Worldcrunch
How impeccably dressed and well-behaved these students appeared when we visited the University of Coimbra in central Portugal. The university, the country’s oldest, is also well known for its annual Queima das Fitas, a massive and sometimes rowdy “burning of the ribbons” student festival that lasts for eight days each spring.
In the late 1950s, some villages in southern Portugal still didn’t have access to running water. I guess you could call this walking water?
LISBON — Portugal is relearning one of the basic tenets of democracy: Majority rules. The country’s four left-leaning parties are expected to bring down the minority center-right government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho with a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, newspaper Diário de Notícias reports. The center-right coalition that has been governing since 2011 […]
“Confidence in the coalition,” reads Monday’s front page of Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias, following the governing center-right coalition’s victory in the country’s general election. This was the first nationwide parliamentary election since 2011, when the government followed Greece and Ireland in requesting an international bailout to avoid default. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho insisted […]
With Europe’s lowest fertility rate, and some 20% of its 10.6 million inhabitants over the age of 65, Portugal is aging fast. Bad news for the country, but apparently a boon to criminals, who see the elderly as prime targets. Crime against senior citizens, financial scams in particular, has registered a sharp rise since the […]
This week, we shine the spotlight on Portugal: DOES RECOVERY SPELL REELECTION? After years in the doldrums, the Portuguese economy is showing signs of picking up, with the country’s GDP growing — albeit slowly — and unemployment figures reaching five-year lows, Diário Económico reports. According to official data from Portugal’s National Statistical Institute INE, private […]
It is not only interesting to compare the differences in the architecture of monuments and famous buildings around the world, but also that of more modest lodgings. Take a look for instance at this palheiro thatched house on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, and then go back to the little house on the fjord I’ve […]
Forest fires have been raging in Portugal for several days now. Tuesday’s headline in the newspaper Público reports that they have “destroyed nine thousand hectares in the last 10 days.” On Saturday the biggest fire of the year so far scorched Villa Nova de Cerveira and Monca in the northern district of Viana do Castelo. […]
The village of Fatima in central Portugal became known worldwide in 1917, when three young shepherds said the Virgin Mary appeared to them. Since then, she appears in various forms and packaging to whoever steps into one of Fatima’s religious shops.
The fishermen of Nazaré and their wives seemed far away from the turmoil their country was experiencing: A mere eight months before we visited the remote seaside village, the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence between Portugal and its colony broke out — an 11-year-long war during which thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides would […]
An economist and daughter of one of the leading opponents of Portugal’s former dictatorship, Mariana Mortagua is challenging the status quo. Is this a new Syriza?
Portugal’s Eurovision history is a sad one. In 47 appearances since its debut in the contest in 1964 and only four absences (once for boycott, once for poor results, once for financial reasons and once because it just didn’t feel like it), the country has never won or even finished in the top 5. A […]
The traditional pavement in front of Funchal“s 17th century Igreja do Colégio can be found throughout Portugal but also in the country’s former colonies. My grandson recently took pictures of similar black-and-white sidewalks bordering Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach.
The inhabitants of Nazaré lent themselves well to portraits back when people were more open to being photographed than today. This woman was carrying a recycled oil can that she used to draw water from a well.
The past year had lots of bad news, which had us saying lots of bad words, new and old: Ebola, jihadism, selfie. But as a reminder that local and national events often still hold sway, the Word of 2014 in Portugal was corrupção. Corruption was indeed on the lips and minds of Portuguese, as the […]
I’ve already told you about the “women-carrying-things-on-their-heads” recurring theme in my slides. There is no country where I have snapped more such shots than Portugal, including this one near the mysterious Our Lady of Fatima destination for Catholic pilgrims.
The Madeira Flower Festival takes place every spring. For the main parade through the streets of Funchal, 30 or so floats are decorated with thousands of flowers by associations, schools — and even hospitals and the local police take part.
Going up to Funchal’s Monte neighborhood in a cable car is very picturesque. But the way down is all about fun. Two gentlemen dressed in white and wearing straw boaters will take you downhill at relatively high speeds in these large wicker baskets they call “toboggans.”
Market places usually make for good, lively pictures. But here in Batalha in central Portugal, some of these young vendors were clearly bored out of their minds.
Our brand new Citroën BX may look like an antique to you now, but it was definitely more comfortable than a donkey to visit the dry but picturesque rural Alentejo region, in central Portugal.
The stories that counted…
In Portugal, crisis or no, value is measured one can at a time.
This is how Nazaré’s fishermen used to dress every day, back in the 1950s. What was then an unassuming fishing village has become the Portuguese equivalent of France’s Saint-Tropez. The throngs of tourists looking for a little authenticity can still catch a glimpse of the traditional costumes today — courtesy of the town’s visitor center.
Going through all my slides, I’ve noticed some recurring themes in the thousands of photos I’ve snapped. One of them is “women carrying things on their heads” — like in this Portugal street scene in 1958, when the country was still under the authoritarian rule of Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
The central Portugese town of Batalha was built to celebrate the Kingdom of Portugal’s victory over King John I of Castile’s army at the Battle (Batalha) of Aljubarrota in 1385. Things had calmed down 578 years later, although a different kind of “invasion” was happening, as in many other places we’d visit. The town is […]
Three musicians, a divisive Middle East leader and a soccer legend were among those to whom we bid farewell this past month.
–Op-Ed– MUNICH — We Germans have always struggled with the euro crisis. We talk about it a lot, muse about what would happen if the euro zone split up, bitch about those nasty countries frittering our money away. But there’s one thing we don’t do: suffer from the economic crisis. On the contrary. Even if […]
GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch LISBON – The images are in, and 45-year-old Hawaiian Garrett McNamara appears to have set an all-time record for biggest wave successfully surfed, taming what was reported to be a 90 to 100-foot monster swell Monday in Portugal. McNamara, an expert in riding these massive walls of water, held the previous record […]
LISBON – Manuela, an animal rights activist, is standing outside the entrance to the Entrecampos train station in Lisbon, calling out to the occasional passersby, who pretend they don’t see her. The majority of the shops in the station’s arcade are empty, and even though the building is new, there is a feeling of neglect. […]
Once home to a thriving whaling industry, Portugal’s Azores islands are now a hotspot for whale watching. The archipelago also boasts scenic hiking trails and unusual vineyards, which are protected from the wind – and warmed at night – by labyrinthian vol
So far, people in debt-laden Portugal seem to grudgingly accept austerity measures imposed by the government. That could change. Two of the country’s leading labor groups have joined forces and called for a Nov. 24 general strike. Is Portugal ready to go
Following the Spanish “Indignados,” a Portuguese protest movement wants civil society to be at the center of politics. But the country’s financial solvency may have last say in Sunday’s vote.
Proud of their quickly constructed but costly welfare state, the Portuguese have always wanted to play in Europe’s big league. Now that it’s time to pay the bill, they may have to reconsider.