Lisbon neighborhoods, Lisbon

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The Alfama area of Lisbon is its oldest area. It is located on a hill with the castle of St George at the top. This is a lovely area filled with winding streets, colourful houses, tiled houses, cafes, churches, lookout points with great views. A wonderful area to explore either on foot or on the number 28 tram.

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For long neglected, this typical quarter, by the castle, is one of the most central and accessible. Without great touristy attractions, the quarter is being recovered and cleaned, and it is today a good option to descend from the castle.

Rua do Capelão is a narrow street commonly mentioned in Fado, because it was the residence of Severa, the first great reference of Fado, only surpassed by Amália many years later.
Fado is still present in several small taverns in the area.

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Alfama, taken from the Arabic al-hamma or the baths, is the mediaeval section of the Portuguese capital. It was originally the section in which Muslims lived when the country was under Islamic rule, but since the expulsion of the Moors in the 12th century, it has simply been the heart of the city under the protection of the Castelo do São Jorge. The presence of many old buildings and the weaving, confusing streets leads me to believe that this section of Lisbon was not nearly as badly destroyed as Baixa, as it didn’t succumb to the plans of the Marquês do Pombal following the devastating earthquake of 1755. Today, the areas of Alfama that are closest to the Castle and those that are along the picturesque Miradouros are the best preserved and most likely to be renovated. In other parts of the neighbourhood, however, you are likely to find run-down houses, where the poor and immigrants have found affordable accommodation close to the city centre and where there is no end of traditional, cheap restaurants to satisfy your craving for real Portuguese cuisine.

Lisbon has no beach but it is served by several beaches less than one hour distant by public transportation, suitable for all tastes (if you accept cold water):

Big surf with secluded beaches in Guincho (wild), Praia Grande (Sintra), Praia das Maçãs, or across the river in Caparica (long coats with several beaches)

Low surf in Estoril’s coast with evidence to Cascais, Estoril, Oeiras and Carcavelos.

Going a little further, Ericeira in the north, and Sesimbra or Arrábida south, merge an interesting visit to their beach facilities. And going even further there’s… Portugal.

This area is home to the Castelo San Jorge and Se cathedral. It is also an absolute joy to lose yourself and just wander for a few hours. Compact houses line steep streets and stairways, with laundry hanging everywhere.

I had this idea of biking through Portugal in the middle of August - which some may call it corageous - and thanks to the excellent service provided by Bikeiberia I realised it. The staff were friendly, eager to give information, and prices were cheap. Although fortunately we didn't need to, having their contact numbers and knowing they would have come by van to our rescue was enough to make us feel safe. Said all of this, be careful when you travel North of Lisbon in Extremadura, the paths are quite hilly. But this makes for wonderful views when you travel along the coast. Enjoy!

Bairro Alto. This is a neighborhood of Lisbon you cannot afford to miss. It is an astonishing area of the city, quirky, bohemian and idiosyncratic. In terms of its place in time, stepping into its sonorous but bewildering mazes of endlessly winding streets, the visitor is incomprehensibly thrown into a realization that he/she is suddenly deposited at a place somewhere not quite detached from the medieval times.

Okay, there are likewise a constant reminder of the current times - a trendy cafe, a fashionable boutique here and there, a gleaming restaurant with outdoor seating under a billowing white umbrella...that puts you in the right perspective of today's travels but always there is no matter what a sense of old, very very old indeed that refuses to budge from the many new encroachments of modern refurbishment and uplifting burnished facades. No question therefore that the more one spends wandering aimlessly around Bairro Alto, the more the place takes you back in time of startlingly eerie nostalgia.

Many times countless would-be visitors to Lisbon, especially the first-timers, tend to ask the oft-repeated question of where and which area of the city is best to spend one's time on - given the limit of one's stay - and whereby reap the utmost rewards from a partaking of as varied a scene , travel offerings and a lasting feeling of a trip. Thus, Bairro Alto most definitely, apart from the other notably very interesting and ancient neighborhood of Alfama on the opposite hill of old Lisbon.

In Bairro Alto one will find the strange admixture of experiences as far as sights and pleasurable little journeys are concerned: the old and the trendy, the ancient and the upcoming, an abbey, old churches, fantastic restaurants, smoky local taverns, fado houses, late-night bars and discotheques, fashionable clothing boutiques, the botanical gardens, a university, limitless cafes, tiny fruit stands and family-owned groceries, a nameless venue for drag shows, gay-oriented dance halls, beautiful open parks, old bookstores and much much more.

One of the new areas (or not so old) of Lisbon is the so called Avenidas Novas (New Avenues). This is no formal district name, but a nickname given to this area developed at the beginning of the XX century.
It's the north side of Lisbon's business district. Lisbon's stock exchange, one of the branches of the Euro-American Euronext group is located in the area.
It's main avenue, Av. da Republica, is broad and busy. It looks like a smaller version of Madrid's Castellana. It is quite uncharacteristic from the original development, with many nice and not so nice new buildings side to side with old ones.
Places of interest in the area include the malls and cinemas at Saldanha Square (southbound of the avenue), the restaurant and café Galeto (closes at 3am everyday) , Campo Pequeno bullring, the refurbished Entrecampos train station and Campo Grande park (northbound of the avenue).