Like most metropolitan cities, Lisbon is surrounded by many satellite cities or suburbs, and is estimated to have more than one million people pass through Lisbon each day for business or employment from these communities. Among the many industries that call the city home, it boasts the largest and most developed mass media with several leading television networks, radio stations, and newspapers headquartered there. Lisbon is also Portugal’s banking centre and a major player in international banking when the Euronext Lisbon stock exchange began participating back in 2007 with the …

Oldest of the districts, Alfama spreads up the side of the southern slope from the Tagus River to the Castle of Sao Jorge at its top in a series of narrow streets and small squares. Established during the Moorish invasion of Iberia the district’s name is derived from its original Arabic name. Interestingly while the great earthquake of 1755 devastated much of the capital, the neighborhood suffered relatively little damage, but like then, continues to be notorious as one of Lisbon’s poorest districts largely populated by fishermen and the poor, …

Misfortune would unfortunately find Lisbon again as they continued their efforts to rebuild the city after the devastating earthquake in 1755 the queen and the future king were forced to flee temporarily to Brazil after the country was invaded in the early nineteenth century by Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces who would pillage, sack, or destroy many of the newly rebuilt buildings and properties. The result would be further change to the urban landscape as the new century gave rise to new artistic and architectural movements that found their place among the …

Thanks to its favorable position between the sea and a fertile plain surrounded by two swamps that cut it off from the inner lands of Sardinia, Cagliari has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Established around the seventh century BCE as part of a string of Phoenician colonies across the island the city was first known as Karalis and was an important port at the time for trade with Africa. And it was due to this opportune positioning that made it such a valuable prize. By 238 BCE the island had …

While earthquakes weren’t all that an uncommon in Lisbon, the city suffering a handful of significant occurrences each century, the earthquake of November 1, 1755 proved especially devastating as it was one of the largest cities in Europe at the time and left an indelible mark upon the collective community. Voltaire would even write about it both in a poem he produced shortly after the quake, and then again in his 1759 novel ‘Candide.’ Even a hundred years later it would still find its way in poetic works like Oliver …

While the fortress lived up to its intent having deterred any attempts by the amassed Christian forces of Aragon’s King Ferdinand II and Castile’s Queen Isabella I to take the building, their overwhelming numbers however easily took control of the surrounding territory and eventually forced Muhammad XII of Granada to surrender the Emirate on January 2, 1492. Locals even claim that the two royal monarchs received Christopher Columbus at the Alhambra when they agreed to support his planned crossing, but it wouldn’t be long before the conquerors and their successors …

Where many of the great cities in the Western Empire acted as centres disseminating the teachings of Christianity, Ulyssippo would bear witness to several martyrs and by 356 CE boast its first Bishop. Unfortunately with the disintegration of the Roman Empire fifty years later, the city was occupied successively for the following twenty years as it changed hand between various barbarian tribes until the Germanic Suebi finally established their kingdom. For over a hundred and sixty years they would rule from their capital of Bracara Augusta before the Germanic …

Both times I’ve been to Ifrane, I was pretty sure I was going to die.
The first time, I’d been up for over 24 hours and Gary and I were as yet unused to the joys of travel in Morocco by Grand Taxi, so could be forgiven for equating the lack of seat belts or traffic rules with possible death. The second time, we’d gotten used to the whimsical aggressiveness of Moroccan drivers (in comparison to our boring ordered traffic), but it was night and dark and winter, making the …

While the fortress was originally built in the ninth century by Sawwar ben Hamdun during the fighting between Muslims and the Muladies, the building was in poor repair thanks to the civil war ravaging the Caliphate of Cordoba that Granada was part of at the time, and proved insufficient in keeping their enemies from overrunning them. In fact this castle was largely ignored until the eleventh century when renovations of the ruins were first attempted by a vizier of the Zirid Dynasty. But it wasn’t until Mohammed ben Al-Hamar (1238-1273) …

Lisbon’s history as a human settlement dates back to the Neolithic period when the region was inhabited by Pre-Celtic tribes who built all manner of religious and funerary monuments in the area before being invaded by the Indo-European Celts. By 1200 BCE it’s believed a Phoenician trading post might have been present on the southern slope of the Castle hill, as the sheltered harbor below was ideal for providing a secure port to provision their ships travelling on to the modern day Isles of Scilly and Cornwall. It might even …