1936 On the Continent

travel to Irun third class the fare is only £4 10s., a saving of £2 3s., while if you take a room without board at the hotels and feed outside you can save another £3 without stinting yourself.
    On £50 you can travel and live in Spain for 30 days “like a lord.”

PORTUGAL
by
LUIZ TEIXEIRA
    TABLE OF CONTENTS

PORTUGAL
    D EAR M ADAM ,—You are tired of making pilgrimages to world-famous ruins, dazed and bored with the somnolent atmosphere of museums, weary of peregrinations through interminable cathedral naves and stairways, and of strenuous climbs to historic places.
    The day-to-day routine has affected your nerves, you are overcome with fatigue and discouragement by the sameness of the attractions offered at the usual summer resorts. Inevitably, you yearn for new scenery, aspire to the conquest of fresh horizons. The fog encircles you like a wintry wrap. You long for the glorious light and clear sky of a Spring morning.
    Allow me to advise you, dear Lady: Come to Portugal.
Museums, Museums, Museums
    Here you will find sunshine and happiness and the charm of an azure sky as the clear, peaceful days pass on the great sandy beaches, amid delightful country scenery, or in the quiet towns. You will also find an hospitable welcome, though without the pretentious claims of countries that exploit the conventions of touring professionally.
    Do you remember the cruises when we were travelling companions for weeks, following up our programme of flying visits to Mediterranean ports?
    You will not have forgotten the excursions we made together to so many places, where a mechanical, liveried guide with a gramophone soul took charge of us and hustled us madly through ancient palaces and through churches that were so very, very old that age appeared to be their sole claim to being classified as artistic treasures. We saw hundreds of solemn monuments, decrepit ruins, opulent and monotonous museums, all sombre, heavy, depressing.
    We both of us deplored having to leave the places we visited without having seen anything of them except what we viewed from our great motor-buses, with our guide seated in the front seat and bawling every moment:
    “Ladies and Gentlemen,—This is the statue of Frederickthe Great; there is King Gustav’s palace; we will now alight to visit the Acropolis.…” Or something to similar effect.
    It is the same practically everywhere—except in Portugal.
    I promised you a different country, another light, other interests, other colours. And here it all is, awaiting your pleasure, small but full of attractions as a world exhibition, and full of charm as a midsummer night’s dream. The glorious phases of Portugal’s history, the centuries of daring adventures, fierce combats, audacious conquests, romantic loves, brilliant tournaments between young and daring cavaliers, all the heroic feats accomplished by a nation of soldiers and sailors, have left beautiful and impressive records all over this territory, where Europe ends and the way to the new world begins. Noble castles, in stone blackened by the passage of centuries, stand out against a background of hills covered with verdure; churches and innumerable authentic monuments of artistic merit abound. In country places rustic life reveals itself in picturesque exuberance. You see people bearing unmistakable racial traits, charming costumes, colourful popular fêtes and dances; an unceasing spectacle of sheer fascination. If you are in search of new sensations and impressions that may at the same time engage your interest, you will find a wide field for the study of contrasts in the ways and customs of the people, while enjoying the pleasant, indefinable charm of your surroundings. This charm represents the sum total of the amazing variety of details which constitute the character, disposition and spirit of Portugal, where everything tends to attract the foreigner of refined tastes who wishes to spend a happy and comfortable holiday.
“Hospitalidade”
    Now that I see you have really decided to visit my country, let me teach you the first Portuguese words that you must know. When your visit is over, and you return to your homeland delighted with your experience of so many unexpected attractions, you will seek to express the most characteristic quality of the Portuguese people. You will then say
Hospitalidade
, which conveys the frank, sincere welcome with which the Portuguese people receivethe foreign visitor in their homes, offering him the finest