Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and its biggest city. But it is tiny compared to London, where about 8.3 million of us live. Lisbon is about the same size as Bristol or Leeds, making it perfect to explore on foot. The public transport system is great too, including trams. And many of the best-loved tourist hot spots are clustered in the middle.
Mainland Europe’s westernmost capital city has just as much to offer as the splendid Atlantic coast it’s so close to. The mighty River Tagus weaves through the cityscape like an enormous ribbon. The natural harbour is one of the world’s most beautiful. And this is where Portugal’s explorers set off in the 1400s to discover new lands populated by curious peoples and scary creatures.
The centre was flattened by an earthquake in 1755, then rebuilt beautifully. The steep streets and multicoloured houses are the ultimate in instagrammable. It’s lovely here. Here are six of the best destinations in Lisbon to give you a flavour of this cool place.
Just wander the city on foot and soak it all in
Lisbon feels very 1800s, especially in the centre where the oldest buildings are. It’s a gracious place whose streets are full of interest and colour: the traditionally-dressed fish sellers balancing baskets of fresh seafood on their heads, the vibrant quays and tram noise. It’s rare to find a port so close to a city centre, giving the place a fresh maritime feel thanks to the ships horns you can hear across the city. You can sense the water everywhere you go, it’s a magnet.
Boat lovers are hooked by the freighters, warships, cruise liners, ferries and boat trip traffic in the harbour and on the river. The Tagus isn’t just eye candy, it’s the lifeblood of Lisbon. The city’s wine cellars lie over the Tagus and you can walk across the massive bridge if you like, or take public transport. The views are incredible. Reach the harbour to see fragatas, the odd crescent-shaped black boats with pink sails that carry stuff on and off boats.
Climb the steep hills and the views unfold, leading to gorgeous public parks and gardens with viewpoints to die for, Lisbon’s famous miradouros. You can see what we’re getting at here… Lisbon is eminently explorable on foot. There are cafes and eateries everywhere, and bars, so walking the city can be as leisurely or challenging as you like. Wander the burbs if you like to go off-piste, seeing how ordinary people like us live. By the end of your stay you’ll feel deep-down familiar with the city on a human level. Lovely.
Be a culture vulture
You don’t need to seek culture here in Lisbon. It’s hard to avoid it. Lisbon’s already rich cultural life flowered when it hosted the World’s Fair, part of which was the brilliant Belém Cultural Centre. If you love art, performance and music, this is a top destination. The building itself is extraordinary too, from some angles looking like a Brutalist masterpiece, from others a Moorish fort. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Museum is a world-class venue for ballet, music, exhibitions and more, and then there’s Culturgest, another multipurpose arts venue.
The list goes on, with enough museums to satisfy everyone, covering every imaginable obsession, passion and foible. The National Museum of Coaches takes the biscuit for eccentric magic, full of old carved and gilded coaches, once owned by the rich and pulled by horses. Then there’s the fado. Fado is a traditional happy-sad style of music that’ll remind you of your Lisbon experience every time you hear it, for years to come. The yearning feeling, the melancholy, the passion, it’s unforgettable.
Food falls under the culture banner and being a capital city, Lisbon’s restaurants are excellent. Expect succulent seafood and beautiful hybrid cuisine blending ideas from people who arrived here by ship from across Europe and beyond, added to by flavours loved by the Moors, Romans and a ship-load more invaders. Eating here is like eating history. Last but not least, Portugal’s wines sit at the beating heat of the city, rightly famed for being totally delicious.
Lose yourself in the buildings
Jerónimos Monastery is a jewel of a World Heritage monument that showcases the finest in Portuguese Gothic design. Built in 1502, the magnificent stonework is a bit like York Minster, a bit like a Cambridge college, and a bit like Brighton Pavilion. The fancy stonework refers to the sea and all things east, celebrating the city’s great explorers. This is where Vasco da Gama lies. After admiring the monastery, try a local treat invented by the monks who lived and worked at Jeronimos. Their custard tarts, AKA pastéis de Belém and pastéis de nata, are yours at more or less every bakery.
The monastery is just one of a host more extraordinarily historic buildings in the centre of Lisbon. Some are tiled top to bottom with gorgeous painted tiles, a feast for the eyes. Other frontages are carved to within an inch of their lives, and everywhere there are ornate balconies. Add sleek modern architecture to the mix and it’s an exhilarating visual adventure.
Get inspired by tiles
Lisbon’s tiles are world famous. Some clearly have Moorish roots, repeating patterns with geometric themes. Others combine to create enormous pictures looking like like old masters, painted with blue and white rural scenes. The Lisbon Tile Museum reveals the secrets and history behind this type of ceramic tile art, which goes right back to Ancient Egypt. Now found all over the Mediterranean, designs like this aren’t unusual in modern tile shops in the UK.
Many of Lisbon’s palaces, street signs, and shops are smothered in tiles, making the Tile Museum an experience that’ll enhance your trip as you wander the city. The museum itself is a stunner as well, inside a 1500s convent and known as the city’s best-looking museum. From ancient to contemporary, the display tracks the history and development of the tiles. Then, armed with knowledge, you can go spot as many tiles as you can on the frontages of Lisbon’s gorgeous buildings.
Know your Portuguese explorers
Built in 1960 to mark the Age of Discovery, the Discoveries Monument is absolutely massive, dwarfing human visitors. This elegant ship-shaped celebration of Prince Henry the Navigator, the many explorers who followed suit and those who supported them over the ages is studded with statues. Dreamed up in 1939 by the Portuguese architect José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida, it was meant to be a temporary structure for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition. The Art Deco design looks just as modern today.
Go inside for interesting exhibitions and a lift to a terrace on top with breathtaking views. The grounds feature a huge compass and map of the world where you can see where each explorer went.
Bartolomeu Dias was the first to sail beyond the Cape of Good Hope. Diogo Cão came across the Congo and Vasco da Gama joined up Europe and India by sea. Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia was an early Azores settler and Gaspar Corte-real found Greenland. The list goes on, and every statue tells an extraordinary story.
Now find a cafe or bar, sit outside, enjoy a cold one and Google the explorers who’ve inspired you. While your Lisbon experience might not be as out-there and outlandish as their voyages, you’re having a unique adventure of your own. We salute you. Enjoy.
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