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Travel

Mail
The word "Correio" denotes a Post Office or mail services. First class mail is denoted by the words "correio azul" and associated with the colour blue. The Post Office also offers an express service named EMS that records the delivery. A registered letter is "correio registrado", and postage stamps are called "selos".

Post Offices are normally open from 08.30 hrs. until 18.30 hrs. from Monday to Friday but this is only a general rule as they vary from district to district. In some towns main Post Offices will also be open on Saturdays mornings or the whole day. Outside and inside many Post Offices, there are stamp vending machines that indicate the cost for each type and the weight of the item being posted.

Visitors wishing to receive mail when in Portugal may use the "Poste Restante". Items should be addressed as follows:

Major Post Offices also have the facility of sending and receiving Fax. There is also a system for receiving and sending e-mail by renting a Computer Unit.

Telephone
Public telephones are to be found in the street in major towns and in the Post Offices. This national service is run by a State owned company named Telecom (TLP). Telephones can be used according to the two ways of paying other than with cash. One is by a card named "Credifone" and the other is by "TLP Cartão". The former is accepted throughout the country and the latter only in Lisbon and Porto. Cards can be purchased at shops displaying signs advertising their sale.

International calls can be made direct and the dial code for Portugal is "351". A caller must first dial "00", then his country dial number, then the area code without the prefix "0", and lastly the subscribers' number. Call charges are cheaper between 22.00 hrs. and 08.00 hrs., and at weekends. Hotels normally charge a surcharge for an outgoing call. Within Portugal you can call direct to any subscriber first dialling the area code if the destination of the call is outside the area in which the call is being made. An area code is indicated by the prefix of "2" - example "289" - where "89" indicates the telephone area of Faro.

Mobile phones in Portugal use the GSM telephone service. Visitors using this system will have the benefit of Roaming. To contact a mobile phone number from a fixed phone you use the same method described above for dialling outside your area.

WHO? WHAT? WHERE? & WHEN? IN ALGARVE