BOSTON

BOSTON is the most English of American cities. It looks a little like England with its predominantly brick architecture, but mostly it is just a feeling you get. Flying into Boston, for instance, it seems as if the plane is going to land in Boston Harbor. Believe it or not, one of Boston´s nicknames is "Hub of the Universe." Another is "Beantown,"so it kind of evens out. Due to its size, Boston is a very accessible city, but it may be that its reputation as a walking city relies on the creation of one of America's first historic walking tours, The Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail Foundation continues to work to preserve this perfect introduction to Colonial Revolutionary Boston. The Trail takes the visitor to 16 historical sites in the course of two or three hours and covers two and a half centuries of America's most significant past. A red brick or painted line connects the sites on the Trail and serves as a guide. Since the past and the present live alongside the Trail, its visitors have the opportunity to see the City as it truly is. Many visitors prefer to linger and study the many exhibits, thus a full day or more can be devoted to browsing along the Trail. One can take a self-guided tour or one of the many tours available through the Boston Common Visitors Center at 148 Tremont Street or the Bostix Booth located at Faneuil Hall. If you prefer to ride, you can pay for one of the trolley tours, which are unofficial guided tours, but do take the rider to many of the sites along the Trail and allow one to disembark at selected stops.

Christmas Holidays

I am spending my Christmas holidays in Rome. Thanks to my dearest friends Tyron and Marzia I have been able to taste Paneforte or ‘strong bread’. It is a delicious, candied confection, more than a cake. It is a traditional Christmas cake from Siena in Tuscany. It dates back to the Crusades and it is a predecessor of modern day fruitcake. Also, I tried another typical Christmas Italian sweet, Panettone, made with raisins and dry fruit.

With my friends, I have wandered about the Eternal City centre revisiting such antique monuments as the Colosseum, Capitol Hill and its Roman Museum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona with its stands selling handicraft Cribs, The Monument to the Fallen at Piazza Venezia, and the lift that exists there which takes you to the very top of the monument and its breath taking sights of the city, etc. All under the new light shed by being in the company of my friends which showed me their city as only a local can. Again I thank them for this wonderful experience which has given me new knowledge of Rome.

SERRA do CARAMULO

The Serra do Caramulo is a place where nature reigns supreme and man has learned to live with it and for it, never against it. It is a place full of surprises and magnificent views.You will notice the green fields and woods, the grey of the granite, the bright colours of the heathers, ganisters, oleanders or brooms and ancient small and picturesque villages.

A good way to visit the Serra do Caramulo is exploring the mountains on foot. Just outside the town Caramulo starts a very beautiful hiking trail along an old Roman Road.It goes all the way up to the lonely top, Caramulinho. The last part is very steep, but there are granite steps to help you up, and you will have a spectacular panoramic view.The Black Clay Pottery of MolelosThe craftsmanship of Molelos has been kept alive in the Serra do Caramulo for several generations. All sorts of decorative and useful items are for sale, for use in the house, or to decorate a corner — and to take away as the perfect souvenir of our mountains. Molelos is the first village you come trough after you turn off the IP3 to go to the Serra do Caramulo.

(Source: quintadoriodao.com )

THE CARAMULO MUSEUM

The history of the Caramulo Museum explains why it is really two different museums: it was founded in the 1950´s by the brothers Abel and João de Lacerda, the first an art lover, the second a lover of antique cars.The art collection is extremely varied. It contains for instance paintings by artists such as Picasso, Dali, Dufy and Legér, but also a fine selection of ceramics from many different periods, and four monumental 16th century tapestries.The car museum has 70 cars and 30 motorcycles in permanent exhibition, all with the original motor, and in running condition. They are taken out on the road during the antique car festival that takes place every year in September.Among the cars that can be seen in the museum are: the oldest car in Portugal that still works (a 1899 Peugot), the Bugatti that broke the speed record at more than 200 km/h in 1931, and two cars owned by the Portugese dictator Salazar (an armoured Mercedes-benz and a Cadillac).

(Source: quintade bispos.com)

