Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India It is often regarded as the most important work of Portuguese literature. The work celebrates the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. King Manuel did not share that opinion. Keeping the D. João II plan, he went ahead to equip the ships and chose Vasco da Gama as the leader of this expedition and the captain of the armada. According to the original plan, John II had appointed his father, Stephen da Gama, to head the armada; but by the time of implementing the plan, both were deceased. Portuguese were after spices,
European route E01 in Portugal largest city in Portugal Porto. From this coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, the E01 goes southwest, using the A1 motorway to the Centro Region passing by the major cities of Coimbra and Leiria to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. The motorway passes through the city center, from where it takes the A2 motorway crossing the sparsely populated Alentejo Region all the way until the south coast in the Algarve region at the merge with the A22 motorway at Albufeira. The road goes then east passing by Faro to the Spanish border at the Guadiana river in the Portuguese village of