Honeymoon Tours Travel

Most visitors to Portugal head for the sandy coves, prettybfishing villages, and manicured golf courses of the Algarve. But beyond the south coast resorts lies the least explored corner of Western Europe: a country of rugged landscapes, cities with proud traditions, and quiet rural backwaters.

Portugal appears to have no obvious graphical claim to nationhood, yet country has existed within borders virtually unchanged for nearly 800 years making it one of the oldest ion states in Europe. Its ten million people are proudly independent from, distrustful of, neighboring Spain.

For a small country, the regions of Portugal are immensely varied. The rural Minho and Tras-os-Montes in north are the most traditional - some might say backward. Over the last few decades many inhabitants of these neglected regions have been forced to emigrate in search of work. At the same time, the Algarve, with its beautiful sandy beaches and warm Mediterranean climate, has come a vacation playground for ,norrth Europeans as well as the Portuguese themselves.

Lisbon, the capital, at the mouth of the Tagus, is a cosmopolitan metropolis with a rich cultural life. Oporto is a serious rival, especiallv in terms of commerce and industry, and is the center for the production and export of Portugal's most famous product — port wine, grown on steeply terraced vineyards hewn out of mountainsides in the wild upper reaches of the Douro valley.