The Northern of Portugal travelling through the Royal Road which connects Oporto to Valença, via Barcelos, one of the most popular Routes of Santiago (Caminhos de Santiago).

And the Douro River - with railways, road and air parallel - International River, which flows into the Atlantic near the Historical Oporto Center, that UNESCO classifies as World Heritage.

A river that marks the world-famous Port Wine, whose vineyards in the Alto Douro Vinhateiro, Wine Region par excellence, also classified as World Heritage.

The Northern of Portugal, a region that also hosts two more places classified by UNESCO- the Historical Center of Guimarães and the Pre-historical Rock Art of Vale do Côa - is the capital of Green and Water and keeps odd ecological cathedrals as, for instance, the National Park Peneda-Gerês.

The city of Oporto - with a modern International Airport which serves the North West of the Iberian - is considered the capital of the region, but all the other district capitals such as (Braga, Bragança, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real), with good accessibilities to

Oporto, are cities of great Tourist attraction.

The two chimes of the Convent of Mafra, with 57 bells each, are among the oldest in Europe. Were merged in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1730 by King John V and also have in-spired José Saramago to write the “Memorial do Convento”, one of the most famous novels of the Nobel Prize Literature. The Western Region is in the vast and complex central Portugal is, today one of the most significant references to the portuguese residential tourism of high quality. In the center rises Óbidos, elevates Coimbra (which is the place of the University and the city of Holy Queen and also of “Pedro e Inês”) and where stands the templar town of Tomar. But also Sintra and the marian Sanctuary of Fatima and Lisbon, of the seven hills, the most luminous and mediterranean cities outside the Mediterranean, the city of “Jerónimos and Torre de Belém”, two works classified by UNESCO. The Monastery of Batalha, the Monastery of Alcobaça, the Convent of Christ in Tomar and the cultural landscape of Sintra also deserve the classification of World Heritage, but sometimes, just a simple journey between Lisbon and Santarém, along the river

Tejo, to be able to discover the soul of a land.

Green and Water Light and Sound Ochre and Sea

Oporto WineYards in the Douro Lisbon Óbidos Alentejo Algarve

Floating Gardens

Azores Madeira

The two islands of Madeira and the nine Azores islands, including the Corvo island with less than 500 inhabitants, have airports and scheduled routes.

Between Africa and North America and between Europe and North America emerged the cluster of islands, Madeira (latitude 32 N) and the Azores (latitude 37 N), floating gardens and two unique destinations of Portugal.

Azores, nine islands of volcanic origin, recognized as pieces of the mythical Atlantis, is a paradise of Nature that the “National Geographic Traveler” magazine ranked as the second best island in the world.

The historical center of the City of Angra do Heroísmo in Terceira Island and the viti-culture landscape of Pico Island, are two destinations that are part of the World Heri-tage list of UNESCO, in an archipelago whose islands of S. Miguel (the principal) and Faial (the volcano of Capelinhos)are also very popular and much sought.

Madeira, consisting in two islands, has a high quality Tourism, more-crowded than the Azores, especially in Hotels and Residential Real Estate for Tourism. There is also a UNESCO heritage, namely the forest of the island - Floresta Laurissilva – a wide forest of subtropical characteristics. The New Year’s Eve in Funchal (Madeira’s capital) is fa-mous around the world.

In the tempered climate of Portugal, Algarve is distinguished for being mild through-out the year, an amenity that infects the sea itself, often in very small wave and with mediterranean water temperatures. Algarve smells like sea and fruit, offering at the beach or the mountains, a treasure manifested in popular music, the gastronomy in general and sweets in particular, a very own Architecture, in the light of the many days of sunshining that appears in a rare blue sky, without clouds, or in the hosting of Algarve.

Whoever it is addressed, from the North, crosses the plain land of Alentejo, a land where even the multitude of ochre is drawn to human scale before it has spread out to the West, in the Atlantic Coast, south of the river – the Sado which flows from South to North - whose estuary is a paradise for dolphins. Albufeira, the prestigious city of Algarve, does not relieve a visit to the ancient town of Silves, the old capital of Algarve, nor to Faro (the actual capital, where the interna-tional airport is) nor to Portimão. As well as the visit to the cities of Alentejo, Beja and Évora, the latter with a historical center classified by UNESCO.

