Monte Horizonte

Set in historic Ponte do Lima, heart of the Minho (Porto e Norte Region), Carmo’s Boutique Hotel will open in February 2012 and offer 12 luxury rooms and 3 suites and also offer  private transportation between the airport and the Hotel as well as Porto and Vigo. The Hotel will offer luxurious spaces with contemporary touches of architect Carvalho Araújo. The hotel will offer its guests exclusive:

- cultural and culinary tours, to the cities of Porto, Braga, Guimaraes, Viana do Castelo, and some of the idyllic local villages

- Rural buggy trips, horseback riding, , wine tasting, golf, horse riding, visits to famous wine estates of vinho verde

- a luxurious spa with aromatherapy baths and exclusive 100% goat milk baths.

Contacts:

Tel: +351 918 789 560
info@carmosboutiquehotel.com

http://www.carmosboutiquehotel.com

Lisbon recently received the award for best international cruise port. For 2011 Lisbon was also nominated for Europe’s Leading City Break Destination, Europe’s Leading Cruise Destination, Europe’s Leading Cruise Port and Europe’s Leading Destination.

Just 20 miles from Porto, on the banks of the Douro River and in the region of Castelo de Paiva,  the new Douro 41 Hotel is being built. This hotel is all contemporary architectural with simple and attractive lines, harmoniously integrated into the natural surroundings. The interior design has been made to offer stylish settings that are intimate and comfortable. The rooms, the restaurant and the SPA will face the river and offer a panoramic view from sunrise to sunset. At the restaurant, regional cuisine has undergone a gourmet evolution, and at the SPA, the benefits of treatments inspired by water are revealed. The private marina opens onto an area that extends from the Carrapatelo to the Crestuma dams and is ideal for unforgettable jet ski and boat trips, and the practice of diverse water sports such as water ski or canoeing.

The Intercontinental Hotel Group, in partnership with Solitaire Hotels, is considering opening a new unit  in the Douro region. At about month and a half before the opening of its first five-star hotel in Portugal – Porto Palace Intercontinental Cardosas – the group now wants to create a hotel in the Douro region, seen  as a prime tourist destination in the northern area of Portugal.

In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,  a new Constitution was voted in by the Portuguese Republic, the Escudo became the official currency, Sunday was decreed a compulsory day of rest, and Tomar opened the Café Paraíso. Paradise Cafe was born May 20, 1911, at Rua Serpa Pinto, in Tomar, the property “of Thomar Empreza of Paradise” consists of five members. Later only Manuel Cândido Mota remained the owner of the establishment, and since then, the cafe Tomar never left the hands of the same family. Under the current management, the Paradise Café began operating at night too, as bar is open until 2 a.m., is today one of the calling points are essential in Tomar at night.

The L’AND Vineyards Resort that recently opened in Montemor-o-Novo was just awarded the prize for best tourism business in the Portuguese Real Estate National Awards.
The prize was awarded by a jury of experts in the property sector, who evaluated aspects such as originality of each project, and its integration into other urban and architectural qualities. This project built by Sousa Cunhal Tourism used a team of dedicated architects and landscape architects including Carrilho da Graça, João Nunes Ferreira, Peter Markle, and Marcio Kogan .
In accepting the award, Jose Cunhal Sendim, CEO of Tourism Cunhal Sousa, said that “such initiatives allow us to recognize and encourage quality new projects in Portugal and we are proud that the Sousa Cunhal Tourism got this award more. We feel that L’AND VINEYARDS is increasingly recognized both nationally and internationally as a most prestigious and unique project.
L’AND VINEYARDS was opend on April 30th. With wine theme, L’And Vineyards is a 5-star resort that includes a hotel with 22 suites, extended, and 145 units of residential tourism

Porto Belo Market - Plaza Carlos Alberto – Every Saturday throughout the summer, between 2 and 8 p.m., Plaza de Carlos Alberto becomes the meeting point of stamps, postcards, organic jams, old dishes, clothes, vintage jewelry, works of authors, books on the Port, sweets, wine, CDs and Vinyl. Based on London’s Portobello Market, this Porto Belo was born in 2009 and wants to distinguish itself through diversity by attracting all types of audiences.

