Perfectly lovely Portugal
The food is exceptional, the wine divine, the people friendly, the scenery breathtaking – and it’s cheaper than France, Spain or Italy. Welcome to Portugal, once considered the poor cousin of western Europe but now emerging from the global recession to make its mark and take its place in the world.
We arrive in Lisbon on a Sunday afternoon and our pre-booked minivan takes us to the Castelo San Jorge, an 11th-century Moorish fortress built high on one of the hills that dominate the city. Our hotel adjoins the fortress walls, and the cobblestoned streets leading up to it are too narrow for the van. So we haul
