The Azores is a very good idea, especially as Portugal tends to get swamped by the Spanish ( I have that trouble in my mod as well).

I was thinking for extra space, are all the Islands important? I know Cyprus and Malta are in your time frame but is Crete? I'm not that sure about this but it could give you a little more space maybe dividing Greece in half and that might encourage a few more wars kicking off in the Balkan theatre.