Walk the streets of any Portuguese city and sooner or later you will come across a scene that seems unchanged for decades: shoe-shiners on Lisbon’s Avenida da Libertade, elderly ladies hanging laundry from tumbledown balconies in old Porto or fish sun-drying on the beach in Nazaré. One of Europe’s most unassuming and introverted countries, Portugal is a place where the past is gazed upon with a sense of melancholy – until, of course, the past comes back with a bite. Since late January, Portugal has taken a battering on international markets, as its bond prices have plunged and ratings agencies have threatened to cut the country’s credit grade amid fears over rising budget deficits and … [Read more...] about History repeats in Portugal