Alfama
Some of Lisbon’s most beautiful historic monuments can be found east of Baixa in the sleepy Sé and Castelo districts. An air of peace and tranquillity prevails in this traditional city quarter. Take the winding 28 tram to gain a real sense of the space.
The 12th-century Sé cathedral, founded on the site of the city’s main mosque, was built to commemorate Lisbon’s liberation from the Moors and is a key landmark. Several bars and restaurants (Viagem des Sabores, Divína Comédia) nestle beneath the Romanesque structure.
A further hike leads to the Castelo de São Jorge, a hilltop fortification predating the Romans. This was the site of Lisbon’s first Iron Age settlement, which was subsequently also bequeathed a degree of cultural heritage by the Visigoths and Moors.The castle walls are popular with lovers taking an evening stroll, and are a great place to watch the sun set.
Some of the city’s most atmospheric and unique hotels can be found in this part of town: Solar do Castelo lies within the city walls, while Palácio Belmonte is an ambitious palace conversion. Although not known for its social life, the area has a number of pleasant bars and cafés that have opened on the Costa do Castelo road circumnavigating São Jorge; the Chapitô circus school and social collective exemplify the bohemian and artistic character of the neighbourhood.
Residential life resumes in the gentle but bustling Graça neighbourhood. Panoramic views from the Largo da Graça are some of the best Lisbon has to offer and attract a meandering Sunday afternoon crowd. The Feira da Ladra flea market takes place on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Campo de Santa Clara, which also houses a well-respected loft-space restaurant.
The oldest and most densely populated of Lisbon’s bairros is the Alfama. The name ‘Al-hama’ is Arabic for ‘fountain’, and the pattern of blind alleys, winding stairways and twisting paths is Moorish. It’s a veritable rabbit warren, and many streets barely register on the map. A local community continues to live in rent-controlled but dilapidated buildings. After dark the melancholic sound of fado spills from authentic tascas – an appropriate soundtrack for desperate tourists lost in the maze of backstreets. Cars have restricted access, so exploration by foot is essential. Look out for mischievous children who like to roam the streets at night in search of trouble.
Directly on the waterfront lies the trendy Santa Apolónia development, where selective design shops and restaurants bask in peaceful surroundings. Owned by style guru Manuel Reis and John Malkovich, both club Lux and restaurant Bica do Sapato come highly recommended.
Avenida
Described by Fernando Pessoa as ‘the finest artery in Lisbon’, the 90-metre-wide Avenida da Liberdade connects the 18th-century downtown with 19th-century areas. Based on the Champs-Elysees, it was completed in 1886. The leafy boulevard is a busy thoroughfare for traffic, lined with towering office blocks and designer fashion stores. Lisbon’s hotel district sprawls along this stretch, with a mixture of high-rise chains and more historic premises.
At the bottom of the Avenida lies the neo-Manueline Rossio station, with its tremendous horse-shoe archways. At the top, the busy Marquês de Pombal roundabout opens to the north of the city and Lisbon’s business district. The 19th-century Parque Eduardo VII is an austerely landscaped open space, lacking any distinctive charm. The city bullring (currently undergoing renovation) and Benfica stadium can be found in the sprawling suburbs to the north of the city.
Located roughly halfway along the Avenida is Praça da Alegria, once a notorious red-light district. Today, only a few down-market strip-joints remain, although many of the decaying façades are still intact. Buried amid these is the city’s oldest jazz bar, Hot Clube. A tortuously steep stairwell leads from a former aqueduct (now trendy restaurant/wine bar Enoteca) to the leafy parkland of Principe Real. This peaceful and leafy romantic setting is also a popular gay and lesbian hang-out.
Make your way down to Pão de Canela in nearby Praça das Flores for a little rest and contemplation over a cup of coffee. A design community has grown up around this spot and houses some of the city’s most innovative homeware and furniture shops. The Rua de O Século runs south into Bairro Alto and is home to a number of art galleries and creative spaces.
The Portuguese parliament building, a former Benedictine monastery, dominates the neighbourhood of São Bento. Aside from a few up-market restaurants and bars (Galeria, Café de São Bento) it’s a quiet area at night. The Rua de São Bento boasts Portugal’s highest concentration of antique shops – from classic furnishings to knick-knacks and curios. The area around Rua do Poço dos Negros (‘well of the negroes’) is rather less salubrious, but home to a lively African community.