Shop Clerigos Market – Rua Candido dos Reis -Since March 2008, the last Saturday of each month this street market takes place one month, the Mercadinho of Clerics, where all kinds of author pieces are stimulating public space with moments of animation, music and performances. For additional information about markets, antique fair, organic produce, plants and flowers visit

Conrad Algarve, the first luxury “resort” group in Europe, will be inaugurated on September 1, with 134 rooms. Prices are not yet defined, but the presidential suite “should” cost between 3,000 to 3,500 euros per night, while the remaining prices in hotel rooms or suites will vary between 260 euros “to the maximum” of 700 euros. Conrad Algarve, a five star hotel located in Quinta do Lago, will open its doors on September 1, with an investment of 150 million euros. Conrad Hotels & Resorts will open its first resort in Europe, through a management contract for 20 years with the group Imocom. The hotel has 20 suites and ten private residences. The master suite, Roof Garden Suite with 300 square meters, has a swimming pool with a jacuzzi in the room and direct access to the SPA.

Garden and floral enthusiasts will enjoy checking into one of the Quintas da Madeira, ten of the island’s finest boutique hotels, all located in stunning gardens (Quintas).

The emerald-green, volcanic archipelago of the Azores is a haven for nature lovers and divers. Great whales and graceful dolphins can be seen from above the water whilst below there is a rich marine biodiversity to discover.

Europe’s most famous secret, the Algarve will host the third round of the FIA GT1 World Championship from 6th to 8th May.

British Airways have announced their inaugural flight from London City airport to Faro will depart on 7th June 2011.

The Sao Marmede Natural Park, on Portugal's frontier with central Spain, is one of Europe's best kept secrets. Life has changed little in the picturesque villages where bread, cheeses and regional wines are still produced in traditional ways.

Renowned holiday destination the Algarve is preparing to dish up a range of gourmet delights as part of the inaugural Algarve Chefs Week.

Croatia, Portugal or Turkey – with savings of up to £100 per person – is the offer this Spring Bank Holiday from singles specialist, Friendship Travel.

The Tejo River as a tourism product is the new challenge of Ollem, Quinta da Palhota, School of Hospitality and Tourism Lisbon, wines from Quinta do Falcão. The Tejo River, boats, Avieiros and culture, as well as cuisine, wine and horses are some of the products presented.

The Green Lince Hotels & Resorts group is the new owner of the Lido Atlantico Hotel in Funchal, renamed The Lince Madeira Atlantic Lido Hotel, a four star hotel with 74 rooms. The Lince Hotels & Resorts group also has a unit in Ponta Delgada, the Lince Azores Great Hotel Conference Golf and SPA. When contacted by Publituris, the group’s president, João Silva, would not reveal the amount of the acquisition. He explained that since the forming of the group four years ago, the objective has been to acquire two units in the space of two to three years. The group had been searching for an opportunity in Lisbon, but ended up closing the deal in Funchal.
The process of full integration of the Hotel is  on track and should be completed within 30 days.

The June  2011 issue of Travel + Leisure brought good news for those seeking the best of Portugal. The Olissipo Lapa Palace in Lisbon took top honors in the Readers’ Poll for the Best Service of any hotel in the WORLD with a near perfect 99 points.

And, the Vidago Palace, made the ” It List: The Best New Hotels 2011.” The magazine said:

Northern Portugal’s dramatic Douro Valley wine region now has a resort to match.Vidago Palace, an hour¹s drive northeast of historic Porto, is located in a Belle Époque mansion with 70 guest rooms decorated with Portuguese embellishments (hand-loomed rugs; traditional cement tiles).
Vidago is an ancient spa town with famed natural springs, and the resort takes advantage of those mineral-rich waters in its 21,000-square-foot spa, designed by Pritzker Prize­winning architect Álvaro Siza. Parque de Vidago, Vidago; 800/223-6800; vidagopalace.com; doubles from $202.

