2018 Christmas and New Year’s programme in Porto

Porto consolidates itself, year after year, as one of the top tourist destinations in Portugal to enjoy the Christmas holidays and the New Year.

Between December 1st and January 6th, the streets will lighten up and the whole city will get new colours and an even warmer and cosier environment. 

Christmas fairs and markets, dance and theatre performances, concerts and DJ sets, comedy, circus, workshops, exhibitions, tales, puppet theaters and other activities for children, amusements, and ice rinks are some of the entertainment proposals that will set the pace of the city over the next five weeks.

Discover here the programme, as bright as this festive season, and all there is to do in the City of Happy Holidays, Porto!

Find more information at:
- http://www.visitporto.travel/agenda
- http://www.visitporto.travel/Christmas and New Years
- https://issuu.com/porto-lazer/Natal
- https://www.visitportugal.com/Porto's Christamas and New Year

365 Alentejo and Ribatejo

Come to the Alentejo and Ribatejo and make each day here a different day. To find out how check out 365 Alentejo and Ribatejo - the calendar of events that tells you everything that’s happening in this region.

Throughout the year you will find a truly varied programme of activities that are offered by various companies and organisations and, above all, by these people who share their traditions, culture and identity with everyone. The huge range of themes covers music and dance, performance, theatre, film, visual arts, science, activities that bring its heritage to life, festivals and parades, fairs and markets, gastronomy and wines and even sports, nature and adventure.

Check the schedule at www.365alentejo-ribatejo.com or the Facebook page www.facebook.com/365AlentejoRibatejo find out about all the distinctive aspects of this vast territory of Alentejo and Ribatejo.  

The 2nd edition of the 365 Algarve programme has started!

365 ALGARVE – A sun-filled region for the arts (2nd edition) 
Visit the Algarve and do not miss the programme of events that energises the region throughout the year.
Dubbed 365 Algarve, this cultural programme crowns the region’s traditional offer with music, dance and theatre performances plus exhibitions, activities involving the local heritage, gastronomy and cinema. The second edition will run from October 2017 to May 2018 and the events that will take place all across the Algarve invite you to visit the region.

Because every day counts!

Find more information at:
- http://www.365algarve.pt/pt/agenda
- https://www.facebook.com/365.Algarve.EveryDayCounts/

Past and Present - Lisbon Ibero-American Capital of Culture 2017

The city of Lisbon was elected by the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities to be the 2017 Capital of Culture of this world so diversified in terms of geography, climate, citizens, languages, economies, traditions, cultural practices, artistic languages, imagery, cultural legacies, creators and that, in the cities as a whole, brings together over 120 million people from the Iberian Peninsula, Central and South America, Mexico and the countries that have received their diasporas.

#passadoepresente #lisboacapitaliberoamericana2017 from Lisboa 2017 on Vimeo.

Lisbon, and its internationally recognized characteristics of hospitality and light, will be even more of a meeting place, a platform for conviviality and multiple forms of expression as well as many other forms of reception. However, and as announced by the Past and Present that comes before Lisbon, Ibero-American Capital of Culture in 2017, it will not simply be a place of arrivals and departures.

In Lisbon there will be traces, routes and testimonies of the past, not always grand and not always heroic. The narratives of the passages and the presence of Afro-descendants transported to the Americas will be shown through the objects, words and place names that they left behind. The same will be done for the presence of Latin American migrants on both sides of the Atlantic, in transit according to the greater or lesser adversity they encountered on either side of the ocean. Through numerous activities, the lives, expectations and, of course, the disappointments of those who passed through, stopped, or settled here will be recovered. In Lisbon, the story of what was the invention of Paradise will be told: the American Countries of the Future, their utopias and dystopias.

As for the Present, there will be exhibitions, concerts, talks and cinema from cities that are often thousands of kilometers apart, with citizens speaking Portuguese and Spanish - as languages of the community – but also using other maternal or adopted languages, with pronunciation as widely different as that of Galician and Guarani.

We shall be enjoying the festivities together, in the Present, with creativity and critical reflection, but not always with consensus, of course.

The Past and Present Lisbon, Ibero-American Capital of Culture, 2017 involves over forty venues, some of which are dependent on the City Council and the Ministry of Culture, and others belonging to different cultural organizations that responded enthusiastically to the City Council’s proposal that they produced their own projects in terms of the Lisbon Programmatic Charter.

The programme will include over 150 activities involving hundreds of artists, producers, teachers and publicists in order to build, together with the people of Lisbon, the Cultural City.

Find more information at:
- http://www.lisboacapitaliberoamericana.pt/
- Programme
- https://www.facebook.com/Lisboa Capital Ibero americana de Cultura 2017
- https://www.instagram.com/lisboacapitaliberoamericana/
- Lisbon Ibero-American Capital of Culture 2017

Source: CM Lisboa

Madeira Christmas and End of the Year Festivities

The arrival of the decorative lights in the streets of the city centre of Funchal, during the month of December, sets the beginning of the Madeira Christmas and End of the Year Festivities programme.
 

