City of Seven hills | Lisbon, Portugal

A hodgepodge of terracotta roofs stretched either sides along a blue river glimmering in the afternoon light, while a red bridge stringed the two sides. A handful of boats and their colorful sails fluttering gently jazz up the scene further. The squares packed with crowds and smoke from the stands selling roasted chestnuts.  This was the view from the castelo in Lisbon.

Portugal was always known to be the place of explorers who hurled ships in the Atlantic ocean and set out to discover new places. We arrived at Lisbon to explore the city of explorers. Lisbon still retains its old world charm and is surely one of the most underrated cities of western Europe. With architecture dating back from eons ago Lisbon is a city older than Rome. This is a little guide to exploring the city categorized by its neighborhoods

Baixa

Our time in Lisbon started on a misty morning.  Like most mornings having a coffee, this time at the Rainha Amelia in the Baixa neighborhood. After the coffee and a scrumptious breakfast of croissant we slumbered our walk towards the Praca do Comercio. Its one of the largest squares in Europe, the arcades are now home to departments of various ministries of Portuguese government. King Manual moved his residence from the castelo do sao jorge to commerce square which continued to serve as the site of the palace of kings of Portugal for over two centuries.

Fom the commerce square we walked along Augusta street that connects the triumphal arch overflowing with shops, street artists, artisans to the praca dos restauradores. This square is dedicated to the restoration of independence of portugal in 1640. We passed an all iron rustic tower along the way, which infact turned out to be an elevator. The santa justa lift was designed by Raul Mesnier, the same architect who designed the eiffel tower. We took a ride up for a view of the seven hills.

Rossio Square whose center is dominated by the bronze statue of Dom Pedro IV  and a fountain was just ahead. At the square looking down we saw mosaics made of small blocks of handcut black basalt and white limestone, these cobbles created a pattern that resembled ocean waves. For lunch we headed to the Timeout market, a former fishing market now turned in to a market offering a range of Portuguese food from. I chose a blue cheese salad from the stall Tartar-ia, whose sign board read “where everything is raw and everything is chooped’.  The well laid board of blue cheese, purple cabbage and greens looked as good as it tasted. 

Belem

We started at the ornate Jerónimos  monastery that boasts of intricate details, fantastic arch carved from stones, built in late gothic manualine architecture. Built to commemorate Vasco Da Gama’s voyage and thanking Mary for the success, the monastery is a unesco world heritage site. After a long and thorough exploring of the monastery and its columns we headed to the Pastel de Belem next door. We had to try out their pastries made from a  well guarded secret recipe. The crisp and flakey melt in mouth pastry filled with creamy custard, dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon were really the best thing we had in a while.

We walked the park opposite to the monastery leading to the Tagus river. Its hard not to notice the huge and impressive monument on the river shore designed in the shape of a caravel dedicated to the to age of discovery that celebrates the many explorers of Portugal. The monument carved in stone portrays the explorers led by a stone sculpture of Prince Henry, the Navigator.  An elevator took us to the top for a bird’s eye view of Belem and also the pavement in front that has a compass map of the world.

Belem tower another unesco world heritage site sits along the Tagus river. It was built as part of a defense system to guard entrance to lisbon’s harbor. It looks more like fort than a tower and nowsymbolizes Lisbon. We ended our tour of Belem sitting on the Tagus river and eating frozen yogurt out of a green van selling them under the sign wee.

 

Bairro Alto

Bairro Alto is Lisbon’s bohemian corner and filled with old style cafes, bookshops. The graffiti ridden walls and streets are quite during the day but transform into the city’s most happening quarter by the evening. With the stack of lively bars, overflowing fado houses and great mix of traditional and modern restaurants, this neighborhood is Lisbon’s focal point. No trip to Lisbon is complete  without doing some bar-hopping in Bairro Alto and listening to some great music.

We started our evening at the Artis, its wooden furnishings giving it a decade old ambience and finished up at the Majong watching the Bairro Alto crowds while listening up to the music and letting the day’s scenes settle in. With its rich unique architecture, vibrant colors, fresh food and friendly people Lisbon can leave you marveled with the old world charm.

Alfama

The best way to get up the hills of Alfama is on the emblematic yellow trams that snake their way  up and down the winding lanes tirelessly. But if exploring by feet is more satisfying remember to ditch the heels and wear comfortable shoes to tread the crags of the cobbled streets of the old town. We did just that and found crumbling houses, walls covered in artistic tiles on every corner on our walk. Almost every street corner had a stall selling roasted chestnuts, we removed the hull of a few shells and ate the inside.

The Lisbon castle sits on top of the hill.  We took the stairways to get to the top of one of the walls for magnificent views of Lisbon and the river Tagus. Right after the castle entrance is a Pathway to the terraced square from which we saw an impressive panoramas of Lisbon. A hodgepodge of terracotta roofs stretched either sides along a blue river glimmering in the afternoon light, while a red bridge stringed the two sides. A handful of boats and their colorful sails fluttering gently jazz up the scene further. The squares packed with crowds and smoke from the stands selling roasted chestnuts.

The city didn’t always use to be like this. After a  earthquake leveled the city in 1755 it has been subsequently remodeled still carrying the same feel to it.  Palacio  Belmonte was one of the very few buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake unscathed. The best part is its now open as a luxury palace hotel and offers suites facing the old town Alfama.

One of the recognizable Portugese art comes in the form of blue and white tiles. There is a lovely ajuleijos with a view of the downtown of Lisbon at the St Lucia viewpoint which overlooks the old town and the Tagus river. Down a further few steps is the Se Cathedral which suffered a fire that burnt all the original tapestries and ornaments but was restored back.

Almada

It was obvious our car was making a trudge up the hill as the Christ statue seemed to get bigger and bigger. The car came to a stop at the seemingly end of the hill and into the vast expanse of the Christ the king. An elevator inside the statue whisks visitors for the best view of Lisbon. Further away is the red bridge named 25th of April Bridge extended over the breadth of the Tagus river. The Arrabida Mountains filled up the distant horizon and the hills of Lisbon evaporated in a haze as the clouds took over our sunset view.

We sat down looking at the sunset and wondering how Lisbon is a heady mix of so many places, the Christ looming behind us reminded of Rio, the bridge and the yellow trams far away on the right in Alfama of SFO, the eclectic night life and graffiti of Bairro Alto resembled a distant version of Berlin and then the architecture a bit of baroque, moorish influence from Arab. I think we will make a trip down again to nail what Lisbon actually is!

Now if you want to explore Lisbon yourself on a self guided walk we have you covered. We have partnered up with GPSmycity and are giving away coupons for guided walks of not just Lisbon but other cities. The city walks app by GPSmycity provides guided walks featuring the best of each city, from world famous attractions to hidden gems. For a complete list of cities that are offered refer to the GPSmycity website.

All you need to enter the giveaway is write down below in the comments the name of the city you want to get a guide for and sit back and wait while we send the elves to deliver the coupons to you.

Fine Print

• The coupon codes can only be used on iOS devices (iPhone and iPad)
• The giveaway is open worldwide.
• The giveaway starts on Dec 20th and ends on Jan 10th. The giveaway has closed. Thanks for participating.
• Winners will be randomly selected and announced here.
• To participate just write in comments the name of the city you would want a coupon for.