Lovely, Languorous Lisbon

The waterfront Praça do Comercio, beckons visitors to pass through the Arco da Rua Augusta into the gridded Baixa, the reborn city’s commercial center. Tourist shops have long since replaced many of the trades whose names are reflected in the streets’ names, but the Núcleo Arqueológico secreted beneath the Banco Comércial Portuguesa offers a sense of its history – dating back to Roman times. Further inland, the twin squares of the Rossio and Praça da Figuera form the area’s simultaneously beautiful and gritty heart, bordered by a variety of cafés that offer the best opportunity for observing Lisbon’s languorous rhythms.

Tram 28 runs from Largo Martim Moniz to the northwest to the hilltop Castelo de São Jorge, surrounded by the Alfama, Lisbon’s only neighborhood to escape substantial damage in 1755. The remnant of a fifth-century Visigothic town, the Alfama was the crucible from which fado, a uniquely mournful type of Portuguese music emerged; the Casa do Fado at its edge provides an excellent introduction. The Alfama itself preserves a village-like feel unlike anywhere else in urban Europe that’s simultaneously exhilarating and threatening, as well as Lisbon’s Cathedral and the fascinating remains of a Roman Theater.

On the other side of the Baixa, the upscale Chiado contains the Museu do Chiado (Lisbon’s modern art museum) and the haunting ruins of the Convento do Carmo. The riverside suburb of Belém, from which Portugal’s explorers sailed on their voyages of exploration honors their memory with the beautiful Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (built on the proceeds of their voyages), Maritime Museum, the Monument to the Discoveries, and several other fine museums. The internationally renowned art collections of the Fundacão Calouste Gulbenkian and the pleasant Parque Eduardo VII are located to northwest of the Baixa.

Quick Tips:

Many (but not all) museums are free on Sunday and closed on Monday.

Portuguese restaurants charge extra for bread (couvert) and olives – simply wave them away when proffered, they’re invariably of poor quality (and overpriced.)

Drugs (usually just hashish) are sold fairly openly in the Baixa (during the day) and in both the Alfama and Bairro Alto (after dark). This is really more of an annoyance than a danger but nevertheless one to be aware of. Ignoring the dealers or shaking your head when approached is generally sufficient.

Although both the Alfama and Bairro Alto are justly renowned for their nightlife (particularly their fado clubs), they can get a bit dangerous, so it’s wise to exercise caution (and not appear too touristic in either), especially because it’s fairly easy to get lost in their winding streets.

If at all possible, take a day trip to Sintra!

English is quite widely spoken in Lisbon. Don’t assume people in any establishment speak the language, but if not, most likely someone nearby will graciously translate.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting Around Lisbon: Lisbon is Europe’s hilliest city, so it’s best to travel between areas of interest on its excellent trams and Metro, which together serve all major tourist sights at base fares of €1.20 and €1.00 respectively. A one-day pass covering both costs €3.00 and a five-day pass costs €12.10. Once you’ve arrived by these means, the Baixa, Alfama, Bairro Alto, and Belem are really only explorable on foot, although a journey on Tram 28 through the Alfama is an essential part of any introduction to Lisbon! Trams 14 and 17 connect the Baixa with Belem, while an assortment of elevators and funiculars provide the same service if you prefer not to climb to the Bairro Alto.

Even without its brace of beautiful palaces, the town of Sintra would be an extremely attractive day trip from Lisbon. Indeed, the craggy yet sensuously vegetated ridges of the Serra de Sintra so captured the imaginations of the ancient Celto-Iberians that they christened the highest the "Mountain of the Moon" and made it a center of lunar worship. Somewhat more practically, the Romans and later the Moors fortified the ridge, and the remnant of the latter’s fortifications, the Castelo dos Mouros, still broods over the town. Climbing along its battlements is arduous but worthwhile for the stunning views of both the town and its surprisingly undeveloped surroundings it provides. Although visible from almost any point in the town on a clear day, the Castelo is often enshrouded in mist, epitomizing the allure the poet Byron found in "Cintra’s glorious Eden."

At the time of Byron’s visit, the remains of an ascetic Jeronomite Monastery crowned a nearby hilltop, leaving much to his Romantic imagination. In 1840, however, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Maria II and something of a Romantic artist himself, was able to give free rein to his fantasies by collaborating with the Prussian architect Ludwig von Eschege to produce the Palácio Nacional de Pena. The so-called "Gothick baronial castle" is without a doubt the most outrageous noble residence in a country full of them, incorporating the most extravagant elements of both Bavarian and Manueline architecture, much of it painted in a curious array of pastel hues. The interior is even more bizarre, filled with a hodgepodge of opulent furnishings that defy description (or taste!), in many cases accompanied by the voluptuous nudes Ferdinand was fond of painting.

The ornate, but more sensitively furnished, Palácio Nacional de Sintra dominates the town below, with its pair of gigantic white conical chimneys. Most likely originally built by the Moors, it was enlarged and redecorated by Portugal’s monarchs from the early 1400s onwards. João I commenced this tradition by constructing the stunning Sala das Pêgas (Magpie Room), its ceiling thick with these birds who were intended to represent gossiping courtiers. My personal favorite is the 16th-century Sala das Armas, whose walls are covered in azulejos (the painted tiles that adorn many Portuguese buildings) and whose coffered ceiling contains the heraldic shields of the country’s leading families. Every room, however, is beautiful in way that’s simultaneously ornate and refined. Try to begin your visit to Sintra here, preferably with the 10am opening, as it’s deservedly Sintra’s most popular attraction (particularly with tour groups!).

