Ten facts about Portugal

The Vasco da Gama bridge is the longest in Europe/ Getty

On May 9 1386, England and Portugal signed the Treaty of Windsor. This is the oldest alliance between two countries that is still in existence.

1. Winston Churchill called the Anglo-Portuguese alliance “without parallel in world history”.

2. Portugal is named after the city of Porto which the Romans called Portus Cale (port of a Celtic deity named Cale).

3. Seventy per cent of the world’s cork is from Portugal.

4. Portuguese is the official language of nine countries around the world: Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Principe, São Tomé, and Equatorial Guinea.

5. The Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon is the longest bridge in Europe.

6. On June 23 every year there is a festival in Porto celebrating St John the Baptist at which young men traditionally hit women with garlic flowers.

7. Piri piri sauce was invented in Portugal. Its name comes from a Swahili word for pepper.

8. Bertrand’s bookstore in Lisbon claims to be the oldest bookshop in the world.

9. José Saramago of Portugal won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

10. Inês de Castro was named Queen of Portugal in 1357. This was odd as she had died in 1355.