Hello everyone! To continue on from day one in Lisbon, the second day of our trip we explored the Alfama district. We started of in Praca do Comercio, which is a pretty square with a monument in the centre, i'm not quite sure who the monument is off, so if anyone knows then do let us know! We found that Lisbon was full of lots of squares with monuments, which was rather nice. At the end of the square is the River Tagus, and you can see the 25th of April bridge and the jesus christ monument on the other side.
From there we decided to tackle the Alfama district on foot. If your not a walking person then the other option is via the notorious tram 28. A lot of literature on Lisbon warns you regarding the pick pockets on this tram and this was one of the reason's we decided to avoid taking the tram. The other being the Alfama district is one of Lisbon's oldest quarters, made up of postcard perfect white houses with orange roofs, on hilly narrowed cobblestoned streets, and the ideal way to explore, we thought anyway, was via foot.
We walked uphill towards St Georges castle, which sits high up in the hills, overlooking the city. On our journey we stopped off at various viewpoints or miradouro in portuguese, which offer stunning views over the city and river. We also stopped off and browsed in little touristy shops that are dotted around the castle. On the way up we came across Lisbon cathedral, which is beautiful building both from the outside and inside, and definitely worth a look in.
One of the great things about exploring on foot is that you always discover hidden gems. One of the places we discovered was a terrace of a restaurant that we can't remember the name off! Well the restaurant used used part of the terrace for outdoor seating and the rest was free. We visited on many occasions during our trip and there was only ever a few other people there, mostly locals. This was one of our favourite places to sit for a while and enjoy the view, if you look up you can see St George's castle, to your left you can see the Tagus river, 25th of April bridge, jesus christ monument, the cathedral, and over the Alfama district and in front you have views over the city, and the best bit was it wasn't overcrowded with tourists.
If you want to find the terrace then you need to go onto Rua da Madelena, you can get onto this street from Praca da Figuera which is one of the main squares (next to Rossio square), if you find the tram stop for tram 12 and then walk straight ahead of you (away from the square) and then take the second right you will get onto Rua da Madelena, walk down this street as if your going towards the river, and on your left, not on the street but a little way in, you will see a supermarket called Pingo Doce, you want to head into the supermarket and find the lift, take the lift to the top level, come out and to your left you will see the restaurant walk towards the restaurant and you will see the terrace on your left just past the lift.
We actually found the terrace from wondering around the streets near the castle, and then saw that there was a lift, thought we would take it down to see where it went, discovered the supermarket, decided to buy some ice cream, went back up to the terrace and enjoyed our icecreams with a nice view. If anyone knows the place we are talking about then please share details with us in the comments!
If you are keen to take a tram, there is another tram that goes up into the Alfama district, it's tram 12, we took this one just to experience a tram ride through those narrow hilly streets!
We hope you found this helpful and we'll be back next week with more pictures and stories from Lisbon!
Sita & Radha xoxo
