Lisbon
Lisbon (; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 505,526 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km. Its urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 2.8 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union. About 3 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (which represents approximately 27% of the country's population). It is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus. The westernmost areas of its metro area form the westernmost point of Continental Europe, which is known as Cabo da Roca, located in the Sintra Mountains.
History of Lisbon
In the 1930s, Duarte Pacheco (1900 – 1943), first as Public Works minister and later as Mayor of Lisbon, was responsible for a redefinition of the city's urban area by an innovative concerted action of legislation, architecture and urbanisation. In 1933, Pacheco invited the French urban architect, Alfred Agache (1875 – 1959), to draw up an urbanization plan from Terreiro do Paço to Cascais. The 24 July 1933 issue of the newspaper, "Diário de Lisboa", announced: “We Will Modernise the Capital! The French architect Agache came to Lisbon to study the construction of a highway from Lisbon to Cascais". This was to be a panoramic coastal road designed to accentuate the Portuguese capital's spectacular location, emphasising its proximity to the sea and associated entertainment and touristic activities, as well as sunbathing areas and thermal spas of cosmopolitan character. Lisbon would be connected to "The Costa do Sol", a tourist resort with the Palace Hotel and the International Casino, where facilities for golf, horse-riding and horse racing, polo, auto racing, fencing, pigeon shooting and beach sports were available.