With palm trees on one side of me, and a marina on the other, I skipped over the golden sands of Cascais’ Praia da Rainha… straight into the shockingly FREEZING cold waters of the Atlantic.  I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, given it was October!  However, once I got used to the ‘fresh’ temperature, the half-forgotten but wonderful sensation of waves swishing over my toes made it hard to leave the beach.

The beach-side town of Cascais is an easy train-ride of about 20 minutes from central Lisbon.  Our tuk-tuk driver from Sintra, Laura, had told us it was a great spot to visit to see a different side of Lisbon – and perfect to combine with a trip to Belém.  I jumped at the idea, as living in London means I am definitely missing the sight of waves on a beach!  Somehow the Thames isn’t quite cutting it…

Once I’d finished climbing around the rocks like the small child I occasionally am, we wandered through the town admiring the street art and incredible paved streets.  I loved the reversing pedestrian crossing!

Although we weren’t able to squeeze it in on this trip, Cascais is also home to a well-preserved medieval fort which protected the town from invasions by sea.  If the weather was warmer we might also have opted to take part in some of the watersports on offer from many of the beaches, including paddle-boarding and kite-surfing!

Our tummies were telling us that we hadn’t yet had our daily fix of custard tarts, so we hopped back on the train and headed towards Lisbon to Belém.

The Antiga Confeitaria de Belém has been producing the delicious custard tarts since 1837, and today churns out over 16,000 per day, served warm and with your choice of icing sugar or cinnamon topping.  We were given the brilliant tip that there is usually a massive line to purchase tarts to take away (which there was) but that the rooms inside the cafe / factory just keep going back and back – new ones are opened each time one fills up.  We traipsed through the warren of blue-tiled rooms until we found a table and were almost immediately served with the custardy goodness – by far the best that we had during our time in Lisbon!

But there’s more to Belém than just yummy pastries – it’s also home to the iconic sights of the Jerónimos Monastery, the Torre de Belém and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.  The immense late-Gothic Monastery took over a hundred years to build and was completed in 1601.  Today it houses the Maritime Museum and the National Archaeology Museum.

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Explorers sits on the waterfront, where many Portuguese explorers set sail on their adventures.  It depicts 34 important Portuguese figures, including the main statute of Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and many more.

It was very easy to visit Cascais and Belém from Lisbon and I’m so glad we did – both places offer something quite different to the central city and really added to our visit.  I’d love to return in summer for a dip in those gorgeous waters – and of course some more custard deliciousness!