As Spain's small neighbour, Portugal is easy to overlook - but those who do are missing out. Located at the very south-western tip of Europe, Portugal is not only sunny, warm and has beautiful coasts, but it also has an unusually long history. Portugal has existed in its current borders since 1255 and used to be a famous seafaring nation and global empire for centuries. This is now a thing of the past. Today's Portugal is considered one of the most peaceful countries in the world. And it has a lot to offer – such as cities that are works of art thanks to street art and artistic tile decoration.

With the "Partner Country of the Month" campaign, we want to shine a spotlight on the countries, regions and partner universities of TU Dresden that aren’t necessarily the first to come to our students' minds when thinking about a semester abroad.

© panthermedia/diadis

General facts and figures about Portugal

Capital: Lisbon
Population: 10.3 million (2021)
Official language: Portuguese
National holiday: Dia de Portugal on 10th June (death anniversary of the national poet)
Currency: Euro

You can find further facts and figures on Wikipedia, on visitportugal.com, on the website of the Portuguese government, or e.g. on wikivoyage.

Small language excursion:

• Hello – Olá
• How do you do? – Tudo bem?
• My name is … – Me chamo …
• Nice to meet you – Prazer em conhecer-te
• Thank you – Obrigado/a
• See you later – Até logo

Portuguese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. However, the population of Portugal only accounts for 5% of its speakers. By far the largest share comes from Brazil. But also in Angola and Mozambique there are more Portuguese speakers than in Portugal. Through Portugal's colonial history, the language spread widely and it’s now an official language in a total of nine countries. Portuguese is closely related to Spanish, with both belonging to the Romance language family.

In addition to Portuguese, our partner universities offer a wide range of courses in English. Therefore you can very well spend a semester in Portugal without any prior knowledge of Portuguese. However, please check the exact requirements before applying.

Also outside of university, you can get along well with English in Portugal. In an international English proficiency rating, Portugal was ranked 7th, far ahead of countries like France, Spain or Italy, and also a few places ahead of Germany. Nevertheless, some Portuguese language skills are very valuable for getting immersed in Portuguese culture. You can study Portuguese in Dresden e.g. at TUDIAS or at VHS.

If you already know some Portuguese, it’s likely that you have come into more contact with Brazilian Portuguese than with European Portuguese. As the Brazilian variant is the most widely spoken, it’s also taught more often. The variants are clearly different, especially in pronunciation, but also in vocabulary. So don't worry if communication doesn’t work perfectly at first. You’ll get better with a little bit of practice!  

© panthermedia/askoldsb (YAYMicro)

Did you know that ....?

• Lisbon is the second oldest capital city in Europe? The area of the city was settled by the Phoenicians about 3,200 years ago. This makes Lisbon a full 400 years older than Rome. Among Europe's capitals, only Athens was founded even earlier.

• Portuguese ATMs are truly multi-talented? Withdrawing money is by no means their only function. The machines allow for about 60 other actions, including: Buying train or concert tickets, recharging mobile phones, donating money, paying electricity and other household fees, and even purchasing a hunting or fishing licence. No wonder the density of ATMs is particularly high in Portugal.

• Indian food wouldn't be spicy without Portugal? The chili plant stems from South America and was brought to Asia by Portuguese sailors, who had a great influence on international cuisine. They also spread tomatoes and potatoes around the globe and brought deep-frying as a cooking technique to Japan.

• Portugal consists mainly of water? The area of sea it lays claim to is about 18 times larger than the country's surface area. The islands of the Azores and Madeira belong to Portugal, therefore, it can also claim the sea areas surrounding the islands, instead of only those that border the Portuguese mainland.

• Portugal is the first country to decriminalise the use of all drugs? If somebody is caught in possession of drugs, they will be confiscated. But neither the possession of small amounts nor drug use count as a crime (drug trafficking still does). The guiding principle behind the Portuguese drug policy is that addicts need help, not punishment. Therefore, instead of being reported to the police, they are asked to go to an addiction counselling centre. The result of this policy: drug use has not increased, but there are less drug deaths and HIV infections.

• towels are a very popular souvenir from Portugal, especially for travellers from Spain? Towel production has a long tradition in Portugal. In the neighbouring Spain Portuguese towels are famous for being particularly soft and of high quality.

Cooperation with TU Dresden

You can find an overview of all cooperations of TU Dresden that you can use for your exchange in our database. It is also often worth your time to ask professors in your own faculty who might have direct contacts to your partner university of choice.

Attention: The application for 2022/23 is dependent on contract renewal with the Erasmus+ partner universities.

Erasmus+ cooperations of TU Dresden with Portuguese universities

• Instituto Politécnico de Beja
  • Business Administration and Economics   
• Universidade de Coimbra
  • Social Pedagogy     
  • Architecture
• Universidade de Évora
  • Psychology
  • Forest Sciences
• Universidade de Madeira in Funchal, Madeira
  • Materials Science
• Universidade do Minho Guimarães Campus
  • Materials Science

• Universidade Nova de Lisboa

  • Computer Science
  • Hydro Sciences
  • Civil Engineering
• ISCTE IUL - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
  • Psychology
  • Business Administration and Economics
• Universidade de Lisboa
  • History
  • Physics
  • Medicine
  • Civil Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Landscape Architecture
• Universidade do Porto
  • Mechanical Engineering (Faculty)
  • Architecture
• Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto
  • Biology

Don't miss...

