RIGHT now, every student here in Portugal is celebrating the one-week spring break. Portugal, being a Mediterranean country, is really enticing to tourists because the Mediterranean scene is associated with healthy food, specifically the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet consists of seafood. The Portuguese have a high life expectancy because of this and especially so that they use olive oil in sautéing fish. Olive oil is of course the healthiest cooking oil in the world because of its low fat content.

Despite Portugal having a Roman Catholic population, one exciting feature of the country is the array of nudist beaches in its Mediterranean coastline. Here you can enjoy whiling the night away with your loved one in safe discretion because there are no annoying people or paparazzi who will zap you with their zooming lens at night. But be careful not to stray away from the shore because even lifeguards do not usually patrol these areas because the beach management wants to respect their customers’ privacy. It is more ideal to dip by the beach in the moonlight because you’ll be illuminated overhead as well as down below with the glowing planktons swimming about.

On the economic side, the economy of Portugal has never been this robust. One if not the largest electricity producers in the country, EDP, will sell 40 percent of its stake to LogicaCMG. But it will not be electricity they are selling. The energy company will be selling its subsidiary Edinfor instead. That means EDP will be 55 million euros or $88.5 million richer. And this can certainly translate well to the economy of the country because whatever tax is gained from this sellout will be poured back to the Portuguese people. By the way, if you are intending to buy a piece of property here in Portugal for commercial purposes, then it’s so easy even if you’re a foreigner. There are only two kinds of taxes that you have to pay – the annual income tax and the monthly garbage collection tax. The annual income tax goes directly to the national coffers of the country. If there is no one living in the property, the income tax computation is different. It is according to your hypothetical income if you’re leasing the property to one person for a period of one year.