To the north-west of the city lie Estrêla and Campo de Ourique, middle-class districts. The Jardim da Estrêla, with swan pond and playground, is a pleasant park space. The areas are largely residential, the most famous former inhabitant being poet Fernando Pessoa. Restaurants worth a visit are XL and Tasquina de Adelaide. Two smoky black-glass towers pinpoint the Amoreiras business district beyond. Far more pleasant surroundings can be found in the shady Jardim das Amoreiras, beneath the arches of the Aquaducto das Águas Livres.
Baixa-Bairro Alto
The Baixa area of downtown Lisbon is characterized by a rigorous grid system. Following a devastating earthquake in 1755, much of the original medieval city was destroyed. The King’s minister Marquês de Pombal, now a national hero, rebuilt the area using a neo-classical system of urban planning. Each road was assigned a different trade or craft, to which current street names still bear testimony: Rua Aurea (‘gold road’) is still the place to find jewellers, while Rua dos Sapateiros is a ‘street of shoe-makers’.
For many visitors, the Baixa is their first encounter with Lisbon. Tourist restaurants cluster along the side streets and many traditional shops are still open for trade. Praca Dom Pedro IV, or Rossio, as it is better known, forms a focal point in the city both geographically and socially; its baroque fountains and mosaic paving (still restored by hand) are a useful landmark from any of the city’s miradouros (look-out points). A constant stream of taxis passes through the square, and it’s a popular spot for shoe-cleaners, chestnut sellers and street performers.
People seem to hang around street corners from dawn until dusk doing nothing in particular. Many are immigrants and unemployed – victims of Portugal’s ongoing economic crisis. They are largely harmless, but don’t be surprised if a crafty salesman offers you a pair of stolen sunglasses or a block of hashish.
Neighbouring Chiado is a district of theatres, cafés and fashion boutiques. It was once the centre of Lisbon’s intellectual life; the city’s oldest bookshop, Livraria Bertrand, can be found on the Largo do Chiado along with Café a Brasílieira, once a haunt of writer Fernando Pessoa.
According to legend, the area is named after 16th-century poet Antonio Ribeiro, nicknamed ‘O Chiado’ (meaning ‘squeaking’ or ‘hissing’). Rua Garrett forms the main drag of shops, although boutiques are dotted around the side streets. The area was engulfed by a fire in 1988; the reconstruction, overseen by Oporto architect Alvaro Siza Vieira, is in keeping with Chiado’s tradition of grand marble façades.
The Bairro Alto (upper town) lies to the west of the city centre. It was the first district in Lisbon to have straight and regular streets, but they are nothing like as regimented as Baixa’s. Narrow cobbled roads and dead ends make it a confusing place to uncover. A crowd of young bohemians moved into the undamaged bairro following the 1755 earthquake and their legacy remains to this day. Rua do Século and Rua do Diário de Notícias are named after the daily papers that once had their offices on these streets.
Since the 1980s the crumbling back alleys have taken on a Jekyll and Hyde personality. By day greengrocers quietly go about their business, while old women share conversations across heavily laundry-laden balconies. The quiet streets are largely residential, although the city’s young design elite have moved in and opened several boutiques, housing alternative fashion. Trendy tattoo parlours, art shops and bakeries are also open for business. The only bar open before dark is Side.
As night falls, a complete transformation takes place. Shop shutters close, bar doorways open and the sound of pints being pulled replaces the clunking of old-fashioned cash registers. Dormant by day, a plethora of backstreet bars breathe life into the sleepy bairro. Revellers arrive in their droves and hop from venue to venue. Most gather in the streets outside, creating a scene resembling a summer festival. The city’s greatest concentration of restaurants can also be found here – ranging from the traditional to cosmopolitan, and expensive to budget. There are plenty of fado houses all vying for attention and owners have no qualms about accosting tourists. For the most part, however, they are tacky amusement arcades.
Lapa
Much of Lisbon’s wealth is concentrated in Lapa, to the west of São Bento. A moneyed set live alongside the diplomatic community in palaces that betray Lisbon’s aristocratic past. Unfortunately, laws governing rent control mean that landlords are reluctant to invest in much-needed improvements, and once-glorious buildings now crumble in neglect. Apart from a few cafés, this is a largely residential area. Several up-market hotels can be found along Rua das Janelas Verdes (York House and As Janelas Verdes), while the Lapa Palace enjoys some of the most luxurious facilities in town.
