Berlitz: Algarve Pocket Guide by APA

Author:APA
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Algarve
Publisher: APA
Published: 2013-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

The Bairro Alto F [map] (upper city) is a hilly area full of evocative houses decorated with wrought-iron balconies usually occupied by birdcages and flowerpots. At night the district is loaded with an exciting atmosphere and is famous for its fado (folk music) clubs. It’s a quiet, local-feeling area by day, dotted by cool boutiques and cafes, but comes alive by night as the city’s major bar-hopping hub. The cobbled streets fill with people spilling out of the small bars, clutching drinks, and there’s a party atmosphere.

Perched on the edge of the Bairro Alto is the Convento do Carmo, a convent devastated in the earthquake of 1755 but deliberately preserved as an atmospheric ruin and potent reminder of its impact. Nearby, the sumptuous, 16th-century Igreja de São Roque features a small museum of sacred art.

The convent used to be connected to the lower city by the landmark 30m (98ft) Elevador de Santa Justa G [map], a lift situated off the Rossio square in the Baixa; however, the walkway linking the lift and the upper city was destroyed in a fire that swept through Lisbon in 1988, and nowadays you can only go to the top of the Elevador (definitely worth the effort for the excellent views). This 1902 Victorian marvel of iron and glass was built by Raul Mesnier, not, as popularly believed, by Gustave Eiffel. To reach the upmarket shopping area of Chiado, now totally rebuilt after the 1988 fire, you have to slowly meander up behind the Elevador.

The Baixa is Lisbon’s principal business district. The main square is the Praça Dom Pedro IV, better known as Rossio H [map]. Look out for the railway station, Estação do Rossio, which looks like a Moorish palace with horseshoe arches, just west of the square. Two blocks north is another lively square, Praça dos Restauradores, which leads to the leafy main thoroughfare, Avenida da Liberdade.

The city plunges steeply downhill to the River Tagus and its most imposing square, Praça do Comércio I [map], lined on three sides by gracious arcaded buildings and a vast triumphal arch. The grand square, wholly wiped out by the earthquake of 1755, has seen its share of watershed political events: King Carlos and his son were felled by assassins’ bullets in the square in 1908, and one of the first uprisings of the Carnation Revolution of 1974 was staged here.

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