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Eating in Portugal is often a visitor's most remembered characteristic of the country. Each region of Portugal has its own traditional dishes, including various kinds of meat, sea-food, diverse and fresh fish.

Portugal is very well represented in sports such has Rink hockey, being the country with most world titles. Golf is also worth mentioning, since its greatest players play in the sunny region of the Algarve during the "Algarve Open".

Over the past decade, successive governments have privatised many state-controlled firms and liberalised key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. Today, Portugal is a developed nation. It joined the Economic and Monetary Union in 1998 and began circulating its new currency, the euro, on January 1, 2002 along with 11 other EU members.

The Socialist Party, under the leadership of António Guterres, came to power following the October 1995 parliamentary elections. The Socialists later won a new mandate by winning exactly half the parliamentary seats in the October 1999 election, and constituing then the XIV Constitutional Government.

The south down as far as the Algarve features mostly rolling plains with a climate somewhat warmer and drier than the cooler and rainier north. Other major rivers include the Douro, the Minho and the Guadiana, similar to the Tagus in that all originate in Spain. Another important river, the Mondego, originates in the Serra da Estrela (the highest mountains in mainland Portugal - 1,991 m).

Dancing - Portugal has the traditional folklore (Ranchos Folclóricos), with many varieties from each region. Portugal with Angola has a shared rhythm known as "Kuduro" (popular in both countries), a sort of 'hard samba' with fast movements and extreme sensuality and strong African rhythm, performed mainly by Angolans or Angolan descents. This mixture of Portuguese and Angolan influence has also created the Brazilian Samba and the Angolan Kizomba, which have softer movements.

The four main organs of the national government are the presidency, the prime minister and Council of Ministers (the government), the Assembly of the Republic (the parliament), and the judiciary.

Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically and religiously. Ethnically, Portuguese are a combination of several ethnicities, primarily native Iberians, Romans, Celts, and Visigoths. Other elements are Moors, Suevi and Phoenician. Even so, Portuguese people are ethnically homogenous.

Portuguese architecture greatly developed with the arrival of the Romans (since 2nd Century BC), and POrtuguese architecture evolved and became Mediterranean. The Romans built aqueducts, bridges and roads, along with theatres, temples, and circus, along with other public building.

Saint Martin's Day, is celebrated in some countries in Europe, Portugal included, it is on November 11. This day is the peak of three days, often with very good weather, it is known as Verão de São Martinho ("saint Martin summer" or "Short Summer"), the Portuguese celebrate it with gerupiga (an alcoholic drink) and roasted Portuguese chestnuts (castanhas assadas). and it is called Magusto.

The great majority of the Portuguese population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Religious observance remains very strong in northern areas, with the population of Lisbon and southern areas generally less devout.

The culture of Portugal is a very rich country in terms of culture, its culture has been maturating for centuries. It is shaped in its roots firmely in Latin culture with Celt-Iberian background. Due to its longterm relation with its former colonies, these are important to one distinguishe the portuguese national culture from other Latin cultures in Southern Europe.

Portuguese have a reputation for loving cod dishes (bacalhau in Portuguese). For that there are 365 ways of making cod dishes.

During the second semester of 2004, a coalition between the PSD (main party) and PP governed Portugal in the 16th constitutional government, led by Pedro Santana Lopes, substituting José Manuel Durão Barroso. Barroso resigned to become President of the European Commission. After dissolution of the Assembly by President Jorge Sampaio, this coalition lost the election on Feb 20, 2005. The victory of José Sócrates, the leader of the PS, is complete with no less than 121 MPs - an unprecendented absolute majority for the PS.

During the summer, in the month of June, festivities dedicated to three saints known as Santos Populares (Eng. Popular saints) take place in all over Portugal. Why the populace associated the saints to these pagan festivities is not known. But it is possibly related to Roman or local deities before Christianity has spread in the region. The three saints are Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. A common denominator in these festivities are the wine and água-pé (drink basically constituted by grape juice), traditional bread along with sardines, marriages, traditional street dances, fire, fireworks and joy.