The Tamega River flows under a Roman-era bridge in the scenic town of Amarante.
Photograph by Richard Klune/CORBIS
The westernmost country of mainland Europe, edged by the Atlantic to the west and south and Spain to the north and east, it’s best known as the great seafaring nation that created a global empire stretching from Africa to Asia to South America in the 15th and 16th centuries. • This rugged wedge of the Iberian Peninsula has its own long history of being overrun, but today Portugal is one of Europe’s best kept secrets, with great food and wine and spectacular countryside at some of the Continent’s best prices.
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