ABOUT PORTUGAL
Welcome to the country that started globalization.
Portuguese seafarers such as Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon and led Europe out of the Mediterranean to Africa and the Orient in the 15th and 16th centuries. Celebrations of their feats, including the Monument to the Discoveries and Jerónimos Monastery, can be visited in the city’s riverside Belém district.
The Atlantic ocean and the River Tagus retain a strong presence in Lisbon life. There are plenty of city walks along the water’s edge, with views of the April 25 Bridge which takes its name from the date of the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The bridge bears a striking resemblance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate, having been built by the same American company. Commuter traffic streams into the city across the bridge every weekday but on weekends in the long summer months the traffic heads the other way – to the 20 kilometers of beaches at Caparica. On the city’s eastern edge the Parque das Nações also celebrates Portugal’s ocean heritage and features one of the world’s largest oceanariums.
The historic quarters of Lisbon such as the arabic Alfama, the old bohemian Chiado, and the downtown gridiron baixa district, rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake which was one of Europe’s cultural milestones, have kept their antique appeal. Lisbon’s mild weather allows long walks through the city, though it is notoriously hilly.
Lisbon smoothly blends the old and the new: Its narrow, cobbled streets may bring you up against glass-sheathed office buildings. And the foreign elements – still granted a privileged berth as they were when Lisbon was a world crossroads in the Middle Ages – offer ethnic delights, including African music from the five former colonies on that continent. There’s still plenty of fado music, the traditional Portuguese genre usually compared to the Blues. Entertainment isn’t lacking in a city that keeps going till late at modern clubs and bars, especially in the Bairro Alto quarter. For those wanting more traditional pursuits there’s bullfighting (the Portuguese, unlike Spaniards, don’t kill the bull) and football (Benfica’s Stadium of Light and Sporting Lisbon’s Alvalade Stadium were both built for the Euro 2004 championship), and even rugby. And in the city’s shops you can find just about anything you would come across in any other western European capital.
Just outside the city, Cascais and Estoril are long-time attractions for their beaches, ocean views and, in the case of Estoril, western Europe’s biggest casino. Just inland there’s the hilltop town of Sintra, described by Lord Byron as a “glorious Eden.”
Much of Portugal is within easy reach of Lisbon. A car journey from the north to south of Portugal takes only around six hours, and from west to east under two hours. That makes the country an appealing size for weekend breaks. There are the Algarve beaches, the Alentejo plains, the Serra da Estrela mountains (even for skiing in winter), the Douro Valley and the city of Porto where port wine comes from, and the Gerês national park on the northern border with Spain.
Portugal is loveable and infuriating. But we’ll take care of the infuriating bits for you.