A new hotel at Faro airport will soon be providing travelers at the busy Algarve hub with a mid-budget stop-over option, ideal for early-morning and late-night departures. Operated by Portuguese hotel group Tavfer, the hotel will have 96 guest-rooms, a ground-floor restaurant, two modern auditoriums, boutiques, a fitness center, spa and outdoor swimming pool. Construction is soon to begin, with the new property due to be unveiled by 2013.

TAP Portugal, the Portuguese flagship airline will offer new service to Miami International Airport with four weekly nonstop flights starting June 6, 2011. These new flights will operate in addition to the airline’s existing service between Newark and the two Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto. Adding Miami to its extensive network of worldwide destinations TAP will reach passengers and cargo from diverse regions, including Central America and northern South America.  TAP’s code share agreements with Continental, United and USAir allow seamless travel from other points in the US to TAP’s gateways of Newark and Miami. With the introduction of its four weekly frequencies between Miami and Portugal (increasing to five weekly flights during the peak summer travel months), TAP provides the South Florida market nonstop access to its modern hub airport of Lisbon, Europe’s most western gateway. TAP’s flights from Miami to Lisbon only take 8 hours, making it the shortest transatlantic crossing of any carrier to Europe (flights to Frankfurt, London, Paris and Madrid take close to 9 hours). From Lisbon passengers enjoy connections to all major destinations in Europe, North Africa or countries of the East, without having to geographically “backtrack”. TAP’s Miami service will be flown with modern Airbus A330 equipment, offering its passengers TAP’s superior long haul comfort and service components. Business Class passengers will be able to enjoy the airline’s new Recaro Lie Flat ergonomic seats with full recline up to sleeping position, individually-controlled touchscreen Audio & Video monitors, as well as electronic noise-reduction headphones, while sampling an extensive Wine List including 120 brands of wines, ports, aperitifs, liqueurs and digestives selected from every winemaking region in Portugal.  Economy Class passengers can enjoy onboard entertainment through individual in-seat Audio & Video monitors, have access to in flight phones for calls during the flight, as well as a large selection of wines.

About TAP Portugal – TAP Portugal is the leading Portuguese airline, in operation since 1945. As a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline alliance, TAP offers customers worldwide reach since March 14, 2005. Its hub in Lisbon is a key European gateway at the crossroads of Africa, North and South America, where TAP stands out as the international leading carrier with service to Brazil. The company’s network comprises 65 destinations in 31 countries worldwide. TAP currently operates on average over 1,850 weekly flights with a modern fleet of 55 Airbus aircraft, and some 16 smaller aircraft operated under PGA, TAP´s regional carrier, thus totalling a 71 aircraft fleet. TAP transported 222,000 passengers in April of 2011, 22.2 percent more than the same period last year, totalling more than 2.8 million people in the first quarter, a record high. In the pursuit of its customer- focused policy, TAP continuously strives to deliver safe, reliable and upgraded products & services tailored to meet customer expectations. Retaining the basic concept of the Portuguese character of the Company’s brand and quality service has been the main driver of TAP strategy in most recent years.  Recognized and awarded by the World Travel Awards, in 2009 and 2010, as the World’s Leading Airline to South America, TAP was also honored by UNESCO and by the International Union of Geological Sciences with the IYPE “Planet Earth Award 2010”, in the category of “Most Innovative Sustainable Product”, in recognition for the achievements of the company’s Carbon Offset Program, the first one launched worldwide in partnership with IATA.TAP was also awarded  Best Airline by Condé Nast Traveller Magazine in April 2010. More information available at http://www.flytap.com/

In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,  a new Constitution was voted in by the Portuguese Republic, the Escudo became the official currency, Sunday was decreed a compulsory day of rest, and Tomar opened the Café Paraíso. Paradise Cafe was born May 20, 1911, at Rua Serpa Pinto, in Tomar, the property “of Thomar Empreza of Paradise” consists of five members. Later only Manuel Cândido Mota remained the owner of the establishment, and since then, the cafe Tomar never left the hands of the same family. Under the current management, the Paradise Café began operating at night too, as bar is open until 2 a.m., is today one of the calling points are essential in Tomar at night.

