northern

One of Portugal’s lesser-known but much-savoured wines is vinho verde, so called because the grapes are picked young and the wine is mostly drunk just a year or two after bottling.

Portuguese painting first came to prominence in the 15th century. In 1428, when Jan van Eyck visited Portugal for the marriage of King João I’s daughter Isabella to Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, it marked the beginning of a long and close … Read more

Dazzling in the theatricality of both its location and conception, Bom Jesus is a place of pilgrimage like no other – a Jacob’s ladder of religious symbols topped by an imposing church.

The year 1942 was a very turbulent one but it did spawn one of the world’s most iconic and popular table wines.

Visible from most parts of Lisbon and beyond, the imposing statue of Christ the King (Cristo Rei) stands a striking 82 metres (270 feet) high on its angular pedestal overlooking the south bank of the River Tagus.

The green and pleasant north of Portugal is a place of traditional merry-making where annual festivals are ablaze with colourful costumes, lively processions and frenetic folk-dancing followed by a feast of fireworks.