Have you been confused and confounded by house and apartment numbering in Portugal, here's some help ... maybe? (First published: June 2nd, 2018, and subject to @António Ferreira fact-check!) Have you been confused by the Portuguese house numbering system? Especially when it comes to apartments? Me too! Here's a guide, especially useful when you're tracking down city locations and AirBnBs. From Wikipedia In Portugal, the rule (official standard) ... is: In buildings with only two corridors, all the apartments are marked as Esq. (Esquerdo = Left) or Dto. (Direito = Right). So we have C/V Esq. (Underground Floor Left), R/C Esq. (Ground Floor Left), 1º. Esq (1st Floor Left), etc.; and C/V Dto. (Underground Floor Right), R/C Dto. (Ground Floor Right) 1º. Dto. (1st Floor Right), etc. Got it? Now try this... Buildings with more than two apartments per floor, are marked with letters, clockwise within each deck. So apartment 8º-D (not 8D) means the 8th floor (hence the character "º" meaning ordinal number), apartment D (counting in clockwise direction, for those who are in the floor entrance). But a very common form for buildings with three apartments per floor is, Esq.-Frt./Fte. (Frente, en: Front - for the apartment located between left and right). Yikes! Basically, you need to learn: - Esquerdo = Left - Direito  = Right - C/V = Underground Floor - R/C = Ground Floor  - And 1º = 1st Floor etc. They add: "These universal rules simplify finding an apartment in a building, particularly for blind people, who do not need to ask where a given apartment is." UPDATE: (Sometimes, especially in the country) the house number is literally the distance in meters from a given point!

It's a grim wildfire scenario in Portugal today with much of the country on maximum alert, especially central and northern parts of the country. 1. Please stay informed - www.fogos.pt 2. Create a PLAN (for yourself, your household and perhaps to assist others in need). 3. Stay SAFE and AWARE of the situation until it has de-escalated Local Bombeiros stations will also be in need of and grateful for supplies. Find our fire preparedness and safety resources here