Visiting an old ‘friend’ – Lisbon

A generation ago Lisbon seemed magical, the light on the crumbling buildings, the ubiquitous graffiti, the former glory of the architecture and private courtyards. As time went on EU funds supporting regeneration projects, building preservation and improvement, gradually changed the city making it more attractive as a place to live rather than one to photograph and, coupled with the recently ended golden visa scheme, brought many more outsiders to the city, to visit as tourists or to live semi-permanently. A Portuguese acquaintance pointed out “Lisbon is no longer Portuguese” and walking round the central area even in December this is evident. We had witnessed the gradual change over the past 25 years or so, and made our first post-covid visit to rephotograph some of our favourite places and visit our favourite wine bar.

On my first visit to Lisbon I was surprised: “Gosh! This is hilly”. One regret I have, being rather insensitive to other people’s needs, was taking my father on his first flight (despite having been in the air-force in WWII) to Lisbon. In his early 80s he obviously struggled with the unavoidable hills, steps and slopes: sorry dad! A second thing that surprised me when I later visited the port city Nagasaki in Japan was how similar the two cities are – steep slopes with homes and businesses covering the hills. Striking because the two cities share a long trading history with the Portuguese being possibly the first westerners to trade with Japan. Delicious seafood in both cities too!

Our favourite districts are Bairro Alto and Alfama. Bairro Alto is a densely packed area developed from the 16th century with wider streets running up and down the hill and narrower lanes crossing at right angles. Alfama is the oldest district with the castle and spectacular views over the city from the top of the hill.

The featured image shows a typical small tram which almost unbelievably manages to go not only up and down the steep slopes but also travels along uneven often bumpy rails. That’s one way to avoid some of the hard work, but sometimes hard work is unavoidable.

Exploring some of our previous haunts we found our favourite wine bar (Garrafeira Alfaia in Bairro Alto) had changed hands – food and drink (the wine list was a 200 page volume) were still superb though now the atmosphere was different. Continuing our search the next day we found many familiar features including the stray cats and washing hanging outside upper story windows remained.

Of course the hills sometimes present unusual and spectacular views of the city.

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