ABOUT PORTUGAL
Population: 10,341,330 (2015 estimate)
Capital: Lisbon
Area: 92,212 sq km (35,603 sq miles)
Major language: Portuguese (also Mirandese which is a recognized regional language)
Major religion: Roman Catholic
Currency: Euro
International dialing code: +351
PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE
Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, and has kept some Celtic phonology.
After the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula the Vulgar Latin replaced virtually all local languages. In the territories along the Atlantic coast it gradually evolved in what is technically known Galician-Portuguese language. Later, following the incorporation of Galicia into Spain and the independent development of Portugal, this language split in Galician and Portuguese branches. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese spread worldwide as Portugal established a colonial and commercial empire between 1415 and 1999. Portuguese is now spoken as a native language in five different continents, with Brazil accounting for the largest number of native Portuguese speakers of any country (200 million speakers in 2012). According to the Ethnologue of Languages, Portuguese and Spanish have a lexical similarity of 89%, meaning that educated speakers of each language can communicate easily with one another.
Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes once called Portuguese "the sweet and gracious language" and Spanish playwright Lope de Vega referred to it as "sweet", while the Brazilian writer Olavo Bilac poetically described it as "a última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela" (the last flower of Latium, rustic and beautiful).
Mirandese is also recognized as a co-official regional language in some municipalities of North-Eastern Portugal. An estimate of between 6,000 and 7,000 Mirandese speakers has been documented for Portugal.
Survival Portuguese - http://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/basic-portuguese-phrases.html
USEFUL NUMBERS
Altis Grand Hotel
+351 213 106 000
Rua Castilho, 11
1269-072 Lisboa
http://www.altishotels.com/EN/HotelAltisLisboa/Hotel-Lisbon/
IIE Europe Staff +36 30 866 0950
US Embassy Lisbon
Avenida das Forças Armadas
1600-081 Lisboa
https://portugal.usembassy.gov/index.html
Working hours (Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) calls: +351 217 273 300
Emergency
112 General emergency number
115 Emergencies
TAXI AND TRANSPORTATION
Taxi Companies
Autocoope +351 217 932 756
Online taxi reservation upon arrival to Lisbon airport: http://www.lisbon-airport.com/taxi.html
Public transport
Metro Company - http://www.metrolisboa.pt/eng/
Buses and trams - http://www.carris.pt/en/home/
Airport bus transfer – Aerobus https://www.aerobus.pt/en-GB/Home-2.aspx
Offline map: download HERE app for your smart phone