Luís de Camões

Official Name: Portuguese Republic

Type of Government: Parlamentary Democracy

Official Language: Portuguese

Total Area: 92,090 km2

Capital: Lisbon

Population: 10,627,250 (2008 E)

Population Density: 115 inhabitants / Km2

Religion: 97% Roman Catholic

Currency: EURO (EUR)

EU Membership: Since 1986

CLIMATEClime in Portugal is strongly influenced by the maritime winds. We can say that are two climatic zones, the coastal regions are completely different from the interior part of the country. The former is humid and mild, with average temperatures ranging from 10ºC in the winter to 24ºC in the summer, whilst in the interior part of the country the minimum temperature tends to be lower while the maxi-mum temperature is higher. The winter and autumn are rainy seasons, and the summer and spring are dry, sunny seasons.

LOCATIONPortugal, where the Atlantic meets Europe, is located in southwestern Europe, is the westernmost country of Europe. It has two boarders, Spain that stretches from the eastern up to the northern part of the country, and a natural border, the Atlantic Ocean, covering the southern and the western part of Portugal. This geographic position on the extreme south-west point of Europe permits rapid access to European markets and to the US eastern seaboard and Africa.

Located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, was an important feature of its maritime vocation. In 1415, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover the Ocean routes to India, Brazil, China and Japan, at the same time they founded settlements on the east and west coast of Africa.

Portugal occupies an area of approximately 92,090 square kilometers divided by seven regions: Nor-th, Centre, Lisbon, Alentejo, Algarve, Azores and Madeira. Lisbon is the capital and prime centre for trade and business, Oporto, a traditional centre of Port Wine and textile industries.

LANGUAGE In Portugal the official language is Portuguese. Although Portuguese is not only spoken in Portugal as a official language, but also in the former Portuguese colonies of Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé e Principe, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and East Timor. Portuguese is one of the world’s major languages, according to the number of native speakers (between 191 and 230 million).

PORTUGAL LOCATION IN EUROPE

PORTUGUESE REAL ESTATE AGENTS`ASSOCIATION

APEMIP - Associação dos Profissionais e Empresas de Mediação Imobiliária de Portugal (Portuguese Real Estate Professionals and Agents Association) it’s a private legal entity of national scope, which was set up 41 years ago.

Since the very beginning, APEMIP’s main concern is to protect the legitimate interests of the professional group that it represents by: Advocating for the profession; Securing public support and trust in the real estate profession; Promoting property rights and real estate issues and Ensuring high standards of ethics and professionalism.

It has witnessed in the past years, a considerable evolution in the number of associates, cur-rently counting with around 3,400 real estate agents, out of a total of 3,800 existing accredited agents in Portugal.

Due to the significant increase in the number of members and the growing requests re-garding the logistics and administrative support, as well as the provision of legal infor-mation on the real estate sector, APEMIP, with head office in Lisbon, is now represented in its Regional Boards, to be closer and better support its associates of the Northern, Central and Southern regions of the Country, also creating representation offices in the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and Azores Atlantic islands.

Apart from being a reputed Association that is acknowledged by the political power bo-dies, APEMIP is also an association whose opinion is considered and regarded by the mass media.

With the purpose of continuing to establish and improve Portuguese real estate, APEMIP developed, recently, new services to its associates, related with the following: APEMIP TV - Portugal first corporate television dedicated totally to real estate; APEMIP Net PRO - A software exclusively for the Portuguese and global real estate industry; CasaYes- APEMIP Real Estate Portal and of one of Portugal’s most important real estate portal who offers real estate companies and consumers the most comprehensive Real Estate oriented links and resources on the Internet. APEMIP Real Estate Academy - teaches real estate courses.

From an international perspective, APEMIP is a major member of the FIABCI - International Real Estate Federation and is responsible for presiding in Portugal this reputed inter-national body, which congregates worldwide all professionals of the real estate sector, as well as of the Presidency of CEI – European Confederation of Real Estate Agents, with head office in Brussels, which mainly focuses on real estate issues of the European continent.

APEMIP PORTUGUESE REAL STATE AGENT`S ASSOCIATION

ADRESS RUA D. LUÍS DE NORONHA Nº4, 2º PISO

1069-165 LISBOA

PHONE (+351) 217 928 770

E MAIL geral.dn@apemip.pt

www.apemip.pt