Most tourists see Portugal simply as a place to enjoy good sun and great beaches at the right price, or less-so, a country of easy-access, spectacular architectural confections in the shape of churches, hilltop castles and outlandish decoration.

The Portuguese people, however, believe theirs is a country of Fado, Fatima and football.

Fado is the country's uniquely tragedy-dedicated style of folk songs, while Fatima is a little town north of Lisbon where a miracle occurred in 1917, part of which included a secret prophecy known only to successive popes, that there would be an assassination attempt on the Pope in 1981, which of course came true. The bullet that wounded the Pope has been welded into the crown of the Virgin Mary in Fatima town and the place now experiences massive twice-yearly pilgrimages to a Lourdes degree of overcrowding.

As for football, well, Europeans countries have recent proof of how skilled and dedicated the Portuguese are in that sport.

An often ignored aspect of Portugal is its major influence on global history.

In the 16th century Portugal's sea-based discoveries and colonies included the Azores, Brazil, Guinea, Angola, Mozambique, Macao and India and made it the world's #1 superpower.
This was called the Age of Discoveries and led to enormous wealth and power. In fact, as late as 1974 the Portuguese controlled the world's largest empire.

That was the year of the overthrow of the long-term Salazar dictatorship and independence of the African colonies.

Under Salazar's 48 year reign Portugal's development was restricted and it continued as a modest backwater state until the 90's when the EU started pumping funds in for infrastructure improvement, while major events - like Expo '98 - restored the country's lost pride.

From the 14th century until today the Portuguese and British continue with Europe's longest defence alliance. Many of the country's surprise victories against overwhelming French or Spanish armies were with the assistance of British forces which is why the locals have an especial regard for the British people over their continental neighbours.

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