For a country that spawned so many of the world's great explorers, Portugal seems strangely removed from the haste and techno-bustle of the rest of Europe and beyond. There is something uniquely attractive about the respect for tradition and resistance to change.
While visitors looking for something cosmopolitan can head for the timeshares, golf courses and hot beaches around the Algarve, the real appeal of Portugal lies in small neat villages surrounded by goats and vineyards, the sort of towns with shops that sell hats, pipes and ladies' shoes but close after lunch, and family seaside spots.
Enormous wealth and fervent Catholicism are behind the country's extraordinary art and over-sized architecture, and all castles, forts, churches and walls have been built to last at least a millennium.
In Lisbon, the steep cobbled alleys of the Moorish quarter, the Alfama climb up past small street cafes, narrow hotels and bars to the Castelo de Sao Jorge for spectacular views over tiled roofs and church domes to boats on the Tagus. A tram ride to Belem and onto Sintra plus a bottle of Sagres, the local beer, should quench your thirst for man-made splendour.
For natural splendour not even Portugal's clear water coves in the far south can compete with the bleak and craggy mountain wilderness around Tras-os-Montes in the far north, but why not try both? It's the perfect excuse for trying as many as possible of the government-run pousadas, hotels crafted from old buildings in the very best locations.
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