[Originally published on 9 November 2013]

To be fair, everyone has misconceptions on most countries in the world. Like: in Europe we think that all Africans live in the middle of the jungle and then we get amazed when we discover they actually have cities and buildings.

So, foreigns usually think two wrong things about Portugal: 1) it’s part of Spain; 2) we only have beaches (this is specially true regarding British people).

Remember:
. Portugal is an independent country since 1143 (ok, we were part of Spain between 1580 and 1640);
. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal;
. In addition to the beautiful and amazing beaches that we do have, we have a fantastic countryside.

Some suggestions for visiting:
. Douro Valley;
. Schist villages;
. Serra da Arrábida Natural Park;
. Azores.

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