Portugal
Portugal is one of the cheapest and
most fascinating destinations in Europe. It has a rich seafaring past,
superb beach resorts, wistful towns and cities, and a landscape wreathed
in olive groves, vineyards and wheat fields. Four decades of dictatorship
left the country sidelined from Europe's power centres and detached from
the progressiveness of modern life for much of this century.
Holidaymakers mistook this
tardy development for quaintness and, once free of the yoke of dictatorship,
Portugal developed a reputation as little more than a cheap charter flight
destination for northern Europeans wanting to pep up their summer tans.
Portugal is not an extension of
the Costa del Sol but - like its neighbour, Spain - it has spent much of
the last 20 years trying to move in from the periphery, forging new ties
with the rest of Europe, restructuring its economy, and struggling to maintain
what is best in its national culture in the face
of a sudden onslaught of international influences. The struggle between
the traditional and the modern continues, and as Portugal flows towards
the economic mainstream of the European Union, it still seems to gaze nostalgically
over its shoulder and out to sea.