Portugal - Latest Flight News - Summer 2014

Currently away, so just a quick synopsis of recent developments:

1) lowcostportugal.net reports that both Vueling.com and Transavia.com will be launching new flights to Porto as follows:

Vueling.com

31 March 2014 - Porto to Barcelona
1 May 2014 - Porto to Brussels

Transavia.com 

28 April 2014 . Porto to Lyon

Article here (in Portuguese):
 http://
bit.ly/1foX1Jp

2) Portuguese online travel news site http://opcaoturismo.pt reports that low-cost Canadian operator, Rouge, is planning to start services to Lisbon, Portugal in summer 2014.

Article here (in Portuguese): http://opcaoturismo.pt/wp/?p=2236

Lagos, Algarve, Portugal - Internet Cafes - Winter 2014

The following is a list of some of the operational Internet Cafés in Lagos.

The cafe near the bus Station on the corner of Rua Dr. José Cabrita and Rua Victor Costa e Silva has several machines.

Cafe Odeon near Old Lagos Hospital, open Wednesday's through Sundays also has a machine.

Gelibar Cyber Cafe in Praça das Armas also has several machines.

Official: Ryanair opens base in Lisbon

Fellow Blogger, Sergio Bastos, http://www.lowcostportugal.net reports this morning, hard on the heels of a Ryanair press conference in Lisbon today, that ryanair.com is launching a base in Lisbon as from 1st April, 2014.

In addition to existing ryanair.com services from Lisbon to:

Paris Beauvais, London Stansted, Frankfurt Hahn, Brussels and Dublin

there will now be an initial further four services to:

Pisa - Italy (Ideal for Florence)

Manchester

Marseille and Dole - France-

Article here (in Portuguese):

Oficial: Ryanair abre base em Lisboa

LATE EXTRA:

Ryanair.com official press release here:
 http://
bit.ly/1jqmK7D

Restaurant Largo do Paço, Amarante, Portugal - Best Restaurant in Europe

Portuguese national daily Journal "i", reports today that the Restaurant Largo do Paço, located in the Casa da Calçada Hotel , Amarante, 60 kms east of Porto, in the north of has been selected as the "Best Restaurant in Europe" by the users of  "European 50 Best Restaurants".

Original article (in Portuguese):  Largo do Paço é o melhor restaurante da Europa | iOnline

This only confirms what I know and have said for many years! Portugal's gastronomic heritage is one of the best in European and the world. Amarante, itself is a delightful quaint little town, unfortunately only accessible by bus or car. It is well worth a visit.

Travel between Seville and Paris - January 2014

Airlines operating Seville to Paris direct are as follows:

Paris /Beauvais-Tille

ryanair.com

Paris /Orly

transavia.com

vueling.com

As regards trains between Seville and Paris, the following is an example timetable generated on voyages-sncf.com for the 24 hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday this week. There are two trains offering connection:

1) Via Barcelona

08H50 Sevilla Santa Justa

14H25 Barcelona Sants

16H20 Barcelona Sants

22H45 Paris Gare De Lyon

Total time: 13h55

2) Via Madrid and Perpignan

12H45 Sevilla Santa Justa

15H20 Madrid Atocha

15H40 Madrid Atocha

19H47 Perpignan

21H07 Perpignan

07H22 Paris Austerlitz

Total time: 18h37

S

Os navegadores portugueses foram os primeiros europeus a chegar na Austrália?

Foram os navegadores portugueses os primeiros europeus a chegar no continente da Austrália?

Este artigo bastante interessante publicado hoje no site da BBC News e um outro ontem no Sydney Morning Herald relata que a imagem de um pequeno canguru exibido em uma cópia do manuscrito processional religioso, que pertencia originalmente a uma "Caterina de Carvalho" com origem de Portugal entre os anos 580 e 1620 e recentemente oferecido para venda em Nova York, pode provar que os navegadores portugueses chegaram na Austrália antes dos navegadores holandeses.

