An Afternoon in Lisbon (And Into The Evening!)
This Afternoon Into Evening Lisbon itinerary is written by my amazing friend Luisa, who lives in Lisbon and loves to share what she loves about the city that holds her soul. It’s published with her permission.
Afternoon in Lisbon
Start your afternoon in Lisbon Largo Camoes/Chiado, which is a beautiful part of the city with a lot of shopping to do and old style stores and boutiques. Don’t forget to find a cafe to sit outside, have coffee, and watch the world go by.
At the end of the afternoon you can stroll from Largo do Rato (using the metro exit as your starting point), down Rua Escola Polytechnic into Rua D. Pedro V with all its antique stores, city vista points and gardens, finishing up at the vista point Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara.
Dinner
After enjoying the view you can have dinner at The Decadente Restaurant /Bar (in The Independent Hostel) . Once dinner is over, stroll just a block down the street for your dessert Port wine. “Solar do Vinho do Porto” is in a historic building and was turned into a Porto Wine tasting room by our Tourism Office and the Port Wine Institute. Along with amazing ambience they have Vintage Wine Port bottles to serve by the glass. This allows you access to try amazingly high quality wines that you would normally be able to, especially because a vintage bottle should be consumed in the space of a month from opening so to enjoy its full potential…. so they say!
When organizing international events I always take my guests there because it is beautiful and the service is great with english speaking staff.
Evening
By then it will be night and you can keep going down the street to the lively Bairro Alto area, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Lisbon and now a vibrant place of gathering and fun. With many dinner places and bars, this area will always a bit crowded during summer weekends.
Because you have already eaten dinner, you are there to listen to some Fado!! I usually take friends that do not speak Portuguese to Cafe Luso. There are other Fado places but they are a bit harder to find by yourself and if you don’t speak the language it will be hard to follow the lyrics and meaning!! And we do have a rule… “Silencio que se vai cantor o fado!” [Silence, we are about to sing the Fado!] Meaning of course…you will have to keep silence when listening to Fado!
Cafe Luso is relaxed and fun. You will bump into other travelers from all over the world. They might even have a folklore group come out to dance that takes people up to the stage. It’s fun! 🙂 This was where I met a Russian Opera singer married to an American a few years back. After we met, we ended up visiting in Russia for the classical music White Nights Festival.
That is Lisbon, a mix of people from all over the world just enjoying a good time and the food!!
If you are inspired to visit Lisbon and want to learn more, here is some further inspiration!
