Last week a friend and I went to Lisbon to stay with lovely couple who are from Lisbon. They took the week of work to show us around their city and had planned an itinerary for us which was packed full of the ‘tourist sites’. I know it sounds ungrateful, but our hearts sank. “We don’t want to see the tourist sites, we want to see the local life” we thought. However, on the first day they insisted on taking us on a tour which looked depressingly similar to the one suggested in our guidebook.
Tourist Must-Sees
We tasted port, took pictures of the views, rode a tram, went to the Cathedral Se and the Castle. Each time we checked off another ‘must-see’ we felt more disheartened, despite the impressive sites. The Cathedral Se and the Castello are spectacular, but everyone goes here. “My photos will look just the same as everyone else’s”, I thought sulkily. When we had to wait for a group of Polish women to have their picture taken arms extended over the iron bannister leading up the stone castle-wall steps, my friend and I exchanged a scathing look.
However, when we reached the courtyard in the centre of the Castel Sao Jorge, a guitarist playing Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian songs lent a rather magical moment of respite. We stopped on a stone bench and closing my eyes, I was transported to distant times when the moors or Romans wandered these very same rocks. Suddenly the castle came alive.
Local Hang Outs
On the first night, we stubbonly said that we want to explore on our own, we wanted to hang out and fit in with the others, not be tourists. So we headed to Bairro Alto. We got lost along the way and felt self-conscious when we arrived at a square where locals were hanging out. We seemed to draw attention to ourselves and found that we weren’t so good at fitting in as we’d thought. We found our way to Bairro Alto and were harrassed by restaurant owners. As we discovered a few nights later, we’d arrived 2 hours to early and none of the locals had yet arrived. However much we tried, we were just out of sync.
The next evening, our friends took us to a really cool restaurant called LX Cantina which was party of an old printing house. The bookshop next door to the Cantina was open late and had the old printing machine as a central installation. This was the kind of local place we wanted to see and we began to trust our local friends to show us the most interesting places. It made sense: during the day, local people are at work and so we won’t be doing the same as them, but in the evening, we could join in with the local life.
Gems along the Tourist Trail
On the third day, we went by ourselves to Sintra. It was another tourist spot and I felt that I’d now surrendered to my inevitable status as a ‘city-break’ tourist, guidebook in hand. Sintra is a beautiful place to spend a day. It is full of tourists but there is enough space to feel that you are discovering it for yourself. Wealthy citizens of Lisbon build castles and palaces in Sintra for their holidays and it is still popular with locals today.
We loved the underground tunnels at Quinta de Regeira and once again were able to imagine ourselves in the late 19th century when this incredible piece of gothic architecture was built.
In Sintra, we found a little coffee shop just by the train station called Amor, Saudade, Art e Vida. The little shop, come cafe, come art gallery, come museum was modest and authentic. No doubt this place is popular with tourists in the high season and so it should be.
Back in Lisbon, a cafe that we were told we just had to visit was the Pasteis de Belem. I was sceptical (hmph, everyone goes there, it must be a rip-off) but we were amazed. Not only was the old cafetaria beautiful, authentic, rustic but it was also filled with locals. It is popular because it is so good, whether you live there or you are visiting.
Local Music
We were very lucky to have such great hosts who were very up on local events. They took us to the first free concert as part of the Festival de Fado and we heard the most well-respected Fado guitarist and singer in the country for free, on a beautiful sunny evening in a courtyard by the Museum of Fado. The crowd was made up of eager locals and lucky tourists who had managed to get wind of this special event. After Fado, we went to an Irish Pub to see our friends’ son play the saxophone in his funk band. This is the kind of thing you find only when you’ve been staying somewhere a while. Having local friends helped a lot.
Tourist and a Local
The thing that I realized from my visit to Lisbon staying with local people was that being a “Tourist” and being a “Local” are not mutually exclusive. Just as I like to see great events, museums and shows in London so do I like to visit the great sites of other cities. The secret is to research before you go so that you can sprinkle the usual sites, which are spectacular, with a few more personal-interest experiences. We were lucky to bring them both together, once we’d got over the fact that yes, we ARE tourists and that’s OK!
To get some local know-how and insight about your trip to Lisbon, contact Virginie or Sergio before you go.
