LISBON AND SURROUNDINGS

Lisbon is a fascinating European capital that mixes a proud, historic past with a sophisticated and modern lifestyle. This 24-hour city with a population of about one million provides scores of sightseeing and shopping opportunities during the day and a range of mouth watering restaurants and nightlife venues that thrive until the sun comes up.

Three of the finest hotels in Lisbon are the Lisbon Four Seasons, offering traditional Portuguese hospitality, the fashionable Lapa Palace, and the Dom Pedro Hotel, which hosted President Clinton during his presidential visit to Portugal.

Access
Air: Lisbon’s International Airport is a convenient four miles from city center. It’s an easy matter for clients to hail a taxi. An alternative is a shuttle bus operating 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. between the airport and central locations in Lisbon.

Cruise: Lisbon is one of Europe’s busiest cruise ship ports, with more than 200 calls each year. Lisbon’s first-class port facilities include three passenger terminals in the heart of the city, all of which are within easy walking distance of Lisbon’s central attractions.

Getting Around: Trams, buses and subways crisscross the city, while public elevators help pedestrians avoid hiking the steepest hills. The #28 tourist tram is especially popular, providing excellent sightseeing through some of the capital’s most colorful districts.

Lisbon’s Famous Districts
In the center of Lisbon are three colorful neighborhoods that contain many of the city’s most important and popular sites:
• Alfama is a neighborhood with a Moorish ambience of narrow alleyways, steep streets, and delightful local restaurants and cafés. Attractions include: St. George’s Castle, providing panoramic views of the city; Sé, or Cathedral, built in 1150; Museum of Decorative Arts, housed in a 17th-century palace; and Casa do Fado, a museum devoted to fado music.
• Bairro Alto, a hilltop district dating from the 16th century, is known for its vibrant nightlife, restaurants, cafés and shops. Sites of interest include the São Roque, a 16th-century Baroque church; and the Museu do Chiado, exhibiting artwork created between 1850-1950.
• Baixa, Lisbon’s commercial center, offers a multitude of city squares, banks, offices, restaurants, theaters and shops. Places of interest include the Jardim Botânico, a 10-acre botanical garden; and the eclectic Museum of Geography.

Museums and Other Attractions
There are numerous cultural and historical museums that fall outside the boundaries of the Alfama, Bairro Alto and Baixa districts. The selection that follows is only a partial listing.
• National Museum of Ancient Art showcases European and Asian masterpieces, with an especially impressive collection of Portuguese art. The collection of paintings, the largest in Portugal, is housed in a 17th-century palace.
• The Gulbenkian Museum is home to one of Europe’s largest and finest private collections of paintings, period furniture, ceramics and tapestries, as well as a coin collection spanning 5,000 years. Periods and styles represented include Egyptian, Classical, Mesopotamian, Islamic, Far Eastern and European.
•National Tile Museum (Museu Nacional do Azulejo), exhibits decorative azulejos (tiles) in a 14th-century convent. The museum shows the evolution of Portuguese tile art—one of Portugal’s most important forms of artistic expression.

Nations Park
Nations Park features stunning modern architecture as well as restaurants, bars, relaxing gardens and attractions geared toward families. The Park’s major attraction is the Oceanarium, with 25,000 fish, birds and mammals in a strikingly designed, two-story aquarium, which re-creates the entire global scene. For interactive displays about science and technology, visit the Knowledge Pavilion. Suggest your clients to take the cable car to get from the north to the south end of the park.

Cruise the Tagus Bay
Besides the regular sightseeing services on land, there are also two-hour Tagus river trips to view the city and its monuments. River trips depart twice a day, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., April to October. Boarding is at Praça do Comércio; additional stops are made in Belém and Parque das Nações. Your clients can enjoy the beauty of the Tagus estuary and Lisbon itself, from the city’s river banks to the old quarters perched atop the city’s seven hills. While your clients take in the sights and enjoy a delicious cup of tea or coffee, guides will tell them of Lisbon’s history, forged by immortal navigators and seamen.

Shopping
Lisbon has many high-quality shops and shopping districts. Recommend the city’s main shopping districts to dedicated shoppers. These include the ancient Baixa and Chiado quarters; the Avenida João XXI; Avenida de Roma, Guerra Junqueiro; Campo de Ourique, Avenida da Liberdade and Chiado. All of the above offer upscale shopping. The shops of Amoreiras, Colombo and the newly opened Vasco da Gama Shopping Malls offer even more national and international stores. Lisbon’s antique shops are mostly concentrated in Rua Dom Pedro V, Rua do Alecrim and Rua de São Bento.

Shops are generally open from 9 or 10 a.m., close at 1 p.m. and reopen from 3 to 7 p.m., except on Saturdays when some shops close for the day at lunch. Shopping Malls are open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. or midnight. Some of them are partially open on Sunday and holidays.

FADO-The Song of Lisbon
Lisbon’s trademark is heart-wrenching fado, an expressive musical art that combines elements of singing and narrative poetry. Like the blues, fado expresses longing and sorrow. The music owes much to the concept known as saudade, meaning a longing both for what has been lost, and for what has never been attained, which perhaps accounts for its emotional power. These melancholy emotional tales of lost loves are a true embodiment of saudade. The singer, called a Fadista, is usually dressed in black and accompanied by the Portuguese guitar. For an up-to-date list of places ask your clients to confer with the hotel concierge.