ENJOY pastel-painted buildings flowing into tile-paved promenades and complemented by panoramic city views at almost every corner? Make Lisbon your next trip.

And start with the Chiado Gourmet food tour.

Not only will Filomena and Duarte, of Eat Drink Walk, offer you a fascinating insight into the Chiado area and recommendations of how best to explore the capital, they’ll do it with a feast of food and wine and enough anecdotes to write a travel review… luckily for me.

We met Duarte at 11.30am and warmed up nicely with a shot of Ginja de obidos, a sweet cherry liqueur, before heading into Time Out Market.

The market itself is a fantastic concept. Set in a glorious old trading hall packed with fresh local produce that until a few years ago was fading into the shadow of larger, more accessible supermarkets, the magazine publisher essentially bought half the building and rejuvenated it by inviting the very best Lisbon’s food scene can offer to open stalls.

The result. Enough culinary curiosity to wipe out the city’s entire population of well-fed felines.

Duarte treated us to a selection of Iberian ham and sheep’s cheese, washed down with a glass of Vinho Verde, sourced from the country’s ‘green’ region, and some ‘fish from the garden’ – a delicacy created by the Portuguese during war time when they could not venture into the sea to fish, so instead took to lightly frying home-grown green beans in beer. Mouthfuls of tempura-battered bliss.

Mention canned food in the north west of England and your first though is probably cheap spam or corned beef – perhaps that’s just my childhood nightmares coming to the fore – whisper it in Lisbon and you’ll be whisked to the nearest bespoke tinned fish café in an instant.

We crammed into one such joint like, ahem, sardines, and soon found ourselves scoffing well-stacked sea delicacies with the locals.

In fact, scattered around Lisbon’s steep streets you’ll find shops specialising in novelty sardines served in brightly coloured tins whizzing around on big wheels – a dolphin’s dream.

Picturesque squares sporting statues of Vasco da Gama and other noble Portuguese explorers seem to flow into one another in this fantastic city.

Doing some discovery of our own with the wonderful Duarte at the helm, we weaved our way through a maze of postcard-worthy sights fuelled by the most taste bud-tantalising twice-cooked octopus, sensational shrimp and come-and-get-me cod fries.

But, fighting off food comas and sporting cheeks redder than the wine that accompanied our last dish, it was at Manteigaria we unearthed our greatest find, the pastel de nata.

Now, I’m not saying we fell in love with the little custard tartlets, but the next morning we made a point of venturing out to the beautiful riverside quarter of Belem to experience such delights from the very bakery that invented them some 180 years ago – Pasteis de Belem.

Lisbon’s charm lies in its colourful streets, sun-drenched squares and the whiff of Portuguese coffee emanating from cute cornershop cafes.

You can be exploring intricate cobbled streets in the old town one minute, climbing your way up its steep avenues the next and absorbing the city’s beauty from above a moment later.

Trek or tram to Sao Jorge Castle for stunning turret-framed sights from one angle, sip cocktails at the Sky Bar to take it all in from another and conquer the steps of the Rua Augusta Arch, built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake, to people-watch in the Praca do Comercio from a different viewpoint altogether.

Then, when you think a city couldn’t possibly be any more colourful, take a short train ride to Sintra and have your mind blown by Pena Palace, Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland.

Sintra’s old town is nestled into the hillside with cobbled walkways flanked by vendors selling hand-crafted tiles, cork jewellery and cherry liquors in chocolate cups, but boldly protruding from the tree tops above are its resplendent palaces and Moorish castles – like a game of kings and queens’ one-upmanship from throughout the centuries.

Lisbon is already a complete package, but with stunning Sintra on one side and beautiful sun-drenched beaches dotted along the coastline on the other, Portugal’s capital really is the city that offers everything.

A captivating pocket of Europe filled with character and endearing charm, reachable within three hours of Manchester… what’s stopping you?