After the 1755 earthquake and the Roman, Wisigoth and Arab presence, there are still relics to be seen almost everywhere.
Lately a great amount of work has been done and the urban rehabilitation has started to give better living conditions to the people who live in the older parts of the city, and Alfama is one of these districts. Tourism has only discovered it during these last years. In the town you will find festivals dedicated to Saint António in June when Alfama becomes the heart of Lisbon. If you do go to Alfama you must visit "Casa Do Fado and da Guitarra Portuguesa", a museum installed in an old water pumping station; there one can learn about the history of these traditional Portuguese songs that originally came from Lisbon.
A little further, opposite the Santa Apolónia station, the Military Museum offers a collection of weapons, instruments, paintings, flags, uniforms and lots of other interesting objects.
Not far from there, towards the Do Comércio square there is the Casa Dos Bicos, a house with a 16th century facade with a "diamond point" front.
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Casa dos Bicos |
Bairro Alto |
- Igreja da Conceição Velha: its manuelin style gate is very beautiful.
Going towards Do Comércio square and the Town Hall you arrive at Cais Do Sodré where you will find the railroad station with a line to Cascais. On that line is the "Mercado da Ribeira"; in the morning there is a market, on the ground floor you will find fruit, flowers, fish and on the 1st floor a craft centre and a restaurant. The district behind the market, which goes up towards the hill is called Bairro Alto. It is an old district with bars, cafés, restaurants, antique dealers, bookshops, workshops and typical restaurants where you can listen to Fado. Bairro Alto is a district which has a significant inheritance, namely:
- The São Castling church: built at the end of the 16th century, its front is in mannerist style but the interior is sumptuous thanks to gilded wood, marble and paintings.
- The São João Baptista chapel came from Italy in separate parts, some made of lapis lazuli, marble, ivory, alabaster, an amethyst altar, gold and silver. Beside this church you will find the Arte Sacra of São Roque Museum. It displays tables, the treasure from the São João Baptista chapel and also religious relics.
A little higher you will find the São Pedro de Alcântara view point from which there are beautiful views and also the Solar do Vinho do Oporto where you can drink porto. Higher still there is the Príncipe Real square and the Santa Catarina view point. There is a funicular to go down to the Restauradores square.
If you go down the street you will find other signs to get to the Do Carmo church built at the end of the 14th century on order of D.Nuno Álvares Pereira and destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.
Nowadays the ruined Carmo Church is used as an archaeological museum.
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Cais do Sodré |
Chiado Museum |
The streets leading down towards the lower part of the city are full of shops: bookshops, cafés, pretty shops. In this district, called Chiado, one finds one of the most significant museums of Lisbon, the Chiado Museum, installed in an old monastery and completly restored in 1994 by the French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. In this museum there are mainly paintings and sculptures by Portuguese artists from 1850 to 1950.
In the Chiado district there are also several theatres such as the Trinidade and the São Carlos.
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