Little did I expect to be standing at a burger kiosk on the side of a motorway outside Lisbon at 4.30am, four hours before my flight back home.

“You asked for the best hamburger in Lisbon,” Rui, our taxi man said, as the woman with the blue bonnet handed us our burgers.

A brioche bun with a succulent beef burger, an egg and something resembling hollandaise sauce was what I bit into. One taste and I was not so mad that Rui had taken us on a 30 minute drive in the opposite direction to our Airbnb.

It also helped that, when he finally did drop us home, our taxi only came to €15 – despite our roundabout journey.

It was these two things – the friendliness of the people and the affordable cost of living – that struck me most during my stay in Lisbon.

On my second day I took a Sandeman tour around the city to get a feel for the capital of a country I knew very little about.

The group’s tour guide, Pascal, reaffirmed my lack of knowledge when he asked the group to name famous Portuguese people. Ronaldo was the name that came to most people’s minds; another shouted the name of a Portuguese architect who I had certainly never heard of.

“Portugal is lost amongst the other European cities,” Pascal told us. “Overshadowed by its flamboyant sister Spain.

The Portuguese are more reserved than the Spanish, but when you live here you start to see they are a very genuine, humble people.”

Portugal has a long history of invasions and settlers – with plenty of influence from the Romans and Moors, African Islamic inhabitants – in its architecture.

Walk down its narrow cobbled streets, with yellow Romanesque buildings surrounding you, to turn a corner and meet beautiful tiled walls.

The country reached its pinnacle in European history during the Age of Discovery, when explorers left the shores of the country to find new lands. Vasco De Gama was the first-ever explorer to make the trip to India by sea from Europe, setting sail from Lisbon on the 8 July 1497 with his convoy of ships.

With the city built upon seven hills, there are plenty of look-out points with fabulous vistas of the city and the Atlantic Ocean, where one can almost imagine the fleet of four ships taking to the blue water.

There’s a certain authenticity to this city, which Pascal informed us had a lot to do with Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, the dictator who ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1968.

“He liked to keep things conventional and was opposed to change,” the tour guide confirmed.

Walking through Bairro Alto, one of the main neighbourhoods in the city, is like walking through a time machine, with the front of shops pretty much untouched and even restaurant menus written on sheets of paper, with caldo verde – a potato with shredded kale and chunks of chorizo – along with bolinhos de becalhau – cod in batter – among the tastiest.

Salazar’s anti-modernist policies meant that Portugal plunged into poverty. Pascal informed the group there was a 50% unemployment rate among the youth at the time of his rule.

It seems Lisbon has not fully recovered in that regard. Travelling from Sao Sebastiao, near the centre of Lisbon, to the airport, there was one stretch of the journey where our metro went over-ground and was not tunnelled.

In this brief two-minute space, if even, you could see little shanty houses, built with rags and sticks, speckled on the land that runs down to the Tagus River.

Despite the apparent poverty prevalent in the capital, Lisbon is regarded as the safest city in Europe and is certainly beautiful.

Flights to Lisbon from Dublin are very reasonable, with a Ryanair round-trip costing €46 from Saturday 14 to 21 January.

A stay in the three-star VIP Executive Zurique Hotel for €327 for a double room.

>> Top stops

Praico do Comercio

Once the gateway to Lisbon, Praico de Comercio is situated on the estuary of the River Tagus. The first point of contact for those travelling to the capital, traditionally traders would sell their foreign goods.

Castello de Sao Jorge

Visible from various points across the city, this 11th century hilltop fortification overlooks the city and has seen the long history of invasions that have besieged the capital.

Belem Tower

Now listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Belem Tower guards the entrance to Lisbon’s harbour, and was the starting point for many of the voyages of discovery.

Santa Justa Lift

The hills of Lisbon mean there has always been a transport problem issue. In 1902 this beautiful lift was built that transports people from the Baixo district to the ruins of Igreja do Carmo Church.