Pasteis De Nata. Dos. To Go.

Welcome, dessert-laden reader, as this week we visit Lisbon, the final stop before we finally make it back to the UK.

Lisbon is a beautiful city, which has many parallels with San Francisco: the entrance to the harbour is guarded by a large, red suspension bridge, and the streets are full of trams that look like they should be in a museum. It's also pretty hilly in places, but that's really where the likeness ends: the centre of Lisbon oozes old-style European charm, with large squares, mosaic-encrusted pavements, and statues, churches and castles dating from hundreds of years ago.

We were blessed with almost perfect weather - bright sunshine, but no more than 21 degrees Centigrade, which made it comfortable and enjoyable to walk around the place. Walking seems like the ideal way to get around Lisbon, too: there's not a huge amount of traffic in the centre of the city at all, and everything is pretty pedestrian-friendly.

Before long, I couldn't resist the temptation of European coffee, and like something out of a 60s spy film, bought an espresso from a kiosk in a small square and drank it at the tables outside. The coffee wasn't anything special, but the experience was.

Lisbon was, ahem, remodelled by an 18th Century earthquake, which both destroyed a bunch of buildings, and also uncovered some archeological remains that had previously been hidden. That includes Lisbon's Roman Theatre, which is relatively complete (although not quite to Pompeii standards) but had been forgotten about until the earthquake. Near there is Lisbon's cathedral; like most of the rest of the Iberian peninsula, Lisbon was in the hands of the Moors until the middle of the 12th Century, and the cathedral is built where the mosque used to be.

So as we sneaked out under the suspension bridge, we were left feeling like we'd visited somewhere a little bit special. What's more, this is it - we're now heading straight back to the UK and attempting to re-animate our lives there.

... and in a humorous post-script, those Pasteis de Nata now seem to be everywhere here in the UK. I saw them at the baker's and at a coffee shop in Guildford this morning!