Wish we were here: Lisbon
Summer ‘19 BC (before coronavirus) has been romanticised by my friends as the “good old days”. Every memory of work, studying, or any upset and annoyance has been blissfully removed from memory so that, to my mind’s eye, summer stretched out as months of blissful hedonism.
During that summer, I took a trip to Lisbon with my three oldest friends. Our small budgets left us squeezing four people into an AirBnB not really meant for more than two; taking turns to sleep on the sofa bed. Little matter though, because our apartment had a small balcony overlooking the hilly terrain and terracotta rooftops of the city. Every afternoon, when the heat got too hot and our calves ached from the steep cobbled streets, we decamped there armed with homemade bruschetta, juicy cucumbers, a punnet of peaches and the biggest bottle of rosé the local shop had.
We spent the days tracing the tram tracks of the Alfama district, stopping routinely for a cool Aperol (or three). Every now and again, tucked away in the crumbling city architecture, we would stumble across a “miradorou” or viewpoint that acted as a surprising reminder of Lisbon’s steep declines and offered a stunning view, stretching out towards the glimmering Douro river.
By evening, we headed to Bairro Alto, a sleepy collection of narrow streets that transform into the lively epicentre of the city’s nightlife. Tables spill out of the bars and restaurants onto the cobbles offering cheap cocktails, live music and endless opportunity to dance into the early hours of the morning.
Things to do:
Markets
Every Sunday, an old factory complex in Alcântara transforms into an open-air market selling jewellery, vintage clothing and handmade souvenirs. The industrial unit, LxFactory, also houses a range of places to eat and drink surrounded by walls adorned with street art; it is the perfect place to while away the relaxed hours of an afternoon.
Rooftop bars
Rooftop bars in Lisbon seem to be the almost equivalent of Prets in London. In the Bairro Alto district, you can find a particularly unique bar called PARK on the sixth floor of a car park . Sipping a cold beer whilst watching the sunset over the Vasco da Gama Bridge was a highlight of the holiday.
Middle Eastern food
Surprisingly, the best food we had in Lisbon was a Middle Eastern mezze on the first night (though we were a group of vegetarians). I still sometimes dream about the falafels at Tantura.
