In search of Virgínia Quaresma

While working remotely from Lisbon a few months ago, I researched and wrote an article about Virgínia Quaresma, which has just been published. Virgínia Quaresma was Portugal's first female reporter, she was mixed-race and a lesbian.

Virgínia Quaresma, Wikimedia Commons

She lived from 1882 to 1973. There are very few pictures of her, so while working on the article in my hotel, I suddenly thought I could literally go to visit some places connected to her.

I knew there was a street named after her and the address of her last apartment. The street was a bus ride away in Caselas, which felt very suburban, and the apartment was in the centre of Lisbon.

Rua do Salitre 106

The next day, I thought of going to the cemetery where she is buried. That's a bit morbid, but so little exists about her (at least online), I thought it would be nice to pay homage to a remarkable woman.

It took me two attempts to go because of very large rainstorms, but when I arrived, it was a sunny and clear autumn morning.

I went with no plan. Looking around, I realise the cemetery is huge. It would take ages to find anything. 

Then I notice the secretario. In this little office, two ladies were working. They only spoke Portuguese, so I explained in my limited language skills what I was looking for. The office radio was playing Ed Sheeran and Camilo Cabello's song Bam Bam, which was a cheerfully-weird-surreal touch.

One of the women took out a huge book, a volume from 1973 when Virgínia died. 

Scanning page after page, she eventually finds the records for Virgínia Quaresma. Sadly, her grave had been exhumed in 1986. Her last partner, her wife, had died before her. I guess she had no children, and nobody paid for the upkeep. It's pretty sad. 

As the song goes: Así es la vida, sí, Yeah, that's just life, baby. I'm glad I went to find out this information, and was able in my own way to mark the life of Virgínia Quaresma.

Variations on a Brazilian flag

When I was in Belgium, I saw this flag hanging from a building. It's the Brazilian flag re-purposed with Belgian colours.

I love this take on the Brazilian flag, re-purposed to support Belgium in this year's football World Cup.

So I decided to make a few more flags:

 This could be any number of countries - Australia, Costa Rica, Chile, France, Croatia.

Cameroon.

Colombia or Ecuador

Netherlands - though I suspect they're more likely to have a big, bright orange flag.

Germany

 Portugal

1

Iran or Mexico or Italy

Ivory Coast

 Nigeria

Spain

Switzerland

Uruguay or Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vania Fernandes at Cafe Madeira, Vauxhall

I went tonight to see 2008 Portuguese Eurovision singer Vânia Fernandes singing at a cafe in Vauxhall.



Cafe Madeira is one of Lambeth's many Portuguese restaurants and cafes - some of which I've visited before - with Vania performing to help raise funds for her native Madeira following recent flooding.

A baby christening party was in full swing at the cafe, so spirits were high when Vania took to the mike.

She performed several fado songs in a typical fado style, looking very fetching all in black, and entertained the crowd who were singing, dancing and clapping along.

I'm happy to report that Vania also took the time to coo at the baby who was being christened.

Sadly, she didn't perform her Eurovision song, Senhora do Mar - despite a middle-aged lady shouting at her to do so.




Vania happily posed for photographs after her performance, and minutes later left the building, while we were being entertained by Alexys and his accordion and his fun dancing songs.

Click here to donate to flood relief in Madeira

Futebol! Football with London's Portuguese fans.

Last night, I went to South Lambeth Road to watch Portugal play Hungary and cheer along with the Portuguese fans.

London's Portuguese football watching venues have been written about before, but I've been wanting to go since I went to Portugal earlier this year. I wanted to see if the food would be any better than the not-so-tasty Portuguese fare.

All the bars along the road were showing either the Portugal match or the that and the England match (and any other match they could fit in).

The first bar - Estrella - was all very animated. People were happily chatting and drinking, but not really paying too much attention to the match. A middle-aged woman sat in the corner reading a book.

A man with a crutch came in, making a lot of bluster and noise while ordering his beer. When Portugal scored soon after, he dropped the crutch, jumped about, did a little dance with his arms aloft. So much for the crutch!

He later started talking to me (in Portuguese). When he realised that I wasn't from Portugal, he started to tell me a very rambling story about Coimbra University. It was fascinating!


At half-time, I took myself off to a second bar - Grelha D'Ouro - with more fans watching, chatting and not really paying great attention. One complained (in English) that the Portuguese players were just wasting time. Another kept trying to engage me in conversation, in Portuguese. It was all very social.

The match continued on, but it was rather dull (or is it that I don't actually like football that much?).

And, for the record, although I didn't actually eat, the food all looked pretty similar.

Cabo da Roca - Europe's most westerly point

Cabo da Roca is Europe's most westerly point. Well, Cabo da Roca is continental Europe's most westerly point. Europe's most westerly point is in Ireland, Iceland, the Azores or French Guiana - depending on perspective.

The land to the north of Lisbon, around a town called Sintra, is forested and mountainous. These uplands stretch on to the coast, ending at Cabo da Roca, which is about 140 metres above the ocean.

Getting there is remarkably easy - it's something of a tourist attraction, of course - take a train to either Cascais or Sintra and then bus 403 from there along winding roads through green countryside.

