Posts Tagged ‘portugal’
Porto’s Palacio da Bolsa, Where Empires Once Traded
Portugal’s recent economic turmoil may obscure the fact that it was once a majestic trading empire with global reach but a visit to Porto’s Palacio da Bolsa, the former stock exchange, will plunge you right back into a world of wealth and abundance. If only for an hour you’ll revisit the grandeur of the early 19th…
Read MoreGuimarães, Portugal: Women, Hearts and History
What is that saying again… Behind every great man stands a great woman? That this would apply to a small Portuguese city was a bit of a surprise, at odds with my initial expectation of a more macho history. At first sight Guimarães is a typical town of the North: massive Catholic churches dedicated to Mary, orange-tiled…
Read MoreLello Bookshop in Porto: Stairway to Heaven?
I admit I have mixed feelings about this extraordinary little Art Nouveau stamp of a bookshop, repeatedly classified as one of the most beautiful in the world. I love books and could spend hours browsing so when I heard my group would be visiting Lello & Irmão in Porto I was ecstatic. This lovely haven…
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