© panthermedia/vichie81

Sintra. This place looks like a fairytale parallel world, having been a popular location for rich upper-class people, artists and industrialists in the 19th century who built fantastic estates. Now, they are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Particularly worth seeing is Quinta da Regaleira with its artificial grottos, springs, ruins and mystical fountains. Don’t forget to also visit the bizarre Palácio Nacional Pena, the Arab-inspired Palácio de Montserrate and the old Moorish fortress.

© panthermedia/perszing1982

Sete Vales Suspensos. This trail running along the rugged cliffs near Lagoa offers wonderful views of the landscape of the Algarve of Southern Portugal, full of rugged rock gates and formations. Between those, paths lead down to picturesque sandy beaches. Don't miss along the way: Benagil Cave (accessible by swimming or boat) and Praia da Marinha. A detour to the nearby Algar dos Capitães is also worthwhile.

© Dorothee Breyer / privat

Convento do Carmo. This former monastery has been in ruins since a devastating earthquake destroyed Lisbon in 1755. The scale of the disaster made philosophers all over Europe question their world views. However, Lisbon was rebuilt, and the structure of the new houses was tested for earthquake resistance by having troops march around small wooden models. The ruined monastery remained behind as a picturesque memorial. It now houses an archaeological museum and is a concert venue in summer – so it take a look at forthcoming events.

© panthermedia/robbyfontanesi (YAYMicro)

Streetart in Lisbon. Street art plays an important role in all of Portugal, but especially in the capital. Here, artistic graffiti is even promoted by the city and can be found on every corner. You might spot a work or two by the internationally known artist Bordalo II, who creates detailed, painted animal sculptures from rubbish and scrap metal collected in the streets. Worth a visit: the Street Art Gallery in Calçada da Glória.

© Dorothee Breyer / privat

Festa de São João in Porto. On the night of 23rd June, the streets of Porto are transformed into a huge festival full of food stalls, street concerts, dancing and fireworks. However, be sure to also stock up on some kitchen ingredients beforehand! You can be flattered if you receive some of your own. On this night, people follow old courtship customs, trying to hit people they find attractive with a bunch of leeks or trying to put stalks of lemon balm on their heads.

Let's get cooking...

Portuguese cuisine is generally simple and hearty. Dishes usually focus on fish, seafood or meat. There are countless dishes that revolve around sardines or dried and salted cod (bacalhau). It’s no wonder that Portugal is in the top 5 countries with the highest per capita consumption of fish. Soups and stews are also popular. And don’t forget port wine, Portugal's national drink and best-known export.

A speciality of Portuguese food culture that you shouldn’t miss are petiscos. These are various specialities served in small portions (similar to tapas). You usually share them with everyone at the table. The genius of it is that when you order petiscos, everyone can easily try a little bit of everything.

Pastel de Nata

It doesn't get more typically Portuguese than these custard tarts! They are the best-known example of doçaria conventual, a term used to describe pastries invented in convents. The term applies to a large proportion of traditional Portuguese treats. Their names are often correspondingly religious, so you can also try nun's belly (barriga de freira), angel's double chin (papo de anjo) and heaven's bacon (toucinho do céu). But why where they invented in convents? The reason is that historically, nuns and monks used a lot of egg whites for starching their religious habits. But what did they do with the many remaining egg yolks? Bake them into something delicious, of course!

© panthermedia/Brebca

Ingredients for 12 tarts:

• 1 pack of puff pastry
• 250 ml milk
• 30 g flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 75 ml water
• zest of an organic lemon and cinnamon to your liking

You will also need a muffin tin for baking.

Preparation:

1. Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into 12 equal pieces. Preheat the oven to 230°C.

2. If using firm muffin tins, grease them lightly. Place a piece of puff pastry in each muffin tin. Use your fingers to spread the pastry into each muffin tin so that it is well filled.

3. Roughly grate the lemon zest and heat it in a saucepan together with 150 ml of the milk. Mix the rest of the milk with the flour in a separate container. When the milk in the saucepan starts to boil, add in the flour mixture while stirring. Keep stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Use a whisk to stir if you have one.

4. Sieve or retrieve the lemon zest from the resulting cream.

5. Put the water and sugar into a separate saucepan, bring to a boil and let simmer for 4 minutes. Then gradually stir the sugar broth into the cream. Leave the mixture to cool for a few minutes until it no longer feels uncomfortably hot to the touch.

6. Add the egg yolks and stir well. Pour the finished mixture into the muffin tins. Do not fill them completely, but leave a little space at the top. Bake for 15 minutes at top/bottom heat. To finish, dust with cinnamon to taste.

Bom apetite!

(Many thanks to petitchef.com!)

Contact and further contact persons

Have you had a great time in Portugal? Do you have tips for places and experiences that are not to be missed? We would be happy to share your experiences here, on social media or, if you want, in information events for other TUD students. Get in touch with us:

© Sven Ellger/TUD

Advice on studying abroad

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