My dad is from Gouveia. My grandparents were from around the Minho area, don't know exactly.

That means all your parents came from the north part of the country. Me, on the other hand, i was born in almada, and my parents both came from the province of Alentejo. that means that both by birth and by ancestry, i came from the south of the country. And beleive it or not, i'm not too familiar with the north part of Portugal, which means i do ignore quite a bit, as you might know from the visits you have done here, the country changes quite a bit every 20 kilometers. It's a real quilt of cultures, Portugal, which has in common with all countries in Europe, anyway.

dude, i'm so glad you are going to portugal. i'll probably be going for a week sometime in the summer. I am portugese...and live about two hours south of oporto. Beautiful country, and Lisbon is sort of americanised. but i would spend more time in the small vilages, appriciating the beauty of the courty and the woman. we have beautiful woman. the the spanish beef thing isn't that big...it comes down to mostly soccer stuff...oh and spain occupied portugal a few hundred years ago. Prince Filip the first, second and third were the kings at the time.

jasani, you will have an excellent time trust me.the food is beautiful,the people totally rock,the beer is in expensive, im returning in november and there is still loads going on.
as for your request of a lap dancing club; i know of two in portimao ,but youll have to travel .
by the way the menus in burger bars usually have pictures next to em so you know what your getting (dont forget to say por favor)
i love the country, i hope youll tell us all about it when you get back!

Thanks for all the responses everyone! I'll try to keep my fellow Padrinophiles abreast of my plans. Suffice to say I can't wait till August!!!