In which Layla and Roz return to unpredicted Lisbon sun, walk up and down lots of hills, and explore new areas

by Layla

Our last morning in Sintra was beautifully sunny, and after a lovely breakfast on the hotel's patio, we meandered down the road in the opposite direction of the touristy historical centre, to find a pretty pedestrianised street where Sintra locals clearly go about their business. We walked down to a huge, impressive building which was playing host to the World Press Cartoons Awards, and whiled away a happy hour wandering through rooms of press cartoons from a huge range of countries (in some cases, the language proving something of a barrier to grasping the joke, but in many cases demonstrating a rather shared language).

We checked out, popped to an outdoor cafe for a final custard tart and a coffee, and then caught the train back to Lisbon. By this point it really felt as though our holiday had been several weeks long, but disconcertingly it still wasn't over. We caught a funicular train up the hill from Rossio station, then wound our way round a hilly maze of tiny cobbled streets where old ladies and tiny, fashionable bars merged into the quirky, trendy, traditional and intriguing area of Bairro Alto, our home for the next five nights. We'd rented an apartment, but not due to check in til later, we located it and left our bags with the concierge, and headed off, map in hand, to one of Portugal's only vegetarian restaurants, Terra. It turned out to be really lovely - a buffet with an irresistible array of vegetarian options, and seating in a pretty, shady garden. Relaxing and a delightful way to spend the early afternoon.

Eventually we had to concede we'd eaten our fill and proceeded to an area known as Lisbon's gay area, Principe Real. This is the area immediately west of Bairro Alto, and its centrepiece is an attractive park. We wandered through it, then up the street to Lisbon University's botanical gardens, where we paid a small fee and spent more time pottering along little lanes. Perhaps not the best botanical garden in the world, but shady and sweet, and we had a very cheery afternoon there. Until we realised it was time to return to our apartment to check in.

Our apartment is in a very cool and glamorous old convent building, all marble and Portuguese tiling, and when we stepped into our studio flat, we turned quite green with envy of the owners, and both started imagining a life where we lived here. The flat is beautiful - open plan, very tasteful modern decor, bright, airy, and with a glorious big patio. As we gazed longingly at its deckchairs, the sky started to darken and - mindful of the weather forecast (the sun was to go and not return for the duration of our stay), we wanted to dash straight out to read in the remaining sun. Alas it was not to be - the woman organising the rental insisted on spending almost an hour explaining things to us (and bonding with Roz over yoga) - but eventually she closed the door and Roz and I ignored the first few spits of rain and raced outside to claim our waiting deckchairs (and our first taste of the adjacent music school, whose students are not as advanced as one might hope for a neighbouring establishment without sound insulation...).

Delightfully, the sun reappeared and we reluctantly extracted ourselves and glammed up for a quintessential Lisbon dining experience, Tavares. Down the road in Chiado district, this is a delight of olde world decor ostentation - all gold and mirrors and silver service. The food was fantastic - thanks to us pre-warning them of our vegetarianism. In fact, the three courses they brought us were the best we've had in Portugal (though with Roz booking an array of fancy restaurants, it may face competition in the coming days...). After dinner we walked home past many bars filled with obsessive football fans - clearly there was an important match on - and spent the remainder of the night in our glamorous living room with wine and playing cards.

When we woke this morning, we braced ourselves for the promised rain... only to be met with glorious sunshine! We leapt out of bed and headed for Principe Real park, where we found a cute little bakery with excellent fresh orange juice and pastries to power us on a Time Out magazine walking tour of the area. Power was required as the up-and-down-the-cobbled-hills theme continued. We saw lots of very lovely streets and squares, went to a random art exhibition by a local artist, and then to a really beautiful miradour aka look-out point with an all-too-tempting little cafe where I failed to resist either the mohito (the best I've possibly ever had) or the custard tart and Roz a comparatively abstemious G&T... while we looked out over the roofs of Lisbon to the castle on the hill beyond.

After the delights of the 'miradour', we headed down to Chiado for Time Out's second walking tour. Again, up and down the hills, and Roz's fear about my still-dodgy ankle was so great that we popped into a shop and bought some flat shoes for me. After that it was off to a reportedly must-see gay cafe for lunch. There was no particular evidence from decor or clientele that it was gay, but the sandwiches were pleasant enough. And then to FNAC for some more books, before hiking back up all the hills to our beautiful apartment. With the sun still gloriously shining, we have now installed ourselves in our patio with wine, melon, and discordant trumpet music from the music school, and pray for the weather to continue (despite what the cruel forecast insistently predicts)...