115 years in the middle of Tomar, and a room that has hardly changed since 1946.
Café Paraíso opened in 1911, started by five friends who ran it as the Empreza do Paraízo de Thomar. More than a century later it is still open at number 127 on Rua Serpa Pinto, in the middle of the old town.
Most of the room you sit in today dates from 1946, when the architect Francisco Granja remodelled it. The mirrors on the walls came from Italy, an Italian craftsman painted the iron columns to look like marble, and the big ceiling fans went in at the same time. The old arched doorways gave way to the wide windows onto the street.
It has stayed in the same family. Manuel Cândido da Mota bought out the other founders, his nephew Manuel Mota Grego ran it for many years, and today the Grego family is into its fourth generation behind the counter.
Come for a coffee under the fans in the morning, or a glass of wine and some petiscos in the evening.
Tomar's great autumn fair was granted by royal charter in 1626. The anniversary edition runs 16–25 October: ten days of stalls, food, music and the procession on the river. Three weeks to go.
Santa Iria, whose name the autumn fair carries, was a 7th-century nun from Nabância, the town before Tomar. Legend says her body was thrown into the Nabão and carried down to Scalabis, which took her name and became Santarém.
Coming next week
Sun 4 Oct Arts, collectables and antiques fair at the Mercado Municipal
Mon 5 Oct Public holiday: Republic Day
Thu 8 Oct Sons de África with the Quarteto Lopes-Graça, Igreja da Misericórdia
Fri 9 Oct ONYX, contemporary dance by Piny, Cine-Teatro Paraíso, 21:30
Sat 10 Oct Guilherme Duarte's stand-up show Matrioska (in Portuguese)