These festivities culminate with the famous fireworks show, officially recognised in 2006 by the Guinness Book of Records, as the largest fireworks show in the world.

These commemorations consist of a rich and extensive programme of cultural, religious, ethnographic and artistic manifestations that take place throughout the entire month of December, an event that culminates on January,8th.

Find out more about what to expect from Christmas and New Year Festivities in Madeira

December 23rd
Market Night is held on December 23rd, when Madeirans do their last-minute Christmas shopping and it is in this hustle and bustle that the spirit of the “Festivity” can best be felt, the nickname given by the Madeirans to identify Christmas. The inhabitants move towards the Farmers' Market where the surrounding streets, which are closed to traffic, are occupied by various points of sale opened throughout the night. They have varied local products such as flowers, shrubs, fruits, vegetables, sweets, wine-and-garlic meat sandwiches and typical drinks, such as poncha.
At nightfall the biggest attraction of the day begins, a traditional Christmas carols show, where locals take on the role of true artists. Also the participation of music bands and folklore groups helps to maintain the atmosphere of celebration and fun until dawn.

December 28th

Organised by the Madeira Athletics Association, the Funchal Road Race is one of the oldest sports events of its kind in Portugal and Europe. This race that has attracted innumerable national and international athletes to the island, brings lots of adrenaline and excitement to the Madeiran capital.
 

December 31st 

The fireworks show lasts for about eight minutes and is distributed by several fireworks stations in the Funchal amphitheatre, the waterfront, the city centre, the sea and one station on Porto Santo Island.

This grand spectacle that is one of Madeira’s most important tourist events, was internationally recognised in 2006 by the Guinness Book of Records as "The largest fireworks show in the World".
 

January 5th 

On the evening of January 5th to 6th the Twelfth Night songs are sung in the neighbours’ houses, a little throughout the region. It is this spirit that seeks to recreate the popular tradition of the Madeiran traditional songs that were made on this day, door to door, in various localities of the ARM, which the Association of the Casas do Povo of the Autonomous Region of Madeira organises and produces in the Auditorium of the Municipal Garden of Funchal, the musical show “Cantar os Reis” ( The Twelfh nights songs).
 

Other initiatives included in the programme:
 

Childbirth Masses

Christmas begins with the "Missas do Parto" (childbirth masses) starting December 16th and ending on Christmas Eve, with the midnight mass. The "Missas do Parto" - the novenas - are nine in total and are celebrate early in the morning. After the mass, believers gather in the churchyard to hear the chanting, accompanied by groups of strings, accordions and castanets, with no shortage of the “despiques”, which are followed by the snack with spirits, liqueurs and cakes.

In some parishes of Madeira such as Câmara de Lobos and Camacha, the tradition of philharmonic bands is maintained, accompanied by other instruments, such as castanets, bass drums, braguinhas or accordions, of going door to door, in a joyful symphony, to awaken its locals and rush them to this typical ritual of our land.

Find more information at:  http://fimdoano.visitmadeira.pt/

Source: VisitMadeira

New Year's Eve in Porto

©ARPT Porto e Norte

New Year's Eve in Porto to the sound of Blind Zero and Os Azeitona

Welcoming the new year in the main living room of the city, Avenida dos Aliados, which is also one of the biggest outdoor stages in the country, will be given by Blind Zero and Os Azeitonas, in what will be the last concert of the band with Miguel Araújo. There will be the traditional firework, which this year will also have even more surprises.

As in other major cities in Europe and in the world, Porto has been preparing great shows in its main living room to mark the start of the new year, offering more entertainment to the people of Porto and, at the same time, stimulating domestic and foreign tourism and the social, commercial and economic dynamics of the centre of Porto. This time, the night of the end of the year will again be entertained by two national bands. From 10,30pm on December 31st, Blind Zero, led by Miguel Guedes (from Porto), take the stage of the  Aliados. Recognized for their energy on stage and on their way to release their eighth album, Blind Zero will bid farewell to 2016 with a special concert on the biggest stage of the city, recalling some of the most outstanding songs of their 20 years such as “Slow Time Love”, “Shine On” and “Recognize”, among many others.

At midnight, and as is tradition in Porto, there will be a fireworks show, which will be launched from the City Hall and from several buildings on Avenida dos Aliados. This year, with several surprises and an unprecedented countdown, after 11.55pm. At 12,30am and already as hosts of the arrival of 2017, the music continues with Os Azeitonas, in what will be the last concert of the band with Miguel Araújo, who will exclusively be dedicated to his solo career. As always, Os Azeitonas promise a show full of energy and good disposition and in which will have the main hits of the band, such as “Anda Comigo Ver os Aviões”, “Ray-Dee-Oh” or the latest “Cinegirasol”.

Among the novelties of the New Year's programme are three alternative venues in the surrounding area of Aliados, respectively in Praça de D. João I, Praça dos Poveiros and Praça dos Leões. The aim is to ease the pressure on Aliados and to propose different styles of music to all those who want to celebrate New Year's Eve in the city centre.

