps the oldest known towns, built between 8,000 and 7,000 BC, and where constructions have been succeeded, cities grown horizontally, but also at the expense of the overthrows of previous constructions, often taking advantage of their foundations to build new ones.

Porto hasn’t surely been any different. But those who fly over it, who come from the other riverside or who cross their streets and observe their houses, do not have this perception and see only what their eyes catch, the streets, houses, buildings, infrastructures, not remembering that this isn’t just our city, but our grandparents’ and other ancestors’ as well.

Those, their cities, are sometimes buried beneath ours, and at a time when Porto vibrates with its recovery, especially with the recovery of its Historical Center, signs of these “cities” that preceded us are exposed.

Perhaps the earliest ruins are found in the building of the no. 5 in Rua D. Hugo, behind the Porto Cathedral, where it was possible to trace an occupation with signs from the 8th century BC, with round houses. To that, other houses overlap, these ones quadrangular, of the Roman period.

Another fantastic example of how the city was built is provided by the archaeological excavations of Casa do Infante, already in a low part of the city, in which a large and luxurious Roman and late Roman house (IV-VI centuries) are superimposed to the medieval buildings, with the construction of the King’s warehouses, the Royal Customs Building and Casa da Moeda, with its occupation and successive enlargements lasting throughout the Modern and Contemporary Age.

But the example that we’re going to bring up is equally representative: in the works of a building with fronts to Rua de S. Francisco and to Rua Nova da Alfândega, where the former company of transits A. J. Gonçalves de Moraes was located, excavations shown signs of the nineteenth century city, more specifically the old Quarter of Baths.

Landed during the great urban transformation inherent to the construction of the Alfândega Nova building (1860-1870), construction of Rua Nova da Alfândega and Rua Ferreira Borges, which led to the destruction of the Monastery of S. Domingos, the old quarter of Baths was buried under 5 meters of rubble.

The excavations showed another facet of the city, a poorly-known riverfront area, which began at the beach already described by Ranulfo de Granville in 1147 and where some of the city’s bathhouses were located, next to Rua dos Banhos.

It was one of those alleys, still with buildings on both sides, that was exposed. One of the houses, in front of the entrance door flanked by windows with iron bars, had a paved patio.

In a contiguous area, about a meter below, the strong foundation of what may have been the medieval building of the public baths. The diggings stopped there.

But the finding of Roman construction materials may indicate the presence of much older ruins…

 

Marcelo Mendes Pinto, archeologist and CITCEM researcher

Hotel Solverde Spa & Wellness Center
28 December, 2018 / ,

The Hotel Solverde Spa & Wellness Center is a reference of Greater Porto, the only 5 star hotel in the north of the country, located in front of the beach. It is only two minutes from Espinho and just 15 minutes from Porto, this hotel offers the ideal conditions for both leisure tourism and business.
It is set in a 2-hectare complex with direct access to the beach.The hotel provides a pleasant atmosphere of relaxation spiced with the scent of sea air and magnificent views of the sea and the surrounding landscape.
The gastronomy is also one of the highlights of this Solverde hotel unit, offering a rich and varied range of the most delicious delicacies of traditional Portuguese cuisine.
The Spa & Wellness Center is one of the most complete and modern in the country. It provides for the perfect symbiosis between body and mind, offering exclusive treatments, allied to the Thalgo and Terraké brands.

Accommodation
• 174 rooms (90% are interconnecting rooms)
• 169 rooms, 111 of which have a balcony and sea view
• 5 suites with balcony and sea view
• Rooms for people of reduced mobility
• Air conditioning
• Safe
• Mini-bar
• Telephone with a direct outside line
• Cable TV
• Free Wi-Fi

Restaurants | Bars
• “O Jardim” Restaurant with panoramic views of the sea
and gardens (capacity for 200 people)
• Coffee Shop (capacity for 100 people)
• Ponto de Encontro Bar (70 seats capacity)
• Salão de Jogos Bar (70 seats capacity)
• Esplanade – Roofed Bar for smokers (36 seats capacity)
• 24-hour room service

Services
• 17 meeting rooms with natural light (the largest with 400 m2)
• Free Wi-Fi
• Laundry service
• Free private parking (300 cars)
• Private garage (50 cars)
• Charging point electric cars: 1 Tesla + 1 Universal
• Business Center
• Helipad

