Portugal in Profile
Roughly rectangular in shape and with a population of around ten million people, Portugal has much to offer the modern visitor – young and old alike.
The Real Ribatejo
Covering some 600 square-kilometres, Portugal’s very own cowboy country – the Ribatejo, meaning ‘bank of the Tagus’ – is a highly fertile province and the country’s geographical and agricultural heartland.
Falconry in Portugal
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.
The Town of Palmela
With its steep cobbled streets lined with elegant whitewashed houses, Palmela is a charming hilltop town huddled around a magnificent castle just 40km south of Lisbon.
Fair and Square
It is widely claimed that Portugal is the land of the azulejo painted tile and in no other country and by no other people has it been used on such […]
The Seaside Town of Sesimbra
Set on a curving turquoise bay just 40 km south of Lisbon, Sesimbra is both an attractive fishing town and popular tourist resort within easy reach of the capital.
The Flying Man
One of the most inventive characters of the 18th century must surely have been Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, the Brazilian-born genius who created the earliest known flying machine he christened the […]
The Power of Portuguese Literature
Portuguese writing officially began in the 12th century when Henri de Bourgogne, father of Afonso Henriques, Portugal’s first king, brought with his court several French scholars and literary gentlemen.
A Tower of Strength
Along with the imposing Castle of São Jorge, Lisbon’s strikingly eye-catching Tower of Belém is one of the city’s most iconic edifices. With its serene riverside location in the historic […]
Lisbon’s Love of Trams
To get close to Lisbon and its residents there’s nothing better than a nostalgic roller-coaster ride in an elétrico, one of the capital’s old streetcars, which are constantly rumbling through the city’s narrow […]