March 2010, a cloudy day..

The roof terrace, giving long views over the river and the city, is very popular. The hotel is on the arty side of town, located in the ancient quarter (Bairro Alto)  and Chiado, a nice traditional area and an elegant shopping district.

Strechted out on one of the chairs, you can watch night fall while savouring a glass of wine… A lunch is also available, but don’t expect a typical Portuguese lunch: ‘just light snacks’, according to the very friendly waiter.

Caesar salad (€12.50), sandwich (€9.50). Glass of white wine (€5.00). We liked the food but we were still a bit hungry   mixed cheese platter (€12.00)

The other side of the River Tagus and the famous Cristo Rei Statue… How to get there?

Chiado city view. Nearby the hotel: cafe ‘A Brasileira’ and the statue in bronze of Portugals famous poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), once a regular customer, still mobbed by lots of tourists…

The 1845 building of hotel Bairro Alto started life as the Grand Hotel of Europe. It became a favourite haunt for writers and artists. Its 18th-century façade forms part of the historical Luis de Camões square, named after a very famous Portuguese poet.

Square Praça Luís de Camões . On the background Hotel Bairro Alto. The location is perfect for sightseeing and nightlife.  Bairro Alto by night

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They serve delicious Spanish dishes like gaspacho and tortilhas, Italian (lasagna, spaguetti, also vegetarian) and Portuguese dishes inspired by the French cuisine.

The charismatic owner David García González was born in Spain, lived in France and about 3 years ago he moved to Lisbon.

Besides: trendy 2 bedroom apartment for rent in this area . After going out on an evening, you won’t need to think about organising transport home. 

Our choice: salada salmão e chevre (salad with salmon and chevre, 11 euro) and tourte au canard (10.50). Glass of wine (2.00) , Caipirinha (6.00).

The cafe in the afternoon. You can relax in the deep leather armchairs, or bring your laptop (wi-fi internet connection). Try their Portuguese cakes: tarte de maçã com gelado de baunilha or bolo de dois chocolates.

Les Mauvais Garçons (the bad boys). Rua da Rosa 39, open from 12:00 to 24:00. Les Suites Du Bairro Alto

Rua da Rosa in the afternoon. Lisbon’s nightlife in Bairro Alto

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This place is a good idea for a break or a romantic moment, a chat with some friends or while you’re waiting for the train and want to check your e-mails. Even in wintertime when the sun is shining you can sit outside, the terraces are protected from the wind.

Restaurants and cafés has been created here, apart from all the noice and traffic. A coffee (bica, 0.95 euro).

On the background you see Calcada do Duque, the beginning of the more than 300 stairs leading to Bairro Alto

The new ice cream shop Gelateria Finzi Contini. From outside it does not look like an ice cream shop, but it is, and a good one.

Natural ingredients and recipes are an Italian/Argentinian fusion. 4.00 euro and delicious! Besides they serve home made pastry, sandwiches and crepes.

After all the renovations this place is this really beautiful.

Finzi Contini ice cream shop, Gislaine Nazario. Largo do Duque, de Cadaval Lisbon

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This is an old-fashioned Leitaria, specializing in milk products and pastries, whose blue-tiled walls display bucolic scenes. One of my favorite cafes: the atmosphere, the kind of people….mostly Purtuguese, drinking a bica (strong coffee) or a tea (chá) while reading a newspaper.

This house is for over 100 years in the same family: Ana Claudia Diogo (r) and her niece Filipa Indias.

Ana Diogo’s grand grand father, José Domingos Diogo, built this place (pictures of the family are hanging on the wall), from origin a milkshop, in Portuguese ‘Art Nouveau’ style and beautiful tiles (azulejos). The café was recently renovated, but with care….

Chá (tea) in a pot (in style) 1,20 euro. The coffee, cakes, and sandwiches are all good.

The cafe ” Leitaria A Camponeza” is open from 07:45 – 19:00, closed on Sundays

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If you like visit one museum make it the Gulbenkian. It’s the collection of the Armenian oil billionaire who made Lisbon his home. It covers everything from Egyptian to 20th Century art

After visiting the Gulbenkian Museum a must-do is to go to the nearby and wonderful old tea and lunchroom Versailles (1922) at Avenida da República, which has it’s own bakery. The homemade cakes and pastries are delicious, like the Pasteis de natas. The decor is rich, with chandeliers, gilt mirrors, stained-glass windows, tall stucco ceilings, and black-and-white marble floors. It looks like it could be straight of Paris…Mostly elderly people and greats of the Lisbon cafe scene enjoy their bica (espresso) here.

When Pastelaria Versailles was inaugurated on November 25 1922, the objective was to turn into a symbol of the fashionable Avenidas Novas, an elegant and new neighborhood in Lisbon. Remaining a courageous resistant to the construction fury that replaced many of the beautiful small palaces and stylisch houses of the first halve of the 20th century by today's unattractive buildings at Avenida da República, where 'Versailles' is....

