Cafés Itinerary - the 'Idea of Europe'
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“Europe is made of coffeeshops, of cafes. These include Pessoa’s favourite cafeteria, in Lisbon, to the Odessa cafes frequented by Isaac Babel’s gangsters. Include Copenhagen cafes, where Kierkgaard stoped by on his focused walks, to the Palermo counters […]. May one draw the map of cafeterias and one will get one of the “Idea of Europe” essential markers.
”
George Steiner, The Idea of Europe
Steiner’s sentence inspires CafeBabel: a space where hundreds of people speaking different languages converge, finding around a café – even if virtual – the share of values that build our continent. With this project, we intend to make the cafes that marked Portugal’s social, cultural and political life known.As the first Portuguese expression team to develop in the centre of this transeuropean project, we want to enhance our contribute with a collection of the stages where, for over two centuries, a large part of our History took place. We hope this itinerary, recovering memories from out past, inspires us – and those who read us – in this conversation between many millions of Europeans.