The new Hotel Santa Justa is expected to open in March 2012, located in Lisbon, near the elevator of the same name. The hotel is ah historic renovation, with the interior by Nuno Leonidas Architects and will offer 54 rooms arranged over six floors. DST Construction won the work of reconstruction and rehabilitation of this building in downtown Lisbon. The project is estimated at over three million euros. The hotel, with four stars, will target the business and tourism.The ground floor will be assigned to the lobby, restaurant, breakfast room, lobby and bar, including several spaces for meetings, conventions and other business oriented. Work, began in early February, and DST will keep the exterior facades, stone masonry, to be preserved and reintegrated into the new hotel. The original architecture of the building will be maintained.

Gaia’s cable car is now working. The trip is short, but the view of Porto is stunning. It takes five minutes to go from Jardim do Morro to Cais de Gaia. Even more pleasant that the short time it takes, is the view of the city of Porto. Seat yourself by the window to assure you do not miss a single detail of this scenery. Between the river and the Arrábida bridge (Ponte da Arrábida) is an immense tourist trap, highlighting the Torre dos Clérigos, the Palácio da Bolsa, the Sé, and Luís I bridge. The route is done slowly at about 0-5 meters per second or 18 km/h, so that no one has a chance to feel vertigo. During the whole ride you are only ever a maximum of 35 meters off the ground. It is in this manner that the journeys of “the first urban and functional cable car” unfold; urban and functional in that it is used by tourists and local residents. “It will run all year around from 8:30am to 8pm,” informs Cláudio Anjos from Telef.
The equipment, which has two stations from which the 12 8-person cars depart, allows them to travel right over 562 meters of the historical part of the city, and connects the “cota baixa” on the left shore of the Douro river to the “alta da cidade” near Serra do Pilar. The consortium project between Etermar and Telef kicked off in 2009, but it was only in January 2011 that the cars began running for testing. The cable car was a tremendous private investment of over 10 million Euros. Therefore, the price per trip is a reflection of the amount invested. For a round trip one would spend 8 Euros, while a one-way ticket costs 5 Euros; children under the age of 12 pay between 3€ and 4.5€. Up in the air is still the possibility of introducing passes for residents, as well as a connection between the cable car and the subway and subsequent use of subway cards also for the cable car. “By mid-May the pass situation should be sorted out,” says Cláudio Anjos. The Serra do Pilar panoramic area remains without an opening date, but in the meantime you can always snap a few shots from the nearby lookout.

The new Madeira Iberian Museum will host a collection donated by Joe Berardo, becoming the first museum of Art Deco in Spain or Portugal. The project will make use of the structures of the  former meat plant ­ an historic building with architectural  characteristics of 1940s style, maintaining the structure and  dimensions of the old building. The museum will present, in two distinct  areas, the permanent collection of Berardo¹s Foundation Art Deco and some  temporary exhibitions. Being a new museum of modern art, this space  will offer one of the finest collections of Art Deco in Europe,  emphasizing the capital of Madeira as a quality cultural destination. Currently this exhibition is temporally on display at the  Casa das Mudas – Arts Centre until the 30th of September,  2011.

ADoT2’s team won the junior division of the 2011 Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest on April 9 & 10, 2011 in Hartford (USA). The objective for these competitions (national and international) is to simulate a house, made up of rooms and hallways, and to have the robot find the fire-source (candle) and extinguish it, returning to safety.
The 18th edition of Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest saw 117 teams participating from 8 countries (USA, Canada, Mexico, China, Indonesia, Korea, Israel, and Portugal). The ADoT2 team, formed by José Delgado and Miguel Seabra (13 and 12 years of age respectively), led in all 3 heats (extinguishing the candle 3 times, and they were the only team in the Junior division able to do so. The organization acknowledged ADoT2 by inviting Miguel Seabra to participate in the opening ceremony, him being the only participant deserving of this honor. Without false modesty, the young Miguel improvised a brief speech, which was both solid and comprehensive. This was yet another worthy contribution at the international level which gave significant prominence to ADoT, and through it, notice to the entire region and country and its efforts to work with young people with skills of excellence. This is one of the many activities that AdoT promotes, directed at children and young people with skills and destined to contribute to their technological advancement.