A dear friend of mine, who I must say is a little older than me, travelled to Portugal last century. Marguerite was particularly struck by the women of Portugal. She has asked me to share some of her wonderful photographs that she took on that expedition all those years ago.

I think you will agree that Marguerite captured the dignity of these women perfectly.

Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād was not a man to be messed with, in fact he would have been good to have had in the second row in my Rosewood Under 15 team. He was a Moroccan ex-slave who became a great military leader, and he led the expedition of Moors who in 711 conquered almost all of the Iberian Peninsula. The Rock of Gibraltar is named after him – it was the first stop on his way towards Southern France. Sintra, the town we went to today, has a castle built by the Moors in the 11th century – 300 years after Tariq had done his bit for Islam in Spain and Portugal.

It is a little ironic that this castle was part of a line of fortifications aimed at keeping Europeans out, They certainly didn’t want ignorant Christians from the North polluting the purity of their culture. In poetry, literature, and most of the sciences – particlarly medicine, astronomy and mathematics – the Africans at that time were far more advanced than most Europeans. Jews were tolerated, even encouraged, as the merchant and banking middle-men – something that cost them dearly in the Inquisition after the South was finally reconquered by crusading knights.

The castle fell into disrepair and it was severely damaged by the 1755 earthquake. But in the 1830s it became something of a tourist attraction after being partially repaired by the Portuguese king. Sintra itself had become the place royals went to get out of Lisbon after the earthquake, it is filled with their palaces and gardens which today are museums or art galleries. It is also filled with cork shops, fast food places, souvenir shops and day-tour touts.

Actually when you think about it Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād may have been on the right track. Perhaps the Moors should have fought a wee bit harder to keep the uncultured Europeans out of Sintra. They could have put their university there instead of building it in Cordoba. I for one would pay money for that tour. Even buy a cork postcard at a pinch.

F C-S