Description
An apartment in historical Lisbon neear Chiado-5 m walk. Recently rehabilitated building. Better discrive the appartment, you have the photos, is to discrive the Bairro Alto, Baixa, Chiado Carmo, here this appartment are.
Lisbon is a city of seven hills and each hill districts is very typical and different where you can walk and much more to see…
True Neighbourhood Spirit
You have several Lisbon's to visit, enjoy it and rest in our appartments
Lisbon: Sophisticated culture and the Pleasures of the Bourgeoisie
(Bairro Alto, Baixa, Chiado Carmo)
The Chiado was the meeting place for artists and intellectuals from the early nineteenth-century into the first decades of the twentieth century. Today, it teems with elegant shops, cafes and theaters and rubs shoulders with Lisbon’s nightlife zone, the Bairro Alto. We headed to Chiado one Sunday morning, starting at Camões Square. The bust of poet Luis de Camões has contemplated generations of young people who pass by, especially on weekend nights when this is the starting-point for an evening in the Bairro Alto. Today we will visit churches, drink a "bica" (Lisboeta’s term for an espresso) and sit with Fernando Pessoa at Café Brasileira. A stroll along Rua Garret, the main shopping street, leads us to the Basilica of the Martyrs.Various cafes are hidden within squares on the left and right, accessed through small passageways, just before we reach the Armazéns do Chiado at the intersection of Garret and historic Rua do Carmo. The Armazéns - a shopping center of 50 stores and a dozen restaurants offering spectacular views over Lisboa - as well as the Rua do Carmo were carefully retrieved from the great fire of 1988. Elegance has been restored to this exclusive and expensive area in Lisbon, where a sophisticated bourgeois live and shop, imparting an air of bohemian affluence……. and much more to see…
For Lisboetas, the Baixa and Avenida da Liberdade are the busy heart of our city; a commerical hub, popular meeting point and shopping area. I met friends in the arcaded Praça do Comércio; to locals, this will always be Palace Square. King Manuel I built his royal palace here in 1511, responding to Lisbon’s growing global importance. We slide into chairs at the Martinho da Arcada, founded in 1782 and one of Lisbon’s oldest cafés. Our walk today is over streets refashioned after the 1755 earthquake and flood into the famous grid-pattern designed by the Marquês de Pombal. Passing the equestrian statue of King José I in the square’s center, we seek the Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha church. Its Manueline doorway is all that survived the earthquake. We head onto Rua da Augusta, a major pedestrian street lined with shops, cafes and street performers. Parallel streets are named after their former specialties, such as Rua do Ouro (jewelry) and Rua dos Sapateiros (shoemakers). On a short side trip to Rua dos Correeiros, we look through the rear window of the Millenium BCP Bank into the ruins and mosaics of former Roman baths. I’m eager to show my friends two squares: Rossio, especially for the facade of Café Nicola, and Praça da Figueira, once the main marketplace. We walk among dozens of restaurants favored by locals on Rua das Portas de Santo Antão to enter the Neo-Moorish patio inside the Casa do Alentejo. Soon we’re at Praça dos Restauradores where people and cafes surround the monument to those who fought the 1640 War of Restoration. Two friends head to the Museu da Sociedade de Geografia’s ethnic collections from Portuguese colonies. The rest of us take the Elevador da Glória for a view from the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara. We had passed the Elevador de Santa Justa earlier, on our list to enjoy next time. Ahead is the artisticallcy cobblestoned pedestrian walk on Avenida da Liberdade, once restricted to high society, now lined with upscale hotels, shops and new food kiosks dotting the center parkway… …. and much more to see…
Alfama is Lisbon’s soul. Sounds, smells and sights evoke the history of sailors, fado singers, pirates and merchants; from aristocrats and artists, to slaves and beggars, mixes of every race, culture and century mark the narrow streets of Lisbon’s original neighborhood. Above the Alfama, the imposing Castelo de São Jorge is a popular promenade and vantage point. We jump onto Tram 28, laden with tourists and cameras, because these steep streets are best walked from the top, down. We start at the Castelo, the hilltop citadel of Moors transformed into the residence of Portuguese kings after King Alfonso Henriques’s recapture of Lisbon in 1147. Beaten by the 1755 earthquake, its rebuilt ramparts boast exceptional views. Gardens and cobbled streets of the Santa Cruz district seem to tumble toward the sea within the castle walls. North of the Castle is Miradouro da Graça, offering views from the miradoura (belvedere) and a map naming the buildings we’re seeing. In the evenings, cafe tables under the pines attract couples and friends. If time permits, and certainly everthing is quite close by, you can walk northeast to the São Vicente de Fora, resting place of the relics of Lisbon’s patron saint. Highlights include the Baroque canopy over the alter, life-size wooden statues and an 18th century azulejos-tiled cloister. We are near Feira da Ladra, or Thieves Market, where stalls and tents have appeared for more than a century on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, selling historical artifacts, African art and foodstuffs…. and much more to see…
Belém is at the top of the list for both tourists and residents, enticing us for repeat visits to this city at the mouth of the Tagus. Since the 1400s, explorers sailed from here to return with riches that marked Portugal’s Golden Age. We reached Belém, a few minutes west of Lisbon, by train, yet could have taken Tram 15 as both leave from Cais de Sodre station. The Mosterio dos Jeronimos is Belém’s centerpiece. We explored its vaulted arcades dating to the 1500s and drank in the Manueline style of the Nave of Santa Maria de Belém, right of the south portal. Archaelogical finds are exhibited in the Museu National de Arqueologia, housed in the expansive left wing of the Mosterio, with the Gulbenkian Planetarium just beyond. As we left the Mosterio we looked toward over the peaceful gardens and fountain of Praça de Império. The Centro Cultural de Belém is the modern building to the west of the Praça, built in 1992 as offices for Portugal’s term at the European Union’s helm. Now an arts complex, it’s the impressive home to the Museu Colecção Berardo. Its garden terrace is a popular place to look out over the river and note several powerful monuments. From here, we dashed across the street to the first of these monuments, the 53 meter high angular Monument to the Discoveries. Built in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator’s death, it is shaped like a caravel. Stone carvings slope down both sides, depicting persons key to Portugal’s Age of Discovery. Enter the monument for a breathtaking view from the top. The mariner’s compass cut into the paving stone on the north side depicts discoverers’ routes and was a gift from South Africa. We walked west, visiting the Museu de Arte Popular for Portuguese folk art and traditional handicrafts, on to the Torre de Belém. Built in the middle of the Tagus in 1515, it was the starting point for the navigators seeking trade routes. Carved stonework and Moorish-style watchtowers invite you to climb to the terraces for another view of the area. We retraced our steps to the Praça do Império, through the gardens to Rua Vieria Poruense. Picturesque buildings host restaurants with outdoor tables where we lunched facing the gardens. The street behind us is the historical main street, Rua de Belém. A long line pointed us to the Fabrica de Pasteis de Belém, the single home to pasteis de Belém, a rich custard in a flaky pastry cup…. and much more to see…
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