I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU

Castles, seafood and Bond along Portugal’s coast.

ILOVE talking about the weather as much as the next person, and am delighted to learn before I board my flight to Lisbon that, in meteorological terms, the Portuguese capital is the inverse of Scotland.

It enjoys 300 days of sunshine a year and is so famed for its glorious climate, that its name is said to derive from “luz boa”, meaning “good light”.

So it’s just my luck that my visit coincides with three of its 65 annual overcast days. What are the chances?

I find myself too busy to do the maths as I’m on a mission to explore the lesser-known towns of Cascais and Sintra, which lie on the outskirts of the normally sun-drenched city.

Cascais (pronounced “Kash-kaish”), a fishing village, is a 20-minute journey from Lisbon, and has a very different vibe.

Instead of trams careering around tight corners, there are boats jostling on the harbour, and even in the November drizzle there’s a game of volleyball taking place on the beach.

Though it’s an under-theradar spot for the likes of you and me, the golden sands of Cascais have been attracting European nobility for centuries, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

They’d stay in the Casa de