Few things about Portugal

Portugal Travel Guide Travel to Portugal

If you are into visiting beautiful monuments and enjoy remarkable views, then Lisbon, Sintra, and Porto are the top three places, and all of them are well worth a visit.But don’t overlook Viana do Castelo,Braga, Guimarães,Coimbra,Tomar,Aveiro,Amarante,Braga,Bragança, Chaves,Lamego,Viseu,Vila Real,Lagos,Silves,Évora,Angra as they also have wonderful monuments and places of interest.

The most popular beaches are in the Algarve, which has stunning coastlines and gobs of natural beauty. The water along the southern coast tends to be warmer and calmer than the water along the west coast. For surfing, or just playing in the surf there are great beaches all along the west coast,near Lisbon.

For nightlife Lisbon, Porto and Alfufeira,Algarve are the best choices as you have major places of entertainment.

If you want to spend your holidays in the countryside, you might want to visit Viana do Castelo,Chaves,Miranda do Douro,Douro Valley,Lamego,Tomar,Leiria,Castelo Branco,Guarda,Portalegre,Elvas or even Viseu.

And even if you wish to observe wild life in its natural state, Madeira and Azores Islands are places to remember, not forgetting of course the Natural Reserve of Peneda-Gerês,Douro Valley and Serra da Estrela.

Surrounded by sea in almost its entirety, the Portuguese beaches are well worth visiting. A lot of activities are offered, from surfing, to kite-surfing, and during the summer months the most frequented beaches offer sand based activities such as aerobics. If you’re not the type of breaking into a sweat during holidays, almost every single public beach will have a bar where locals sit. Some of the most popular beaches are (from north to south):
Espinho, near Oporto, in Costa Verde/Green Coast, northern region.
Figueira da Foz, near Coimbra, in Silver Coast/Costa de Prata, central region.
Praia das Maçãs[Sintra], Estoril[Cascais], near Lisbon, in the Costa de Lisboa.
Zambujeira do Mar, in the Alentejo region/Costa Alentejana e Vicentina.
Salema, Praia da Rocha, in the Algarve.

The climate, combined with investments in the golfing infrastructure in recent years, has turned the country into a golfing haven. Portugal was recently named “Best Golf Destination 2006″ by readers of Golfers Today, a British publication. Fourteen of Portugal’s courses are rated in the top 100 best in Europe. Portugal is also a great location to learn the game and perfect technique. Many resorts offer classes with the pros. Courses can satisfy the most demanding golfer, while newcomers won’t be intimidated, unless they find the beautiful landscapes and stunning vistas distracting to their game.

The countryside also offers a great deal of possibilities, although you will have to incite the travel agent’s advice a little more than usual, as they tend to just sell beach holidays. Cycling through the mountainous terrain of Geres or white-water rafting in the affluents of river Douro is an exhilirating experience.

Portuguese cuisine evolved from hearty peasant food drawn from the seafood of the country’s abundant coast and the pork raised on the limited grazing land of its interior. From these humble origins, Mediterranean ingredients and spices brought back to the country during its exploration and colonisation of the East Indies and the Far East helped shape what is regarded as ‘typical’ Portuguese cuisine.

Soup is the essential first course of any Portuguese meal. The most popular is the Minho specialty, caldo verde, made from kale, potatoes and spiced sausage.

You will see another Portuguese staple bacalhau (dried codfish) everywhere. Locals will tell you that there are as many ways to cook this revered dish as there are days in the year, or even more.

The most common of Portugal’s delicious fish (peixe) dishes revolve around sole (linguado) and sardines (sardinha) although salmon (salmão) and trout (truta) are also featured heavily. These are fried, grilled or served in a variety of sauces.

You’ll see grills, thick with the smoke of charring meat, in front of many restaurants during your stay. Other than traditional sardines and salmon, Portuguese grilled chicken — marinated in chilli, garlic and olive oil — is world famous.

Vegetarians may have a tough time of it in Portugal, at least in traditional Portuguese restaurants. In most restaurants, vegetables (usually boiled or fried potatoes) are simply a garnish to the main meat dish. Even ‘vegetarian’ salads and dishes may just substitute tuna (which locals don’t seem to regard as a ‘meat’) for ham or sausage. However, the Portuguese really like their choose-5-items salad bars, and restaurants serving Indian, Chinese, Mexican, or Italian fare can be found in most cities.

In many Portuguese restaurants, if you order a salad it will come sprinkled with salt - if you are watching your salt intake, or just don’t like this idea, you can ask for it “sem sal” (without salt).

A few restaurants, particularly in non-tourist areas, do not have a menu, you have to go in and ask, and they will list a few items for you to choose from. It is wise to get the price written down when you do this so as to avoid any nasty surprises when the bill comes. However, in this type of restaurants, the price for each one of the options is very similar, varying around from 5 to 10 euro per person.

Most restaurants bring you a selection of snacks at the start of your meal - bread, butter, cheese, olives and other small bites - invariably there is a cover charge on these items, around 5 euro. Do not be afraid to ask how much the cover charge is, and get them to take the items away if it is too much or if you are not planning to eat as much. It can be quite reasonable, but occasionally you will get ripped off.

If you have kitchen facilities, Portuguese grocery stores are surprisingly well-stocked with items such as lentils, veggie burgers, couscous, and inexpensive fruits, vegetables, and cheeses.If you like hard cheese,try “queijo da serra”,if you prefer soft cheese,try requeijao. On larger shops mostly found in the principal cities, you can also find many unusual items such as exotic fruits or drinks.

In some grocery stores the scales are in the produce section, not at the checkout. If you don’t weigh your produce and go to the checkout, you will probably be told Tem que os pesar or Tem que pesar,”tem que ser pesado” (”You have to weigh them”/it(they) must be weighed). Snacks Portugal is famous for its wide variety of amazing pastries, or pasteis(singular: pastel). The national pastry, pasteis de nata (called just natas further north), is a flaky pastry with custard filling topped with sugar (açucar) and cinnamon (canela) but, strangely, with a very low caloric content. Buy one (or half a dozen) at the Pasteis de Belem a few minutes by tram from central Lisbon, where supposedly the best pasteis in the country can be found. Also excellent are the bolo de arroz (literally, “rice cake”) and the orange-carrot cake. But don’t stop here. Head for Sintra, a short trip away from Lisbon, and try the famous queijadas de sintra. From the more egg-oriented North to almond-ruled South, Portuguese pastry is excellent and often surprising.

On October/November, roasted chestnuts (castanhas) are sold on the streets of cities from vendors sporting fingerless gloves tending their motorcycle driven stoves: a treat!

The youth hostel network has a great number of hostels around the country, all with very good conditions although not very cheap. There’s a wide and abundant hotel offering all through Portugal. If budget is a concern, and you want a true ‘typical-portuguese’ experience, gather your courage and try one Residencial, the home-like hostels ubiquitous in cities and most towns. In most places you can get a double room for 25-35euro (Oct 2006). Be sure, however, of the quality of the rooms. On the luxury side, you might try the ‘Pousadas de Portugal’, a network of hotels remarkable for using very beautiful ancient buildings. The “Casas de Campo”, when traveling through the countryside, are also an affordable, pictoresque and comfortable B&Bs.