“Powerful as the King of Spain, rich as the King of Portugal” said Shakespeare. Founded as a nation in 1143 by the Burgundy dynasty, Portugal is one of Europe´s oldest countries. If its most popular sport is football with many very world best players, it is one of the new highly regarded golfing destinations, particularly as it benefits from a mild climate that makes it possible to play golf all year round and offers luxurious accommodations like the Lapa Palace.
Lisbon, Decmber 2004 -
Even if Portugal is not located exactly inside the Mediterranean banks, the country shares its typical criteria and its history is closely linked to. Phoenicians and Greeks where the first settlers. Romans, Moors, Barbarian and others invaded Portugal as many other Euro-Mediterranean countries. Till the Christian reconquest in 1143 when the duke Alfonso of Burgundy became its first king.

Denis, one of his successors, created in 1290 the famous Coimbra University and decided that the local Lusitanian will become national language. Later Henry the Navigator launched the conquest of unknown territories: Madeira in 1419, Azores 1432, India (Vasco de Gama) 1498, Brasil (Cabra) 1500, China 1540… Portugal has had the most important colonial empire from Brasil to Goa, from Mozambique to Macao which was also the last to disappear with the Carnation peaceful revolution and recovery of democracy on 25 April 1974.

The establishment of golf in Portugal is also linked to history. The creation of the first golf club at the end of the 19th century, Oporto Niblicks Club was linked to the “perpetual friendship” signed in 1373 between Britain and Portugal for their mutual commercial interests in the world. As in 1678 Britain declared war to France and blockaded French ports creating a shortage of wine, the British wine merchants turned to Portugal to find an alternative. The local wines from Oporto were not really praised in London even if merchants added “a bucket or two” of brandy to the barrels before shipment to England to make them more attractive. So British wine traders founded branches of their companies in Oporto region which explains that many port wines are property of British companies and that they open the first golf courses in Portugal.

Nowadays from Oporto to Faro and across the ocean to the archipelago of the Azores, golf attracts many visitors all over Portugal. And Lisbon Golf Coast won the Award for the Best Established Golf Destination of the Year 2003 delivered by IAGTO International Association of Golf Tour Operators. Around Lisbon within a range of 50 miles there are at least 16 golf courses, many of them being great championship courses.

And ancient aristocratic mansions have become luxurious hotels like the Lapa Palace, an Orient Express Hotels property, in the former private residence of the Count of Valence.

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Lisbon golfs map
(click on the map to enlarge it)



Marquis de Pompal overlooks the city of Lisbon



Lisbon from Lapa Palace tower



25 April bridge and Christ statue



Links at the far West end of Europe's continent

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