Portugal - JpmGuides

Portugal
Martin Gostelow
the simple life
CONTENTS
3 This Way Portugal
39
51
92
9 Flashback
Features
Gowns and Ribbons
Port
Arts and architecture
17 On the Scene
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
95 Dining Out
99 Shopping
103 Sports
106 The Hard Facts
119 Index
Around Lisbon
Lisbon Metro
Porto
Leiria
Coimbra
Faro
Algarve
Fold-out map
Lisbon
Portugal
painted h istory
Maps
Lisbon
Excursions from Lisbon
Costa de Prata
Porto (Oporto)
The Douro
Costa Verde
The Northeast
The Alentejo
The Algarve
shaped by the ocean
great explorers
17
27
33
45
49
61
69
73
79
3
THIS WAY PORTUG AL
From the green valleys of the northwest to the golden beaches of
the Algarve, Portugal is a land of fascinating monuments and rich
traditions.
The interior is dotted with picturesque mountain villages and the
coast with crusty port towns.
Urban renewal may have modernized the capital, Lisbon, yet it
is still as quaint as its jolting
trams and cobbled streets.
See the Difference
A look at the map shows Portugal
as a rough rectangle in the southwest of the Iberian peninsula, taking up only about one-sixth of it,
while Spain has the lion’s share.
About 560 km (350 miles) from
north to south and 220 km (140
miles) from east to west, Portugal
has a population of just over
10 million.
Portugal packs an astounding
variety of scenery into its compact space. The breezy west coast
has many fine beaches; resort
development there is intended to
take the pressure off the Algarve,
in the south. The fertile northwest
is a land of family farms enclosed
by stone walls, pretty valleys and
wooded hillsides, while the
northeastern frontier is bleaker
and wilder, its wide open spaces
punctuated by outcrops of granite. Northeast of Lisbon, cattle
and horses graze the flat plain of
the Ribatejo, the home of Portuguese bullfighting.
South of the Tagus, the gently
rolling Alentejo has been a land
of great estates and vineyards
since the time of the Romans.
Wheatfields stretch from horizon
to horizon, relieved by a few coppices of cork oak trees with their
oddly blackened trunks. A handful of historic cities stand out in
the far distance like white ships.
Then the mountains, no longer a
barrier, that shelter the Algarve
with its marvellous coastline and
sunny climate.
Land of Explorers
Cut off in the past from the rest of
Europe by their sometimes hostile neighbour, the Portuguese
turned to their only other frontier,
the sea. Their explorers sailed the
oceans and returned with riches
and tales of the world’s wonders.
Today, visitors make their own
istockphoto.com/Pedrosa
Bird’s-eye view over the vineyards and
quintas of the Douro Valley.
49
The Douro
The Douro river rises in the mountains
of northeastern Spain and flows in a
westerly direction for 580 km (360
miles). For the next 110 km (70 miles)
it forms the international border and
then, in its only navigable stretch, cuts
across Portugal for 210 km (130 miles)
to reach the Atlantic at Porto. Most
cruises start here and head upriver.
You can spend a week cruising in
comfort and style, watching the
spectacular scenery unfold. Deep
gorges alternate with tranquil valleys and rocky hillsides laboriously sculpted into ancient terraces planted with vines. In tiny
villages, women gather to wash
clothes in the river. There are
places where the road or railway
comes close to the banks, and
others so remote that not a sign of
human habitation can be seen.
Here and there the boat stops
and lets you ashore for excursions
to Romanesque churches, border
fortresses, baroque mansions and
other historic sites. For most of
the way, you are in the officially
demarcated Port wine-growing
region of the Upper Douro, which
was listed by UNESCO as a World
Heritage Site in 2001. Visits are
made to quintas, the estates
where the wine is made before
it’s sent to Vila Nova de Gaia.
Mooring at different ports of call
each night, the voyage continues
to Barca de Alva. Just upriver is
the Spanish river station of Vega
de Terron, where shore excursions set off to the historic city of
Salamanca. This is as far as boats
can go. Ahead is a long gorge
with a succession of rapids where
the river falls by 380 m (1,250 ft)
in only 50 km (30 miles).
More than 3000 years ago,
Phoenicians from the eastern Mediterranean set up trading posts
near the mouths of rivers on the
Iberian peninsula, which were
later expanded by the Carthaginians. Later, the Romans built roads
and bridges, introduced the cultivation of olives and grapes—still
important today—as well as the
Latin language.
For centuries, floods used to
inundate the towns and villages
on its banks, but since the 1930s,
a series of dams has been built to
tame the Douro and provide
hydro-electric power. Although
there was little traffic, the planners fortunately had the foresight
to provide locks so that boats
could pass. It is the dimensions of
these locks, quite short and narrow, as well as some low bridges,
that dictate the size of the vessels
that can use the river today.
