Travel

Enchanted

I recently visited Lisbon and several other cities of Portugal [Photos]. The trip was not only fun but an adventure since Portugal is like no other country in Europe. There is a lot of history to be observed. Portugal has been a seafaring nation since the fourteenth century. Its very poverty drove many of its people out of the country in search of a better life, and thus turned the Portuguese into discoverers. They sailed everywhere, from Brazil to China and East Timor via Angola and Mozambique, from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to Goa in India, in a quest for riches and intent on spreading the catholic faith. Portugal is the land of Henry the Navigator and Vasco de Gama, the first to sail to India via the Cape. Fado, the country’s traditional music reflects the melancholy of the many who left their country never to return, their homesickness and the longing of those they left behind. Is this also why the Portuguese, though friendly and helpful, are not exuberant like the Italians, why they rarely smile?>>>