St.Patrick's Day in Porto Alegre

When we just came to Porto Alegre (more than four years ago, wow!), the first time I felt homesick was on St. Patrick's Day. It was the first time for years that I didn't party with my friends in our favorite local Irish pub back home and I couldn't even find one place to have a nice pint of Guinness in Porto Alegre.

These days are over and now Porto Alegre can offer more than one place serving proper pint of Guinness and more important - I have some drinking friends to party with.

The Mulligan pub will have a special event on Monday, March 17 - offering the second pint of Guinness for free. They promised to have St. Patrick's Day's T-shirts and hats and a lot of Guinness.

You can already call in sick for Tuesday, March 18.

Mulligan Irish Pub
Address: Padre Chagas 25 (Moinhos de Vento). Tel. 3029-3725 / 8422-9301. Opening Hours: 17:00 - 2:00 (Close on Monday)

Get your new Havaianas for the summer

We've been to the Bourbon Country supermarket this morning and
saw an extended Havaianas department. They usually have a nice selection of flip flops, but now they have plenty more!
(Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, I didn't imagine there would be something THAT exciting in the supermarket today)
Another store that always has a nice selection of Havaianas flip flops and accessories is HSC Concept on Padre Chagas St. They also sell socks to fit flip flops (in shape and color) and have bling charms to add to the flip flops.
Address: Padre Chagas 400, Mon-Sat. 10:00-20:00, Sun. 14:00-18:00

Buying Furniture in Porto Alegre

There are many furniture shops in Porto Alegre and it's impossible of course to mention them all. Here are 3 areas where you can find lots of shops in one place:
DC Shopping Navegantes - This is an open mall with several furniture shops (also carpets and accessories). All of them are of high quality and the prices are according to that.
Avenida Ipiranga - on this street, starting from about Av. Ipiranga 7000, there are tens (!) of shops with huge furniture selection of different quality level. You can find a wide price range in these shops, according to quality and brands.
Rua Quintino Bocaiúva - A street in Moinhos de Vento neighborhood with lots of luxurious furniture shops.
Another furniture and accessories store chain is Tok&Stok, it looks very much like Ikea, just not as cheap. It has a large selection of furnitures and a nice show room. Address: Av. 24 de Outubro, 1538.

Parcão - Moinhos de Vento

The Parcão is a nice small park, located in Moinhos de Vento neighborhood. In the middle of the park there is a small pond(well... maybe more like a big puddle) with turtles, water-birds and ducks. Next to it there is a nice windmill ("Moinho de Vento") that during the summer is open for craft work and children activities. In the upper side of the park there is nice playground and an opportunity for the kids (and parents) to meet new people and make friends. Around the park there are two marked paths for jogging - the shorter one is 650m long and the longer is 1 Km long.

I think that the Parcão looks a bit different for each of us - for some it is the place to work out, for others - a great place to go with the kids (with or without a bike, with or without soccer ball) or the dog, others can enjoy reading the weekend newspaper or a nice book (with or without Chimarrão).

From time to time, usually on Sundays, there are free activities at the park, like concerts, children games, working out in groups, dog shows and more.

Mulligan Irish Pub - my place for a Pint of Guinness

Living just few blocks away from Padre Chagas st., I frequently take the opportunity to walk few minutes to Mulligan Pub, sit on the bar and have a nice pint of Guinness (or two) with the simple-yet-fantastic "Boxty Gaelic" - potato pancake filled with meet in whiskey and mushroom sauce.

Mulligan is a "fancy" place, located in the heart of Moinhos de Vento, and therefor is not cheap (a pint of Guinness will be around 13R$). Yet - I like the atmosphere, the service is great and the professional beer pouring (Fabinho - the bartender is "Guinness certified") is well appreciated.

Mulligan offers great variety of local and imported beers - draught beers ("Chopp") as well as bottled beers ("Cerveja"). Usually I'm here for the Guinness, but sometimes, when I'm in the right state of mind (or when I want to introduce the Brazilian beers to guests and visitors) I'm going for one of the Eisenbahn draft variety (the best is to start with Pilsen, continue with Pale Ale and finish with Dunkel).

Address: Padre Chagas 25 (Moinhos de Vento). Tel. 3029-3725 / 8422-9301. Opening Hours: 17:00 - 2:00 (Close on Monday)

Sports Clubs in Porto Alegre

There are many sports clubs around the city. The biggest ones are Grêmio Náutico União and Sogipa. The clubs have several indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, gym, recreation areas, restaurants and sport classes. During the summer holiday they have special programs for kids. The União club has 3 different facilities, one in the Petropolis neighbourhood, one in Moinhos (open 24 hours a day) and the third is on an island on the Guaiba river.

We have been members of the União and the Juvenil clubs. The Juvenil is a smaller, yet fancy club, located in the Moinhos neighbourhood.

To use a club facilities you must become a member. Usually, the membership is for life, by buying a sort of club share and paying a monthly fee. There are lots of clubs in a wide price range. It's important to know, that as a foreigner, you don't need to buy the club share (which is very expensive). There's an option to pay a flat entrance fee and then a monthly fee that you stop paying whenever you decide to stop your membership. We usually renew our membership for the summer months only.

Addresses: Grêmio Náutico União (GNU) - Rua João Obino, 300 Tel. 3025.3800

Sogipa - Rua Barão de Cotegipe, 415 Tel. 3325.7200

Juvenil (AJL) - Rua Marquês do Herval, 280 Tel. 3323 4304

Sweet Bakery

There are 2 bakeries that we like to visit when we feel like having some delicious sweets.

Diego Andino - This bakery has a funny location, inside a garage, but still, their cakes are the best ever! You go up the garage and follow the smell, to a sweet lover's heaven. Diego is Uruguayan and makes a bite size cakes of many flavors. He also makes regular size cakes. Everything he makes looks very fancy and it's a good choice for dessert when having a party. In that case, you need to order the cakes ahead of time on phone or in the place. I always to prefer to go there because I can try some tasting samples. Address: Rua Quintino Bocaiúva, 433, sobreloja, Moinhos de Vento, 3264-4198. Mon.-Sat. 8:00-19:00. Free parking available.

Pâtissier - Marcelo, the owner of the place, will always welcome you with a smile at his patisserie. He makes wonderful chocolate, lemon or strawberry small cakes. He also has delicious empanadas and quiches. There are few tables to sit in the place and in the weekend they also serve lunch. Address: Rua Marquês do Pombal, 128, Moinhos de Vento, 3395-3848. Tue.-Sat. 8:00-20:00 free parking available.

Moinhos Shopping Membership Card

The Moinhos Shopping mall is giving out a membership card named "Cartão Inteligente". For every Real you spend on shopping in one of the mall's shops, you get 1 point. When you have enough points you can choose a present. My favorite present is 12 free parking hours at the mall (imagine how much shopping you can do in 12 hours... ). The card is free and can be issued at the customer service desk in the mall.

Movies and Theaters

Foreign movies in Porto Alegre are usually in their original language with Portuguese legends (unless it's a movie for children and then it would be dubbed).
Theater seats are not marked on the ticket so if the movie is new, it's better to arrive a little earlier to get a good seat.

You can find a movie guide here. On Tuesday evenings in the Moinhos GNC theater you can watch a movie for a special price of 5R$ only!