Portugal

“Us others, civilizations, we know now that we are mortals.” by Paul Valéry

It is essential to visit the places of memory in old declining Europe.

“Civilization, it is propagation. Decline, it is transmission, therefore rebound, therefore survival.
Misadvised mourning cloth.” by Regis Debray

This report is concise and hot fact. It is neither exhaustive nor normative. For further information to consult guide books, encyclopedias and to use search engines. I discovered Portugal by preparing the trip with the Green Guide book by Michelin, on the trip I were not disappointed quite to the contrary. Before I had approached Portugal by some of its colonies, as its counters in India, Timor and of course Brazil; I will visit others of them by continuing my world tour on the African coasts.

The road plan, here was drawn up on 40 days and 8111 km from door to door; actually I spent 80 days and 8131 km. I claim neither all sawn nor to have visited all the memorable museums and monuments. To understand a nation, people and its civilization it would be necessary to be immersed several years and to master the language; when well even Portuguese speaks either French or English. Admittedly the French language is a handicap for the training of the other languages. According to work by Alfred Tomatis, specialist ORL doctor and researcher, the band-width of the French language is very narrow and constituted by two beaches (100-300 Hz, 1000-1800 Hz), as example, English evolves between 2000 and 12000 hertz, American on the other hand have a more serious band-width starting to 1500 Hz, as for Russian, this language has the band-width vastest and evolves between 400 and 12000 hertz. Of course other reasons take part in the failure of French to the control of the foreign languages.

Brief historical overview

In antiquity Portugal was inhabited by the Lusitanians then fell under the governance from the Pax Romana. Invaded by the Visigoths, they were driven out by the Moslem domination from 715 to 1249, date of the complete Reconquista of the Portuguese territory. More or less Portugal was attached to Spain until 1143. The kingdom of Portugal lasted from 1087 to 1910 after the abdication of the king Manuel II. The republic was founded to be replaced by the dictatorship Salazar in 1932 until the Revolution of the Eyelets on April 24th, 1974. The democracy settled with sudden starts to be definitively anchored in 1986.

Economy

In 1986 the government of Mario Soares involved two decades of economic miracle. But the fall was brutal, terrible in 2002. Political instability lasted until 2011 followed by a government which founded drastic reforms, cuts in the public expenditure, freezing of the wages, suppressions of bank holidays, rise in the VAT. Since 2013 a Socialist government with the support, without distrust, of the Parliament of left and far left parties continues the sequencing of the economy, successfully. Of course there remain zones of impoverishment in the periphery of the big cities. The price of the fuels is significantly higher than that in France. Moreover three VAT rates apply to the consumer goods, 6, 13 and 23%. In Other hand a Keynesian policy of great works of infrastructure and development of the BTP partly reabsorbed the unemployment of 17.7% with the emergence of the middle-class of business. The observation showed me that the car fleet is mainly made up by German premium cars, information taken they are paid with credit over +10 years. The possession of a high-of-range car takes part of the demonstration effect.

Civilization, culture, art and architecture.

The list of the sites registered with UNESCO, here, testifies to the patrimonial wealth within Portugal, 15 registered sites and 11 sites with the indicative list for a small country. The 62 photo galleries of my Web site give of it an outline which I hope for eloquent. The longevity of monarchy and the expansion of the colonial field were at the origin of the magnificence of the palates, the monasteries and the churches as well as civil and military monuments as the fortresses built on Moors ruins at the border with Spain. Moreover thanks to the treaty of Methuen in 1703 which combines Portugal in England, allows it to take part in the coalition against revolutionary France in 1793 as in the Napoleonic wars in 1801, 7, 9 and 10 which failed in spite of the talented futures Maréchaux of Empire Junot, Soult and Masséna. Admittedly the reorganization of the Portuguese army was made by the General Wellesley future duke of Wellington. Thus, in spite of destruction operated by the armies on the two sides, it did not have there by sales of national goods to racketeers demolition contractors with the hooked fingers as in France.

Others

I will evoke neither the gastronomy nor the sumptuous wines of which Oporto leaving with each one judge some.
The landscape is resolutely of sometimes abrupt medium mountains on deep valleys to the littoral.
Agriculture is of course directed according to the areas towards the vineyards, the olive groves, citrus fruits and cereals without forgetting the breeding.

N.B.: While crossing Spain from Seville to the French border at the pass of Perthus, I was amazed by wide fields of olive groves covering plains and hills where worked with ultramodern mechanization.

The highway network is in general of good quality especially the recent highways which are under the Free Flow mode. It is necessary to record by photography the number plate and to pay a tax with a bank card on a specialized terminal at the border, for example at Viana do Castelo; then the gantries record the vehicle at its passage then the bank card is output. But in what relates to me an error occurred at the time of photography in the small hour of the number plate. Consequently I circulated free on these highways, without being controlled, phew! Portugal is follower of the topes, vibradores called gendarmes lengthened in France, it is galley. It is also equipped with many roundabouts even in strong current-countryside. Finally when the roadway was D-aggregate the manhole covers and others are in hollow, the vehicle falls into a hole.

The campsites are numerous in Portugal, I did not attend them because I hate the promiscuity of the accumulation of the vehicles as the sardines in limps. The camper-drivers have the herd instinct of the nostalgia of their HLM. Although officially prohibited, I practiced, when it is possible, the bush, wilderness camping; it is necessary to be well in his head. Moreover as in much of country in Europe, the free areas of parking marks out the country with, very often, a terminal to empty the cassette of the toilets and to fill the tank with drinking water which is unfortunately chlorinated making undrinkable the green tea with the subtle taste. But supermarkets, as Intermaché, Leclerc, Lidl, Continente etc. at low prices sell water cans of 5, 6 even 7 liters although with a VAT at 13%. The southern part of Portugal, Algarve, is over-populated by the Portuguese motor homes and north-Europeans fleeing the winter without sun as well as the supposed insecurity in Morocco!

I will keep an imperishable memory of the reception, kindness, attention and obligingness of Portuguese; a lesson for French, very often, scorning and disagreeable, as I could note it during my world peregrinations. Although not controlling Portuguese language I employed the formal endings at the time of my contacts to the great pleasure of my interlocutors. By courtesy a traveller must imply himself in the civilization of the visited country. Let us not forget that a traveller is a Peeping Tom, an intruder even if it takes part in the economy of the country, which does not justify an inappropriate behavior at all. Some towns of too visited countries regard the tourists as a pollution and found a numerus clausus.