Lower Douro
Upstream from Dom Luis I bridge
in Porto is the even older Maria
Pia railway bridge, designed by
Gustave Eiffel (1877). With a
80 ON THE SCENE
Cabo de São Vicente
Here at the southwestern tip of
Europe, the stunted bushes have
been bent by Atlantic gales, and
the low-slung houses are dug in
for self-defence. Yet on a cloudless day when the ocean is as
calm as a pond, the “end of the
world” seems more like the beginning. The families of the lighthouse guardians huddle together
in a compound, once a monastery, at the base of a red-topped
beacon. You can look straight
down the cliffs to the ocean and
roam around the lighthouse complex, where the keepers’ wives
take the sun, crocheting baby
shoes and bedspreads.
Aljezur
Founded by the Moors, Aljezur
was the last town in the Algarve
to fall to the Christian Reconquest, in 1249. The ruins of the
castle—all that was left after the
1755 earthquake—stand on a
hilltop, the highest of three in this
curiously arranged town on the
Algarve’s west coast. There are
two churches; the newer one up
the hill was built by a bishop who
tried to move the town to a higher
altitude to get away from the
mosquitoes, but most of the
townsfolk failed to follow.
Aljezur is the gateway to some
of the wide-open beaches of the
west coast, notably Praia de Monte Clérigo and Praia de Arrifana.
Patron Saint. Cabo de São
Vicente got its name from the
4th-century martyr-priest,
St Vincent. During the Islamic
occupation, his body was hidden
in the Algarve, but as the
centuries went by no-one could
remember where. After the
Christian Reconquest, the legend
goes, searchers failed to find the
saint’s remains—until a pair of
ravens led them to the spot.
Then, as the relics were being
shipped to Lisbon, the loyal
ravens flew along. St Vincent is
Lisbon’s patron saint; the seal of
the city shows the ravens and a
sailing ship.
Lagos
Phoenicians, Romans and Moors
developed Lagos, and parts of the
ancient city wall, much restored,
still stand guard. But a modern
statue of Henry the Navigator,
holding a sextant and gazing out
at the harbour, recalls the port’s
most memorable role in history.
Henry was Governor of the Algarve, and this was his capital.
His caravels, designed and built
in Lagos, sailed from here into
the unknown. Captives brought
back from Africa were put up for
auction in a small arcade, marked
“Mercado de Escravos” (slave
market), on the northeast side of
Henry the Navigator Square.
The interior of St Anthony’s
Church all but explodes with
18th-century rococo art. On the
gilt walls and altar, a convention
of angels hold up columns and
each other. This was the church of
the Lagos regiment of the Portuguese army, and a gravestone in
the floor commemorates its Irish
commander, Col. Hugh Beatty.
istockphoto.com/Silva
Igreja de Santo António
Next to the church, the museum
has displays of archaeology, crafts
and ethnography including African sculptures caricaturing Portuguese colonial officials. The
religious art includes 16th-century vestments worn at a mass
said for King Sebastião just before his suicidal crusade to North
Africa. A startling modern statue
of Sebastião by João Cutileiro, in
Praça Gil Eanes, pictures him as a
weird astronaut with a mop of
hair covering a cartoon face.
hemis.fr/Gardel
Museu Regional
Lagos is not a resort in itself, but
nearby Praia da Luz, once a whaling station, exploits its big, curving bay for water sports. Burgau
and Salema to the west are fishing
Sunset over Gigante rock at Cabo São
Vicente. | Praia da Luz is one of the best
beaches near Lagos. | A building faced
in tiles in Lagos.