There isn't much at Cabo da Roca - a pointless tourist office (I wandered in, they ignored me), a restaurant (empty) and a tourist souvenir shop (nothing but usual stuff). A lighthouse, built in 1772, is closed.

Two monuments can be seen - one (oddly) to the Rotary Club sits a little distance back from the headland, and the other juts proudly into the sky, with a cross and an inscription: Onde a terra termina e o mar começa... / Where the land ends and the sea begins...

But Cabo da Roca's beauty isn't in buildings. All around you is the world's grand scale and beauty. Looking down the cliff at the crashing waves and spuming foam of the Atlantic, the full brunt of the ocean hits you. It's unrelenting, it never stops - the tide keeps on coming.

The horizon remains constant, always there, always distant. You could be anywhere, but this is somewhere. My trip benefitted from a sudden change of weather - from drizzly, grey and dull to blue, shining and resplendent.
Cabo da Roca is peaceful despite the fierce ocean, green with sea-gorse and nature's geography at its best.

Observations on Portugal

• Itinerant Londoner was right - the food in Portugal is disappointing. Try as I might, I did not find mijas on the menu, and instead was left with oily, greasy and largely flavourless food. Once or twice, I did think "yes, it's stodge, but glorious stodge" a la Nigella, but that was rare.
• It struck me that while the high-end restaurants may have brilliant food, more commonplace, everyday cafés and such churned out basic, unadorned food. A bit like the food at an Irish wedding - plain and simple, nothing that'd scare that aunties and uncles.
• Cakes, buns and tarts, however were divine, especially the pasteis de nata and pasteis de Belem (above).
• There are a lot of pharmacies in Portugal. Lisbon seemed to have one at every turn.
• My favourite of Lisbon's gay bars were Setimo Ceu in Barrio Alto - ace music, friendly staff and a cool magazine-collage wall - and Max in Principe Real, unadorned, unpretentious and friendly.
• My favourite Metro stop (in Porto) was Estadio do Dragao - simply for the phlegmatic tongue-twisting way it is pronounced. In Lisbon, I quite liked Marques do Pombal as it sounded like Marques do bumhole. (Mature, I know)
• My very favourite things were: azulejos and seeing Cabo da Roca - more of this later.

Fußball! Football with London's German fans

I was at the Jolly Gardeners bar near Vauxhall tonight, supporting the Germans. And it was packed - there were hundreds there, with a brash and cheerful atmosphere.

Now, some facts about Germans:

they're very tall - I was hemmed in by six blokes at one point.
Whoever said Germans are all blondes is wrong - brown hair was the order of the day.

Every good pass the Germans made got a cheer, every save their keeper made was cheered, and the whole bar erupted in chants and cheering with Germany's 3 goals. The last few minutes of the game were tense, but with the greatest relief - see the video below for reactions.

Ronaldo was the pantomime dame of the game, and his Oscar-winning dive received much derision.

Germany's not a noted musical nation, but these fans begged to differ (and so do I). Singing, singing and more singing! My favourites were:

• SuperDeutschland! to the tune of My Darling Clementine
• Da-da-dadada-dada-da-da-Deutschland!
• Aus auf Deutschland, something is a doora! (which I'm reliably informed is about scoring goals)
• Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lucas! Podolski! (not about the lovely Lulu of Boom Bang-a-Bang fame)

Next up: Turkey -v- Croatia, and I'm supporting Turkey

Le Soccer! Football with London's Swiss fans

Last night, I was supporting the Swiss at London's Swiss Church which is in Covent Garden.

A church isn't the first place you'd think of to watch football, but the Swiss TV was on, and fans had gathered.

It was a remarkably gentle and good-natured affair. The Swiss's good shots were applauded politely, and likewise for their goalkeeper's saves.

• The first Swiss goal was celebrated with flag waving and cheering, with one woman jogging on the spot and yodelling. The second goal was politely applauded, while a few people chanted "Hopp Schwiiz!"
  
  
• My favourite player was Tranquillo Barnetta. More men should be called Tranquillo.
  
  
• This Swiss milk ad made me laugh also.
  
  

Ireland by Deirdre, Greece by Daphne, Portugal by Mauro

I watched a TV show last week called A Song for London, which followed musician Ben Roy around London in an attempt to find a person from every nation to sing him a song.

His attempts were mildly successful - he found people from about 70% of the world's countries, an astounding figure. He was seen speaking with embassies, cultural organisations, schools and even football teams in the hope of finding foreigners.

And while Roy attempted to complete his task in a week, I was reminded of my own project. I've collected a few more maps in the past few weeks.

When I was at home in Ireland at the end of August, I asked my good friend Deirdre, who's another geography and travelling fan, to draw Ireland.

Daphne, from Athens, has a blog which I read. She very kindly sent me her map of Greece.

Mauro, from Portugal, left me a comment about his new blog and project to collect 1 Million Love Messages. I like his idea - so in exchange for my message, I asked him for a map of Portugal. He very kindly agreed.

In addition to his map, Mauro also sent me a postcard of his city - doesn't it look fantastic?!

EuroRevision: Europe squared.

I want to collect a map for every country in Europe. Get in touch if you want to help.

On conventional world maps, each country is shown with reference to their size.

EuroRevision changes this view by re-positioning each country's map on a 10cm x 10cm piece of paper.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer