Portugal - Welcome to Europe's West Coast!
Stunning beaches, luscious port wine, and the finest hospitality.

This sunny little country that time and the rest of the world often seems to have forgotten has a remarkable history. It was from its long Atlantic coastline that the little caravels sailed off to make the greatest of the 15th and 16th century New World Discoveries.

Remarkably diverse for its size, the terrain ranges from the lush forests and green terraced valleys in the north to the rolling olive tree-studded plains in the south. Its stunning coastline with its long beaches, hidden coves and high cliffs border the whole country.

This is a country populated more by small villages - with ways that go back a thousand years - than by big cities. The Portuguese themselves have an old-world charm and courtesy that’s hard to resist –a people bound by a love of family and tradition.

The wine is delicious and rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the vintner’s world. The cuisine is superb and like every other aspect of Portuguese life dominated by the sea. Am I waxing too lyrical? Perhaps - Portugal is our home by choice!

Portugal By Numbers

Area:	91,950 sq km / 51,135 sq miles
Population:	10,606,000
Capital city:	Lisbon (Population Great Lisbon area: 2,800,000)
Coastline:	1793 km / 1114 miles
Climate:	maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south
Language:	Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used)
Religion:	Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant and other 6%
Currency:	Euro €
Government:	Democratic Republic
President:	Anibal Cavaco Silva
Prime Minister:	José Socrates
Background:	Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.
(facts & Figures from the CIA factbook)