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Life

La Belle Verte

Education is the accompanied acquisition of physical, emotional, personal, social, intellectual and practical skills by children that are prerequisites for all members of a culture. In ancient Greece, education meant both intellectual and ethical training and guiding people towards contemplating life’s big questions. What mattered here was the attainment of excellence and the outstanding quality of their social and civic skills. Therefore education involves the act of one person, who knows the way, taking another by the hand, showing them that way and actively accompanying them. Every kind of education functions according to this model, environmental education too. With us …

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Ecosound

Sustainable holidaying in Portugal

Portugal is increasingly becoming a first-choice destination not only for the rest of Europe but also for the Portuguese themselves. And while this is good news from the economic perspective, in environment terms, there is the impact stemming from the footprints left both by travelling and by accommodation. Such simple details such as the consumption of water, foodstuffs, recycling or construction materials may end up making a fulcral difference. Thus, ECO123 presents here three hotel complexes who are as concerned about the wellbeing of their guests as they are about the planet itself without, however, giving up on any of …

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Saudade

How come almost half of humanity spends all its time talking about food, about the best ingredients and wonderful recipes, only to then inflict exactly the opposite on their bodies, in most cases? Food that is too full of fat and calories, and often not at all healthy; most people eat supermarket meat produced though intensive livestock farming, where the origin of all those chops and steaks and sausages is by no means transparent. Many people don’t even want to know. Are our eating and drinking habits falling victim to the thoughtlessness of our era of fast living? Just don’t …

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Tradition at the right pace

A prior warning: if you are the type broadly indifferent to food and prefer to rush through meals quickly, ‘A Charrette’ is not the place for you. This is an establishment where everything takes its respective due time, from preparing and cooking the dishes on the menu, giving (even requiring) space for flavouring the excellent food, taking in the décor and ambience, chatting and enjoying the company. Located in the centre of Monchique, anybody entering immediately notes the traditional and welcoming environment with old (but well treated) wooden furniture and containing a wealth of working or household utensils from times …

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Enjoy the taste of Spring

Mushrooms, parsley and onion béchamel sauce Parsley béchamel sauce Ingredients: Infusion: 450 ml of milk 20 gr finely chopped onion 3 Szechuan peppers 3 coriander seeds Roux: 35 gr butter 35 gr flour 55 gr parsley Method: Place all the infusion ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil on a medium heat. On boiling, remove and cover the pan with Clingfilm to seal in the steam and leave to stand for 20 minutes. In another pan, fully melt the 35 gr of butter and, when taking on a slightly golden colour, combine the flour and continue stirring to …

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restaurante museum of cuttlefish

Where heritage gets savoured

Museum of Cuttlefish It is impossible to think about cuttlefish without immediately conjuring up the city of Setúbal. Every region has its own particular gastronomy and Setúbal is no exception to that rule. Whilst Lisbon has its grilled sardines, Porto has its tripe à moda do Porto and, when thinking about cuttlefish, and especially fried cuttlefish, we think of Setúbal. However, thus far there was no place to do justice to the presence of cuttlefish in the historical, cultural and economic traditions of the region. Located on Avenida Luísa Todi, right in the heart of Setúbal, the Museum of Cuttlefish …

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loja de segunda mão

Commerce reinventing itself

A second-hand store guide (Porto) Portugal’s second city hosts an abundance of second-hand stores of the most varied types. Even though book stores predominate, there are also antique and similar stores specialising in collectors items and furniture whilst the prices in effect are beyond the reach of regular consumers. On occasion, this may damage one of the factors key to this guide, the recycling of products as a means to ensuring greater sustainability, but does nevertheless enable the discovery of rare and very high quality items. In Porto, the leading place for browsing for second-hand items is undoubtedly the Vandoma …

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Templo Hindu

To eat and pray for more

An old proverb tells us that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. In the case of the Templo Hindu in Lisbon, I wouldn’t be surprised if some devotees had started by visiting the canteen. In Lisbon, as throughout the world, there is no shortage of Indian restaurants. But restaurants, Indian or not, are just that: restaurants. A canteen in a Hindu temple, which serves home-made Indian food, is, in comparison, a parallel universe and probably the best way for one’s stomach to visit India without leaving Lisbon. Hinduism is the main religion of India, and nutrition …

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feira da ladra

One person’s rubbish is another’s treasure

Guide to second-hand shops The purchase of used items tends increasingly to be linked to the crisis, but second-hand shops have always existed all over the place. There are lots of people for whom buying used goods is a lifestyle, either for financial reasons, or because what they are looking for is no longer produced. Some shops specialise in clothing, some in records, furniture or books, and others are more general and sell all types of things, rather like mini-versions of Lisbon’s Feira da Ladra. This market is still the place for second-hand items par excellence, despite the proliferation of …

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A casa da Isabel

Savour the past, today

Confectionery is part of Portuguese culture and sees one of its high points during the Christmas period. This Christmas, ECO123 invited the people who run two of the best confectionery businesses in the Algarve to share some sugary recipes with you with the typical flavour of the Algarve. Located in the centre of Portimão, the Casa da Isabel is a return to the past of our dreams: that time when, in an old but welcoming house, there is always a magnificent sweet treat awaiting us, a cup of tea to warm us up, a traditional product from an Algarve that …

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