Sun, sand and sea have long made Portugal one of Europe s most popular destinations for summer holidays. But there s more to Portugal than meets the eye. The following are 10 surprising facts that you may not have realised about this corner of Europe.
The Vasco da Gama Bridge is the longest bridge in Europe, spanning 17.2km (10.7 miles). It was opened in 1998 to celebrate the 500 th birthday of the Portuguese explorer of the same name who discovered the route to India. Have fun road-testing it with Lisbon car hire next time you visit.
Pick up a few words of Portuguese and join over 236 million people world-wide who speak Portuguese as their native language. Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea, Bissau, luxury hotel south beach miami Mozambique, Principe, Sao Tome and Equatorial Guinea. It is also spoken in Goa (India), Macao and East Timor.
Portugal is the largest cork producer in the world. The country produces 70% of the world s cork exports. Main importers of Portuguese cork are: Germany, the UK, and the US. Imagine without Portugal s cork supplies all that lovely wine would go to waste!
Strange but true the Portuguese princess, Catarina de Bragança (25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705), queen consort of Charles II of England (1662-1685), is said to have introduced the habit of drinking tea to Britain.
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