VISITING a beach town during its low-season feels a bit spooky, especially when you've experienced it at the height of summer. Lagos, on Portugal's Algarve, was scorching hot and choked with people when I came in August. Mopping the sweat from my brow and dodging blotto, red-faced tourists and over-eager touts, I'd had a feeling that if you half-emptied the streets and dropped the temperature by, say, 10 to 15 degrees, it would be a much more pleasant place.

"It wasn't a bad hunch," my sister, Helen, says, as we stroll.......