More Facts

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·         Bacalhau (salt cod) has been a national dish since the fifteenth century, and cinnamon is a common flavoring for desserts, such as the traditional rice pudding ( arroz doce ).

·         Port, a wine produced in the region of the upper Douro River, is a major export.

·         Furniture, food processing, wineries, and pulp and paper are among the major industrial activities; other important manufacturing industries are leather products, textiles, porcelain, and glassware.

·         Portugal's major exports are textiles, clothing and footwear, cork and paper products, machinery, transport equipment, and chemicals, and agricultural products.

·         The famous religious shrine Fátima is in the province of Ribatejos, northeast of Lisbon; Fátima is now a place of international pilgrimage for Catholics.

·         The most significant national holiday is October 5^th, Republic Day, when they commemorate the collapse of the monarchy in 1910.

Literature: Perhaps the best well known Portuguese authors are Fernando Pessoa and José Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize in 1998