Sports and Recreation
Sports and recreation are an important part of life for the Portuguese. Soccer is extremely popular as well as track and field, automobile racing and roller-skate hockey. Many Portuguese watch sports on television in public places like restaurants, taverns and stores. Portugal has some of the best golf courses in the world. The government is using golf to expand the tourist industry, as it continues to invest in and build new golf courses. In the fall, people enjoy hunting for wild boar, partridge and pheasant. Some summer sports are swimming, boating and surfing.
Other recreational activities include going out to cafes and discos. Cafes are meeting places where family and friends gather. Teenagers may gather at one cafe, while seniors meet at another. Dance clubs can be found all over Portugal. They usually open at midnight and close at sunrise. The cinemas are inexpensive and are not usually censored. Movies used to have a ten-minute break in the middle so members of the audience could have a cigarette break. This is not the case any longer.
Did you know?

The bullfights in Portugal are very different from those of Spain and South America. In Portugal it is illegal to kill the bull during the fight.