The Pastelaria also knew how to resist to the fast-food wave that assaulted many of the most well-known cafes and pastry shops in Lisbon, transforming them into uncharacteristic places where people can only grab a fast meal. The wide variety of snacks includes codfish balls and toasted ham-and-cheese sandwiches. They are also famous for their confectioneries served in a glass case.

Pastelaria Versailles, long known as the 'grande dame' of Lisbon' coffeehouses, was quite recently declared a part of the national heritage. It still serves the famous Mozambique black tea that was introduced in 1662. Lunch, served in a back room, is a full meal of such Portuguese specialties as codfish with almonds. Most visitors come here for tea or coffee, served with sandwiches and snacks. Desserts, including duchesses (whipped-cream cakes) are justifiably famous.

As an old-fashioned and formal touch, immaculately attired waiters serve customers from silver-plated tea services. In addition to coffee and tea, the house specialty is hot chocolate. It's open daily from 7:30am to 10:00pm. Metro: Saldanha.

Window dressing Pastelaria Versailles, Avenida da Republica 15a
Lisbon

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Rossio, December 2008, just around the corner of Pastelaria Suíça, a cafe/restaurant very popular with tourists.

The Rossio Square has been a meeting place for people of Lisbon for centuries. Some of the cafés and shops of the square date from the 18th century, like the Café Nicola, where Barbosa du Bocage , a Portuguese poet, used to meet friends.

Famous Café Nicola, Praça Dom Pedro IV 26 (founded in 1929). It was here that the first Portuguese women dared to break the male stranglehold on cafe-going. Rossio’s cafes are popular for sitting and watching the world go by.

Pastelaria Suíça, Praça Dom Pedro IV 101, a traditional Portuguese cafe/restaurant, famous for its huge variety of delicious cakes and pastries.

Most locals prefer to sit inside. During World War II this place (Suíça means Switzerland) was the meeting point where those in exile negotiated their tickets to freedom.

Pastelaria Suíça terrace, Praça D. Pedro IV 96/101. Locals appreciate this cafe/restaurant just as much as tourists. The waiters are not always very nice. Being a tourist, be aware of pickpockets: while enjoying a delicious cálice de vinho do Porto (a glass of Port Wine), somebody tried to steel my friend’s bag from under her chair. Happily a friendly waiter warned us just in time! Be aware when you visit touristical attractions and terraces. Nearby you can taste a Ginjinha, a liqueur made of a cherry-like berry, a typical Lisbon spirit.

From Pastelaria Suica ’s terrace at the back a view of the square Praça da Figueira (English: Square of the Fig Tree) and the São Jorge Castle.

Street performances (’living statue’), newspaper vendors, street traders (offering cheap watches or ‘jewellery’), lottery ticket sellers, ‘psssst drugs’ sellers and begging hands……….also some lovely shops, like the unique hatmakers shop Chapelaria Azevedo Rua (opened in 1886)

And, of course, in wintertime, the unmistakeable smell of roasted chestnuts (castanhas assadas)

Lisbon Rossio lottery ticket seller 

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Largo de São Domingos: ‘Lisbon, City of Tolerance’. What you’ll find here is a real Portuguese atmosphere: a variety of little shops, a typical Portuguese restaurant, a ginjinha café and a delicious Charcutaria (deli-shop).

Charcutaria Tábuas, Rua Barros Queiróz 45-51, selling Portuguese hams (presunto), sausages, smelly Portugese cheeses, fresh herbs, spices and bounties of tropical fruit and vegetables.

Presunto is the name given to dry-cured Portuguese ham similar to Spanish jamón. There are a wide variety of presuntos in Portugal; among the most famous are Presunto from Chaves, produced in the north of Portugal, and Presunto from Alentejo, in the south, made from local Alentejano pig.

Ginjinha cafe Rubi, Rua Barros Queiróz 27. Ginjinha is a liqueur made of a cherry-like berry called (not surprisingly) Ginja. The berries are fermented into a brandy that’s slightly bitter, slightly sweet and very sticky. You can order a ‘Ginja’ for little money and with or without a cherry in it. Small one: euro 0,45, big one: 0,75. The taste of a Ginjinha is one you won’t forget!

‘Cafe Rubi’ inside, beautiful tiles (azulejos)! The azulejo is a typical form of Portuguese painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tilework. They have become a typical aspect of Portuguese culture. Azulejo comes from the Arabic word az-zulayj, meaning polished stone.

Wherever you go in Portugal, azulejos are to be found inside and outside cafes, churches, palaces, ordinary houses and even ceilings, train- or subway stations. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese history.

Grande Big Bazar, Rua Barroz Queiróz # 13

What an amazing dress!

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Mouraria, Rua do Terreirinh0: Jose Marie & his wife, good & cheap traditional Portuguese food

Breakfast: traditionally just coffee and bread, often enjoyed in a cafe (pastelaria). Recommended: toast (tosta mista) with ham & cheese (queijo e presunto), or delicious sweet pastries like pastéis de natas, real calorie bombs! Coffee: strong (bica) with milk (galão – garoto), tea (chá) with or without sugar (açúcar). The pastalerias are often a part of the social life in the neighbourhood.

