Hi,

I know some of you want to go to Portugal this year, and asked me some suggestions. So here is a list of my favourite places:

. Lisbon: the capital
http://www.golisbon.com/
http://www.strawberryworld-lisbon.com/lisbon/index.html

. Porto: the North’s most important city. It is an UNESCO world heritage site
http://www.portoturismo.pt/en/init/default1.asp

Near Porto:
. Guimaraes, another UNESCO world heritage town

Near Lisbon:
. Cascais: a stylish summer resort, also very pleasant in winter :)
. Sintra: classified in the UNESCO World Heritage list, is famous for its palaces and woods
. Obidos: a small town completely enclosed by medieval walls

In the south:
. Evora: a museum town of Roman origins, with its historic centre classified in UNESCO’s International Heritage list
. Marvao: notable for its impressive castle (13th-14th-centuries) and the wonderful views it affords.
. Mertola: the town’s main attraction is its castle, built by the Moors, with a guard tower from the 13th-century. Mértola has three important museum sites as a consequence of the intense archeological activity there. The Roman museum occupies the Town Hall building. The Islamic collection includes the country’s most important archive of ceramic objects (9th to 13th-centuries). Here too is one of the rarest early Christian basilicas in the entire Iberian peninsula (dating from the 5th-century).
. Monsaraz: a beautiful medieval village, with castle, walls and fortifications

. Algarve (if you want to go to the beach, go in the summer). Worth visiting: Lagos, Sagres, Tavira, Vilamoura.

Useful links:
http://www.visitportugal.com/Cultures/en-US/default.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Portugal

Cheap flights from London:
- To Porto: check Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/
- To Lisbon and Faro(Algarve): EasyJet http://www.easyjet.com/