Peniche (), officially the City of Peniche (), is a seaside municipality and a city in the Oeste region, in the historical province of Estremadura, and in the

Leiria District The District of Leiria ( ) is a district located between the Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Centro regions of Portugal, and divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura. It borders on the north with district of Coimbra, ...

. It has 26,431 inhabitants, in an area of 77.55 km². The city itself has a population of about 15,600 inhabitants. The present mayor is Henrique Bertino, elected by the independent coalition GCEPP (''Grupo de Cidadãos Eleitores por Peniche''; Electors for Peniche Group of Citizens). The idiomatic expression '' Friend from Peniche'', used to describe someone who wants to receive things at the expense of other without giving anything in return, comes from here.

History and landmarks

The city was built on a rocky peninsula which is considered by geologists a unique example of the Toarcian turnover during the worldwide

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

extinction. Peniche is known for its long beaches, which are popular for recreational activities and sports such as

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

, bodyboarding and

kite surfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, snow, sand, or other surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snow ...

. These beaches are consistently windy and have good surf breaks with '' Supertubos'', i.e., waves forming fast and powerful tubes, considered among the best in Europe. The area has been called the "European Pipeline", after the Banzai Pipeline in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Peniche Fortress is a notable example of Portuguese coastal defences. During the 20th-century period of authoritarian rule known as the Estado Novo, or Second Republic, it was used as a prison for communists and other opponents of the regime. The Berlengas islands, about offshore from the peninsula, are part of the municipality. They form one of the world's first

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s. In summer, the islands can be visited by taking a ferryboat from Peniche. Peniche, with its scenic harbour, white windmills, chapels and long sandy beaches has inspired famous artists like Maurice Boitel.

Climate

Peniche has a

warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Csb'') greatly moderated by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, with mild wet winters and cool dry summers. Its low

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

and little seasonal temperature variation make it remarkably mild year-round. It has a climate very similar to that of

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

only with warmer nights mainly due to the effects of the Portugal Current. Despite its latitude in central Portugal, the city has one of the mildest winter night-time temperatures in

mainland Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by so ...

Economy

Since ancient times Peniche has been an important fishing harbour. Besides fisheries, the economy of the Peniche municipality relies on agriculture, services and tourism. Two versions of the AW-Energy WaveRoller have been tested about 800 m off the coast of Peniche, in 2012 and 2019–2021. This device sits on the seabed and harnesses

wave power Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful mechanical work, work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power (physics), power is a wave energy converter (WEC). W ...

from the surging motion of nearshore waves, feeding power into the local electricity grid.

Education

Besides schools for primary, secondary and vocational education, Peniche is home to a state-run

polytechnic A polytechnic is an educational institution that primarily focuses on vocational education, applied sciences, and career pathways. They are sometimes referred to as ''institutes of technology'', ''vocational institutes'', or ''universities of app ...

school of the '' Instituto Politécnico de Leiria'', which through its ''Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar de Peniche'', awards academic degrees in marine technologies and tourism.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): *

Atouguia da Baleia Atouguia da Baleia is a parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, pri ...

* Ferrel * Peniche * Serra d'El-Rei

Surfing

Peniche is one of the best

locations in Europe. It has beaches and breaks facing three distinctly different directions, making it a consistent destination for surfers. Home to many surf camps/schools, it annually hosts the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal from the World championship tour of the World Surf League (WSL) at the Supertubos beach.

Sports

The football club of the city is called Grupo Desportivo de Peniche. Peniche Amigos Clube is known nationally for their

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

and

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

teams. Clube Stella Maris is known nationally for their

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

teams. The club gives the population a pavilion which hosts many sport-related events. The city annually hosts the ''Triatlo de Peniche'', which unites the Portuguese Cup and the National Universities Championships with the historical event, the first ever in Portugal. The best-known athletes from Peniche are

Telma Santos Telma Santos (born 1 August 1983) is a Portuguese badminton player. She competed for Portugal at the 2012 and at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Santos is the niece of Fernando Silva, a badminton player who also represented Portugal in the 1992 Summer ...

, who has participated in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio de Janeiro; Silvano Lourenço, the European bodyboarding champion in 2007; and Victoria Kaminskaya who participated in the swimming competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Notable people

* Antônio Ferreira Viçoso (1787-1875) a Portuguese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Mariana, 1843-1875 * Ricardo Costa (1940–2021) a Portuguese film director. Ricardo Costa, IMDb Database
retrieved 25 July 2021. * Albertino João Santos Pereira (1967–2010) stage name ''Beto'', a Portuguese singer. * Carlos Leitão (born 1959), Canadian economist and politician *

(born 1983) a Portuguese badminton player, competed at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

Gallery

File:Remedios peniche portugal azulejos 55a550004.jpg, interiors azulejos of Remedios chapel in Peniche, Portugal File:Azulejos na Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, Peniche (36059786463).jpg, interiors azulejos of Remedios chapel in Peniche, Portugal File:Península de Peniche - Portugal (238698997).jpg, Beach File:Portugal 2011 (6647469299).jpg, Peniche File:Peniche beach 3.jpg, Peniche File:Peniche (25618407450).jpg, Peniche File:Peniche beach 5.jpg, Peniche File:Peniche (31661116951).jpg, Nau dos Corvos, a rock formation that is one of Peniche's landmarks File:Fortaleza de Peniche - Portugal (2006526852).jpg, Old harbour walls at Peniche File:D810 4900 (16626304231).jpg, Peniche File:D810 4908 (16601439656).jpg, Peniche File:D810 5023 (16440676248).jpg,

References

External links

Municipality official website
{{Authority control Cities in Portugal Populated places in Oeste e Vale do Tejo Seaside resorts in Portugal Port cities and towns in Portugal Municipalities of Leiria District Tombolos