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Mournful notes of fado, blue tiled walls, cable car bells, pungent smoke from chestnut roasters, sun-warmed stones of Castelo Sao Jorge. Lisbon is a city for the senses.
The best way to see, hear and feel Portugal's charming old capital is to walk its stone-paved streets and climb its hills. The highest is crowned by a castle built before the Romans came, and the narrow streets winding up to it are so steep that they turn into stairs. Begin at the Rossio, an oval plaza that was once the Roman hippodrome. The castle beckons from above, so head toward it, angling to your right, through Praca da Figueira continuing to Rua das Pedras Negras, where a left takes you to the Se, a 12th-century cathedral that looks more like a fortress. It is dedicated to Lisbon's patron Saint Anthony, who was born just below it. His birthplace is marked by the little church, Igreza de Santo Antonio, and a small museum. Rua Augusto Rosa continues uphill, past an astonishing tree with 6-foot roots, before reaching Largo Santa Luzia. This garden belvedere has panels of azulejos, the tiles that form murals everywhere in Portugal. Stop to smell the roses on the wall, and to admire the view over the Alfama rooftops to the river. Continue uphill to the left, climbing through the sloping Largo Contador-Mor, then following the castle walls to the left and into Castelo Sao Jorge. Amid its old stones and towers are a museum, café, and walls to climb, but you'll have a hard time taking your eyes from the view over the city and river. Lisboans come here in the early evening to sit on the wall and watch the sunset. After exploring the castle, return to Largo Santa Luzia or take one of the stairways leading down into the warren of steep streets that form the heart of the old Alfama, where late at night you can hear the mournful wail of fado music. Below the cathedral on Rua Santo Antonio, at Largo Madalena, Artesanato Santos Oficios carries fine Portuguese handcrafts. Rua da Madelena leads to Igreja Conceicao Velha, a church partially destroyed in Lisbon's 1755 earthquake. A right turn takes you into the elegant arcaded Praca do Comercio, nicknamed Black Horse Square, by British merchants whose ships once landed here. Through the magnificent arch, Arco da Rua Augusta, is the most fashionable shopping street. You can see the old store names worked in mosaic on the pavements. This leads past the ornate iron Elevador de Santa Justa, built by a student of Eiffel, and back to Rossio, where you began.
The copyright of the article Lisbon: Portugal’s City on Hills in Portugal Travel is owned by Barbara Rogers. Permission to republish Lisbon: Portugal’s City on Hills in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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