istockphoto.com/Leyden
Beaches
INDEX 119
Albufeira 85
Alcácer do Sal 27–28
Alcobaça 34–35, 77
Alijó 56
Aljezur 80
Alte 89
Alter do Chão 73
Alvor 82
Amarante 67
Armação de Pêra 83
Armona, Ilha da 90
Aveiro 42
Azulejos 100
Bacalhau 96
Barca de Alva 58
Barcelos 61–62
Batalha 35–36, 77
Beja 76–77
Belmonte 71
Berlenga Grande 33
Bitetos 50
Braga 64, 89
Bragança 69
Bravães 63
Cabo de São Vicente 80
Caldas do Gerês 64
– de Manteigas 70–71
– de Monchique 85
Camões 92
Carvoeiro 83
Cascais 28–29
Castelo Branco 71
– de Vide 73
Castro Marim 91
Cetóbriga 27
Chaves 69
Chimneys 84
Cinfães 50
Citánia de Briteiros 65
Cockerel 61
Coimbra 38–42
Baixa 41–42
Fonte das Lágrimas 42
Museu Machado de
Castro 41, 66
Santa Clara-a-Nova 42
Santa Clara-a-Velha 42
Sé Velha 41
University 38–41
Conímbriga 42
Convento dos Capuchos 30
Cork 76
Costa da Caparica 27
– do Estoril 28–30
Covilhã 70
Culatra, Ilha da 90
Douro 49–59
Elvas 63, 74
Ericeira 31
Estói 88
Estoril 28–29
Estremoz 73–74
Évora 15, 74–76
Fado 92
Faro 87–88
Fátima 36–37
Festivals 89
Figueira da Foz 42
Fóia 85
Guarda 70
Guimarães 65–67
Idanha-a-Velha 71
Inês de Castro 35
Lagos 80–82
Lamego 53–55
Leiria 36
Linhares 71
Lisbon 17–25
Alfama 17–20
Aqueduto
das Aguas Livres 22–23
Avenida da Liberdade 22
Bairro Alto 21–23
Baixa 20–21
Belém 23–25
Berardo Museum 23–24
Campo de Santa Clara 19
Castelo de São Jorge 18
Centro de Arte Moderna
22
Chiado 21
Elevador de
Santa Justa 21
Estufa Fria 22
Feira da Ladra 19
Gulbenkian
Museum 22, 66
Igreja do Carmo 21
Largo das Portas do Sol
18
Mosteiro dos
Jerónimos 24
Miradouro de Santa
Luzia 18
Museu de Marinha 24–25
Museu Nacional de
Arqueologia 24
– de Arte Antiga 25
– do Azulejo 19–20
– dos Coches 25
Museo do Oriente 25
Oceanarium 7
Old City 17–20
Padrão dos
Descobrimentos 23
Panteão de
Santa Engrácia 19
Parque Eduardo VII 22
– das Nações 7
Pastelaria Pastéis de
Belém 25
Ponte 25 de Abril 25
Rossio 20–21
São Roque 22
São Vicente de Fora 19
Sé 18–19
Torre de Belém 23
Loulé 89
Mafra 30–31
120 INDEX
Manueline architecture 93
Marvão 73
Meia Praia 82
Mértola 77
Milreu 89
Mirandela 56–57
Monção 62–63
Monchique 85
Monsanto 71
Monsaraz 76
Monte Gordo 91
Murça 56
Nazaré 34
Óbidos 33
Olhão 90
Olhos de Agua 85–86
Outeiro Machado 69
Palmela 27
Panóias 53
Pena, Palácio da 30
Peneda-Gerés
National Park 63–64
Peniche 33
Peso da Régua 52
Pinhão 55
Pocinho 58
Ponta da Piedade 82
– de Sagres 79
Ponte de Barca 63
– de Lima 63
Port wine 51
Portela do Homem 64
Portimão 82
Porto 45–47
Bolsa district 46
Casa Museu Guerra
Junqueiro 45
Casa da Música 46–47
Funicular dos
Guindais 45
Museu Soares
dos Reis 46
Old City 45
General editor
Barbara Ender-Jones
São Francisco 46
Torre dos Clérigos 46
Waterfront 46
Pousadas 5
Póvoa de Varzim 61
Praia da Rocha 82
Quarteira 86
Queluz 29
Quinta do Lago 86
– de Monserrate 30
– da Regaleira 30
Rates 61
Ria Formosa
nature reserve 90
Sabrosa 55–56
Sagres 79
Salamanca (Spain) 58–59
Santa Marinha da Costa 66
São João da Pesqueira 56
Serra da Estrela
Nature Reserve 70–71
Sesimbra 27
Setúbal 27
Silves 83–84
Sintra 29–30
Sítio 34
Solar de Mateus 53
Tavira 90–91
Tomar 37–38, 77
Torralta 27
Tróia Peninsula 27
Vale do Lobo 86
Valeira Dam 57
Valença do Minho 62, 63
Viana do Castelo 62, 89
Vila Nova de Gaia 47
Vila Real 52–53
– de Santo António 91
Vila Viçosa 74
Vilamoura 86
Viseu 69–70
Wine harvest 57
Wines 54
Editor
Mark Harding
Design
Karin Palazzolo
Layout
Luc Malherbe,
Matias Jolliet
Photo credits
P. 1: Agnès Bouteville
P. 2: istockphoto.com/Dubrovic
(fishing net); Jo Holz (Monument to
the Discoveries); fotolia.com/TMAX
(Algarve rocks);
istockphoto.com/Sevostjanova
(seagull); Patrick Franqueville
(azulejo)
Maps
Mathieu Germay
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