Have to agree on that. Laughing, smiling, and obsessed with having photos taken! Dragged off the street to be shown mosques, kites, and fed cardamom tea, even in the least likely places. Wonderful place, which makes its current situation all the sadder.

The least? Hard to say. It's important not to confuse mannerism with behaviour. In the course of work, the warmest welcome I've had has always been in Poland, not a country I'd associate with smiling and laughter on the street. For similar reasons, working in Sweden has always been a pleasure.

Actually, and probably through familiarity more than anything else, I'd have to have South-East England as one of the least welcoming. There seems to be a constant undercurrent of "you're in my way" aggression, and a lack of conviviality towards strangers. When I used to commute into London, there was a core of about 20 of us who would congregate at one end of the last carriage of the train and chat (there aren't that many trains out this way!) while everybody else looked on like we'd just escaped from Broadmoor.

The flipside of that is the strength of friendship you do get once you get to know somebody.