ALGARVE - Terra de Amor e Paz (PORTUGAL's province of love & peace)

O Algarve é a provincia mais austral de Portugal, e também ocupa o ponto mais ocidental da Europa em Sagres. Ponto turístico badaladíssimo há décadas, fala-se inglês, espanhol, e alemão principalmente nos pontos turísticos. O resto da descrição a seguir é em inglês, pois viso neste site informar os turistas em potencial estrangeiros.

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As mentioned before, the Algarve is the southernmost point of Portugal and the most western point of mainland Europe at Sagres. The language spoken is Portuguese, but most businesses speak good English and German.

The Portuguese people are extremely friendly and welcome tourists especially in the Algarve as tourism is their main source of income. If you are fortunate enough to be asked to a traditional meal at a locals house we can fully recommend it as their hospitality and cooking is second to none. They eat a lot of fish, rice, pasta and salads as well as beef, pork and chouriço (smoked sausage). Vinho tinto (red wine) is drunk in copious amounts as is cerveja (beer) and both are very cheap to buy.

Portugal is rich in history, having formed for 400 years one of the world's most extensive empires. Its culture is as varied in a European sense: Northern Continental Culture & Climate, European capital atmosphere in the Lisbon area, the Southern Mediterranean-like Algarve coast, and its islands' unique features - in Madeira & the Açores cultures; inland rural areas of many types, the Lisbon area - not only a great metropolitan area, but close to some of Europe's most elegant casino beach resorts like Cascais and Estoril offer great differences in cuisine, physical types, cuisine, and lifestyle & CLIMATE.

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Since the Portuguese Empire ended in 1974, many colonials and natives of former colonies have moved to Portugal, bringing an array of cultures and peoples from Macau (now in China) & Timor (formerly in Indonesia) passing through GOA (part of India since the mid 60s), to a half dozen African nations including the large and oil or mineral rich Mozambique and Angola from where the majority of Brazil's slaves were exported, then Brazil itself - Portugal's most sucessful and largest former colony, with Rio de Janeiro having been the CAPITAL of the Portuguese Empire in the early 19th century.

The majority of the people belong to the Catholic church, but very much à la Européenne, not anywhere near as devout as the country was 30, even 20 years ago. Portuguese navigators arguably defined the world map by being the first to navegate outside Eurasia, traveling to India via the Cape in South Africa, the first to circumvent South America via the Strait of Magellan (Magalhães in Portuguese), "discover" and establish in Brazil a series of "Capitanias" along the 3,000 mile long Brazilian coast which eventually became the capitals of most of the modern Brazilian States, forming the Brazilian Federation, and arguably being the most successful colonizers of Africa in cultural terms, establishing the Portuguese language, European-like capitals like Luanda and Maputo, and the Catholic religion in a way no other European colonizer did.

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The leading pioneering explorers such as Magellan who circumnavigated the entire world, and the great discovere and seaman Henry the Navigator, were Portuguese. You can still see a lot of Portuguese influence in the world today in Goa (and other ex-Portuguese enclaves in India), Brazil, East Timor, Macau, and the other mentioned former colonies. The Portuguese even gave the Japanese their word for thank you: "Arigato"- from "Obrigado or Thank you" in Portuguese.

In fact, Portuguese is the 3rd most spoken language in the Western World, losing out only to English and Spanish (and not by much). Brazilian and Portuguese Cable TV Channels are among the most popular in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in different parts of the Americas. They set trends, fashion and culture for the Portuguese Speaking World (which has its own version of the British Commonwealth or Francophonie), which constitutes a body to preserve a common world culture and language, akin to the French Francophonie movement or the North American Cultural influence.

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Back to the Algarve in today's Portugal, Lagos is very popular with tourists. This is a large town on the southern coast of the Algarve with so much to see. It has many shops, restaurants, bars, banks in fact everything you would expect back home except on top of this you have beautiful sunshine, beaches, Marina, Markets etc. But from there, in the direction of Spain, the resort faces stiff competition from the likes of Portimão, Vilamoura and Algarve's capital, FARO.

Apartamento do José em Carvoeiro

MY RESERVATION/MINHAS RESERVAS

Itinerário GONZALO MELENDEZ Código de reserva: GFFALY
Quinta (THURSDAY) 7 June 2007 Vôo: TAP AIR PORTUGAL 0182
De: RIO JANEIRO GIG, BRAZIL Parte: 5:25pm (17h25) Qui, 7 Jun
Para:LISBON, PORTUGAL (LIS) Chega: 6:40amSex, 8 Jun

Duração: 9 horas e 15 minutos AIRBUS A340-300 WIDEBODY JET
TAP AIR PORTUGAL, TP 1905 De: LISBON, PORTUGAL 9:50am
Para:FARO, PORTUGAL Chega:10:35am AIRBUS A320 JET

VOLTA/RETURN
Qua, 11 Jul Wed'sday 07/11/2007 Vôo: TAP AIR PORTUGAL 1900
De: FARO, PORTUGAL Parte: 6:15am Para: LISBON, PORTUGAL

(LIS) Chega: 7:00am AIRBUS A319 JET
Vôo: TAP AIR PORTUGAL 0177 De: LISBON, PORTUGAL
Parte: 9:50am Para: RIO JANEIRO GIG, BRAZIL (GIG)
Chega: 3:55pm Duração:10 horas e 5 minuto(s)
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A343 JET Milhagem:4796