Portugal

A summer road trip through Portugal from south to north, from Lisbon to the mountains of the Serra da Estrela, with medieval villages, Atlantic cliffs and towns that smell of pastel de nata.

In Lisbon I watched the yellow trams labour up the slopes of Alfama, the oldest district, where fado comes out of the bars in the evening and cobbled lanes run between buildings tiled in azulejos. From São Jorge Castle, at the top of the hill, I saw the red rooftops, the Tagus and the 25 de Abril Bridge. In Belém I visited the Manueline Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery, a masterpiece of Portuguese Gothic, which tell of the age of the great sea voyages. Chiado and Bairro Alto are the centre of cultural and night life: old bookshops, literary cafés, live music venues.

I walked between the miradouros, the viewpoints scattered around the city, from Miradouro da Graça to Santa Luzia: every corner gives a different view of a city where old and new stand side by side.

I went to Cascais, a seaside town half an hour by train from Lisbon, with sheltered bays, fortresses on the headland and fish restaurants on the ocean. I saw the Boca do Inferno, a sea cave carved out by the Atlantic.

In Sesimbra, south of the capital, I found some of the clearest water in mainland Portugal. Above the bay is the Moorish castle, on the beach the fishing boats, behind it the Serra de Arrábida, a natural park of Mediterranean scrub that drops into the sea with hidden coves.

Sintra is wrapped in Atlantic mist. I saw the Pena Palace, with yellow and red towers on top of the hill, and the Initiation Well of the Quinta da Regaleira, which spirals down underground among Masonic and Templar symbols.

Going up the Atlantic coast I reached Peniche, a windswept peninsula, known among surfers for the Supertubos waves, with its fortress on the sea, the Berlengas Islands on the horizon and restaurants serving caldeirada de peixe. Then Figueira da Foz, with its huge beach and the Atlantic wind.

The middle of the trip is inland: the Serra da Estrela, the highest massif in mainland Portugal at almost two thousand metres. Granite and broom, glacial lakes like the Lagoa Comprida, stone villages where shepherds still make Queijo da Serra by hand. It is a mountain unlike the rest of Portugal, harsh and silent.

In Trancoso I found a medieval village with intact thirteenth-century walls, granite houses with Gothic doorways and the main square where Dom Dinis married Isabel of Aragon in 1282. Around it are olive groves, vineyards and wheat fields.

I ended the route in Mangualde, inland in the Viseu region: quiet squares, baroque churches and the hearty cooking of central Portugal, arroz de cabidela, leitão da Bairrada, vinho do Dão.