THE TIME IS NOW

After 20 years of visiting Lisbon, Victoria Harper says the most exquisite season to see the Portuguese capital is spring

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When you have been a visitor to a city for two decades, you become pretty expert at knowing the best times to book a trip. Thanks to meeting and marrying a Portuguese man from Lisbon 20 years ago (we met in Acton – distinctly less glamorous than Alfama), I know my way around these patchwork streets, famous for their slippery black and white mosaic tiles (calcada portuguesa).

I quickly discovered that heading here in the summer is a rookie error. Famed for its seven hills, what looks like a 10-minute journey on Google Maps can take the best part of an hour and two bottles of water in the 38C heat of an August day. Nobody’s knees need that, and even if you opt for one of the city’s oldfashioned trams to get around, their rickety charm is short-lived when you are pressed against a sweaty summer armpit. Winter can be a health hazard thanks to rain and ice meeting the said calcada portuguesa, and while autumn can be a blast, it is spring when the city truly blossoms – literally.

At the best of times, Lisbon, with its pretty azulejos tiles and sunshine-yellow buildings, is one of Europe’s most colourful cities. But when the jacaranda trees burst into purple bloom, the colorama effect is dialled up to dazzling. Whether they are lining the magnificent Avenida Liberdade, dotting the climb up through Mouraria to Castelo Sao Jorge, or bunched on a restaurant table, the life-affirming punch of violet enhances everything in its frame. And it all adds to Lisbon’s enchantment, which I truly believe gives the romance of a spring day in Paris a run for its money.

To soak some of this up, we were invited on a romantic break to the wonderful Palacio Ludovice, which is located in Príncipe Real, a neighbourhood sitting on a hill opposite Graca.