Art Collection

Started in 1953, by Abel Lacerda, based on the principle of the generosity of benefactors, the art collection at the Museu do Caramulo was made up of gifts from both collectors and contemporary well-known artists, such as Vieira da Silva, Jean Lurçat, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.
The art collection is very diversified given the different categories of the objects on show. covering a long period of history, from the age of Antiquity up to the Contemporary period.
The rooms of the museum have paintings, sculptures, furniture, objects in gold, glass, enamel, textiles and ceramics. In this last section, the objects reveal the taste and technology of ceramics from different periods, from the Han and Tang dynasties in China, to a jug by Picasso, Delft and Ming porcelain, and most particularly, the famous bottle by Jorge Álvares of 1552.
In the textile sector, there are four monumental tapestries, ordered by the King of the Discoveries – D. Manuel I – and made in Tournai in the first quarter of the XVI century. Given their extraordinary cultural value, these pieces are an exceptional means of understanding the XVI century, and the relationship between Portugal and Flanders and show the influence of the Portuguese Discoveries in Western art.
In paintings, the Museu do Caramulo exhibits a selection of works by consecrated Portuguese artists, such as Grão Vasco, Silva Porto, Columbano and Amadeo de Sousa Cardoso. There are also works by the Flemish artists such as Frei Carlos, Quinten Metsijs, Isembrant, Jaco Jordaens and of French artists such as Hyacinthe Rigaud, Frans Pourbus, Raoul Dufy and Fernand Leger.
The collection of sculptures is made up of works made by Portuguese artists such as Salvador Barata Feyo, Canto da Maya, Leopoldo de Almeida or António Duarte, and also works by foreigners such as José Cañas and José Clará.
The Museum of Caramulo is rightfully considered one of the principle museums in Portugal, reflecting the careful and rigorous selection of the works on show, made up by an extraordinary collection that covers all areas of Art.

(Source: museu-caramulo.net )

Automobile collection

The Automobile, Motorcycle and Bicycle Collection in the Museu do Caramulo started with João Lacerda, in 1955, when he bought a 1925 Ford Model T. The collection has grown ever since and is on show in the museum.Given the success of the museum and its prestige, several pieces have been added to the collections due to the donations from private and public entities.However, to be put on show each car must be completely restored and in full running condition, just like when it was manufactured. To achieve it the vehicles have to run at least once a year for maintenance purposes. The participation in various events, such as races, rallies, competitions orpublic demonstrations are crucial, not only to guarantee its correct roadworthy condition, but to reach out to the enthusiasts and general public with live and running pieces of history.This was idea was taken in account, when the second building was constructed, to house the growing automobile collection. Its design allows each vehicle to exit easily, without restrictions.The Museu do Caramulo has a permanent collection of 30 motorcycles, and 70 cars (of which 14 are vintage cars), representing 36 different makes and 7 countries. The oldest is an 1886 Benz and the most recent a Ferrari 456, of 1998. There are also collections of antique bicycles and tricycles.Many of the cars on show are connected to the History of Portugal. In the permanent collection at the museum one can see:
The oldest car in Portugal, still in running condition, an 1899 Peugeot;
The Bugatti 35B that in 1931 established the speed record in Lehrfeld at more than 200 km/h;
The bullet proof armoured Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac that were in the service of Oliveira Salazar;
The Pegaso, given by General Francisco Franco to President Craveiro Lopes;
The Chrysler Imperial belonging to the Portuguese Secret Service (PIDE) that was used in the escape from the Caxias Prison;
The Renault that belonged to "conselheiro" João Franco;
The Rolls-Royce that was used by Queen Elizabeth II, President Eisenhower, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II during their state visits to Portugal;
The Fiat offered to João de Lacerda, by the President of the Fiat Group.

Beautiful South Africa

South Africa, larger than Holland, Belgium, Italy, France and western Germany combined, and a country of immense natural resources, is a regional superpower, the engine room of the subcontinent´s economy. It is also rich in beauty, stunning in its myriad contrasts, though in the broadest terms it has just two physical divisions: the vast interior plateau, and the narrow coastal belt that fringes it. Between them is the conspicuous, and continuous, necklace of mountains known as the Great Escarpment, which reaches its grandest heights in the towering Drakensberg range to the east.

JOHANNESBURG

Johannesburg is South Africa´s largest city and the industrial and financial hub of a country that is emerging, painfully but with bright promise, from the darkness of the apartheid era. This is a nation of some 40 million people and of bewildering human diversity, the contrasts vividly evident in the mix of race and language , creed, colour, culture and economic status. Variety is there, too, in the physical nature of the land: in its widely differing climates, its regions of high mountain peaks and broad grassland plains, its rugged coasts and the semi-arid flatlands of the great interior, its game-rich bushveld and the lovely hills and valleys of the south, each of the many parts displaying its own, highly distinctive characters.

PRETORIA

Pretoria, 60 km to the north of Johannesburg, is a beautiful city, famed for its feathery, lilac-coloured jacaranda trees which put on a resplendent display in spring, and its stately buildings, among them the Union Buildings with the famous statue of Louis Botha, first prime minister of the Union of South Africa. Tradition of a wholly different kind can be seen in Ndebele villages near Middleburg, some distance to the east of Pretoria.

THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

The Kruger National Park occupies nearly 20,000 square kilometres of Lowveld bush country to the east of the northern Drakensberg, and is haven to more varieties of wildlife than any other game sanctuary in Africa. Among its 148 mammal species are lion, warthog and the lordly giraffe.

Thanks a lot, Abdu!