Roughly rectangular in shape and with a population of around ten million people, Portugal has much to offer the modern visitor – young and old alike.
Portuguese Baroque architecture is a revelation that’s held in great esteem around the world for its vigour, purity and astonishing abundance, especially in the north of the country.
Covering some 600 square-kilometres, Portugal’s very own cowboy country – the Ribatejo, meaning ‘bank of the Tagus’ – is a highly fertile province and the country’s geographical and agricultural heartland.
Located 120 km (about an hour’s drive) due north of Lisbon, the church and adjacent monastery of Alcobaça are the earliest examples of truly Gothic architecture in Portugal.
Famous for its creamy cheeses, Serpa is a peaceful agricultural hilltop town of lovely white houses huddled around an ancient castle in the south-eastern corner of the Alentejo.
For independent visitors travelling under their own steam, there are several routes to the Portuguese capital from the Spanish frontier and other outlying areas of the country, each offering a wide variety of sightseeing opportunities along the way.
Latin but not Mediterranean, cosmopolitan but not crowded, Portugal is a country where a fair portion of the population still lives as people have always lived – in peaceful places far away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.