Gail Aguiar

LATEST ARTICLES ( 525 )

• Domingo Gordo (Fat Sunday), AKA Feijoada Day

  

  The Prato do Dia at Mother-in-Law Restaurante is highly predictable today: feijoada (bean stew). As is expected on Domingo Gordo, the Fat Sunday before Fat... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Scenes From The Rio Leça Trail

  

  Walking in the Portuguese countryside guarantees animal sightings of the friendly kind, with the occasional grumpy guard dog. We usually see more animals than... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Armazéns Cunhas, Art Deco In Porto

  

  I’ve always had an interest in architecture, but until I moved to Portugal it was mostly latent except when I was travelling. I photographed buildings often in... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Progresso, Porto’s Oldest Café

  

  If you are a coffee lover, you might find yourself stopping every fifty paces (or less) for a café in some parts of Porto. If you asked me how many cafés there... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Minho-Style Eating In Ponte De Lima

  

  rojões and postas A Little Geography Although Portugal is no longer divided into provinces, you will still hear people referring to them frequently, especially... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Ice the Dog’s Encounter With Goats In Gerês

  

  Saturday marked an occasion in Ice the Dog’s young life: he had an up close and personal encounter with a merry band of roving goats in the national park. Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Scenes From Peneda-Gerês National Park

  

  We returned late from our weekend visiting Peneda-Gerês National Park in a tired-but-happy state, the kind that follows a big bout of travel and digesting... Read more

  Posted on 31 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• São Bento Railway Station By Twilight

  

  I only have a twilight view of it here, but the magnolia tree at the bottom of Avenida dos Aliados — near the Intercontinental Hotel — is in full bloom right... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Porto’s Old World Skyline

  

  I remember seeing Porto’s skyline from the river for the first time during my birthday week in June 2011. I felt like I’d stepped in a time machine. I still fee... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Al Fresco Winter Lunch @ Micha Bar, Vila Nova De Gaia

  

  robalo (sea bass) One of my favourite things about living in Portugal is al fresco dining, which I can do every month of the year here. Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Top Views of Porto from Mosteiro Da Serra Do Pilar

  

  If you’re looking for the best panorama of Porto, Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia is where you ought to go. Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• (Not My) Backyard Flora

  

  What I would really love to show you is how beautiful the magnolia trees look around Porto these days. But since I don’t have DSLR photos of them yet, here’s... Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Warming Up To Bacalhau Com Todos

  

  Behold, the Prato do Dia (Plate of the Day) at Mother-in-Law Restaurante: bacalhau com todos which translates literally to “codfish with everything”, except I... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Making Friends With Livraria Lello & Irmão

  

  I am now the proud owner of a Cartão Amigo for Livraria Lello Irmão. Why do I need a “Friend Card”? Because as of 2015 there’s an entrance fee, and daunting... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Technology Can Be Crazy-Making

  

  I’m taking a wee pause from the travel and expat posts to seethe publicly about technology, namely outages on my web host’s servers that have been taking down m... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Crooked Houses of Amsterdam

  

  When we were wandering around in Amsterdam last month, we happened to cross paths with a tour group led by an Irish guy. Then we crossed paths a couple more... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Helping Hands

  

  In my volunteering life, a couple of hours on Wednesdays and some Sundays each month are spent with people I might only see once or twice, a handful of times... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Late Autumn Vignettes of Porto

  

  Hotel Peninsular Porto’s architecture has me looking up when I’m not looking down to check on where Ice the Dog is sticking his nose. Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• A Paen To Pigeons

  

  I know someone who is deathly afraid of pigeons. She will cross the street to get as far away from them as possible. Knowing this, I would still ask her to... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Papas De Sarrabulho, A Minho Specialty

  

  I tried my first papas de sarrabulho last night, at a restaurant run by relatives on my father-in-law’s side called Imigrante (how fitting — that would be me). Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2016 EXPAT, TRAVEL