Leisure
• Outdoor seawater swimming pool
• 2 Tennis courts
• Padel court
• Football pitch
• Beach Volleyball Court
• Mini-Golf
• Playground
• Bicycles

Spa & Wellness Center (1800 m2)
• Gym equipped with cardiofitness machines
• Indoor heated seawater swimming pool
• Heated seawater dynamic swimming pool
• Saunas area (sauna, laconium, salts steam bath, ice cabin
and sensations shower)
• 6 treatment cabinets, floating, vichy shower and royal bath
• 2 relaxation rooms (one of which has Wave Dream)

Entertainment and amusement close by
• Espinho Casino and Bingo
• Golf – Oporto Golf Club and Miramar Golf Club
• Horse Riding
• Skydiving
• Surfing and other water and nautical sports
• Espinho Tennis Complex
• Indoor Karting
• Paintball
• Gaia-Espinho maritime boardwalk (>15 km long)
• Gastronomic itineraries
• Tourist Cruises on the River Douro
• Guided visits to the city of Porto, Castles, Museums, Port
Cellars
• Gaia and Porto Marina
• Various tourist activities

Mass of the rooster, a Latin expression
28 December, 2018 / ,

Mass of the Rooster is the name given by Catholics to Mass celebrated on Christmas Eve that begins at midnight from December 24 to 25. The phrase “Mass of the Rooster” is specific to Latin countries and derives from the ancestral tale that at midnight on December 24, a rooster would have sung strongly, as never heard before from another similar animal, announcing the coming of the Messiah, son of God, Jesus Christ.

Another tale, of Spanish origin, says that before hitting the 12 rings of the bell at midnight on December 24, each farmer of the province of Toledo in Spain killed a rooster in memory of the one who sang when St. Peter denied Jesus three times, at the time of his death. The bird was then taken to the Church to be offered to the poor who thus saw their Christmas improve. It was customary, in some Spanish villages, to take the rooster to the church to sing during the Mass, signifying a harbinger of good harvests. But that was formerly because now this is forbidden.

The mass of the rooster is usually celebrated with great joy, as it is told in the text about the tradition of the Mass of the Igreja da Lapa.

Fenianos, for Porto
15 December, 2018 / ,

Clube Fenianos Portuenses was founded on March 25, 1904, in the Batalha Square. In 1935, it was moved to its current location, in the Aliados Avenue, right next to the Porto City Hall.

The club was recognized as Commander of the Military Order of Christ for the services rendered throughout its 111 years of existence to that moment and with the Gold Medal of Porto as well, reinforcing its motto “Pelo Porto” (For Porto).

Around 1903, four of its founders, Porto citizens and future Fenianos, sought to obtain the necessary knowledge for the organization of a Carnival-like corso with the exuberance of the Carioca Carnival and the aesthetic beauty of the one in Venice, having made a trip to Brazil with this goal.

Clube Carnavalesco Fenianos Portuenses was born from this collaboration, later renamed Clube Fenianos Portuenses. The main goal was to give the city a Carnival at the level of its artistic sensibility.

As a note of curiosity, the floor of the Salão Nobre (Noble Room) also brings with it the “Brazil effect”, since all of it is of pau-cetim of light tone and macacaúba.

The history, patrimony, memories and civic and cultural intervention of Fenianos in Porto became entrenched in the city. The club was cherished by its populations, erudite, notable and anonymous, becoming a memorable tradition of Porto.

Its centenary and noble history, its gold books and the tombstones and pictures, that internally cover its old walls, register the presence of some of the most important living forces of the city, industry and commerce, great names of writers like Aquilino Ribeiro, Jorge de Sena, José Régio, of playwrights like Pirandello, of plastic artists, photographers and renowned painters such as Guedes de Oliveira and Amadeu de Sousa Cardoso, of folklorists and musicologists such as Armando Leça, of lectures with the historian of the city of Artur de Magalhães Basto and many, many other national and international figures.

Nowadays, the club continues to maintain an annual program of permanent socio-cultural activities, ranging from Music, Choral Singing and Instrumental to Illusionism, Theater, Dance, Billiards, Table Tennis and other ballroom games, not only for members, but for everyone who visits.

