Portugal

Quick Facts

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Capital

Lisbon

Population

10,102,000

Government

Parliamentary Democracy

Religions

Christianity (Catholic, Protestant)

Languages

Portuguese

Calling Code

+351

Nationality

Local name

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Introduction

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Squeezed between Spain and the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal revolves around the sea. Through it, the nation began to build up its empire in the 15th century, claiming territory in South America, Africa and Asia. While this empire has dwindled over the centuries, cutting Portugal's global power down substantially, the sea remains important to Portugal. Today, the preponderence of the sea to Portugese way of life translates into long beaches and some of Europe's best seaside resorts. Fishing and watersports draw thousands of Portugese and international visitors to Algarve, Portugal's southernmost province and home to its best beaches.

Add to this a handful of traditional towns, an energetic night life in Lisbon and a culture infused with Moorish and Brazilian influences, and Portugal's winning combination is becoming quite tempting. Consider then that Portugal is less expensive than neighbouring Spain (and also not as popular) and it's becoming simply irresistible.

Brief History

Geography

Regions

Portugal is divided into 18 districts and two autonomous regions, being the Azores Islands and Madeira.

• North: Viana do Costelo, Braga, Vila Real, Porto, Bragança, Aveiro, Viseu, Guarda.
• Centre: Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Lisboa (Lisbon), Santarém, Portalegre,Batalha
• South: Évora, Setúbal, Beja, Faro.

Cities

• Lisbon
• Porto
• Coimbra, a true student city, is best known for having one of Europe's oldest universities.
• Fatima
• Setubal
• Faro
• Braga
• Batalha
• Lagos

Sights and Activities

Sintra

Sintra is a small village outside of Lisbon that makes for an excellent day trip. It's romantic architecture has been stunning people since the 19th century. Before the 19th century Sintra was a popular sight for the Portuguese royalty. Due to its popularity among the elite many wealthy and royal people built magnificent castles and homes in the area. The Sintra area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its importance to Portuguese culture.

Alcobaça Monastery

Alcobaça in the Leiria district is a home to the beautiful Alcobaça Monastery. This monastery is the largest church in all of Portugal. Originally built in 1252 this monastery was built in order to celebrate defeating of the Moors in a major battle. The monastery's main claims to fame is great gothic architecture, tombs of several kings, queens and even a tomb for a one king's mistress. A trip to Portugal, if possible, should include a visit to this wonderful area for the town and scenery.

Chapel of Bones

In Évora might be one of the most interesting, haunting and good uses of human bones in all of history. In the The Church of St. Francis in this town is the Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos). In this interesting side chapel the central pillars and chancel walls have been tastefully cemented with human skulls and other parts of human skeletons. It is estimated that there are over five thousand human skeletons that were supposedly plague victims or soldiers that died in a war, but were most likely just robed from nearby graves. The chapel was built by a monk that wanted to emphasize the transitory nature of life.

Other Sights and Activities

• City Walls - Climb the city walls in cities like Obidos.
• Knights Templars - Visiting the capital of the Templars in Tomar that features a castle-monastery built during that time.
• Moorish Influence - Enjoy the fusion of Moorish architecture in the town of Lagos
• Beaches - Enjoy the atlantic coast at some wonderful beaches.
• Maritime Museum Lisbon - Visit one of the best maritime museums in the world that tracks the history of portuguese naval domination.

Events and Festivals

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

The national airline of Portugal is TAP, which uses Lisbon as the main gateway to and from the country. Apart from many European countries, TAP also has flights to destinations in Brazil, like Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Salvador among others. Other former colonies to serve from Portugal are Angola, Mozambique, Guinee Bissau, as well as other African cities like Dakar, Johannesburg and Algiers.

TAP and several other airlines have international flights to and from Porto in the north and Faro in the south as well, the latter being served by charter flights to the Algarve.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Plane

http://www.flytap.com|TAP Air Portugal]] and Portugália Airlines both have flights to and from Lisbon, Faro, Madeira, Porto Santo, Porto and the Azores. SATA (the Azores' airline) has flights between the Azores, Madeira and mainland Portugal, as well as between several of the islands of the Azores itself.

By Train

Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses has an extensive network of train links throughout the country.
There are fast links with speeds well over 200 km/hour from Lisbon to the Algarve and from Lisbon to northern cities like Porto, Braga, Guimarães, Coimbra and Aveiro, but on most routes there are intercity services which still are fast enough and a good alternative to buses or cars. From Lisbon, there are also frequent links to Cascais and Sintra, popular traveller routes.
There are also railpasses available with umlimited travel for 7, 14 or 21 consecutive days.

By Car

Roads in Portugal are generally in a good condition, although some rural roads more inland might be slightly potholed in some places. Rental cars are available on most airports and bigger cities and driving is a good way to cover a lot of the country. You need a (inter)national driver's licence and sufficient insurance. Be careful when on the road, as Portugal has one of the highest traffic mortality rates in Europe. Although there is no need to panic, just watch out for the local driver's with their terrible driving skills.

By Bus

There are numerous bus links and companies to almost any city, town and even smaller more remote villages. Contact Rede Nacional de Expressos for more information about prices and schedules.

By Boat

Although there are few regular ferries for travellers, a leisurely cruise along the Douro (from Porto) and Tago (from Lisbon) rivers is an enjoyable way of seeing Portugal from a different angle.

Red Tape

If you are a European Union (EU) citizen, you may enter without any restriction as per your EU citizenship rights. If you are not an EU citizen, you will need to obtain a Schengen Visa. This visa is valid for any country in the Schengen zone.

Money

See also: Money Matters

Portugal has adopted the Euro (ISO code: EUR, symbol: €) as its official currency. One Euro is divided into 100 cents, which is sometimes referred to as eurocents, especially when distinguishing them with the US cents.

Euro banknotes come in denominations of €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200, €500. The highest three denominations are rarely used in everyday transactions. All Euro banknotes have a common design for each denomination on both sides throughout the Eurozone.

The Euro coins are 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, €1 and €2. Some countries in the Eurozone have law which requires cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest 5 cents. All Euro coins have a common design on the denomination (value) side, while the opposite side may have a different image from one country to another. Although the image side may be different, all Euro coins remain legal tender throughout the Eurozone.

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