Cada vez mais, a história ocidental tradicional está sendo virado de cabeça para baixo por descobertas sugerem que que havia muito contato entre diferentes partes do mundo antes de datas tão bem estabelecidas em nossos currículos acadêmicos "tradicionais"!

Did the Portuguese arrive in Australia first?

Were Portuguese explorers the first Europeans to arrive on the Australia continent?

This very interesting article published today on the BBC News site and another yesterday on the Sydney Morning Herald today reports that the image of a small kangaroo on a copy of religious processional manuscript, originally owned by a "Caterina de Carvalho", recently offered for sale in New York, and supposed to originate from Portugal between 1580 and 1620, may give real evidence that Portuguese explorers did arrive in Australia prior to Dutch explorers.    

Increasingly, traditional western history is being turned upside down by discoveries that do suggest that there was much contact between different parts of the world prior to dates so well established in our "traditional" academic syllabi!!  

Lisbon to Seville by Public Transport

Although these two great cities are, relatively speaking, not to far apart, there is actually limited budget transport options between the two.

Rail:

There is no direct railway line or service between Lisbon and Seville.

One can travel overnight on via Madrid. (See: www.renfe.es)

Air:

TAP-Air Portugal are the only airline operating direct services between Lisbon and Seville. At present, these flights are operated on behalf of TAP by http://www.omni.pt/ using 19 seaters Beechcraft 1900D Turboprops. Frequencies vary between 1 and 3 flights daily.    

Bus:

Presently, there is a daily alsa.es bus service from Lisbon calling at both bus stations in Sevilla.

The service departs Lisboa Sete Rios Bus Station(Metro Jardim Zoologico) at 21:30 and arrives at
Sevilla Est. Autobus Plaza das Armas at 05:45 and Sevilla Est. Autobus Prado San Sebastian at 06:15. (Note: Clocks go forward an hour en route)

At present, there is also a service on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving Lisbon Sete Rios at 13:30 and arriving Est. Autobus Plaza das Armas at 21:00 and Sevilla Est. Autobus Prado San Sebastian at 22:00.

These alsa.es services call at Faro in the Algarve en route.

It is also possible to on a daily basis take a train or bus from Lisbon to Faro and then connect with take the daily EVA/DAMAS bus services to Sevilla. (Note: In summer frequencies may increase.)

As regards connecting trains from Lisbon, only the afternoon bus service offer a connection at present. See: http://www.cp.pt

Faro Train Station is about 3 minutes walk from Faro Bus Station.

There are departures as follows:

Faro 08:10 Sevilla Plaza das Armas: 13:00
Faro 15:35 Sevilla Plaza das Armas: 20:15

As regards buses from Lisbon to Faro, both EVA and renex.pt operate services, the former from Lisbon Sete Rios and the latter from Lisbon Gare Oriente.

New Hotel Ibis Parque das Nações Lisbon, Portugal

Portuguese travel website http://www.idaevolta.net reports today that the ACCOR group have now opened a new IBIS hotel in the Parque de Nações area of Lisbon, 10 minutes from Lisbon Airport and close to Gare Oriente Mainline Rail and Bus and Metro Station.

Article (in Portuguese) here:

Novo Hotel Ibis Parque das Nações

Link to Hotel website here:

Does one need a GPS in the Algarve?

The Algarve is a small rectangle +- 180 km East to West and 40km North to South. If you go too far East, except on the A22 Motorway, one will drop into the River Guadiana! To the South and West, one will drive into the Atlantic.

Driving North can be a problem BUT when one starts going through villages where there are more pigs, sheep and men wearing cloth caps, one knows one is in the Alentejo region! :))))

Furthermore, be aware that many GPS maps for the area not always up to date! I have run into this a couple of times in having to go and rescue courier companies who use GPS delivering to the home.

The region is well signposted, and with a good map, Mark I eyeball technology and asking the locals if needs be, one should have little difficulty in getting to one's destination.