Lisbon for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Ten minutes across the Tagus on the orange ferry, the big thing for a tired arrival afternoon; the open deck is the place to stand.

Dinner at six by the ferry pier, grilled sardines and chips, and the ferry back across the water is the dessert.

Back across the water, the square is wide, flat and lit, room to run while the parents sit on the steps to the river.

The big tank with sunfish and sharks, otters, and the sea-garden paths; two hours, and the children set the pace.

The cable car along the river from the Oceanário to the Vasco da Gama tower, eight minutes of dangling; the nap starts after.

Dinner at six before the crowd: a counter for everyone's choice under the iron roof, bench seats, no waiting for a waiter.

The lift to the top of the 1960 monument for the compass-rose map below and the river; then the pastries down the road.

The original custard tarts with cinnamon and icing sugar; the tiled back rooms seat a family faster than the takeaway queue.

Royal barges, model ships and a seaplane in the west wing of the monastery; open until six and never crowded.

Dinner at six a few doors from the tart shop, in a traditional adega with plain Portuguese dishes for the family and arroz doce to finish.

Ramparts to run along with a hand held, peacocks underfoot and the camera obscura at eleven; open on Mondays when museums are not.

An hour of the earthquake told with a 4D room and a model of the old city; dark, loud and short, which is right.

Lunch upstairs at the 1829 pastry shop, toasties and a slice of bolo rei, two minutes from Rossio metro to the airport line.