Portugal

The alarm over potential bank runs in Greece and Spain this week has highlighted an often-overlooked fact: Europe's debt crisis is also, in many ways, a major banking crisis. In capitals such as Athens, Madrid and Rome, large portions of the sovereign debt racked up by spendthrift governments are owed to the countries' own banks, locking governments and the banks in an embrace so tight that disaster for one would almost certainly spell doom for the other. International bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal have helped to keep not just their governments but also their banks afloat, as well as financial institutions in other parts of Europe with large exposure to those nations' debts.

LISBON - For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills. The cost of seeing a doctor in Portugal has more than doubled, from about $12 to $26 a visit. Reposo used to pay nothing for dialysis because he's a blood donor, but that exemption was lifted, and he now pays about $53 for each session.

LISBON - For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills. The cost of seeing a doctor in Portugal has more than doubled, from about $12 to $26 a visit. Reposo used to pay nothing for dialysis because he's a blood donor, but that exemption was lifted, and he now pays about $53 for each session.

Kathleen Dier-Saltz and her husband, Larry, visited Portugal in September to celebrate his 60th birthday. In Braga, near the country's northwestern corner, the couple happened upon groups of college-age students, some dressed in elaborate uniforms. As Dier-Saltz watched the students, these two young women took a backward glance. The West Hills resident used a Nikon D3000.

European officials began scrambling to find ways to lend financial aid to Portugal on Thursday after the debt-ridden Iberian nation bowed to market pressure and decided it had no choice but to ask for help. Lisbon's announcement Wednesday evening that it would seek outside assistance came as little surprise to many economists, who had predicted such an eventuality for months. Unsustainably high borrowing costs in the last few weeks increasingly made the prospect of some kind of bailout for Portugal more a question of when rather than if. But the timing of Lisbon's request for assistance has rendered the situation more awkward than expected, because a political crisis has left Portugal with a caretaker government whose authority to agree to a major financial rescue package is questionable.

THE BEST WAY TO PORTUGAL From LAX, TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011(the international dialing code), 351 (country code for Portugal) and the nine-digit number. WHERE TO STAY Casa das Marés 3 , Rua Raúl Brandão, Praia do Baleal; 262-769-371, http://www.casadasmares.com . For seafood (entrees 10 euros), walk across the beach to Prainha Bar Restaurante, part of Café Amigos do Baleal, Praia do Baleal, Ferrel Peniche, 2520; 262-758-087 Palace Hotel do Bussaco, Mata do Bussaco, 3051-261, Luso; 231-937-970, http://www.

World Cup 2010: PORTUGAL FIFA ranking: 4 Overall World Cup record: 11-7-1 Coach: Carlos Queiroz Best performance: Third place, 1966 Overview: A semifinalist four years ago, Portugal comes into this summer's tournament as one of the favorites. And it will be tested in the first round since it is matched with Brazil and the Ivory Coast in group play. The key for Portugal, however, will be how Coach Carlos Queiroz deals with the loss of Jose Bosingwa and the possible absence of Pepe to knee injuries.

Kathleen Dier-Saltz and her husband, Larry, visited Portugal in September to celebrate his 60th birthday. In Braga, near the country's northwestern corner, the couple happened upon groups of college-age students, some dressed in elaborate uniforms. As Dier-Saltz watched the students, these two young women took a backward glance. The West Hills resident used a Nikon D3000.

Your feature ("Coasting on Portugal's Riviera," March 7) brought back memories of my two-month trip through Europe in 1971. For 10 days I stayed in the waterfront, vine-covered Pensao Ricco in Cascais, pictured off to the right in one of your cover photos. The rates for demi-pension were just $5.50 per day and, it being off-season in late October, I was the only pampered guest. The Cascais citizens were unfailingly polite, charming and eager to suggest local attractions. Only the prices seem to have changed.

Travel due east across the Atlantic from New York, and the first country you'll encounter is Portugal. But it's often an afterthought for most Americans — a side trip if there's spare time after visiting Spain, its bigger neighbor. With its stumbling economy, Portugal has garnered more attention than usual, This is bad news for the Portuguese, of course, but savvy travelers know that bad economies often mean great deals. Late last spring, my wife and I spent nine nights — but relatively few euros — in Portugal, staying at a variety of distinctive lodgings for a fraction of what comparable accommodations would cost in the U.S. or in much of Europe.

With European government bond markets already in severe distress, the credit-rating companies keep delivering their equivalent of a blast of pepper spray. Bond yields surged again across Europe on Friday, one day after Fitch Ratings cut Portugal's debt rating to "junk" status. After markets closed, Standard & Poor's dealt yet another blow to Eurozone debt, cutting Belgium's rating to AA from AA+. S&P cited growing doubts that Belgium will be able to reduce its debt load as the continent's economic situation deteriorates.

With European government bond markets already in severe distress, the credit-rating companies keep delivering their equivalent of a blast of pepper spray. Bond yields surged again across Europe on Friday, one day after Fitch Ratings cut Portugal's debt rating to "junk" status. After markets closed, Standard & Poor's dealt yet another blow to Eurozone debt, cutting Belgium's rating to AA from AA+. S&P cited growing doubts that Belgium will be able to reduce its debt load as the continent's economic situation deteriorates.

The FBI agents wore swimsuits — the better to ensure they were unarmed as they delivered $1 million in cash to the hijackers. The criminals wore beatific looks, traveled with young children and were "polite as possible," a passenger on the ill-fated Delta flight recalled at the time. For one man, it was the perfect crime — for nearly 40 years. But on Tuesday, the FBI said it had caught up with the last hijacker, a convicted killer named George Wright who had escaped from prison in 1970 and resurfaced two years later when he joined members of a radical black nationalist group in forcing the jet to fly to Algeria.

With abundant sunshine, shimmering heat and a diurnal shift in line with many coastal viticultural areas , there is no denying that the Temecula Valley is an authentic California winegrowing region. However, setting aside Pierce's disease and the prevailing party atmosphere, challenges remain. Problems with hygiene, brettanomyces and volatile acidity in particular still taint bottlings from less diligent producers. Farming practices too can be relatively lax, compared with the meticulous care taken by Napa and Sonoma growers.

Remember Angola? Let us rephrase the question: Have you heard of the Angolan war for independence, 1961-75, that brutal, pigheaded attempt by the Salazar dictatorship to hang on to Portugal's prize African colony? If you draw a blank, don't worry. Portugal's most admired living writer, who was drafted as a young doctor into the conflict in 1971, compressed his two-year experience into a short, intimate novel that packs the impact of an exploding mortar shell. Read António Lobo Antunes' "The Land at the End of the World," and you, like the protagonist, may never forget the hallucinatory depravity, degradation and corruption of an unjust war that sent so many young men to Africa while stay-at-home elites reaped the profits.

The dismal U.S. jobs report for June got most of the attention on Wall Street, but the greater risk to the global economy may be the spreading debt crisis in Europe. The contagion that has forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts from the rest of Europe now is threatening Italy as investors demand ever-higher interest rates on Italian government bonds. "If the Italian situation does not stabilize shortly, it can make the Greek, Irish and Portuguese problems seem like a cakewalk," said Marc Chandler, a currency strategist at Brown Bros.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded Portugal's government bond ratings by two notches, citing the likelihood of further deterioration in the nation's finances and weak economic growth prospects. The firm cut the ratings to A1 from Aa2 and said the outlook was now stable, with the upside and downside risks evenly balanced. Moody's had placed the ratings on review for possible downgrade May 5. Moody's said it expected the Portuguese government's debt metrics to continue to deteriorate for at least two to three more years.