Features

Portugal is a land of pageants, processions, lively country fairs and other joyful folklore-based festivities where tourists who happen upon them by accident can expect the unexpected.

One of the best travel books about Portugal was written by the English author Rose Macaulay just after World War II.

Although Portuguese architecture is said to have officially commenced with the start of the monarchy, there was already a large scattering of ancient buildings in existence all over the country, most notably the Visigoth temple of Balsemão, the Mozarab church of … Read more

Although Catarina de Bragança, the queen-consort of Charles II, didn’t introduce tea to England, she certainly made the afternoon tea dance fashionable, and due to her influence tea has become the widely-drunk beverage we enjoy today.

Bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal is one of Europe’s premier destinations for watching whales and dolphins in their natural habitat.

One of the most decisive conflicts in the history of Portugal – the famous Battle of Aljubarrota – took place on an isolated plain in the centre of the country well over six centuries ago.

Having existed as a country for almost nine centuries, Portugal is one of the oldest places in Europe with strong traces of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic culture to be seen across the land.

Falconry has been practiced in the fertile plains, mountains, forests, rivers and meadows of old Portugal since the 12th century in a tradition that has remained largely unchanged for centuries.

Grand Master of the Order of Avis, King João I was king of Portugal from the 6th of April 1385 until his death on the 14th of August 1433 aged 76.

With its tilting terrain and subtropical climate, Madeira’s flower power ranges from orchids tottering on three-foot-long stems and bougainvillea in bursting shades of red and purple.

The great earthquake of 1755 wasn’t exclusive to Lisbon. In fact, the epicentre was calculated to have been out in the Atlantic some 200 km south-west of the Algarve.

The Portuguese have a very strong attachment to their beliefs, customs and capabilities, which thankfully means that Portugal’s traditional art of handicrafts hasn’t been discarded as a result of the country’s rapid modernisation since the 1974 revolution.

The Phoenicians first brought olive trees across the Mediterranean to Portugal and the Romans were successful in cultivating the groves and pressing the olives to attain the precious oil.