Central portugal
Portugal on the map
Porto, Portugal
Lisboa , Portugal
Portugal
Portugal, officially Portuguese Republic, is a country located in southwestern Europe, where it is located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula and islands in the North Atlantic. It has a total area of 92,391 km ², and is the nation's most western European continent. The Portuguese territory is bounded to the north and east by Spain and the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean and includes the mainland and the autonomous regions: the Azores and Wood.Today, Portugal is a developed country, economically prosperous, socially and politically stable and with high Human Development Index. Is among the 20 countries of the world with better quality of life, even though their GDP per capita is the lowest among Western European countries.
Policy
In Portugal, the principal law is the Constitution, dated 1976, which regulates all the others. Other relevant laws are the Civil Code (1966), the Criminal Code (1982), the Commercial Code (1888), the Code of Civil Procedure (1961), the Criminal Procedure Code and the Labor Code. All these laws have undergone revisions since its publication original.Existem four organs of sovereignty: the President (Head of State - be moderate, with some executive power), the Assembly of the Republic (Parliament - the legislative power), the Government ( executive) and the courts (judiciary). Place in the country a system semipresidencialista that during the various constitutional revisions has been drawing power to the President of the Republic.
Geography
Located in the extreme southwest of Europe, mainland Portugal borders only one other country, Spain. The territory is divided on the continent by the main river, the Tagus. To the north, the landscape is mountainous in the interior areas with plateaus, interspersed by areas that allow the development of agriculture. The south, to the Algarve, the relief is characterized by lowlands, with mountains sporadic. Other major rivers include the Douro, the Minho and the Guadiana, which arise as the Tagus in Spain. Another important river, the Mondego, was born in Serra da Estrela (the highest mountains in mainland Portugal - 1993 m maximum altitude).
Weather
In continental Portugal, the average annual temperatures are 13 ° C in the north and 18 ° C in the south. The islands of Madeira and Azores, due to its location in the Atlantic, are more humid and rainy, with a narrower temperature range. Typically, the months of spring and summer are sunny and temperatures are high during the dry months of July and August and may occasionally move from 40 ° C in most of the country in extreme days and more frequently in the Alentejo. The summers are mild in the highlands north of the country and the coastal region of the far north and central. The autumn and winter are typically windy, rainy and cool, and cooler in the northern and central districts of the country, in which negative temperatures occur during the colder months. However, most cities in the south of Portugal, the temperatures only very occasionally fall below 0 ° C, leaving it by 5 ° C in most cases.
Major Cities
Lisbon (about 500 000 people - 3 million people in the Region of Lisbon) is the capital since the XII century, the largest city in the country, the main economic hub, with the main sea port and airport and Portuguese is the richest city of portugal with a GDP per capita than the EU average. Other major cities are the port, (about 240 000 inhabitants - 1.5 million in the Greater Porto) the second largest city and sea port, Aveiro (considered the Venice Portuguese) Braga (City of Archbishops), Chaves (historical city and millennial), Coimbra (the oldest university in the country), Guimarães (City birthplace), Évora (City-Museum), Faro, Setúbal and Viseu. In the metropolitan area of Lisbon there are cities with high population density as Agualva-Cacém and Queluz (municipality of Sintra), Amadora, Almada, Amora, Seixal, Barreiro, Montijo and Odivelas. In the metropolitan area of Porto are the most populated counties Vila Nova de Gaia, Maia, Matosinhos and Gondomar. In the Autonomous Region of Madeira is the main city of Funchal. In the Azores there are three main cities - Ponta Delgada, the island of São Miguel, the island Angra do Heroísmo Third and Horta in Faial.
Music
The traditional Portuguese music is varied and rich. Part of the folklore dances of the turn of the Minho, the Pauliteiros de Miranda, Mirandesa the area of the Algarve Corridinho or Bailinho, Madeira. Typical instruments are the cavaquinho, the gaita-de-bellows, the accordion, the violin, the drums, the Portuguese guitar (instrument characteristic of fado) and a variety of wind instruments and percussion. Even in popular culture are the philharmonic bands representing each town and play different styles of music, from classical to popular, with bands of Portuguese that have quality art. The best known style of Portuguese music is Fado, whose most famous singer was Amalia Rodrigues. Other singers such as Alfredo carpenter, Vicente da Câmara, Nuno da Câmara Pereira, Frei Hermano da Câmara, António Pinto Basto and Hermínia Silva also distinguished as fadista. However, the Fado has also in recent years seen the emergence of young singers who reach success as Camané, Mariza, Ana Moura, Mafalda Arnauth and Misia, among others, as well as young guitarists as Bernardo Couto.
Dining
The cuisine is very rich in variety and the satisfaction of national and foreigners in general. Each area of the country has its traditional dishes, including the most diverse food, through the meat of cattle, sheep, pig and poultry, the various sausages, the various species of fresh fish and seafood (large variety of dishes of cod). Among the cheeses out of the Serra da Estrela and Azeitão, among many others. Portugal is a country strong wine, and the famous wines of the Douro, Dão and Alentejo, the green of the Minho wine, liqueur and the Port and Madeira. In desserts, and through a variety of traditional recipes, is very famous so-called pastel de Belém, keeping the secret of their well kept up and the soft eggs of Aveiro, the pastel Tentúgal of the sericaia or sponge cake of Ovar, along with many other.
Tourism
The Algarve in southern Portugal, is par excellence an international tourist hub, many national and European, particularly British. The weather and water temperature are the main factors contributing to the great growth of tourism in this region. Lisbon already attracts many tourists the history and the filling of monuments (such as the Aguas Livres Aqueduct, the Cathedral, Lower Pombalina, the Torre de Belém and Mosteiro dos Jerónimos). Its major attractions are the national museums of Ancient Art, Coach and Tiles, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro Cultural de Belém and the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. To highlight also the Lisbon Oceanarium, a fun night and the whole area surrounding the venue of the 1998 World Exposition. The Península de Setúbal has several natural features and cultural emphasis on the Serra da Arrábida, the beaches and Almada Sesimbra, the bay's natural Seixal, the salt of Alcochete, the tide mills, the typical boats of the Tagus and Sado, the old fishing villages and all the fauna and flora riverside.
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