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Portugal's Best Hotel Bets Pestana Carlton Palace (Lisbon; tel. 21/361-56-00; www.pestana.com): One of the grandest hotels to open in Portugal in years, this hotel lies in an upscale residential section 5km (3 miles) from the historic center. It was carved out of a villa built in 1907. It's a stunning example of the Romantic Revival architectural style. Four Seasons Hotel The Ritz Lisbon (Lisbon; tel. 800/819-5053 ... Full story

Climate "We didn't know we had an April," one Lisbon resident said, "until that song came out." As a song and a season, "April in Portugal" is famous. Summer might be the most popular time to visit, but for the traveler who can chart his or her own course, spring and autumn are the best seasons to visit. To use a North American analogy, the climate ... Full story

Addresses -- In Portugal, the ground floor is not called the first floor as in the United States; what Americans would call the fourth floor is actually the third floor. "ESP" after a floor number indicates that you should go left, and "DIR" means turn right. American Express -- The entity representing American Express, although operating independently under license from American Express, is Travel Store ... Full story

Centuries ago, Portugal was a pioneer of worldwide exploration. Until recently, however, it was never as successful in attracting visitors to its own shores. Outside of greater Lisbon, the Algarve, and the island of Madeira, Portugal remained unknown and undiscovered by the mainstream visitor for many decades. Today's travelers are beginning to realize that Portugal was unjustly overlooked. It offers sandy beaches, art treasures, flavorful ... Full story

In the ancient Moorish town of Xelb (today called Silves), a handsome and sensitive vizier once lived. During one of his sojourns into northern lands, he fell in love with a beautiful Nordic princess. After they married, he brought her back to the Algarve. Soon the young princess began to pine for the snow-covered hills and valleys of her native land. The vizier decreed ... Full story

The Amazon rain forest houses the Amazon River and rich ecological biodiversity. Taking up the majority of Brazil, the Amazon's biology and ecology is truly unique. No place on Earth is as full of diverse life and landscape as the Amazon Rainforest. It spreads its tall trees and rich ... Full story

Costa Rica has one of the most diverse plant ecologies in the world; from cloud and rain forests to mangrove swamps, Costa Rica has a rich and varied plant life. Costa Rica, 51,000 square kilometers of land situated between Panama and Nicaragua in Central America, is a small country with a huge biodiversity of plant life. It has remarkably different climates on each of its coastlines, ... Full story

One of the most controversial questions in biology is whether behaviour is determined by nature or nurture. A new program has been launched to shed light on this question by analyzing all sources of information relating to the complex society of Apis mellifera, the Western honeybee. The debate raises ethical questions about the the determination of behaviour in social animals, including humans. The nature side suggests ... Full story

Earth Day -- April 22 -- each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of ... Full story

The situated in the south-eastern party of the present city Varna Roman thermae (balnearia, Balneae and balineae also) are the biggest public, ancient building ever found in Bulgaria, after Perperikon probably. These quite preserved walls are tracing out the imposing dimensions of this building, erected up on about 7000 square meters terrain. The fat walls has been built in specific technology, that ... Full story