The major reasons why you must visit Portugal

I never thought that one day I would live in Portugal. But, since my grandparents live there, it wasn’t long before my first Portugal travel experience. Soon Portugal became a second home to me. It’s a part of my roots and who I am and, because of that, my love for the country has only intensified each day.

1. Portugal is not just Lisbon and the Algarve
Portugal is a small country but with distinct regions from the North to the South. There are also two archipelagos: Acores - on the way to the USA - and Madeira - close to Morocco, and these areas have their own distinct dialects. Portuguese people love the sea,so many have left the country side to live by the seaside, leaving behind well preserved treasures of Portugal, such as the Historic Villages of Portugal(Aldeias Historicas).

 2.Portuguese people do not speak Spanish
We understand Spanish, but we speak Portuñol, which is different. Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world. Also, do not be surprised when we say that we understand Brazilian people, because they also speak Portuguese, we have taught them that many years ago, they just changed the accent.

 3.Portugal has had the same borders since 1297
With some small changes, caused by disputes with Spain, we have maintained the same borders since 1297. Soon, our Exclusive Economic Zone (which is a sea zone prescribed by the United Nations over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and the use of marine resources) will be expanded, becoming one of the biggest of Europe and the world. We already have more sea territory than land territory.

 4. Portugal is not always shiny
Sometimes we also have storms, floods, tornados, even snow and ice. In the Azores, there are often four seasons in one day. It is possible to practice winter sports in Serra da Estrela, but we are better at water sports, when the sea is not trying to take over the land. Our beach football team even won the World Cup this year.
5 . Life (probably) started in Portugal
According to NASA the thermal waters and the geological environment in Cabeco de Vide, a small village in the south of Portugal, are quite unique, comparable only with a region in the USA and on Mars. This is what made NASA believe that it is possible that life started here.

6. 50% of the cork world production is from Portugal
In the past we used to produce cork to make bottle stoppers, but nowadays we use cork to create everything that you can possibly imagine. Sobreiro, the primary source of cork, is our national tree.

 7.Portuguese people are good at records
The longest bridge in Europe is Ponte Vasco da Gama in Lisbon. The Alqueva dam created the largest artificial lake in Europe. The biggest olive grove is in Portugal. The first demarcated region was in the Douro valley. Portugal and the United Kingdom (first England) have the longest standing alliance in the world. The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic was made by Portuguese aviators n 1922. We have the football team with most supporters, Benfica, and there are many other records held by Portuguese people.
8. Portuguese people love books
In 1572, the epic poem “ OS Lusiadas” was printed, written by Luís Vaz de Camões. It is one of the most beautiful poems ever written. We have one of the most impressive libraries in the world, the Joanina Library, which is part of the first Portuguese University, in Coimbra. The Bertrand bookshop in Lisbon was open in 1732 and is still open to this day, making it the oldest bookshop in the world.Porto has the most beautiful bookshop in the world, the Lello. We also have a Volkswagen Bookshop, that can take you anywhere.

 9. Portugal is one of the most exotic countries in Europe
Portugal has always been more connected to the sea than to Europe. The fact that we had a global empire changed the way we look at the world. Our sailors brought new ideas and new cultures to Lisbon. Our King Manuel the First had its own architectural style linked to the sea. The closer capital city to Lisbon is Rabat, not Madrid as you might think.
10. Portugal is green
 Portugal is full of natural parks with unique species - if you visit the Azores, you will see only green and blue. The Iberian Lynx that was extinct in Portugal is now back, thanks to Iberian cooperation. Almost 50% of our electricity comes from renewable sources. We are using the wind from the high mountains in the North to build wind turbines, and in the sunny south, we are using solar panels. We also use the waves to produce energy.

Written by Fabio Paulos
Twitter.com/Fabio Lopaulos

Fábio is from Trancoso, a small town in the North of Portugal, but graduated in International Relations at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas of the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal). During his studies, Fabio participated in the Erasmus Programme at Fatih Üniversitesi in Istanbul (Turkey).
In 2014 he participated in the European Voluntary Service in Skopje (Macedonia) during three months.
He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and French. Also, he understands the basic of Italian,Turkish and Macedonian. He likes photography and travelling around the world.