INTRODUCTION TO PORTUGAL

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Once a major world power, the Portugal of today is a land of sea, sun, and “saudade”, a unique word meaning a sort of bitter-sweet nostalgia mixed with resignation -- a memory of, a longing for, and a pride in the lost glories of the past, with a touch of hope for the future. Even now, through its world-wide former empire, Portuguese is still one of the most widely spoken European languages. It is NOT a dialect of Spanish; it is a separate Romance language difficult to understand when spoken, but if you can read French or Spanish you’ll surely be able to understand the written language.

I've seen many changes since the first of my five visits in 1986, the year Portugal joined the European Union. The infrastructure and standard of living have improved enormously since then, yet on the human side the Portuguese have always remained reserved but gracious, polite, willing to attempt English or French, clean, pious, proud, and scrupulously honest.

The map shows some of the places we have visited in this country which is similar to Ireland in area Its northern half is somewhat rugged, but south and east of Lisbon it is mostly rolling farmland with low hills as far as the Algarve. Climate varies according to location: there are great variations in rainfall from place to place and month to month, but you’ll only find neve (snow) in the dictionary. The Algarve, where daytime temperatures rarely fall below 14C (57F) in the Winter or exceed 24C (77F) in the Summer, boasts about 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. It has miles of unspoiled nature, gorgeous beaches, almond and orange groves, excellent golf courses, great weather, an impressive variety of accommodations, and low prices. Sunsets are spectacular!

Portugal is a historical and cultural kaleidoscope, with great museums, magnificent churches both large and small, pristine mountain villages, rolling plains, fine seafood, a major Catholic shrine, universities dating back to the 1200s, and hundreds of miles of gold sandy beaches, most but not all in the south. There are marvelous castles and palaces, but also forlorn ruins, some of which are gradually being restored as funds become available. In the north there are also the vestiges of battles and important campaigns against invading Spaniards and Napoleon’s army. What is probably most significant to travelers today is that nobody seems to have a grudge against Portugal, so it’s a very safe place to visit, much like North America was in the 1950s.

Perhaps the additional articles to follow will arouse your interest in making it an interesting and inexpensive winter destination.

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Comments

[Rainyb]

As you know Fred, I loved Portugal, at least the part I saw. The monasteries blew me away!