Whoever coined the phrase “a change is as good as a holiday” was delusional. There’s nothing as good as a holiday, and it took a self-decreed long weekend away in Lisbon for me to come to this conclusion.

Lonely Planet writes that Lisbon is ‘beguiling’, and I have no qualms about agreeing with that.

It’s a kick-back-and-enjoy type of place, all from the quaint comfort of Tram 28. Tracing through narrow alleys, climbing hills and linking all the central tourist attractions, this Lisbon route is like Bus 100 in Berlin or Vaporetto 1 on Venice’s Grand Canal – i.e. filled with people with no intent to actually go anywhere except the end of the line, with no rhyme nor reason to capriciously alight at any other station. A pity for anyone who actually wants to get anywhere, but that’s just the way it goes. There’s ways to avoid all the craziness if you live somewhere. Don’t try and get across Nevsky Prospekt in a hurry on a summer’s day in St. Petersburg, and flee town for peak-season in Paris… otherwise sit back, relax, and take that tram to the terminus.

Sorry, where was I? My first ever visit to Portugal…

On Friday, Guillaume and I (needless to say, it was all due to my bad influence) got side-tracked from seeing any sights other than tall, cool beers and short, hot coffees, but we made up for it in the evening, being shown around Belém by our indefatigable local tour guide (and French sibling), Marion. Just a stick’s throw from Lisbon’s centre, along the Tagus River, Belém has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than you could poke a stone at… if you were that way inclined.

I couldn’t get enough of the Jerónimos Monastery and Belém Tower, and decided that ‘Manueline’ or Portuguese late Gothic architecture from the early 16th century is alright by me. Especially when it’s deemed necessary to incongruously plonk a solitary tower on a river bank… Of course it was more strategically relevant in 1520, but I wasn’t there back then (like I said, first visit to Portugal) so I’ll forever consider it as another weekend whim!