Country Facts

PORTUGAL

Portugal lies along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, only 6 hours away from North America and 2 hours on average from any other European capital. A small country with a very diverse landscape, mountains in the north and centre with amazing valleys and rivers, plaines bathed by rivers in Alentejo as we go southwards and the beaches of the Algarve with white sand and beautiful rock formations with a Mediterranean climate along the Atlantic coast. A friendly country with a long history, with remnants of the many people that occupied and developed it, from Phoenicians to Romans to Moors and finally a Portuguese kingdom since 1143.The adventurous Portuguese sailed around the whole world in the 15th and 16th centuries and nowadays we can feel the influence of all these other cultures touched in those days in the Gastronomy, the Architecture, the Decorative Arts, the Literature, among others.

COUNTRY

Portugal occupies the edge of the Iberian Peninsula; its frontiers are the Atlantic Ocean and Spain. A small country with just over 10 million inhabitants, some of its main economic activities is tourism. The islands, Madeira and Porto Santo and the Azores, are part of the Portuguese territory but with an autonomous parliament and government. Tourism is also one of their main activities, along with agriculture and fishing. Independent since 1143, Portugal is one of the oldest independent countries in Europe, it was a monarchy until 1910 when it became a republic.

WEATHER

Portugal is influenced on the coastal region by the Atlantic Ocean, so an Atlantic Climate is to be found along most of the coast. However, the Algarve coast gains with the warm influence of the Gulf current, changing the climate in the region to a Mediterranean one, something that can be felt and seen in the type of vegetation common of Mediterranean countries. Summers are warm, Winters are cooler. It can get stormy sometimes, but the number of hours of sun throughout the country exceeds 3000 in the southern part of the country.

MARCH-MAY JUN-AUG SEPT-NOV DEC-FEB

LISBON 16 23 19 12

PORTO 13 19 16 11

FARO 16 23 19 13

FOOD & WINE

The Portuguese love their food and even more so, their wine! From north to south the variety is huge, the north prefers their strong meats and stews accompanied by full bodied red wines from some of the 250 native grape varieties, or a salted cod baked in the oven paired with a reserve white. The coast offers such an array of fresh fish and shellfish, grilled on charcoal accompanied by a cool Vinho Verde. The south is the land of garlic, olive oil, and acorn fed black pigs. The Algarve goes Mediterranean with its oranges, figs, almonds that taste so good in the local traditional sweets.

NATURE

Portugal is surprisingly varied in nature, considering how small the country is. From the craters of the old volcanoes in the Azores, turned into beautiful colourful lagoons, to the ravishing tropical vegetation and breathtaking cliffs of Madeira island, the vineyards of the Douro Valley, or the endless plaines of Alentejo just after the highest mountain in the country with its pure springs of water, until we get to the caves of the Algarve, in between the long white sand beaches and sand islands where the birds build their nests when fleeing from the cold weather of norther Europe.