Subject of the commemorative coin:
 500th anniversary of Fernão Mendes Pinto's birth

 Description:
 Fernão Mendes Pinto was a Portuguese explorer whose book about his discoveries and adventures by land and sea in Asia was published after his death under the title “Peregrinação” (Pilgrimage). The coin in his honour depicts a sailing ship floating on a sea formed by wave-shaped references to Portugal, Lisbon, his book and some of his destinations, with the name of the issuing country, Portugal, in the centre below. His name and the dates "1511" (left) and "2011" (right) form a semicircle along the upper edge of the inner part of the coin. The coin's outer ring bears the 12 stars of the European Union.