Dashing through Portugal with a Spanish ending

Gorgeous: During some parts of the journey the coastal roads the we took fronted the Atlantic and this was one of the sights that we were privileged to see. Photo: Insight Vacations/Simon Boucher-Harris

(Updated) This writer gets more than a glimpse of history when he drinks in Portugal and takes a nibble in Spain.

MUCH of what I knew about Portugal was from school books on the Malacca sultanate, which would just about fill a thimble. Even less when it comes to neighbouring Spain. It was not until recently that I had the chance to fix this by joining a week-long media tour of Lisbon, Seville and several small towns in between.