They Went to Portugal: A Travellers’ Portrait

Henry Fielding sailed to Portugal with his household in search of a cure for dropsy, jaundice and asthma. The rather more alluring promise of orange-scented and wine-soaked afternoons was what drew fellow novelist William Beckford to its shores. Byron, meanwhile, was sent into a black rage when the locals failed to greet his arrival with the level of fanfare he expected. Novelist Rose Macaulay first travelled to Lisbon in March 1943 to escape the misery of London and loss of her bombed flat. Turning to letters, diaries and travelogues, she brought together the reactions of some of the many British travellers in whose footsteps she now trod. They Went to Portugal rambles down the centuries, bringing us the voices and experiences of a fascinating cast of characters: from pirate crusaders to ambassadors, from clergymen of all denominations to the port-wine trading pioneers, from aesthetes to the Romantics.