Some thoughts on things Portuguese

What a lovely custom the people in Porto have - after a meal or having been to a concert or an event, they go to a pub or a cafe... to talk. "Conversamos". What a great way to show you like the people you are with and don't want to say Good night in a hurry.

Coffee - good strong genuine espresso. If you are in a hurry, try "café" - a thimblefull of caffeine that shakes you wide awake, right down to your toe nails.

Or, something gentler (double the size of the "café" but still quite small to me) – “pingu” – short coffee with milk.

My favourite is “meia leite” (half milk) – hot milk and espresso in a big cup.

Once I tried my Portuguese on a café owner and said I want a “cimbelino” – another way of ordering a short coffee but he corrected me that I really needed "café" (e nada mais! ).

If you are an art buff, like me, you HAVE to visit Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis.

I was completely ignorant of Portuguese artists and this visit, which lasted 3 hours, showed me great masterpieces. I am really bad with names but tried to remember two – Silva Porto and Henrique Pousão.

I loved Silva Porto’s art – big panoramic landscapes which lure the eye into wandering deep, reaching the horizon and then… a wisp of grass, an ever so imperceivable dot of red calls you back to the front of the oil and you can almost see the poppy waving to and fro in the wind – so delicate and yet so in place that without it the whole structure would be out of joint.

The statues of António Soares dos Reis are a joy to the modern, spoiled eyes, tired of posters and tv adverts.

They seem to always quote “O Desterrado” as his masterpiece 

but my heart was completely won by this little beautiful shy girl “Filha dos Condes de Almedina”.

I could write more and bore you silly but what is the point. Some things are better seen in person. Most things. Or all?