Blogs from Porto, Northern, Portugal, Europe


Porto - First stop in Portugal

Published: January 26th 2012Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto
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Garvics
January 26th 2012

It’s always exciting to enter a new country for the first time. Dealing with customs and making sure your paperwork is all in order is always a hassle. In the back of your mind there’s always a chance you’ll be taken to a back room with two way mirrors instead of windows, medical furniture and a box of rubber gloves for “questioning” too. Well, once you’re in the E.U. (European Union) and you want to jump around from one E.U. country to the next, it’s really no different than crossing state lines in the good ol’ U.S.A. Because of this, when we did finally see the Now Entering Portugal sign, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as anticipated. Kind of like crossing the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon (or the Red from MN to ND for ... read more




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Porto Bristol Associacao
December 25th 2011

A acta da assembleia-geral que decorreu no passado dia 9 de Dezembro 2011, com uma excelente participação dos sócios da nossa Associação. À semelhança de anos anteriores o Jantar de Natal foi de novo o evento do ano com o maior número de participações. Cinquenta e três sócios e um convidado conviveram num ambiente de amizade e boa disposição que foi animado pelo trio musical,“Flitterman trio”, que interpretou cânticos ingleses de Natal, enquanto a projecção de fotos, obtidas ao longo do ano durantes os nossos passeios por terras portuguesas e britânicas, relembraram momentos bem passados em agradável companhia. O presidente da nossa Associação agradeceu o trabalho em prol da Associação realizado pela associada e vogal, Noémia Lousada Soares, que agora deixa o cargo, oferecendo-lhe em nome de todos os associados ... read more




Eating Like a Local – Portugal

Published: October 30th 2011Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto
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TravelProf
October 30th 2011

My motto in traveling is “Though you are a foreigner, always eat like a local.” So, if I am with friends who are natives of the country in which I am traveling, I ask them to order for me what they like to eat. If I am alone, I ask the waiter what they, or the chef, suggest. I end up eating many items that I would never be likely to try in the States, thus adding a delightful richness of experience to my overseas dining. This might seem like an obvious strategy for a traveler, but I think many times we want familiarity in our food and in the process miss out on the delights of a particular country’s food and culture. As an example, I travel regularly to Portugal for work, spending most of ... read more




Porto Bristol Associacao icon
Porto Bristol Associacao
October 22nd 2011

Viagem ao Minho – 22 e 23 de Outubro de 2011 Dia lindo tal como a Anabela nos tinha prometido. Pelas 9 horas partimos em direcção ao Paço de Calheiros desfrutando das belas paisagens minhotas. Fomos recebidos muito gentilmente pelo proprietário com um agradável café servido com bolo, pão e compotas deliciosas. O palácio, obra do século XV, vive agora no regime de turismo de habitação. As dependências dedicadas aos hóspedes, para além dos quartos que são muito agradáveis, são salas amplas e aconchegantes, de cujas janelas podemos apreciar uma paisagem verdejante a perder de vista. Visitámos a capela dedicada a S. Bento, barroca mas com a madeira da cor natural. Os jardins possuem uma grande variedade de cameleiras mas infelizmente ainda não estavam floridas. Voltámos à... read more




Porto Bristol Associacao icon
Porto Bristol Associacao
September 26th 2011

Chá Convívio no Oporto Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club Domingo, dia 25 de Setembro 2011... read more






Beach Day

Published: July 11th 2011Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto » Póvoa de Varzim
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Skyfire24x
July 10th 2011

I've been told that I need to post a new blog entry, so here we go! After a weekend of finishing up school work and lying in bed watching the entire second season of "How I Met Your Mother" (I'm already ashamed, please don't mock me further), I convinced my roommate that we needed to leave the house. Luckily our good friend Miguel called at that exact moment wanting to get out of the city. So we piled into the car and headed North to Póvoa de Varzim. Up until now, Póvoa hasn't meant much to me except for the last stop way out in the middle of nowhere on the red line, and the summer home of one of my classmates. But upon arriving there it was immediately apparent that we were in a resort ... read more





A RECORD NUMBER OF BRISTOL-OPORTO ASSOCIATION MEMBERS VISIT PORTUGAL : JUNE 2011 Such a successful trip ……. how can we keep saying every visit is better than the one before! Our thanks go to Peter and Anabela Evens who put in an inordinate amount of work to make this tour so enjoyable. We very much appreciated too the warm hospitality shown us by members of our sister association, Associação Porto-Bristol. Several of our group have written a short diary for each day we were away. Day 1. SUNDAY 05 JUNE 2011 After an early flight, our happy band of 31 members of the BOA arrived in Lisbon to begin our 2011 visit. Despite fears for the weather conditions, we were greeted by Anabela and Peter in brilliant sunshine and boarded our coach to travel to the ... read more





Numa amena madrugada de Maio, dia 6, 2011, lá partiu do Porto um grupo de 20 “jovens”, vindos de Lisboa, Coimbra e Porto, a caminho do sonho do fim de semana em Kent. Porque todos os participantes tiveram em devida conta os incontornáveis limites de bagagem da Ryanair, lá embarcamos sem incidentes e chegámos a Stansted à hora prevista. Após o pequeno almoço no aeroporto, a viagem de autocarro em direcção a “Chartwell House and Gardens” mostrou-nos uma Inglaterra intensamente verde e amarela, com flores e mais flores e um céu muito azul. A visita a Chartwell House, residência de Sir Winston Churchill durante muito tempo da sua longa vida, acrescentou pormenores desconhecidos por alguns de nós sobre os seus hobbies, o seu génio artístico e em particular sobre o aconchego de uma família que se ... read more




Exploring Porto

Published: May 15th 2011Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto
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Miltonrabbit
May 14th 2011

We began the day by taking the reasonably new commuter train from near where we are staying, Gaia, into the centre of the city at a very cheap return ticket of 2.40 euros. The Sao Bento railway station has the walls of the concourse decorated with pictures of triumphant historical battles made from blue and white tiles. The effect was stunning. From the station everything seemed to be going uphill. And if there is an uphill there must be a downhill somewhere so the day was going to be one of physical exercise in temperatures in the high 20’s. The first stop was the nearby information centre to get all the maps and details of the city that we needed. The large city market was our first visit. On the ground floor were traditional fruit. vegetable ... read more




Portugal Here We Come

Published: May 14th 2011Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto
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Miltonrabbit
May 13th 2011

Crossing the border from Spain into Portugal is rather a non-event. Driving south you suddenly come across the EU symbol of yellow stars on a blue background with the name Portugal written across it. We gave a great whoop and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Really we were quite excited because we were driving into the unknown, and that proved to be just the case. After leaving Santiago de Compostela everything seemed straight forward, just follow N550 south. The scenery was quite picturesque with small agricultural plots on whatever land was able to be cultivated, or coastal scenery. There was still a lot of hill driving. The coffee stop at a roadside cafe was a welcome break and even more welcome was the 1.20euro price for the coffee and complimentary slice. This might ... read more









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