São João da Madeira is a small town in the north of Portugal and I visited it for the first time for this session with Mary Batista, a student of contemporary dance. Due to the time I had we didn’t have much time to explore the city as there was certainly still a lot to visit and see.

São João da Madeira is a Portuguese city in the Aveiro District, in the Porto Metropolitan Area and in the Northern Region of Portugal, with 21,713 inhabitants in its urban perimeter (2011). The motto of São João da Madeira is “Labor – City of Work“. The city is known, in Portugal, for its tradition in the industrial area, particularly in relation to the manufacture of hats and footwear. It is recognized in the country as the “Capital of Footwear”. In 2010, the city received, at the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisbon, the award for best municipality to live in Portugal, a result obtained by a study by the Institute of Behavioral Technology. One of the most striking cultural events in São João da Madeira is the “Poesia à Mesa” event, which takes poetry to the city streets, schools, bars, restaurants, library and other public spaces annually and for a week.