<\/p>\n
Photography:<\/strong> Jos\u00e9 Guerra<\/p>\n <\/p>\n S\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o, Ribeira d\u2019Ilhas, Sul and Foz do Lizandro (photo) are the Ericeira beaches awarded with the international status of Blue Flag 2014. These are part of the 298 beaches and 17 marinas in Portugal that were granted the distinction, marking the first time that Portugal achieves more than 300 Blue Flags in a sole year.<\/p>\n The Blue Flag is one of the most prestigious classifications in the world in regards to the environmental quality of beaches and marinas which apply and fulfill the required criteria: environmental information and education, security, services, environmental management, structures and quality of the water.<\/p>\n The Algarve is the region in Portugal with the most blue flags (82), having 13 new beaches on the awarded list. Albufeira is the most distinguished municipality, with 23 ‘blue flag’ beaches, followed by Vila Nova de Gaia with 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the first time Portugal has over 300 blue flags in a single year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society"],"yoast_head":"\n