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Lisbon district |
Eat and sleep
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Personal notes
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Other opinions
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Dominated by the great capital this is the district that 90% of the tourists know better (the other 10% go straight to Algarve or Porto)
Lisbon is, of course, the top destination, but Sintra is also almost mandatory, as the coastline connecting Lisbon to Cascais. What else? My preferences: *** Not to be missed Lisbon Sintra ** Very Interesting Mafra Cascais * Interesting Estoril Azenhas do Mar Praia das Maçãs Cabo da Roca Ericeira Also in the district Oeiras, Carcavelos, Lourinhã and Sobreiro and the less interesting Amadora and Loures |
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Historically ugly
When I moved to Lisbon Amadora was a big village near the city, housing some of those who needed to live near Lisbon, unable to afford its costs. Hard migration to the main cities transformed those villages, some of them absorbed by the big city, some other growing separately but always in a straight dependence. That is the case of Amadora, that grew without any reasonable planning, composing today one of the |
ugliest cities of Portugal.
One of the ugliest but also one of the biggest, being today the 4th in terms of population. Reason to visit? Well, some activities overflew Lisbon to the outskirts, and Amadora is just there. Furthermore, the almost 200.000 people living there are getting some attention from the authorities, and something has been done to make it more attractive.
One of the ugliest but also one of the biggest, being today the 4th in terms of population. Reason to visit? Well, some activities overflew Lisbon to the outskirts, and Amadora is just there. Furthermore, the almost 200.000 people living there are getting some attention from the authorities, and something has been done to make it more attractive.
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Aprígio Gomes house Built in 1903, this house famous for having a astronomic lunette, was restored and transformed in the local Museum of living Science. The house belonged to José Aprígio Gomes, a rich and active man in the old days of the small and poor Amadora. |
Roque Gameiro House
Church "Jesus Cristo dos Santos do Último Dia" (uff...)
The largest beach in Lisbon coast, Carcavelos is the favorite to locals
Boca do Inferno
Guincho
Ericeira
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To complete the visit to Lisbon and included in the trip to Sintra and Mafra, you'd better allow some more time to see the generally called "saloia" area, meaning rustic, because, in the old days, their agriculture fed Lisbon. By the sea, Ericeira was a great fishing port, still showing well the traditional look and it being a good place for a quick stop, from two hours to two weeks. This is, also, one of the top destinations to eat seafood. |
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Dominated by the Casino A few kilometers from Cascais, Estoril has the same style, with a single difference - the Casino. However, all the place deserves to be visited, with the beautiful palaces lining the coast, crowded in summer, strangely quiet most of the winter days. |
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Tamariz
It was a long time, since my last visit to Tamariz, in Estoril, a beach with good memories from my youth. However, the new sights worried me a bit: the coast and town keeps well maintained (maybe better) but the sand in the beach has disappeared, having now half of the width and length of the old days. Winter occasional action, or consistent degradation, Tamariz keeps sharing with "Torre" the top of my favorite beaches in Lisbon's coast (and I skip the Casino!). |
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In the most beaten path Not much people remarks the look of the train station, but it is a very curious construction. Dating from the end of the 19th century, it is very near the beach. Funny thing - I couldn't find anything written about it! |
Lisbon
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Capital of the district and the country, Lisbon it's one of the top places to visit. It has not the variety and richness of most European capitals, and some foreigners become disappointed with the degraded condition and even dirt in some of the old quarters, but to enjoy the visit it is important to skip those unaesthetic areas (that all the towns have, as a matter of fact) and to dedicate more attention to the effects of light in the clarity of town. It is also important to follow the river from Expo 98 (a well succeeded project of modernity) to Cascais, the British preferred place. In between, Belem is a world by itself, but Lisbon is also a good base to short trips to the many "must see" in a short distance. |
Loures
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Saloios are gone
When, in 1963, I moved to Lisbon, Loures was a village almost 10 miles away, where we rarely went, and usually just passing by. With the disordered growth of Lisboa, Loures became a peripheral city, in practice almost a neighborhood at the edge of the city. Some commercial and service activities were transferred to the area, and Loures is today a city alive and with an urban image. From the tourist point of view we can say that Lisbon is just there, Sintra nearby, Mafra not far... |
Lourinhã
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Visiting for a lunch Lourinhã is known mainly for its dinosaur's trails. I didn't see them, but had a nice lunch with friends. |
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The Cursed Town
Its enormous monastery has been hated for centuries, for what it historically represents: a way of spending the tons of gold coming from Brazil in the 18th century, without any profit, while in Europe the Industrial Revolution started development. Meanwhile, Europe was investing in industry and development! Of course it is big, of course it is beautiful, of course it is rich. |
The image went worse 50 years ago, when it became the "factory of express officers" preparing thousands of students and graduated Portuguese to fight in Africa.
But... its unfair! Mafra has nothing to blame, and the wasted money built something impossible to miss nowadays. It is important to see, and even more important to understand. We, Portuguese, are still paying the invoice.
But... its unfair! Mafra has nothing to blame, and the wasted money built something impossible to miss nowadays. It is important to see, and even more important to understand. We, Portuguese, are still paying the invoice.
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The Monastery Immense, rich, millions spent for... what? It is the greatest monument of the Portuguese baroque, and that is useful nowadays, when tourism became an important industry. The church and the royal palace are very beautiful, the carillon is famous (unique in the world), the library one of the most important of Portugal, and those 10% of the building justify the visit. Website: http://www.palaciomafra.pt/en-GB/Default.aspx |
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Palace It's a long walk, visiting all the palace. The most remarkable thing is that the luxury placed in the building is not followed inside: many large rooms, well decorated, good artworks, but not the richness I expected. Anyway, the contrast with the eastern side, where, for nine months, I was on of the more than 2000 training officers, is absolute! |
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Church From outside, the monastery impresses for its size; from inside it's the richness of the used materials that call our attention. The careful combination of the colored stones is gorgeous. Built in the years when the gold came in tons from Brazil, it is the perfect monument to the useless ways of spending fortunes. |
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The statues Mafra is said to have more than 450 statues. I spent there 9 months (yes... living INSIDE the monastery), and never found them! "Smashed" by the immense building, it's easy to miss the details. In a couple of recent visits I remembered it, and could find two of them. Good! There are only four hundred and fifty something left to see! |
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My Statue I didn't know! I have a statue in Mafra. Not inside but close to the monastery, and celebrating its use as Infantry school, it was built a recent statue. I was in Infantry... I was in Mafra school... I fought the war in Africa... Look at the guy in the left! Where did they get my picture? |
Oeiras
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From Lisbon, this is the beach that achieves the best ratio between the quality of the beach and the distance from town.
Located halfway between Lisbon and Cascais, Oeiras is not a common stop for foreigners, being used mainly by Portuguese looking for good beaches close to Lisbon. A fastly growing city, not being a top destination, is gathering each more reasons to attract visitors, showing something new each time I visit it. |
Sintra
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A small and rather common village, where an artisan decided to put his love to Portugal in clay. Since then, his imagination and art put Sobreiro in the touristy circuit, amusing children, but also showing to foreigners the traditional look of popular Portugal. |
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Aldeia (Village) de José Franco Sobreiro would be just another village if José Franco didn't have the idea of building a large collection of miniatures of people and places in Portugal. Now, it is a very visited place close to Lisbon, specially for those travelling with children. José Franco died, but the place remains functional, as I confirmed in the first day of the year, when trying to show it to Diogo, I decided, facing the crowds, to postpone the new visit. |