There are loads of interesting day trips just an hour from Lisbon. What are you waiting for: check out our list of the 5 best things to do near Lisbon on a weekend break.

The film "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald", a spin-off written by JK Rowling about the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander, comes out this month.

Unlike the Harry Potter saga, which takes place in the UK, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is set in the US. But we're pretty sure you didn't know that part of the inspiration for this magical universe was found in a very special city: Oporto. The author lived there in the early 1990s and part of the city's history, architecture and traditions inspired the stories of the young wizard.

Cascais is a Portuguese municipality some 25 kilometres west of Lisbon. It is now a tourist resort with a host of facilities – extensive beaches and secluded coves, a rugged terrain suited to all kinds of sports, culinary offerings based on quality products and endless leisure options. It also has an exciting history, reminding us that this spot in Portugal was once the refuge of royal families and the nobility and a nest of spies during the Second World War.

Today Cascais is a quiet town dotted with small urban beaches and sheltered from the rough Atlantic by a beautiful bay and a formidable fortress. It is well worth taking a relaxing stroll along the beach known as either La Ribeira or Los Pescadores and discovering its beautiful buildings, notably the Palaces of Condes da Guarda and Seixas.

The ocean is one of Cascais' great assets as it supplies the town with its culinary foundations – fish and seafood, prepared in a special way here. Among the most popular dishes in the region are fresh sea bass and white seabream and the delicious Cascais sole, accompanied by fine garnish. They can be ordered in any of the highly varied array of restaurants in the town, from the simplest, economical eateries to the more refined establishments, where culinary innovation is very much in evidence.

In Cascais harbour you can catch sight of luxury yachts, leisure craft and competition boats, as the town and, by extension, the Coast of Estoril, is a worldwide hub of sailing competitions. Apart from this sport, the waters in this part of the Atlantic attract thousands of surfers (particularly to the beaches of Guincho and Carcavelos), windsurfers, paddle surfers and sports fishing enthusiasts, which is increasingly gaining more devotees. The town harbour is also very lively at nightfall as it is full of restaurants, bars and café terraces, ideal for dining or having a drink.

Home of Kings, Land of Spies
In the late 19th century, this region was a pioneer of tourism in Portugal. Indeed, in 1870, the Portuguese royal family chose the Cascais citadel for their summer residence on account of its excellent location. It was also the destination of the nobility and European families of noble lineage, among them Spain’s monarch in exile, who lived in Villa Giralda for many years.

Apart from being a town that breathes tradition, owing to its geographical situation, during World War II Cascais attracted countless spies, including Ian Fleming (best known for having created the celebrated fiction spy, James Bond) and the Serb Dušan Popov, a hardened womaniser whom Fleming is said to have based his 007 character on. The agents who lived in Cascais followed similar routines. They loved lodging at the elegant Hotel Palácio, having tea and delicious Portuguese pastries at the Pastelaria Garrett and burning the midnight oil in the famous Casino Estoril which witnessed more than one row between the secret agents that gathered there.

On the outskirts of Cascais is the natural vantage point of Boca do Inferno (Hell’s Mouth) and, twenty kilometres further north, Cabo da Roca (Cape Rock), the westernmost tip of continental Europe. This privileged spot, “where the land ends and the sea begins”, as the poet Luís de Camões would have it, affords stunning views of the sunset, reminding onlookers that Cascais is the perfect choice for a relaxing getaway.

Book your Vueling to Lisbon and head for Cascais, where you are sure to succumb to its charm.

Text by Tus Destinos

The unique lie of the land has endowed this enclave with canals plied by colourful boats known as moliceiros, decorated in the style of Venetian gondolas. This has led it to be nicknamed “The Portuguese Venice”.

The town centre is criss-crossed by these canals, which visitors must take to reach its sights, particularly in the old quarter of Boira Mar with its traditional houses and its estuary salt pans. A feature well worth observing are the typical azulejo-tiled facades. These veritable works of street art are all over Aveiro.

Aveiro has a vintage appearance which nevertheless blends well with modernity. This mix is partly the result of the proximity of the town’s university, which makes for a lively atmosphere at virtually any time of the year.

And Confectionery Too

If you’re visiting Oporto, you have the perfect excuse to head for this unusual town, which you are sure to enjoy. Don’t forget to try their typical ovos moles, a delicious confectionery originally made by the nuns of the Convent of Jesus. Legend places its origins in this convent around the 16th century. One of the conditions of the nuns’ oath of poverty was to not eat eggs. Despite using lots of them in the confectionery they made, a huge surplus built up month after month. According to period documents, this stockpile was added to by large amounts of sugar the nuns were allocated by Manuel I of Portugal. The sugar, eggs and the stamina to stir this sweet mixture for hours on end yielded what we now know as Aveiro’s ovos moles.

The recipe has hardly changed at all, although many confectioners now round off the process using a lukewarm syrup to which the eggs are added, and the mixture is stirred over a slow fire. The ovos moles are coated with wafer and normally moulded into the shapes of sea creatures, notably seashells, conches and fish. The sweet flavour is reminiscent of a Spanish, egg-yolk candy  known as yemas de Santa Teresa de Ávila.

What are you waiting for? Book your flight now!

Text by Tensi Sánchez de http://www.actitudesmgz.com

Photos by Fernando Sanz

Texto de Tensi Sánchez de www.actitudesmgz.com

Fotos de Fernando Sanz