East of Baixa, this is the oldest, most traditional part of Lisbon, a village within a city, whose steep, whitewashed streets are sonarrow that vehicles can barely enter . Overlooking it is a craggy hill topped by the leafy shell of the Castelo de São Jorge.
organized museum with its own café. Highlights include shadow puppets from the east paper marionettes and SpittingImage-style models from TV . There are also special demonstrations and workshopfor children.
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Lisbon is comfortably warm from April to October (average daily temperature 20–28ºC), with cooling Atlantic breezes making it less hot than Mediterranean cities on the same latitude. Most Lisbon residents take their holidays in July and August (27–28ºC), which means that some shops, bars and restaurants close for the period and the local beaches are heaving. Lower temperatures of 22–26ºC mean September and October are good times to visit, as is June, when the city enjoys its main festivals. Even in mid-winter it is rarely cold and, as one of Europe’s sunniest capitals, the sun usually appears at some stage to light up the city.
Set across a series of hills overlooking the broad estuary of the Rio Tejo (River Tagus), Lisbon’ s stunning location and effortless beauty immediately strike most first-time visitors. It’ s an instantly likeable place, a big city , with a population of around two
million, but one that remains human enough in pace and scale to be easily taken in over a long weekend.
Although officially the city dates from the late European Union’ s least eighteenth and nineteenth expensive capital, Lisbon centuries.These days, apart was once one of the from its individual sights, continent’ s wealthiest cities, the biggest attraction has to controlling a be its streetlife: nothing maritime empire that beats watching the city’ s stretched from Brazil in the comings and goings from a west to Macau in the east. pavement café over a Many of this era’ s grandest powerful bica coffee or
buildings were destroyed in Portuguese beer.Alongside the Great Earthquake of the cobbled streets and 1755, and much of today’ s crumbling mansions are countless cosmopolitan bars and restaurants, many of them influenced by the tastes of immigrants from Portugal’ s former colonies. The city’ s buoyant nightlife scene is just as eclectic, ranging from the traditional fado clubs of the Alfama district to glitzy venues playing African and Brazilian beats.
If you’ re fit enough to negotiate its hills, Lisbon is a great place to explore on foot: get off the beaten track and you’ll find atmospheric neighbourhoods sheltering aromatic pastelarias (patisseries), traditional shops, and shuttered houses faced with beautiful azulejo tiles. Getting around by public transport can be fun in itself, too, whether you’ re cranking uphill on one of
the city’ s ancient trams, riding a ferry across the breezy Rio Tejo, or speeding across town on the underground metro, whose
stations are decorated with adventurous contemporary art.
Should city life begin to pall, take the train out to
the beautiful hilltop town of Sintra, northwest of Lisbon, whose lush wooded heights and royal palaces comprise a UNESCO World Heritage site.Alternatively , the lively beach towns of Estoril and Cascais are just half an hour away , with the best
beaches lying south of the city , along the Costa da Caparica, where Atlantic breakers crash on miles of superb dune-backed sands. Further south still, the popular resort of Sesimbra sits at the edge of the craggy Arrábida nature reserve.