Portugal is a democratic republic ruled by the constitution of 1976 with Lisbon, the nation’s largest city, as its capital. It is a founding member of NATO (1949), OECD and EFTA; it left the former in 1986 to join the European Union. It’s also part of the world’s oldest active alliance through its treaty with the United Kingdom.

It’s a nation situated on the west of the Iberian Peninsula, being bounded on the north and east by Spain and on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. As for climate with an average mainland temperature of 55 °F in the north, and 64 °F in the south it is one of the warmest countries in Europe. Also notable is the fact that Portugal is rich in metal deposits, including antimony, copper, manganese, uranium, lead, tin and iron.

Portugal is very rarely visited by thunderstorms; but shocks of earthquake are frequently felt, and recall the great earthquake of Lisbon. It’s almost entirely dependent on imported energy, but is developing large wave and solar power projects and building wind farms to supply energy to some 750,000 homes. Portugal is poised to open what will be the world’s first commercial wave farm, and while the coastline’s formidable surf will be a source of electricity, the engineers need a decent “weather window” to be able to get their machinery out to sea.

Lisbon regained its status as the capital of Portugal when Brazil declared its independence from Portugal in 1822. It is a city known as the headquarters of the ship-building trade. It is a widely held belief that Lisbon is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, with a lively and international feel and more than eight centuries of history. The city was founded by the Phoenicians, and became a Roman town, and later was an important trade center under the Moors. It is the birthplace of one of Portugal’s most common styles of song: the Fado. Lisbon’s geographical position makes it a stopover point for many foreign airlines at airports all over the country.

Tags: destination lisbon, Destination Portugal, lisbon travel, portugal travel, portugal travelling

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