The warehouse superclubs and raucous bars of the infamous docas developments are just a stone’s throw away from Lapa. A string of nightclubs along Santos and the Avenida 24 de Julho range from the ‘tolerable’ to ‘best avoided’. Kapital serves a wealthy crowd, while Kremlin attracts an interesting psycho-geographical mix, all steeped in a life of grime. Cross the busy dual carriageway to reach Rocha Conde d’óbidos. Bathed in neon, these cut-price commercial clubs are the first port of call for out-of-towners. Slightly more up-market restaurants and clubs can be found west of the flyover underneath the Ponte 25 de Abril suspension bridge. Running parallel to the train tracks and a dual carriageway, the stretch from Cais do Sodré to Alcântara can feel empty and soulless. It’s a stark contrast to the intimacy of Bairro Alto.
A visit to Belém will give tourists a whistle-stop introduction to Lisbon’s historic past and contemporary culture. It’s just a 10-minute tram ride from Praça do Comercio, so it’s hard to believe the district was once considered a separate entity (‘Restelo’). Sights worth seeing include the Manueline Torre de Belém (one of Lisbon’s most recognizable symbols) and the CCB – a modern performance space with adjoining design museum. Now a successful marina, the port played a valuable role in Portuguese maritime achievements: Christopher Columbus stopped here in 1493 on his way back to Spain after his discovery of the Americas, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama set off to discover a maritime route to India. The Padrão dos Descobrimentos (‘Monument to the Discoveries’) recalls their achievements.
On Sundays the open lawns and esplanades are seething with visitors. Head to the tropical gardens of Jardim do Ultramarino to escape the madding crowds. A visit to the Antiga Casa de Pasteis de Belém is also compulsory; Lisboetas regularly make a pilgrimage here to buy the speciality pasteis de Belém (custard tarts). The Pasteis de Cerveja, serving beer cakes, is another popular choice but the cakes themselves are not quite so tasty. Above Belém lies the Palacio da Ajuda, now home to the Culture Ministry, and beyond that the vast pine forest of Monsanto. Millions of trees were planted on the hillsides in the 1930s and the area is now referred to as the ‘lung’ of Lisbon. Although the area accounts for an eighth of the city, it offers very few attractions for the visitor.
Lisbon City
Out on a limb both geographically and financially (and politically, up until 30 years ago), Portugal has always been considered the European outsider. But that image is now changing. Both Expo ’98 and the Euro 2004 football championships have helped boost the country’s international profile beyond that of a last-minute bucket holiday destination. The epicentre of this cultural transformation is Lisbon. At one time unjustly overlooked, this small but fiercely dynamic city has rightfully earned a place in the European capital super-league. Attracted by the prospect of relatively uncharted territory, city break travellers are now flocking for a taste of Rio in the Med.
It’s hard to believe that up until 1974 Portugal was governed by a quasi-fascist dictatorship (Europe’s last, in fact). But in the past 30 years a rapidly growing liberal and consumer society has evolved, and Lisbon has not looked back. This change is most evident on the cobbled streets of Bairro Alto, where a plethora of historically illegal drinking dens now forms the nucleus for much of the city’s vibrant nightlife. Locals and tourists of all shapes, sizes and walks of life gather every Friday and Saturday night for what could quite conceivably be Europe’s biggest bar crawl. With a reputation to rival that of São Paulo, Lisboetas love to party.
The Portuguese are famed for their love of eating and no self-respecting Lisboeta would even consider hitting the town without first sitting down to dinner. Eating forms a pivotal part of the social scene and you’ll find more restaurants per square mile than street lamps. Consequently the demand for quality (and quantity) is high. Be warned: it won’t be just your suitcases that get tagged for excess baggage.
The city itself is small enough to explore in a weekend, although it’s easy to get lost in the narrow, cobbled backstreets. Perhaps the best way to find your bearings is to climb one of the city’s seven hills and take in the breathtaking views. Areas are concentrated and boast their own defined character; discover the charm of Lisbon’s oldest bairro, the Alfama, where old women nonchalantly watch the world pass by from their window boxes; or the cultural district of Belém, where many of the city’s museums and historic buildings are located. The Castelo de São Jorge serves as a good vantage-point for some of the most beautiful sunsets in Europe, with a mystical light to rival that of Venice.
Lisbon is a city of contradictions, where wealth and poverty live as comfortable neighbours, and modernity meets with unwavering tradition – making it both a charming and intriguing place to explore. Behind the crumbling stonework, a new spirit is evolving. Once a leading world power, Lisbon now looks likely to resume some of its former glory. As the locals would put it – this city will touch you.