Programme: -Avenida dos Aliados 10:30pm-11:50pm Blind Zero 11:55pm Countdown 12:00am-12:15am Pyromusical show 12:30am-2:30am Os Azeitonas -Praça D. João I 10:30pm-1:00am DJ Rodrigo Affreixo 1.00am-3:00am DJ Set Holy Nothing -Praça dos Poveiros 10:30pm-1:00am DJ Isidro Lisboa 1:00am-3:00am DJ Set Throes + The Shine -Praça dos Leões 10:30pm-3:00am DJ Sete Magníficos

Find more information at http://www.visitporto.travel/

Source: Porto.pt

Madeira: Carnaval Festivities 2016

Carnival, one of the main tourism events of Madeira Island, will entertain for a week, the city centre of Funchal.

The city will dawn vibrating with good times to the sound of philharmonic bands, samba and Carnival marches.

The highlight of the festivities is scheduled for Saturday evening, the 6th of February, when the float parade will go through the streets of Funchal, displaying great creativity by the various joining troupes, in a colourful and lively spectacle, with a total of one thousand revellers.

To complement this festive period, on Shrove Tuesday afternoon, the 9th of February, the “Cortejo Trapalhão” will take place. This is the day when Funchal explodes to a great mood and where thousands of irreverent revellers from all over the region have scathing caricatures about regional, national and international figures, thrilling the witnessing crowd at the avenue, with popular irreverence. 

Join us in this imaginative and exciting party, under the motto: "Madeira, dream Carnival"!

Find here more details about the Carnival in Madeira.

Source: Madeira Tourism 

Porto: City with Happy Holidays

Since November 27th, Porto is celebrating Christmas. 
The streets light up and the city gained new colors and an even more welcoming environment. 

To enjoy this time of the year to the fullest, Câmara Municipal do Porto and PortoLazer prepared a fun and entertaining extensive program for the whole family, that includes music concerts, dance performances, markets and craft fairs, but also carousels, a dolls palace, ice skating rinks and many other surprises. 

Keep tradition alive and celebrate the most festive time of the year. Because the joys of life are to be celebrated. 

Download here the Christmas and New Year Programme from Porto.



Source: Porto Turismo 

In Porto Christmas starts on 28 November!

 Credits to Porto City Council

The Christmas and New Year programme will start on 28 November, earlier than usual, filling the city with light and colour!

Christmas lightings on 30 streets and venues, entertainment, ice rinks and a Christmas market, are an invitation to visit the city, to calmly stroll around its streets, to know its shops, its gastronomy specialties, and to enjoy a festive atmosphere.

The Avenida dos Aliados, the Rua das Flores and the Clérigos Tower will have special lightings.

On the Avenida dos Aliados will shine the Christmas Tree, this year accompanied by the installation “Sound Textures” by the architect Isabel  Barbas.

The regeneration works of the Clérigos Tower will be concluded on 12 December and on that day our dearest monument will shine brighter than ever.

The Rua das Flores, a walking street with a varied range of shops, will have a “special light” and those shopping at the traditional commerce will be given vouchers to use for parking and on the ice skating rinks in Praça D. João I and rotunda da Boavista (Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque).

The novelty is the Christmas Market on Praça da Liberdade, from 4 to 14 December.

New Year’s Eve promises great and fun moments! The bands Clã and Expensive Soul will heat the scene and at midnight there will be surprising fireworks, offering a unique experience to the public!

The city awaits you! Winter, spring, summer or fall, Porto is Porto all year round, period!

More information at:
- http://visitporto.travel/Agenda
- http://www.visitporto.travel/Opportunities
- https://www.visitportugal.com/
- https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/porto-e-norte

Source: Porto Turismo

Portugal invites you to taste the gastronomy of the Algarve and Douro in a Two weeks training programme

Portugal invites you to a unique cultural and culinary experience in two of the main tourist regions in the country, the homeland of the best fish and of some of the finest wines in the world.

“Taste Portugal” is a training programme that will enable you to embrace a number of the most genuine Portuguese traditions and way of life. Learn how to cook traditional dishes and pastry with some of the best Portuguese Chefs, get in touch with our scenery and culture and also learn Portuguese!

The training will take place both in the Algarve and the Douro (respectively at the south and north of Portugal), at their Hospitality and Tourism School’s. The fee - €1000 per week - includes accommodation, lunches, theoretical and practical training and cultural visits to prominent places (such as museums, daily markets, wine cellars and salt marshes).

Week 1 – June 17th to 23rd – Algarve
Faro School of Hospitality and Tourism
Visits: to museums and beaches, fish auctions, the municipal daily market, a boat trip in the Ria Formosa’s Natural Park and tasting of regional products such as almonds, figs and carobs.


Week 2 – September 1st to 8th - Douro
Lamego School of Hospitality and Tourism
Visits: Raposeira’s wine cellars, the municipal daily market and museums; a cruise in the Douro and a day at the vineyards.

Please send your application to: formacao@turismodeportugal.pt  with the following information: name, address, email, as well as preferred week/region indication.
Download the brochure here.


The Hospitality and Tourism Schools are managed by Turismo de Portugal, the official tourism  organization.