When visitors arrive in Lisbon‘s historic centre of Belém, the first building they see is the imposing Jerónimos Monastery, impressive for its sheer size and without doubt one of the most spectacular monuments in the whole of Europe.
Portugal’s most celebrated poet, Luís Vaz de Camões (c 1524-1580), lived an extraordinarily eventful life by any stretch of the imagination.
One of the jewels in Portugal’s tourism crown is the rocky, windswept headland called Cabo da Roca, mainland Europe’s most westerly point.
Located in the heart of the old university city of Coimbra, the venerable church of Santa Cruz (which means Holy Cross) is one of Portugal’s most important monuments.
With its picturesque beaches and quaint fishing boat-bobbing waters, Cascais is far removed from the hustle and bustle of nearby Lisbon.
Portugal’s ambitious but impetuous monarch, Sebastião I (1554-1578), is remembered as the young man who orchestrated the greatest of all military disasters in his country’s long and chequered history.
One of the oldest in Europe, Coimbra University is a place of dedicated royal patronage with a fine academic tradition stretching all the way back to the 13th century when it first opened.
Located in the heart of the tourist centre of Belém, Lisbon’s magnificent National Coach Museum (Museu Nacional dos Coches) provides visitors with a memorable portrayal of all the pomp and splendour Portugal exuded during its heyday.
Loosely translated as ‘lookout points’, the miradouros of Lisbon offer visitors the chance to absorb the city’s urban kaleidoscope from a series of privileged positions.
Conveniently located just to the south of Lisbon, the enchanting Setúbal Peninsula (aka the Costa Azul, or Blue Coast) exudes much of the rare authenticity that still abounds in the more rural parts of 21st-century Portugal.
The history of Portugal’s ground-breaking association with the seas spanned a hundred years from 1415-1515. Widely labelled as the Age of Discovery, this epoch-making period saw Portuguese navigators sail across uncharted seas to break out of the confines of Europe and … Read more
Located in the extreme south-western corner of Portugal lies a most historic site that changed the world in the 15th and 16th centuries – Prince Henry the Navigator‘s ground-breaking Rosa dos Ventos.
One particular household name that has stood the test of time is Vasco da Gama – intrepid explorer, world tradesman and Portuguese national hero.
On the road to Colares, just 2 km west of the historic village of Sintra and a short drive from Lisbon, lies the delightful Palace of Monserrate, one of the most impressive examples of Romantic architecture in Portugal.
Devastated by a succession of earthquakes over the centuries, Setúbal is rich in relics of the past and nowadays is one of the busiest ports on Lisbon‘s southern shoreline.