Rossio: the Christmas market or the protesters?

The Christmas market is due in Rossio in nine days, and the housing protesters won’t leave. It’s Wednesday, 4 November. Nineteen degrees. Air quality: 21 to 63 (Good to Moderate). Here’s what you need to know.

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PROTESTERS REFUSE TO LEAVE ROSSIO, AND THE CHRISTMAS MARKET IS NINE DAYS AWAY

The housing protesters camped in Rossio have told Lisbon City Council they won’t move to make way for the square’s Christmas market, which Lisbon’s tourism listings show opening on 13 November. At a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the council offered them three other sites, Largo de São Domingos, Martim Moniz or Restauradores. The Acampada Lisboa movement turned all three down, sticking to a decision taken at its people’s assembly on Monday, and suggested the market move instead.

Both sides say they’re thinking of the small traders. The protesters say they have no quarrel with shopkeepers, but object to “commercial interests” taking priority over the right to protest. The council says it also met the Association for the Revitalisation of Baixa Pombalina, the local traders’ group, which wants the market kept in Rossio in its usual form, and that it’s still open to talks to find a balanced solution. Last year, the market filled the square with wooden stalls of crafts and Christmas sweets, a free Christmas train through the Baixa and a Santa’s house, and this year it’s due to run until 21 December.

For the protesters, the date that matters is 24 November, when parliament holds its final vote on next year’s budget. They want the government to scrap its rent bill, and their camp has been at the centre of the housing protests in Lisbon and Porto since October. They say they intend to stay until then.

The legal picture is still unsettled. On Sunday, Lisbon’s administrative court allowed one protester, Renata Cambra, to keep a tent in Rossio day and night until 24 November, as long as the protest works around the Christmas market. Prosecutors appealed to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, and the government maintains the ruling covers only the protester who brought the case. Opinion on whether the protest should take priority over the city’s calendar is divided.

Bottom line: The council has nine days to find a compromise, and the protesters, the traders and the courts are still pulling in different directions.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Only accredited taxis can now use the taxi rank at Lisbon airport. Since Tuesday, a barrier has let in only taxis listed in a database of approved drivers, the last step of the fixed-fare scheme that began on 15 October. Of the roughly 3,500 licensed taxis in Lisbon, the taxi federation estimates about 500 may want to work from the airport, and drivers can still sign up through the main taxi associations, with new approvals taking effect the following Tuesday. The fixed fares are €16 or €19 into the city on weekday daytimes, rising to €20 or €23 at night, at weekends and on public holidays, and they also apply to places on the Lisbon tourism association’s list. The federation stresses that the list means towns, not whole municipalities, so “Sintra” means the town itself, not Queluz or Cacém, and anywhere else goes on the meter. The crackdown follows years of complaints about overcharging. When police checked about 100 taxis at the rank in August, they found 67 infringements.

The government says it will approve a national integration plan for foreigners this month. Rui Armindo Freitas, the secretary of state for immigration, told parliament on Tuesday that anyone who settles in Portugal “must learn our language, respect our laws”. The plan, first promised a year ago, will involve councils, businesses and community groups, and the government says it will be paid for by immigration fees and EU funds. Some measures are already under way, including more language and cultural mediators in schools and extra funding for immigrant associations. The full detail hasn’t been published yet.

Diagnostic and therapeutic technicians will strike on 19 and 20 November. The health workers who carry out tests, scans and therapies are demanding a new pay scale, back pay owed to them and more staff, and plan to gather near the prime minister’s residence in São Bento on the first day. It’s their second stoppage this autumn, after a one-day strike in October, and the second day coincides with the nationwide public sector strike on 20 November. If you have tests or treatment booked on those days, check with your hospital or health centre.

Need a certified translation for AIMA? Read this before you pay

A translation that AIMA, a bank or a notary won’t accept means another appointment, another fee and another wait, and it’s usually down to something small. So we asked Diogo Heleno at M21Global, a Lisbon translation company, to answer the questions his team hears most often, before you order.

Most emails we get from expats ask the same five questions, usually in the same order. Here are the answers.

“Will AIMA accept it?”
Yes, if it’s done properly. Under Portuguese law, a certified translation is a public act. The translator declares in front of a lawyer or notary that it matches the original, they both sign, and everything is bound into one set that can’t be taken apart. Where things go wrong is what’s missing, like an original that wasn’t brought, an apostille that was needed but missing, or an unauthenticated photocopy. Before you order, email the office receiving your file and ask exactly what it wants. It saves the hassle and cost of a second round.

“Can you work from a scan?”
To start, yes. A phone photo is fine. But to certify, we need the original. You can leave it with us and it goes into the set, or keep it and we certify a photocopy instead. Without the original, the certificate says we translated from the copy you sent, and then we can’t promise it will be accepted.

“What do I actually get?”
A PDF by email as soon as it’s ready, so you can check it. Then the paper set, which is what offices here want to see. Pick it up at our office in central Lisbon, or we can post it, registered, anywhere in Portugal at no extra cost.

“How much, and how fast?”
Upload your documents and you’ll see a final price within minutes, and that’s what you pay. Someone on our team checks every automatic quote before we start, and if we’ve miscounted, that’s on us. If there’s a serious problem with your files, we’ll contact you before we start. You can pay by card, MB WAY or Multibanco, or ask us a question first. If we can’t price something automatically, we’ll send you a quote within three business hours.

“My appointment is next week.”
Honestly? Tell us that first. Until 4 December, if you order up to three documents through the link below, you get the faster service for the price of the standard one.

We’ve been translating in Lisbon since 2005 and are certified to ISO 17100, the international standard for translation services.

→ See your price now, with the faster service at the standard rate ←

We only partner with businesses we’d recommend to a friend. If you’ve got paperwork due before the end of the year, M21Global’s offer for our readers runs until 4 December. Every click and share helps keep this newsletter free every morning.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

ESPAÇO AÇORES (AJUDA)

The dish to plan your week around at Espaço Açores is cozido das Furnas, the Azores’ slow-cooked stew of meats and vegetables. On the island of São Miguel, it’s famously cooked for hours in the volcanic ground beside the Furnas lake. Here it’s served only at lunch on Fridays and Sundays, and it’s the restaurant’s big draw.

The rest of the menu is a tour of Azorean comfort food, from fresh tuna and limpets off the grill to alcatra, the clay-pot beef from the island of Terceira. The kitchen is just as good with its stews and roasts, among them veal tongue in a tomato and carrot sauce, tender braised veal and pork ribs roasted until they fall off the bone. Past menus have also featured cheeses from Pico and Corvo, and black pudding with pineapple.

The couple behind it came to Lisbon from the island of Pico, and the restaurant sits inside the Ajuda market, in a room built with cryptomeria, the cedar that grows across the Azores, and basalt brought from the islands. Diners rate it highly, and a meal comes to about €25 a head.

Ajuda is a trek from the centre, so book ahead, and pair it with a visit to the Ajuda National Palace nearby. It’s open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday, and for lunch on Sunday.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: if you can’t make a Friday or Sunday lunch for the cozido, come on a Thursday for the Azorean buffet, the easiest way to try a bit of everything in one sitting.

📅 WHAT’S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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