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Article: Portugal uncorked.(Travel)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 18, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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We have never given much thought to cork before. But on this pleasant November day, as we drive along a little-traveled country road in the Alentejo region of Portugal, cork is what we find ourselves thinking and talking about.
Eighty percent of the world's supply of cork comes from Portugal, most of it from the Alentejo region, this "land beyond the Tagus" that stretches from that great river down to the Algarve and from the Atlantic coast and a little east of Lisbon across to the Spanish border.
Unlike money, cork grows on trees. Vast expanses of cork trees lie on both sides of the scenic road that we are traveling. We have never before seen cork ...