Getting around Lisbon is all part of the fun, with a city centre that is easily navigable on foot for reasonably fit visitors. When the gradients become too much, the rapidly improving metro system is on hand and there is also the bus network, as well as the enjoyable array of clanking trams, bobbing ferries, crawling funiculars and lofty elevadors.
The elevadors and funiculars are a good place for visitors to start exploring the city, as they offer expansive views. Alternatively, São Jorge Castelo also commands impressive vistas, with the rambling Alfama old town rumbling away below the ramparts and the grid-like order of the Baixa visible just to the west. The Baixa is the business and shopping centre of the city, boasting its grandest square, Praça do Comercio, which lies right on the banks of the River Tagus. Baixa borders the Biarro Alto, a hilly coil of narrow streets that buzzes with shoppers by day and partygoers at night. Heading further west, the once neglected docklands have been revamped over the last decade, with new shops, bars and restaurants spicing up the old warehouses. Even further west, towards the Atlantic, is the suburb of Belém, on the city’s western extremities, which is the heart of the old Portuguese Empire, with a string of attractions that include the Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and the Centro Cultural de Belém. |