Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon

4 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  4 minutes

© flickr.com - Paul Arps/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Paul Arps/cc-by-2.0

The Mercado da Ribeira is a market hall on Avenida 24 de Julho of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, where fresh fish, vegetables and fruits have been sold since the 19th century. It can be reached by public transport from the Carris via the Cais do Sodré station.   read more…

Livraria Lello e Irmão in Porto

15 August 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Michał Huniewicz/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Michał Huniewicz/cc-by-2.0

Livraria Lello & Irmão, also known as Livraria Chardron or simply Livraria Lello (Lello Bookstore) is a bookstore located in central Porto in Portugal. Along with Bertrand in Lisbon, it is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal. It is frequently rated among the top bookstores in the world, placing third in lists by the Lonely Planet and The Guardian. Elements of the facade and much of the interior are decorated in Art Nouveau, with some features of the Gothic Revival.   read more…

Bairro Alto in Lisbon

6 June 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© flickr.com - Manuel Menal/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Manuel Menal/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bairro Alto (Upper District) is a central district of the city of Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Unlike many of the civil parishes of Lisbon, this region can be commonly explained as a loose association of neighbourhoods, with no formal local political authority but social and historical significance to the urban community of Lisbon. The bairro or “neighbourhood” resulted from urban expansion in the 16th century, forming outside the walls of the historical city, and is characterized by an almost orthogonal tract (developing from two phases of distinct urbanization).   read more…

Chiado in Lisbon

28 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Camoens Square © Luca Galuzzi/cc-by-sa-2.5

Camoens Square © Luca Galuzzi/cc-by-sa-2.5

Chiado is the name of a square and its surrounding area in the city of Lisbon. The Chiado is located between the neighbourhoods of Bairro Alto and Baixa Pombalina. It is a traditional shopping area that mixes old and modern commercial establishments, mostly located at the Carmo and Garrett streets. The most well-known café of Chiado is “A Brasileira“, famous for having had poet Fernando Pessoa among its customers, and today it is very popular among tourists. The Chiado is also an important cultural area, with several museums and theatres.   read more…

The sail training ship Sagres III

1 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  < 1 minute

N.R.P. Sagres on Tejo<br>© Lopo Pizarro - www.lopo.pt/cc-by-2.5

N.R.P. Sagres on Tejo
© Lopo Pizarro – www.lopo.pt/cc-by-2.5

The NRP Sagres is a tall ship and sail training ship of the Portuguese Navy since 1961. As the third ship with this name of the historical important city of Sagres in the Portuguese Navy, she is sometimes referred to as Sagres III. The ship is a steel-built three masted barque, with square sails on the fore and main masts and gaff rigging on the mizzen mast. Her main mast rises 42 m above the deck. She carries 22 sails totaling about 2,000 m² (21,000 ft²) and can reach a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h) under sail. She has a sparred length of 89 m (295 ft), a width of 12 m (40 ft), a draught of 5.2 m (17 ft), and a displacement at full load of 1,755 tons.   read more…

Estoril, retreat of the elite of Lisbon

27 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  7 minutes

Hotel Palacio © Carcharoth

Hotel Palacio © Carcharoth

Estoril is a seaside resort and civil parish of the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, Lisboa District. The Estoril coast is close to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It starts in Carcavelos, 15 kilometres from Lisbon, and stretches as far as Guincho, often known as Costa de Estoril-Sintra or Lisbon Coast (Costa de Lisboa). Historically Estoril was composed of several boroughs along the coastline, namely – from East to West – those of São Pedro do Estoril, São João do Estoril, Santo António do Estoril (this is the area today known simply as Estoril) and Monte Estoril, among others further inland. The two main resort towns along what is known as the Estoril coast are Estoril and Cascais. Estoril has a famous casino, Estoril Casino. Estoril was the residence of Juan de Borbón, pretender to the Spanish throne during the last part of the 20th century. The population of Estoril parish/village is 24,000, its density is 2,702/km² and the area is 8.79 km². There are remains of Roman mansions dating back around 2,000 years.   read more…

Santa Justa Lift in Lisboa

21 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - islandjoe/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – islandjoe/cc-by-2.0

The Santa Justa Lift (Portuguese: Elevador de Santa Justa, also called Carmo Lift (Portuguese: Elevador do Carmo, is an elevator/lift in civil parish of Santa Justa, in the historical city of Lisbon, situated at the end of Rua de Santa Justa. It connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the higher Largo do Carmo (Carmo Square.) Since its construction, the Lift has become a tourist attraction for Lisbon as, among the urban lifts in the city, Santa Justa is the only remaining vertical one. Others, including Elevador da Glória and Elevador da Lavra, are funiculars, and the other Lift constructed around the period, the Elevator of São Julião has since been demolished.   read more…

Lisbon, the white city

23 November 2010 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Stefan Didam-Schmallenberg

© Stefan Didam-Schmallenberg

Nowhere in Portugal visitors will find a more impressive reminder of the great seafaring tradition and the wealth of the former colonial power than in the capital. It seems as if one would breathe history and even untrained eyes can see “Once here was power and money at home!”. Much is well preserved, especially the pride of the residents. Lisbon is one of the quieter, yet vibrant European cities with the typical southern European lifestyle, which could keep much of its originality without missing the connection to the modern era, on the contrary: For a number of years now, an increasingly stronger start-up scene from the IT sector has been established, which also attracts large international corporations (Startup Lisboa). Lisbon owes the nickname “The White City” the picturesque white houses, historic buildings and palaces.   read more…

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