Lisbon – Being a Tourist in My City

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to (re)visit parts of my own home city, Lisbon. I’ve lived here or very closeby since I was born and have, throughout the years, gone to a lot of emblematic places. It’s a beautiful city, despite us locals often discarding it for others which in my opinion, and after having been there, aren’t really as wonderful as people picture them to be.

Does Lisbon have flaws? Of course it does. What city doesn’t?

On the other hand, it has a lot of charm, history and, at the risk of repeating myself, beauty.

Anyway, enough with the compliments, and onwards to the point of this post.

I want to see Lisbon again. A lot of the places that I’ve been to here, I have only visited when I was a kid or as an adult but ages ago, and I hardly remember them.

So…

I want to be a tourist in my own place.

I’ve started organizing a list of places to visit on weekends and on vacations with my sweetheart. So far it includes not only monuments and museums but other places worth visiting, like coffee shops,and such.

The Gulbenkian Museum – For a long time I visited its garden, sat in the shade of its trees while reading. But I don’t remember ever entering the museum itself.

Castelo de São Jorge/Saint Jorge’s Castle – I’ve been here several times when it was free to enter, but never took photos. It’s a must place to visit when coming to Lisbon, since it’s the city’s castle and has, if I remember correctly, an amazing view over the city and the Tagus river.

Taking a ride in one of Lisbon’s beautiful yellow tram. The old ones, not the new that are all over the place now. I will probably opt for taking the mythical number 28 tram for a full ride, since it crosses all the seven hills of Lisbon (I hope it still does, that is ).

The Santa Justa Elevator. I don’t remember ever being in it, but the view over downtown must be good.

A Brasileira – Classical coffee shop in Chiado. I don’t remember ever entering it (but I did Porto’s Majestic, which is interesting), and I really should go there to have a snack and a coffee some time.

The Glória Elevator. Some of my memories of my late grandmother included riding this elevator with her. It’s a beautiful elevator and really deserves my attention for a ride, despite me already haven taken a zillion photos of it outside. Now it’s time for the interior photos.

The Belém Tower. I was there the last time about five years ago, and took photos but my camera was crappy so a return is a must.

Nearby is also the Jerónimos Monastary. The most beautiful museum in Lisbon, built centuries ago. I go past it pretty often, but can’t remember the inside.

The Cristo Rei. It’s a huge statue that looks over Lisbon, from the south shore of the tagus River. The statue itself is well visible from afar, and will undoubtedly be in whatever photos I take of the 25th of April Bridge. But the view from the top of the statue is sure to be amazing.

Go to a Fado’s night in a restaurant. I’m not a fan of Fado, but it’s our typical music style and I’ve never watched anyone sing it live in a restaurant. So, the music probably won’t be that interesting, and we’d have to choose a place with very good traditional food.

Mercado da Ribeira (Ribeira’s Market). If I liked to visit the typical markets in Thailand to see the ambiance, I really should do the same here in Portugal, and that’s the market to go to in Lisbon.

The Sé Cathedral – I’ve been there, not so long ago, but have no clue where I’ve left the photos I took.

Feira da Ladra. Possibly the oldest fair still ongoing (periodically – it’s not a permanent fair) in Lisbon. Here you can find pretty much anything being sold. A lot of it second hand items, which at some point even included guns if you went there really early at dawn (or so I heard). Anyway, it’s the Lisbon fair. And I’ll surely enjoy seeing all the characters that populate such a place.

The Lisbon Zoo – I’ve been here several times, and have been wanting to revisit. It would have to be a whole day deal because there’s so much to see.

The Planetarium. The guy who ran this place’s sessions used to be sort of an idiot if I remember correctly. I hope it’s not the same guy of uhm, about ten years ago, which was the last time I was there. :p

The Oceanarium. I’ve been there several times, and loved it. I don’t have any photos though, either because with my camera they would look horrible, or because they don’t allow it. Either way, going back is a must.

The Lisbon Botanical Garden. Been there when I was at school but hardly remember anything.

The Electricity Museum. Been there a lot of times but never took pictures. The place really deserves being photographed inside (and out) for it’s steampunk-y look and such.

The City Museum. I’ve been here when I was a kid but never revisited. Which is kind of stupid since I went to college really close to it.

Also, the Military Museum, the Coches Museum and other museums which I’m probably forgetting right now.

And not really places to go to, but places I want to take photos of from good angles and with decent lighting, are the city’s two bridges – 25 de Abril Bridge (25th of April Bridge) and Vasco da Gama Bridge. Among a lot of others I’m sure, but these popped to mind.

There are a lot of other places I haven’t included in my list, such as Parque das Nações, Chiado, Terreiro do Paço, the streets and plazas of Downtown, and outside the city itself (being part of the Great Lisbon area though) Serra de Sintra. Since I go there often, I won’t need to go there on purpose, only having to take the chance to take pictures the next time I’m there.

I’m still unsure when I’ll start with this ‘project’, but I’m giving you a heads up regarding something – It’s very likely I’ll start posting pictures of my explorations here. I hope you will enjoy them, and not grow tired of possibly long sequences of posts consisting only of photos.

If you have any suggestions of places to visit in Lisbon, do tell. They are most appreciated.