Allowed names in Portugal

Something I learned today: in Portugal there exists a list of allowed names. It contains more than 80 pages. More female than male names. The gender is also clearly assigned. Of course there are possibilities for exceptions. But if both parents are of Portuguese origin the kid will end up with one of the names from the list. There is not much variation related to the spelling.

But: It’s possible to register the kid online.

Adventures hike in the neighborhood

We went to the Serra de Midões e de Pias just 20 minutes from home.

Impressions along the way

and did a relatively short tour mostly along the Rio de Ferreira.

Our track

On the komoot map it looked initially like we could cross the river and take shortcut. But it turned out that this is only possible in summer. The river crossings were not possible with the amount of water in the river. So towards the end we had to climb a rather steep path. For the spoiled German member of the Schwarzwaldverein – used to having clear markings and walkable paths everywhere – it was a learning. Nevertheless a nice tour and on the way we found some nice places to rest and with a good view.

Guess the genre

We went to the movie theater and in the middle of the movie – which was after 45 minutes – this

appeared. Last time I have experienced an intermission was between two movies of LOTR.

This time it was a kids movie: Patos! Based on the booking information it was supposed to be the OV but it turned out to be the Portuguese version. Since the ducks did not discuss philosophy we were able to follow anyway and had fun.

While I did not further investigate the real reason for the intermission I believe it is intended as service break for the young audience.

Changes

Climate is changing. That’s not really new. However it was new to me that Portugal has a skiing region. It’s located in the Serra da Estrela. But due to less snow and warmer winters skiing is in decline and lifts are closing.

There is also an active lift which in summer is used by hikers.

And there is political change. The radar towers are remnants of the Cold War. Portuguese Air Force and NATO do not need them any more.