The central figure within the complex tableau above the entrance to the monastery’s church is Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), who masterminded Portugal’s rise as a maritime power by establishing a school of navigation at Sagres and by using the resources of the Order of Christ (of which he was Grand Master) to finance expeditions. It’s singularly appropriate that Henry, a devout Catholic who remained chaste his entire life and ran his navigation school as a virtual monastic order, should be honored in this way. (He is likewise given precedence at the nearby Monument to the Discoveries.) Just inside are the tombs of his two greatest intellectual heirs: da Gama (1468-1523), who established Portugal’s lucrative spice trade with India by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, and Luís de Camões (1527-1570) whose epic poem Os Lusiados chronicled Portugal’s voyages of discovery and has come to be considered the country’s national epic.

The church is more than just a mausoleum (it continues to be used for mass), and the humbleness of these heroes’ graves is entirely consistent with the careful balance the architects struck between grandeur and intricate detail. The immense nave is split by six bulky columns that support its ceiling through a series of ever-finer branches of stone-work that strongly resemble palm fronds. They’re perhaps the best illustration that can be found of the Manueline style’s simultaneous reliance upon Gothic forms and further refinement of them by the addition of intricate stonework drawn from Moorish buildings.

Still more beautiful carving is on display in the magnificent cloisters (well worth the €3 entry fee), which I consider the most beautiful of their kind in Europe. The synergy between the architects’ subject matter and style is readily apparent as the curves within the delicate vaulting closely resemble the ropes, waves, and anchors that were the tools of the navigators’ trade. The rounded corner canopies offer the ideal places under which to stand and marvel at the delicately twisting series of arches that line the courtyard. Stepping back inside the church itself, the choir offers an excellent vantage point for appreciating its simultaneous spaciousness and intimacy.

If you see one church in Lisbon (or Portugal), this should be it!

Further information http://www.mosteirojeronimos.pt

The Marquês de Alorna's famous plea that "we must bury the dead and feed the living," became Pombal’s mantra. In order to do so, he sought to preserve Lisbon’s economic preeminence by designing a straightforward commercial district with direct access to Lisbon’s port and adjacent to what little remained of the city. The result was the gridded district known as the Baixa, squeezed between the aristocratic Bairro Alto and plebeian Alfama, running from the riverfront to the attractive squares of the Rossio and Praça da Figueira.

Like Lisbon in general, the Baixa is a place to be experienced as much as explored, but you’ll appreciate it much more if you enter it from the Praça do Comercio, the vast riverfront square whose front opens onto the river and whose other three sides are occupied by arcaded classical government ministry buildings that once served as a royal palace. A statue of Dom João I towers over the square’s heart, rather ironically, since it was the literal death knell of his Bragança dynasty; in 1908, Dom Carlos I and his heir apparent were assassinated here, and 2 years later, the Portuguese Republic was declared at the adjacent (and attractive) Town Hall.

Many Lisboêtas linger in the Praça do Comercio of an evening to watch the sun turn its buildings gold and then an orange to match that of the trans-Tagus ferry, but if you’re here at any other hour, it’s better to continue through the imperious Arco da Rua Augusta. The brilliance of Pombal’s design is most evident here, as it truly feels like the entrance to a city, although the statues on arch itself weren’t fully completed until 1873. Rua Augusta itself is the widest and most pleasant street of the Baixa, well endowed with cafés, buskers, and gift shops. The parallel streets preserve their commercial past in more than just name – you’ll still find quite a few shoe stores on Rua dos Sapateiros, for example.

Rua Augusta terminates at the Rossio, Lisbon’s main square since the Middle Ages, but repaved in waves of black-and-white granite under Pombal’s orders in a "rolling motion" style replicated throughout Portugal. Poised delicately between the Baixa, Alfama, Bairro Alto, and modern city to the north, there’s nowhere better to savor Lisbon’s languorous rhythms (and give thanks for their preservation) than in its numerous outdoor cafes.

The first building to catch your attention will likely be the immense Sé (Cathedral), rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake in the Romanesque style in which it was originally constructed in 1150, rather than as the florid Rococo edifice that had been destroyed. Secreted along the nearby Rua Saudade are the ruins of a Roman Theater accompanied by an excellent museum. You can view them from several levels, the uppermost of which offers the added bonus of a fine view over the Alfama, through which Tram 28 subsequently ascends.

If you’re in a hurry, Tram 28’s route offers an alternative to exploring the Alfama on foot, although you won’t fully appreciate its charm without actually walking through it. I personally struck a balance by riding Tram 28 from Largo Martim Moniz and strolling down through the Alfama after I’d visited the Castelo de São Jorge. The poorest area of central Lisbon, the Alfama, was the only one to escape the earthquake unscathed and consequently retains the feel of a medieval town. It cascades down the side of a hill to the River Tagus, where many of its inhabitants traditionally have worked either in the port or its fish markets, so steep that most of its "streets" are actually stairways!

The Alfama is more an experience than a sight, but the Miradouro de Santa Luzia is just the opposite, offering sweeping views of the Alfama and Tagus to the south and the Graça to the west. The tourists noisily taking photographs here starkly contrast with the elderly Lisboêtas, who somehow manage to relax over cards and coffee. Presuming you fall into the former category, this stop, marked by the church of Santa Luzia (just ask for "Santa Luzia"), is also the best place either to begin a descent through the Alfama or an ascent (along the well-marked but tiring path) to the Castelo.

Originally built under Moorish rule as the heart of a walled city, the largely derelict Castelo has served over the years as everything from a royal residence to a prison and is now an delightful place to explore, offering ample parkland and superb views of every corner of Lisbon. The old neighborhood of Santa Cruz still crowds within its walls and is more accessible than the nearby Alfama. There aren’t any further specific sights to be seen on the rest of the tram’s route, although the views are stunning.