D. António Ferreira Gomes: look for the good without fearing the penalty
15 December, 2018 / ,

It would be dishonest and even bizarre to deny the size and political impact of a figure like the former Bishop of Porto, D. António Ferreira Gomes (1906 – 1989) identified as a critic of the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo in Portugal that was in force in 1933 until April 25, 1974. But it is easy to blur our gaze and diminish the person he was once if we look into it from a narrow perspective. To understand that in God one can find the liberating force, the confidence that gives gestures and words the emancipation of all the powers that pass (especially of those who believe them to be eternal), would prevent many mistakes. It is a mistake to reduce D. Antonio to a mere political figure and to read from there his gestures and his intentions.

The Bishop of Porto was a man of God, moved by the desire for faithfulness to the Church and his Social Doctrine. He did not want to be ahead of his time. It was because he was a man of his time that he learned to read the human, social and religious dramas of the days he lived. That is why he created so much resistance. The letter he wrote to Salazar, which eventually contributed to his ten-year exile (1959-69), reveals his ability to understand reality. Written on July 13, 1958, those lines intended to prepare a meeting with Salazar. It was a “pro-memory” through which D. António wanted to present to the President of the Council the themes and issues he would like to discuss at the meeting they would have.

The letter revealed his sensitivity to injustice. Following the Doctrine of the Church, he spoke of the need for the fruits of labor to be evenly distributed, recognized the Right to strike, denounced human miseries and opened the possibility of creating parties. He wished upon Catholics a political and civic formation that would enable them to participate consciously and freely in social life. The letter would eventually be revealed publicly. The Bishop of Porto has always denied any responsibility in this incident.

What D. António Ferreira Gomes moved were not fruitless games or the search to be a protagonist. From the deep and demanding reading of reality, freed from fears, because founded on God, he desired good and justice.

This spiritual way is often difficult to grasp. There are few who are able to understand the human being from such deep convictions and motivations. But only these sustain free men. And only those who are free find the detachment of seeking the good without fearing the penalty.

Clerigos Museum
14 December, 2018 / , ,

The journey through the Casa da Irmandade (1754-1758), where the Museum is located, provides a return to the past as you get to explore spaces that once were private and destined for the daily life of the Brotherhood of Clerics.

Walking through the Casa do Despacho, the Sala do Cofre, the Archives, and the old infirmary, one can see that the Museum has a collection of cultural assets of considerable artistic value from the 13th to the 20th century, which spreads through its collections of sculpture, painting, furniture and jewellery. These goods are messengers of a historical and cultural patrimony, whose function was lost throughout time but gave way to the creation of the museum.

 

The infirmary of the Brotherhood of Clerics, which operated until the end of the 19th century and dedicated to the treatment of sick clerics, has been converted into an exhibition space and currently houses the Christus collection. This exhibition, conceived from the donation of a collection by a private collector, reveals the passion for collecting and tells a story complemented by objects, once of devotion, considered today cultural legacies of interest. They are important pieces of sculpture, painting and jewellery making that enhance the encounter of art with faith.

The exhibition, distributed in three rooms – Núcleo da Paixão, Viagem das Formas e Imagens de Cristo – invites you to travel through time and space, through image and devotion.

The Museum of the Irmandade dos Clérigos, is part of the Portuguese Museum Network, since August 28, 2018.

 

Octopus Rice – Chef Emídio Concha de Almeida
10 December, 2018 / ,

And, since it’s almost Christmas…

It’s Christmas and the codfish reigns on pretty much every table. But not all! The tradition of octopus at supper has many resilient fans and an increasing number of adherents, especially in the north and border regions.

In Portugal, the octopus on the Christmas table brings the smells of the past to the grandparents and is an appeal to our gastronomic memory. It was the way our ancestors dealt with the remoteness of the sea. It wasn’t easy to get fresh products from the coast to the interior and, as the Church imposed the fasting of meat, dry octopus was always a solution, especially in the North, due to the proximity to Galicia, where the cephalopod always enjoyed an enormous reputation among our people.

Gone are the days when dry octopus was smuggled into our country, because of the protectionist measures on codfish fishing and fleets. Today, it is replaced by fresh octupus, but not with the same flavor.

