Central
Portugal is a place where you can get a little of everything, from the
highest mountains sceneries to fantastic white sandy beaches. Green is a
constant presence; you can see it all over: in the mountains, often
contrasting with beautiful streams and waterfalls, in the green plains
where every day sheep, goats and donkeys walk freely; you can even see
it close to Silver Coast beaches, in the vast forest planted hundreds of
years ago by a Portuguese King.
Water
from rivers, streams, lakes, dams and fantastic waterfalls, together
with the fresh green of forests and sunny grass make this area unique.
So unique that if you come from Algarve or Alentejo in the dry South and
keep heading North, by the time you reach Central Portugal you might
have a shock and think you're in a different country!
But
Central Portugal is not only made of green landscapes, beautiful
streams & fantastic beaches. Central Portugal is made of people.
This region is mainly rural and in these areas people are very friendly
and welcoming. Gastronomy is very rich and I’m sure you will love some
typical meals and desserts.
If
you go East, Central Portugal will turn more rural and more
mountainous. This is where you can find 'Serra da Estrela' (highest
mainland point in Portugal). If you travel West, you will find major
cities, such as 'Coimbra'. 'Coimbra' is the 3rd Portuguese city and the
main one in Central Portugal. 'Coimbra' is known for the rich cultural
patrimony: it is full of museums, century buildings, old churches,
monasteries, and the most important - The University. The 5th oldest
university in Europe together with 20.000 students from all over the
world. It's a place to visit. If you like big student parties don't lose
'Queima-das-Fitas' in May.
But
if you continue further to West, then you will find it - the sea and
the kilometres and kilometres of white sandy beaches, clean skies and
pleasant sun.
In
summer you can go to beaches and enjoy many hours of sun and hot
temperatures (most times upper 30ºC on seaside and nearly 40ºC inland)
with a fresh breeze coming from the sea. But if you don't wish to go
that further you can always do a touristy trip around other areas. Stay
alert for touristy signs (the brown ones), they always lead into
fantastic landscapes or historical places where you often find castles,
roman ruins and other great places worth visiting. You can, for
instance, visit the 'Lousã Castle', where you'll also find a beautiful
river beach, or you can visit 'Castelo de Almourol' (South from Tomar)
built in a rocky island in the middle of 'Tejo' river (biggest river
crossing Portugal), and many other castles in Tomar, Ourém, Pombal,
Penela...
Flora
in Central Portugal is very rich and it's a mixture of mediterranean
with plants from other parts of the world. You can easily find vast
plains covered with olives, vineyards, or forests of oak, pine &
eucalyptus. It's also easy to find a huge range of fruit trees of all
kind. Weather in Portugal usually behaves as follow: very hot in summer
(30ºC to 40ºC) with hardly no rain. In winter temperature stay around
10ºC to 20ºC in day time but at night it can be very cool with
occasional frost. There is some rain in winter but it’s frequent to have
sunny days. Autumn is medium hot, as spring, and rain usually happens
during this time, but rarely for a long consecutive time.