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Portuguese Equestrian Society Centennial
The Portuguese Equestrian Society (Sociedade Hipica Portuguesa with the acronym SHP) has recently celebrated its 100th birthday. We hereby extend our most sincere congratulations. Come to think about it, with such a long history of horses and such a long independence, the Portuguese Equestrian Society could have been still much older.
Tags: Equitation, Horses
A Portuguese photographer on focus
Hugo Machado is a Portuguese photographer who has been an International Winner, in the category “Places” in the National Geographic Global Contest 2009. His winner photo was taken looking at the Licancabur Volcano being shaded by a lucky cloud on the Chile-Bolivia border. Hugo Machado is 29 years old and was born in Angra do Heroismo the beautiful World UNESCO Heritage town in the Azores Islands. He has moved to Lisbon when he was 17 years old to study geology in the Lisbon University. There he also started to dedicate himself to photography together with two of his friends.
<!–more–>To take photos is above all something that gives pleasure to Hugo. If you look at his winner photo in the National Geographic Global Contest you will realize how precious this moment was. It was in May of 2008 at 7.30 am, when he was in holidays and found a fabulous moment of a cloud shading the Licancabur Volcano. At the time, he did not realize that he was not just taking a photo but also taking the photo that make him a winner in such a prestigious contest.
Hugo Machado has moved to Norway working as a geologist in an oil company. He has worked already in several countries such as New Zealand, Austria, Angola and the United Kingdom. In London he has got, in the Imperial College, a Master degree about the geology of oil.
Tags: Photography
Traditional Portuguese “Fumeiro”
In the north of Portugal, in particular at Montalegre and Vinhais, there are the largest and most popular Fairs around the traditional Portuguese meat products. These events happen in January and February, typical months for making the Portuguese sausages in the traditional way, which are then smoked using the smoke of the burning wood, known as the “fumeiro”.
Tags: Food
Portuguese cork
Cork oak trees can live more than two centuries and start produce cork at around 25 years. Every nine years the bark is extracted and cork is used for several applications. Cork oak is a native tree species in Portugal and is responsible for a typical Portuguese landscape known as montado. Cork oak montados are in general managed as an agro-forestry system and its an ecosystem with many wildlife characteristic species.
Tags: Made in Portugal
Season’s Greetings
Portugal Web, Portugal Shop and Portugal Blog would like to wish to all their friends and costumers a Merry Christmas and a very successful New Year. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our costumers from 16 countries. We also would like to announce that Portugal Shop will have some new horse equipment surprises for the New Year!
Tags: Season's greetings
Golegã is the Lusitano horse capital
The National Horse Fair (Feira Nacional do Cavalo) has been happening at Golegã for 34 years now. Since eleven years ago it is also the International Lusitano Horse Fair (Feira Internacional do Cavalo Lusitano). Golegã council, with a little more than 5,500 inhabitants, has a long tradition in horse breeding. With a privileged location near the Tagus River and the ancient Royal Road, Golegã fields are very fertile. Therefore the agriculture has always been very productive and horse breeding has been an activity associated with it.
Tags: Equitation, Horses
Wonderful Portugal
No one would tell that due to a Greek poet one day we would distinguish the great wonders from the world and from Portugal. It was Antipater of Sidon who firstly referred the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He has included places like the Great Pyramid of Giza, still standing until today and the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Based in this concept Bernard Weber, a Canadian born in Switzerland, decided to create an election for the New 7 World Wonders.
Tags: Tourism
Portuguese wine regions
There is no Portuguese region which does not have its own wine. From the North to the South, as well as in the Azores and Madeira islands, wine occupies an important place within the Portuguese agriculture context. Portuguese wine regions, have a long history. Since 1756, it was created the Douro wine region, the first demarcated wine region in the world. Here was where the Port wine, under British influence, had started already being produced. Port wine become probably the best known and appreciated fortified wine in the world. Today this wine region is a Unesco World Heritage site.
Portuguese horse breeds
If you love horses, then your life will not be complete without a visit to the beautiful country of Portugal. The history of equestrian culture in Portugal goes way back to ancient times. The famous Lusitano horse breed hails from this country, a product of hundreds of years of evolution. Horses, in many civilizations have played a pivotal role in enabling man to travel, hunt and of course, to wage war. This unique role in our society meant that along side us, horses too have evolved. Though we humans are now more capable of taking care of horses, and we no longer bring them to dangerous activities, they are still some of the finest beasts that roam our planet.
Tags: Equitation, Horses
I Lusitano Horse Festival from Aguas de Lindóia, Brazil
The importance from the most prestigious Portuguese horse breed, the Lusitano horse, in Brazil is long known and internationally recognized. Now the Brazilian Association of Lusitano Horse breeders (ABPSL) has chosen the city of Águas de Lindóia, in the Brazilian São Paulo state, to organize the I Lusitano Horse Festival from Aguas de Lindóia. This Lusitano Festival will occur between the 4th and 7th of September. This equestrian event will be organized in a similar format from the Lusitano horse fair organized every year in Golegã, Portugal.
Tags: Equitation, Horses
