In which Layla and Roz admire glorious views, have waterside bike fun, and visit a fairytale village

by Layla

When we pulled back the curtains yesterday we were dazzled and delighted by the sight of a glorious blue sky. We wolfed down our breakfast and ran out into the warm, sunny day with bare legs and joy in our hearts (and a better understanding of the importance of weather for an excellent holiday). We walked down Avenue de Liberdade, a wide avenue lined by posh hotels and some shops, to the main square at Rossio. Fountains, cobblestones and general prettiness abounded and we both felt absolutely in love with Lisbon. We walked down through pedestrianised streets to the spot where one catches the 28 tram. This is a very famous route, a 45 minute meander though the steep, narrow, picturesque streets of Graca and Alfama, on hills east of the centre, aboard a delightful old wooden tram. Though in fact I put us on the direct tram by mistake and after a very pretty 15 minutes, we were unceremoniously asked to disembark.

And so to our first lookout point, aka miradour, a popular concept that involves a beautiful view over Lisbon and the river, preferably accompanied by drinks. We duly ordered beers and sat with our books, gazing out over the fantastic vista in the blazing sunlight. After our drinks, and a little read, Lonely Planet walking tour in hand, we followed the winding roads past tiny, Moorish streets of quite glorious charm, til we hit our lunch spot, Chapito, a lovely little restaurant with the obligatory excellent view, attached randomly to a circus school. Roz and I enquired about their vegetarian options, then in a moment of confusion ordered them all. Soon we were facing an absolutely enormous plate of potatoes, two large mozzarella and tomato toasties, and a frankly massive salad that involved ricotta, the first time I'd eaten this since I was sick in New York. I was almost sick again at the memory it brought back... Roz soldiered on masterfully...

After lunch, we continued our walk, which led to the pretty Sao Jorge castle. We didn't go in (horrible queue for tickets), but walked around the outside, and up and down the adjacent pretty streets, with ice cream. All was quite lovely til a combination of new shoes and dodgy ankles and vertical cobbled slopes sent me sprawling to the ground with a sprained ankle. Alas right in front of the giant queue for the castle. As I sat on the ground clutching my leg, Roz ran back up the hill to a nearby cafe and persuaded them to give her a bag of ice. The queue watched with interest as I applied this to my ankle before eventually getting up inelegantly and limping pathetically towards the exit. Alas the Alfama was not a place where one grabs a taxi, so we sat in the patio of the extremely posh hotel Palacio Belmonte and while I sipped an odd drink that tasted like melted vanilla ice cream, Roz had a quick beer and went in search of an open pharmacy for an ankle bandage. Alas the Alfama on Easter Sunday is not the place to find such a thing, but the elevation and ice persuaded me to be well, and we slowly made our way to another fantastic viewpoint, and then slowly down the hill past cafes and quaint little shops back to Rossio. Which thankfully had a pharmacy with a plethora of ankle bandage options. Ah, we never feel it's really a holiday til we've been to a pharmacy... (a tradition started when Roz and I fell down the big hole in Cambodia...).

Our next mission was to hunt down an English Language bookshop for Roz, whose Kindle has randomly died. We located one called FNAC in Chiado, a few minutes' walk away, and whiled away a pleasant half hour browsing and buying. Then we walked down the hill, past a mad street elevator designed by the protegee of the Eiffel Tower architect, apparently, and into a taxi home.

Being that most restaurants in Lisbon are closed on a Sunday, and in fact this was Easter Sunday, it seemed fairly likely that we were going to have a dining challenge. However, I was foolishly undeterred by the lack of phone answering from either our chosen restaurant or chosen bar, so we glammed up and marched with confidence, only to find that - not surprisingly - both were firmly closed. We started walking towards the centre, wishing we'd worn cardigans as the night became cool and everyone else was clad in warm jackets... We veered up a side street in search of another restaurant listed in our book. Weirdly it was a scary side street of alarming people shouting things at us so, having spotted that the restaurant in question was closed, we retreated and commenced an hour-long wander around town, fruitlessly searching for a restaurant that was a) open, b) had a vegetarian option on its menu, c) had an indoor seating option, and d) had more than one person in it. Cold, tired and hungry, we were beginning to give up hope, when we popped into the Altis Hotel at Rossio. Hooray - success! By now 9pm, we wearily zoomed up to the 7th floor, to find an attractive restaurant randomly filled with gay boys, and offering a range of vegetarian food. The joy!

Alas the joy was not to last - despite a practically full restaurant, the manager had invested in a mere two waiters. As such, the service was shockingly slow. But the food was tasty, and a glass of champagne later, we were feeling in fine humour. By the time a taxi delivered us back to the hotel, it was quite a civilised bedtime.

Which alas did not save us from the jetlag! Up as usual by 7:30am, we decided to get up, have breakfast and - having checked out from our hotel - take a taxi down to the waterfront to hire bikes. Alas the taxi refused to understand where we wanted to go, so yet again it was a stroll down the Avenue. Iberia Bikes were fantastic - friendly, efficient, and enthusiastic. We were furnished with two bicycles, and pointed in the direction of Belem, a suburb of Lisbon containing UNESCO world heritage sites, art, parks, and world-famous custard pastries (Lisbon's specialty). The route was a really lovely 8km cycle path along the waterfront. With the sun sparkling off the water and singing our newly suntan lotioned skin, we zoomed along past yachts and cruise ships and attractive restaurants and quirky museums, to the tower of Belem, a sandcastle-like structure in the water, and stopped for drinks and a large crepe at a waterside cafe before pushing our bikes down an underpass and emerging in Belem itself.

Belem is a pretty place and we may have to return sans bike to explore it further. Lots of lovely parks, fountains, and amazing buildings. Of course I made a beeline for the famous pastry place. Roz craftily directed us to a table, thus avoiding massive queues for take-away tarts, and the pastries were everything one could hope of a custard tart (and a delightful waiter). After the tart action, we cycled to the ferry terminal and took a commuter ferry - just for the fun of it - to the south side of the river, pretty little beachy villages, it seemed. And back again in time for a return to the previous cafe for mozzarella and tomato sandwiches and lots of lemonade.

By the time we cycled back to the cycle hire place, our skin was pink and our legs were weary. We were greeted warmly by the bike hire girls, and grabbed a taxi back to our hotel. We wondered at the odd route the taxi driver was taking, but soon all became clear - there was a huge march happening, right outside our hotel and all the way down the Avenue! It turns out 25th April is the Carnation Revolution, celebrating the coup that ended Portugal's dictatorship regime. Bags in hand, and taxis looking unlikely, we set off yet again down the Avenue, alongside the parade. Random.

We got to the train station in Rossio, which is oddly unmarked, though for the past couple of days we'd been wondering what the fancy building was... and hopped on a 45 minute train to Sintra, described as a fairytale Eden by the guidebooks, and our base for the next two days. I probably should have scrutinised the map before we arrived and I led Roz on a wild goose chase in several wrong directions... but eventually we arrived at the Nova Sintra Hotel, climbed up many, many steps, and were established in a cute little attic room by a very sweet hotelier.

Sintra village itself is 1.5km away from our hotel, so after a quick shower, we set out to explore. It does indeed seem to be a fairytale type of place, with thick forests, fabulous cartoon-like castles, turrets, and quirky sculptures, and a town square right out of a book. We had a quick drink, a quick explore, and settled down to an extensive dinner of vegetable soup, mushroom tortellini, goat's cheese, berry and endive salad, ice cream and chocolate cake at Cafe de Paris before taking a taxi back up the hill to our little hotel room where we are drinking wine and feeling rather tired after a very satisfactory day.