Espanhóis em Portugal: ócio, militância e exílio no contexto do processo revolucionário (1974-1975)

This article addresses the Spanish reception of Portugal’s revolutionary process, focussing on travel as a form of experiencing the Portuguese Revolution that went beyond media consumption. Attention will be paid to the travel motivations, integrating the Spanish experience in Portugal into the history of “political tourism”. This integrative approach will critically discuss points of convergence as well as divergence between “political tourism” and the concept of exile in regard to the Spanish experience. We understand the Spanish trips to Portugal as a form of exile, because they opened up the possibility of performing activities abroad that were forbidden in Spain; even though part of a transnational movement, the experience of Spanish travellers was different from that of French, English or Italian ones. The trip, even if devoted to cultural consumption, was a transversal emancipatory experience shared by different social and political groups, whose common ground was the cultural rejection of Francoism. This praxis, usually exerted by Spanish oppositionals primarily in France, also extended to Portugal. Finally, Spanish tourism in Portugal was to become important enough for different narratives to be established in both states.