Hello Mary Lou,
Hopefully you will have a nice stay in Portugal. The climate along the Atlantic coast is much more stable because of the strong buffering effect of the ocean. I think conditions will be there just about the same as during the past years.
Yes, in general it has been rather cold throughout continental Europe and even the Mediterranean was hit several times by polar air masses – as is the case in these days. In this moment we have Cyclamen coum (http://galeria.infojardin.com/showphoto.php?photo=41573&ppuser=42678) in blossom here and there still were some flowers of Cyclamen persicum. Also several types of Crocus chrysanthus were in flower before the snow fell and the beautiful Crocus sieberi forms (like ‘Sublimis Tricolor’):
http://www.domus-bulborum.com/foto_varie/C_sieberi_Sublimis_Tricolor.jpg
Some tazettas and Rijnveld’s Early Sensation also made it. But everything else is much behind its normal time, including the many mimosas (Acacia dealbata) which started getting really yellow only during the last week. In normal years it looked quite different: http://www.bulbi.net/GIARDINI/ftm/075_giallo_di_primavera.htm
Kind regards
Henry