13 june is the feast of St. Anthony, and greatly celebrated in Lisbon whose patron saint he is regarded as, being a public holiday. St. Anthony is one of the most popular saints in Portugal. He was born on the castle hill, in 1195, and a church dedicated to him was built on the place where – according to tradition – stood the house where he was born, the son of a well off merchant of the city of Lisbon. …
Category: Personal
During our summer holidays at the Savoy Hotel (among the three or four best five-star hotels in Madeira), we went out every night so we didn’t really get much sleep as we had to be at breakfast before ten. So on Sunday evenings we never went out, not only because most of the bars and discos were closed but because we needed to rest as well. We took the night “off” to go to bed early. On one of these …
It was a cold November morning. We had agreed to meet at 8.30 at Versailles (probably the oldest – and most beautiful – café in Lisbon) for breakfast. It opened in 1922 and is richly decorated in an Art Nouveau style, with a predomination of gold and mirrors and a look of older times. I’ve been going there for many years and I still love it. Besides – it has the most wonderful “duchesses”, small cakes with pastry and “crème …
I strongly believe one should know how to be alone; in fact I think it’s important to spend time alone, “with ourselves”. Do not mistake me: I’m a gregarious person. All my life I’ve been an extrovert, a communicator, I never had any trouble making new friends and I really like meeting new people; I love getting together with my friends and talk for hours on end; I love spending time with my boys and I love the time I …
I first saw this sentence in a magnet. It showed a woman with a desperate look, as if she were asking the world to give her some respite – I found it very relevant and I bought it. It has been on my fridge ever since, and whenever I have a glimpse of it it invariably makes me smile. It is a fact that many of us women think we’re invincible. Worse, we think we are super women and we …
I always think of my life as divided in three quarters of around 25 years each: the first including my childhood, my teens, and my life as a young adult, my first job, and my wedding. Then the following 25 years: adult life, consolidating my career, having my children, change of jobs, the loss of my dear father, the breakdown of my marriage, a new love, my boys growing from childhood to their early teens. Then the last quarter, the …
It was our first holiday together. We had been going out for just six months and really wanted to spend a few days by ourselves away from everything and everyone. I can’t remember why, but we decided to go to Marbella, in the South of Spain, for a week. On a sunny September day Miguel (then my future husband) and I set out in my Toyota starlet ( my graduation gift from Dad) towards the Algarve and spent a night …
I’ m putting the dishes into the dishwasher. My elder son Afonso and I had to have dinner in a hurry “Mom, please, I have to study for tomorrow’s Physics exam”. Of course I hurried. He has been studying hard these last few days, and the last few weeks, and months. Since he got into University and a lot more before that – to get into University. So I’m used to the rhythm and I naturally adapt. All Moms do! …
Once upon a time, our life was like a fairytale. We lived in a beautiful house with a garden full of trees and flowers and a swimming pool with crystal blue water. Most of the trees bore fruit, and the mangoes would fall down from the large mango tree and into the swimming pool. There was no winter in that blessed land, only summer during nine months, and then there were three months that were cooler, but never cold, and …
Motherhood is the most intense experience that a woman can have – in my opinion. Yesterday evening I went to see the musical “Mamma Mia” (in Lisbon for two weeks). It was my second time (I saw it in London last year) and I’ve seen the movie several times. Amidst all the music and joy there is a poignant scene where Donna, the mother, sings a song where she remembers her daughter when she was a small child going to …