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Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana
Created in 1995, this zone of hills, plains and deep valleys around Serpa and Mértola shelters the Rio Guadiana, one of Portugal’s largest and most important rivers. Among its rich variety of flora and fauna are several rare or endangered species, including the black stork (sightin
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Ponte de Dom Luís I
Completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the bridge’s top deck is now reserved for pedestrians, as well as one of the city’s metro lines; the lower deck bears regular traffic, with narrow pedestrian walkways lining the road. The views of the river and Old Town are simply s
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Palácio Nacional da Pena
Rising up from a thickly wooded peak and often enshrouded in swirling mist, Palácio Nacional da Pena is a wacky confection of onion domes, Moorish keyhole gates, writhing stone snakes and crenellated towers in pinks and lemons. Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, the artist-husband of
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Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
Famous for its outstanding quality and breadth, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian showcases an epic collection of Western and Eastern art – from Egyptian treasures to Old Master and Impressionist paintings. The chronological romp kicks off with highlights such as gilded Egyptian mummy mask
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Palácio & Parque de Monserrate
At the centre of a lush, 30-hectare park, a manicured lawn sweeps up to the whimsical, Moorish-inspired palácio , the 19th-century romantic folly of English millionaire Sir Francis Cook. The wild and rambling gardens surrounding the building were created in the 18th century by wea
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Oceanário
The closest you’ll get to scuba-diving without a wetsuit, Lisbon’s Oceanário is mind-blowing. No amount of hyperbole, where 8000 species splash in 7 million litres of seawater, does it justice. Huge wraparound tanks make you feel as if you are underwater, as you eyeball zebra shark
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Igreja de São João
The small, fabulous Igreja de São João, which faces the Templo Romano, was founded in 1485 by one Rodrigo Afonso de Melo, count of Olivença and the first governor of Portuguese Tangier, to serve as his familys pantheon. It is still privately owned, by the Duques de Cadaval, and not
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Museu do Oriente
The beautifully designed Museu do Oriente highlights Portugal’s ties with Asia, from colonial baby steps in Macau to ancestor worship. The cavernous museum occupies a revamped 1940s bacalhau (dried salt-cod) warehouse – a €30 million conversion. Strikingly displayed in pitch-black
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Monumento Natural das Pegadas dos Dinossáurios
On the N357 10km south of Fátima in the village of Bairro, this quarry has more than a thousand individual prints, and is one of the most important locations for sauropod prints in the world. The visit starts with a 20-minute video in Portuguese, then you take a 1.5km walk around t
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Old Monção
The best part of Monção’s old town is the utter lack of tourism. It’s almost exclusively a local scene in chestnut-shaded Praça Deu-la-Deu , where a hand-on-breast statue of its namesake tops a fountain and looks hungrily down over the surrounding cafes. The Senhora da Vista basti
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Museu de Lanifícios
Covilhã used to be the centre of one of Europe’s biggest wool-producing regions but stray outside the centre and you’ll see the town’s ghostly mills standing empty and forlorn. Sited in the former royal textile factory, this museum traces the proud but vanishing history of wool pro
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Museu de Arte Contemporânea
This arrestingly minimalist, whitewashed space was designed by the eminent Porto-based architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. Cutting-edge exhibitions are showcased in the Casa de Serralves , a delightful pink art deco mansion, and there’s a fine permanent collection featuring works from th
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Casa da Luz – Museu de Electricidade
Decommissioned in 1989, Funchals old power station, still the headquarters of EEM (Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira – Madeira Electric Company), has been turned into a museum dedicated to the history of electricity generation on the island and to electricity itself. Downstairs a
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Praça do Comércio
With its grand 18th-century arcades, lemon-meringue facades and mosaic cobbles, the riverfront Praça do Comércio is a square to out-pomp them all. Everyone arriving by boat used to disembark here, and it still feels like the gateway to Lisbon, thronging with activity and rattling t
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Cidade de Ammaia
This excellent little Roman museum lies between Castelo de Vide and Marvão in São Salvador de Aramenha. From São Salvador head 700m south along the Portalegre road, then turn left, following the signs to Ammaia. In the 1st century AD this area was a huge Roman city called Ammaia, f
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Museu de Arqueologia and Museu de Caça
The fascinating Dom Dinis’ walled hilltop castle was where the Bragança family lived before the palace was built. It has been transformed into the Museu de Arqueologia and Museu de Caça . A visit to these museums is a must – if only for an excuse to wander through the castle itself
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Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Founded by Countess Mumadona in the 12th century and rebuilt four centuries later, the beautiful Largo da Oliveira is dominated by the convent church of Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira.The proud monument outside the church is a Gothic canopy and cross, said to mark the spot whe
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Batalha de Aljubarrota Centro de Interpretação
For Portuguese people Aljubarrota conjures up a fierce sense of national pride, a 1385 battle where they defeated an odds-on favourite Castilian force and established the foundations for the Portuguese golden age. We thought the entry fee to the modern interpretation centre here, 2
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Fundação José Saramago – Casa dos Bicos
The pincushion facade of Casa dos Bicos, the eccentric 16th-century abode of Afonso de Albuquerque, former viceroy to India, grabs your attention with 1125 pyramid-shaped stones. Long closed to the public, the Casa reopened in 2012 to house a small museum dedicated to José Saramago
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Fortifications
The wall encircling the town spans three periods – the first walls were constructed in the 8th century with the arrival of the Moors, and the second Muslim wall spans the 10th and 11th centuries (and onwards). The last (the majority of what you see), was constructed in the 17th ce
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