Portugal One Of The Best Destinations In Europe

C ountry on the                    eastern. The islands of Flores     south-western Europe.           and Corvo are part of the western  Located on the west part of     group, the islands of S. Jorge,    the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal       Terceira, Faial and Pico are part  occupies an area of 92,152 km2.       of the central group and the       It is bordered by Spain on the        islands of S. Miguel and Santa     east and north and by the             Maria are part of eastern group.   Atlantic Ocean on the west and        The autonomous region of Madeira   south.The Portuguese territory is     is an archipelago formed by the    divided in three parts: the           island of Madeira and Porto        mainland, the autonomous region       Santo.                             of Madeira and Azores which have                                         their own administration.             The capital of Portugal is                                               Lisbon. Other cities of more       The mainland is divided into 18       importance are Porto, Coimbra,     administrative district : Viana       Setúbal, Aveiro, Braga and Faro.   do Castelo, Vila Real, Bragança,      The Portuguese terrain has         Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Viseu,          several different forms. On the    Guarda, Coimbra, Castelo Branco,      north of the Tejo river, it is     Leiria, Santarém, Portalegre,         very rough, with mountains,        Lisbon, Setúbal, Évora, Beja and      except the coast plain, and with   Faro; the districts are divided       an average height above 400        into municipalities (311), which      meters. These mountains are        are subdivided into civil             crossed by valleys and rivers.     parishes.                                                                                                      On the south part of the Tejo      The autonomous region of Azores       river the terrain is formed by     is an archipelago of 9 islands,       rolling plains, with low           divided in three groups: the          altitude, where the plains         western, the central and the          prevail. The highest mountains     are located on the north of the       volcanic activities and theirs     Tejo river, and the most              terrains are very rough.           importants are Serra da Estrela                                          (1991 m), Serra do Gerês (1508        The coastline of Azores has a lot  m), Serra do Marão (1416 m),          of cliffs and inside the islands   Serra do Montemuro (1381 m) and       the terrain is very mountainous.   Serra do Caramulo (1075 m). On        The highest mountain in Portugal   the south of the Tejo river, the      is located inside the Pico island  most important mountains are          and it has 2351 meters. One        Serra de São Mamede (1025 m),         characteristic of Madeira is that  Serra do Monchique (902 m) and        it has high mountains on the       Serra do Caldeirão (577 m).           central part of the island.                                                                                 The rest of the Portuguese            The most important rivers are,     terrain is the coastline, which       from north to south of the         can be divided in three big set       mainland, the Minho, the Douro,    of plains: the Beira Litoral          the Tejo and the Guadiana all      Plain formed by the alluvial          they rising in Spain and flowing   plains of Vouga and Mondego, the      to the Atlantic Ocean. Among the   Algarve Plain and the alluvial        rivers whose course is Portuguese  Plain of Tejo and Sado. The           only, we have the Cávado, the      archipelagos of Azores and            Vouga, the Mondego, the Sado end   Madeira have theirs origins on        Mira.                              About the Author: Ilidio Lopes owns the site http://www.portugalturistic.com where you will find information on a variety of subjects relating to Portugal. Published At: www.Isnare.com