Palacio Marquês de Pombal
by Rui Fonseca
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Palacio Marquês de Pombal
The S. João das Maias Fortress is located on the right bank of the Tagus River near its mouth, betwee...
Paço de Arcos Beach with a sunny dunes, which stretches from the Dock Directorate of Lighthouses unti...
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen is undoubtedly one of the greatest contemporary Portuguese poets, wa...
Fernando Pessoa is one of the most read and dearest poets of the Portuguese literature. Wrote with th...
Manuel Alegre sculpture in Poets Park in Oeiras, Portugal. Manuel Alegre is a Portuguese poet and pol...
Oeiras Marina is located at entrance of the Tejo River estuary, near the Ocean Pool in Oeiras, Estori...
The Oeiras Marine Walk starts near the Beach Tower, passing by the whale tail which is seen in this p...
The Carcavelos coastline extends for several kilometers on the Estoril Coast in Portugal. Here there ...
Europe is generally agreed to be the birthplace of western culture, including such legendary innovations as the democratic nation-state, football and tomato sauce.
The word Europe comes from the Greek goddess Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus and plunked down on the island of Crete. Europa gradually changed from referring to mainland Greece until it extended finally to include Norway and Russia.
Don't be confused that Europe is called a continent without looking like an island, the way the other continents do. It's okay. The Ural mountains have steadily been there to divide Europe from Asia for the last 250 million years. Russia technically inhabits "Eurasia".
Europe is presently uniting into one political and economic zone with a common currency called the Euro. The European Union originated in 1993 and is now composed of 27 member states. Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.
Do not confuse the EU with the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and dates to 1949. These two bodies share the same flag, national anthem, and mission of integrating Europe. The headquarters of the Council are located in Strasbourg, France, and it is most famous for its European Court of Human Rights.
In spite of these two bodies, there is still no single Constitution or set of laws applying to all the countries of Europe. Debate rages over the role of the EU in regards to national sovereignty. As of January 2009, the Lisbon Treaty is the closest thing to a European Constitution, yet it has not been approved by all the EU states.
Text by Steve Smith.