Arroz de Polvo (Octopus Rice)

Ingredients

1 octopus (2 kg, aprox.)

1 cup of long-grain rice

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

3 bay leaves

1 bouquet of parsley

Salt and pepper

2 cups of the water of baking the octopus

 

Preparation

  1. Cook the octopus together with the onion in salt water. After 40 or 50 minutes, it should be cooked. When the onion is cooked, the octopus is usually also cooked. Do not forget to “scare” octopus (stick it with a fork by the head, remove it from the water and dip it again several times).
  2. In the meantime, peel the onion and the garlic and chop them; choose and wash the parsley.
  3. . In a saucepan, pour the olive oil, the onion, the garlic and the pepper. Braise without pulling too much.
  4. Add the rice and wrap it in the braised until it is translucent. Add the boiling water from the octopus, while still boiling. Bake, cover, simmer for 10 to 12 minutes or until dry. In some regions, it is usually placed in a baking dish and taken to an oven to finish drying it. In the region of Trás-os-Montes, chouriço is placed in slices at the time of the braised.

Sugestions by Paulo Sarmento e Cunha
7 December, 2018 / ,

I’ve been living in downtown Porto for 15 years, since the area was decadent and unsafe in the eyes of most… but not mine.

The downtown of this city has a strong character, with spaces enveloped by buildings with history and traditions. It is from here that I often go for walks, usually on foot or by public transport.

I know the city where I live. I’ve been discovering its corners over the years, from where the river meets the sea to the opposite side, where the city is still strongly marked by the industrial movement of other times.

There are not many public sites in the city that I have not visited, some of them quite vivid and filling my memory. However, Porto always surprises me. The sites are reborn and renewed, so I often feel like a tourist in my own city.

I will be a tourist when I go back to Quinta do Barão de Nova Sintra, after the recent requalification, which made it worthy of the name Jardins Românticos de Nova Sintra (Romantic Gardens of Nova Sintra), going back to stroll, see the old fountains and how the new sculpture of Julião Sarmento was integrated into the new garden.

It will also be a pleasure to revisit Parque da Pasteleira and witness the transformation to which the old water reservoir is being subjected in order to welcome one of the sites of the City Museum. I am curious to know how the history of the City will be cared for inside the successive water cells of the old reservoir.

I usually start my days early. I try to keep this habit on weekends and get out early to enjoy the mornings. I avoid, therefore, the night and the atmosphere of bars. I prefer coffees and I like to read in the light of day. My favorite is Guarany, right on Avenida dos Aliados. With a lot of arabica, the taste of the coffee is prolonged.

 

As for restaurants, I have a particular relationship with Euskalduna Studio, in Rua de Santo Ildefonso. I never got to dine there. “We’re sorry, but we don’t have a table”, “Sorry, but we’re full”… are some of the answers I’ve often encountered. I’ll keep trying…

To listen to music… naturally, Casa da Música.

Porto, a world of expressions
6 December, 2018 / ,

It never made sense to compare Porto with other cities in the world. The privilege of being able to eat a Francesinha in every corner and drink a beer in a terrace of the river is something that all that live here or visit us have access to. But there are details that distinguish one who is a true tripeiro: the very particular pronunciation and the unrivalled expressions.

If I had to say the first Porto expression I heard in my life, although it is impossible to say that it is true, it would have to be something I heard on the day of my birth. I could swear that the doctor, seeing my father in a state of ecstasy, would have approached, exclaiming, “Look, be careful or you’ll have a badagio.” But what is this, “to have a badagaio”? It’s as simple as saying, “Watch out or you’ll faint.”

But if you’d like another typical expression of Porto and that can help you in your stay: Jecos. It would be offensive to treat a dog, not knowing its name, just by dog. And that’s where the good manners of Porto come in: all dogs have names, they’re all Jecos. You already know if you hear “BE CAREFUL WITH THE JECO”, run.

And since there are not two without three, here’s a fundamental one for your stay in Porto: Fino. Fino is more than just beer. It is an instrument of conversation, an excuse to make plans.

The one who thinks that the people of Porto do not have an ID card of their own, is deceived. The pronunciation and the expressions of the North, are what makes us so unique, so different and at the same time so easily recognized.