PORTUGAL | Travel | Cultural information
The boarders of mainland Portugal have remained essentially the same since it became a sovereign kingdom in the 12th Century. Located on the extreme southwest of the European Continent, Portugal boarders Spain to the north and east and the Atlantic to the south and west.
Even though Portugal is a small country, its landscape is quite diverse from highlands to green valleys in the north and east to rolling plains in the Alentejo and long stretches of beach all along the coast from north to south.
History
Revolução dos cravos
On the 25th April, 1974, a successful military coup d’état takes place in Lisbon by the leaders of the movement known as the “Capitães de Abril” (Captains of April). The event is commonly known as the “Revolução dos Cravos” (Revolution of the Carnations), as it turned out to be a peaceful revolution without a single shot being fired and, the military as well as the common folk who went out onto the streets carried with them a flower, the carnation. On this day, we celebrate the end of the dictatorship that ruled in Portugal since 1926 and the reinstitution of freedom, thus beginning a new political era and the 3rd Portuguese Republic.
Culture
Calçada à portuguesa
“Calçada à portuguesa” is a type of paving stone used in pavemensts, pedestrian zones and public spaces, such as, gardens and squares. It emerged in Portugal in the 19th Century and consists of small and irregular stones, of different colours, normally black, white and pinkish, that are used to create decorative patterns. In Portugal, those who work with this decorative form are called “mestres calceteiros”, a specialised workmanship profession.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Population: approx. 10 945 870
Total surface: 92 391 km2
Capital: Lisbon
Language: Portuguese
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Currency: Euro
Time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For Azores it’s GMT -1 hour. In accordance with daylight savings, clocks are set forward one hour on the last Sunday in March and back one hour on the last Sunday in October.
Bank holidays
- 1 January (New Year’s Day)
- 25 April (Revolution Day)
- 1 May (Labour Day)
- 10 June (Portugal Day)
- 15 August (Assumption)
- 5 October (1st Republic)
- 1 November (All Saint’s Day)
- 1 December (Restoration of Independence)
- 8 December (Immaculate Conception)
- 25 December (Christmas)
Moveable holidays
- Strove Tuesday (Carnival)
- Good Friday
- Easter Sunday
- Corpus Christi