Portugal is approximately the size of Scotland with twice the population and has an incredible variety of customs. Down the coast around Lisbon, and on the well-developed Algarve in the south, there are highly classy resorts, while the lively capital, Lisbon, has sufficient going on to please most city devotees.

However in its rural areas, Portugal is yet a clearly underdeveloped country. There are a plethora of opportunities to experience smaller towns and countryside regions that have changed a little in the past century.

As regards population and traditions, variations between the north and south are particularly outstanding. People are of mainly Celtic and German stock. South of the Tagus, where the Moorish and Roman civilizations were mainly recognized, the inhabitants tend to be darker-skinned and maintain more of a "Mediterranean" lifestyle.

After Lisbon, the major Portuguese population is in Paris. There are refugee workers spread all through France and Germany. Returning to Portugal, these migrants have brought in contemporary ideas and challenged many conventional rural values.

The supreme of all Portuguese influences, however, is the sea. The Portuguese are extremely conscious of themselves as a seafaring community. Mariners like Vasco da Gama showed the way in exploration of Africa and America, and until 1976, Portugal continued to be a colonial power.

In view of the fact that Portugal is so dense, it is easy to take in something of each of its elements. Scenically, a majority of the interesting areas of Portugal are in the north. The Minho is green, damp, and frequently startling in its rural traditions. The marvelous gorge and valley of the Douro followed along its course by the railway, off which antiquated branch lines edge into remote Trs-os-Montes is another attractive part of Portugal.

For those having contemporary interest, Lisbon and Porto, are the two cities to visit. For those interested in monuments, the centre of the country, above all, Coimbra and vora, maintain a faded splendor. The coast is nearly a continuous beach, and with the exception of Algarve and a small number of resorts in the region of Lisbon and Porto, resorts remain simple and thoroughly Portuguese, with great stretches of deserted sands between them.