Owner of Taverna do Poco, Largo do Terreirinho, Mouraria, Lisbon. Here you can have a 5 course meal (cheese, soup, main course, dessert, coffee and wine) for only about 10 euros. This restaurant is only open until around 18:00.

If you don’t feel like experimenting, try a ‘bitoque’. It’s steak and fries, with a fried egg, garlic and rice.

How to recognize cheap and really Portuguese restaurants?
A little bit disorderly, but very clean; a big TV screen, people like watching TV while eating (a lot of football, futebol), TL-tubes on the ceiling and paper table-covers. Prices (in Lisbon) between 8 and 15 euro (three courses and wine).

There’s a lot of seafood restaurants, many with very beautiful displays of lobsters, shrimp, oysters, and crabs, but a big TV-screen, football (futebol!) is also really important….!!

Besides: be prepared in the more expensive and touristical restaurants  you have to pay for starters like bread, cheese and often olives or shrimps (camarao). You won’t pay for them if you don’t eat them, and  the waiter will take them away (não, obrigado), ‘no thank you’. The waiter will probably bring you some unrequested starter dishes: as those are not free, feel free not to touch them and they will not be charged on your bill (but check it!).

Like in all mediterranean countries lunch (almoçar),  is a big affair for Portuguese, served between noon and 3 o’clock, often in a restaurant. Usually three courses, including soup (sopa) like caldo verde (a soup of cabbage and potatoes.

Caldo Verde, a popular soup of Portuguese and Brazilian cuisine.

Fish, like codfish (bacalhau) or charcoal-grilled sardines (sardinhas assadas) or meat (rabbit and pork are very popular), Coelho a caçador (rabbitstew, in red wine), accompanied with a small bottle of red or white wine (uma garaffa de vinho branco ou tinto) or Vinho Verde (a young sparkling ‘green’ wine, low-alcohol).

Chicken (frango) piri-piri (the African devil..), is also a very popular disk

Desserts (sobremesas): crême brulée (pudim flan), chocolate mousse and a big variety of almond cakes (amêndoa). Toucinho do céu (bacon of heaven) or barriga de freiras, (nun’s bellies), recipes originally created by nuns in the 17th and 18th Century. Often cheese (queijo), from sheep or goat’s milk. Very popular is ‘queijo da Serra” from the region of Serra da Estrela.

In the smaller restaurants the bill is usually written on the paper table cloth…you can pay cash only. Our bill for 2 persons? 14 euro, incl. a glass of home made Aguardente bagaceira……(litt. firewater)

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Rua Garett, June 2008. On the background cafe ‘A Brasileira’ terrace. You will see young locals here just socialising or window shopping.

The most famous street of Lisbon, that mixes traditional chic and modern commercial shops, is also beloved by tourists.

Cafe ‘A Brasileira’ (Rua Garrett 120) is famous for having had the enigmatic poet Fernando Pessoa  (1888-1935) among his customers. Pessoa still has his table in bronze on the terrace (the work of sculptor Lagoa Henriques). The man has no idea he’s mobbed by lots of tourists, all day long! Even today this coffeehouse is popular with writers. The downstairs seating area is a favourite with locals for a set lunch of traditional Portuguese specialties. The cafe once was the setting for tertulías literárias (lively discussion groups) in which debate would often culminate in chair throwing, cup smashing and brawls.

‘A Brasileira’ (’The Brazilian woman’), opened in 1905 as a shop selling genuine Brazilian coffee. It was the first shop to sell the ‘bica’, a small cup of strong coffee, similar to espresso.

The interior of ’A Brasileira’ is grandiose: decorated in Art Deco style, with a green-and-gold entrance, mirrored walls, brass fittings, and a long oak bar.

However: bad service and inattentive staff  for tourists. It’s a very popular tourist destination, and prices are high.

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Laid out in 1860 with lots of exotic plants, the garden hosts a handicraft- and ecological products bazaar on specific days of the week.

After shopping people like to take a break here. Rua dom Pedro V  is one of the most interesting streets of Lisbon to walk around. There’s lots of boutiques, traditional antique shops, art galleries and colorful historical buildings.

Beautiful trees and terraces to drink your bica (espresso). The atmosphere is very relaxed..This park is an extension of Bairro Alto,  a gay-friendly place in which plenty of bars and clubs are in easy reach.  More about gay clubs and bars in the neighborhood

Beautiful small kiosk.  More examples of Moorish kiosks  near beautiful viewpoints, favorite tourist attractions, some recommended restaurants and how to get there

Rua dom Pedro V, # 26 : Arabesque Ribeiro da Cunha Palace, dating from 1877, now housing a university department.

Gallery Fabrico Infinito, a very fancy art gallery in Principe Real in Rua dom Pedro V, # 74

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