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. Read the rest of this entry »