Portugal.Europe´s West Coast

Portugal , westernmost country of Continental Europe is also one of the smallest European country . with size as big as coastal Andhra and population of 10 million which apparently is less than the population of Kolkata . it can be righteously said that it is a small country. Also the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores are also part of Portugal. Though a small country it boasts of high standard of living and quality of life with economist ranking of 19th in world as the "country with best quality of life" ascertains the fact.
Presenting few facts about Portugal because country is so small that it is not even noticeable on map .. so here are few things about this amazing country.

Facts about Portugal

• Capital and the largest city is Lisbon with metropolitan population of 3.3 million .
• Lisbon in Portugal is called as Lisboa and the people as Lisboaetas
  
• Whole of portugal can be covered at a stretch from northern city of Viana de Castelo to southern city of Faro in few hours.
• It follows GMT time. only country in Mainland Europe to do so.
  
• All the webportals are maintained as .pt .. yet to see a portuguese website which has .com
• Calling code is +351
  
• the language spoken is Portuguese. Many mistakenly think it is like spanish .. Although they are similar to some extent . portuguese is completely different from the way it is spoken. But it is possible that a spaniard be understandable with spanish if he speaks very slowly.
• Portuguese spoken in Portugal is different from
  
• Does not have mediterranean climate although the southern province of algarve does posses similar characterstics .
  
• Have got of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world .
  
• Warmest European Country . temperatures in lisbon feels like you are back in India.
  
• North Part of Country is fertile with one of the greatest appellations region in the world present at Douro valley. Centre is filled with plateaus and mountains with Portugal´s only ski resort present in Serra da Estrela Mountains and South is enchanted with plains, wineyards and beaches.
  
• All the major cities of the country are situated next to river . Lisbon is on the banks of Rio Tagus (Tejo in Portuguese), Coimbra on Rio Mondego and Porto on Douro River.
  
• Azores and Madeira mosty are mountanous regions with highest mountain peak in Portugal situated in Azores.
• Portugal is famous for wines and corks. It is the world´s largest producer of cork and it has given to the world some of the finest wines including the Port wine.
  
• Football Crazy Nation with Cristiano Ronaldo holds a demi god status just like our Sachin Tendulkar.

According the legislation of EU . portugal divison is done the basis of the regions . and it contains following regions .
Mainland Portugal Divisons

Norte . -- North Portugal ( Porto is the main city )
Centro - Central part of the country ( Coimbra is main city .. city i live..:))
Lisboa - National Capital region
Alentejo - some of the best wine yards of portugal are situated here
Algarve - southern part of the country

The biggest cities of the country are Lisbon , Porto, Coimbra , Faro, Setubal, Evora, Braga and Aveiro.

Now it is time i tell about the place where i live.

Coimbra ( Cidade dos Estudantes)

Coimbra is the third biggest city in Portugal . It serves as cross roads of Portugal being situated midway between Lisbon and Porto. Coimbra is a University Town. It is often known as Oxford of Portugal. Home to one of the most important universities - University of Coimbra , coimbra is truly vibrant and youthful city. Its heart beat - the 35000 students which live their life in a true blue coimbra style.

My first impression of the city when i landed here are the narrow street lanes which gave the true European Flavour which i read in books and saw in discovery programmes. Another interesting thing about coimbra is nature and the lifestyle of the people here . It truly gives you the experience of living in rural European society in an medieval yet urban life of coimbra .

The biggest attraction of the city no doubt is the university of coimbra . Founded in 1290 by King Dinis , It is one of the oldest universities in continous operation in the world. The picture shows the main courtyard of theUniversity. University was originally started in Lisbon but was later moved to coimbra first in 1308. It moved back forth between Lisbon and coimbra in 14th century before in 1537 it was definitvely moved to coimbra during the reign of Joao III. University main governance is lead by Rector,Senate and University Assembly. University has 8 faculties (Letters, Law, Medicine, Sciences & Technology, Pharmacy, Economics, Psychology & Education Sciences and Sports Sciences & Physical Education). University also houses a famous library called Joanina Library, a baroque library which houses more than 250000 volumes of priceless books which are dated from 13th century onwards. It is one of the famous monuments in the university. If you ever visit coimbra, you must visit this place.

Another thing which i liked was the monumental stairs. it is series of 125 steps which is at the entrance of the university . It is one of important spots whenever any revolt or strike has to be made by the students . And it forms great help for seniors when they rag their juniors by making them run those steps. Quite imposing stairs i must say it holds its name.

One of the main things which you will observe when you live in a student city is the student community itself. Coimbra is no different . The student community be it the local university students or Erasmus Students makes it melting pot of discussions and community socializing . Two of the biggest student festivals of Europe happen in Coimbra. They are Festas das latas (Latada) and Quiema das Fitas. I will tell about these two festivals later coz i am no mood to type anymore at the moment.

Right now enuf of info gyan . it is time. i get back to my work. will tell you about coimbra , its traditions and my impressions in future posts ..
I would like to thank Teresa (Aiesecer who is rite now experiencing her exchange phase in India ) for creating an urge in me to write this blog .. i would say reading her blog kinda inspired me to write my experiences in Portugal..Thank You Teresa. Hope u have a blast in Jaipur . Ok me signing off now .. I guess you wont be too botherd abt my spelling , grammatical and tense mistakes in the blog coz i dont proof read it . i hope i would be conveying my point if sentence is grammatcially incorrect. Newayz.. will write later .. have fun .

Até Logo ... Tchau..