Neighborhood life in Lisbon exists and is in Alfama
We won't say that Alfama does not suffer the tourist invasion that affects the rest of Lisbon because that would be missing the truth, but he overcomes it in his own way and achieves make use of it without giving up its essence.
because in this neighborhood everything is played to the authentic, to the traditional bar counters, to shops with clerks who give themselves the luxury of spending time explaining the history of their business, to restaurants where the kitchen is so close that you could almost pick up the dishes yourself. worktop; Y that being in the world as he pleases taken so much for granted that no one seems to be surprised that most of the facades of their houses are not colored, but white, and their roofs are orange. As if it were a southern town.
You will know it for its white houses and orange roofs
The city lives at a different rhythm for those streets that wind downhill and uphill between the triangle formed by the castle, the cathedral and the river. Their labyrinthine structure owes it to the Arabs and the resistance of the pillars of their houses that stoically survived the earthquake, fire and tsunami combo that in 1755 destroyed three quarters of Lisbon. And that, despite being next to the Tagus.
Hence, the profile seen from the roof of the Hotel Memmo Alfama , the one that has become famous for its red pool, surprise by getting away from the typical one expects from Lisbon. But It is also not typical to sleep in an old pastry shop or sit reading in a wing chair set in what was once an oven, and that's what you can do when you stay here.
We do not know if the memories of his pastry days stored on the walls are also transmitted to the field of food, but it could well be, if we take into account that breakfast in which the quality of the pastries and bread is not questioned, It is accompanied by butter from the Azores, homemade jams, cheeses and sausages, and culminates with a fruit salad made with melon, kiwi, watermelon, dates and all kinds of seeds.
In Alfama, memory counts
By the way, the name Memmo comes from memory, like the one in this neighborhood where they say fado was born and in which it is taken into account tradition, the past is respected and those who, with their work, made this present possible.
Here the streets speak and tell stories, they do so not only through their beautiful graffiti, but with small photographs of people that adorn the exterior walls of houses, in a kind of tribute to those who have spent a lifetime there. The initiative started in 2015 driven by young people who wanted will not forget the work that the people of this fishing neighborhood carried out when Alfama was the center of commerce.
Thus, going up and down, without an unnecessary fixed course in these parts, appears the Rua Norberto de Araujo and that covered passage of yours drawings that narrate the history of Lisbon ; so does he Portas do Sol viewpoint : it is true that the castle no longer reaches here, but from its esplanade you can see the oldest part of Alfama and places like the pantheon, where historical Portuguese such as Vasco de Gama or Luís de Camões are remembered or personalities such as the fadista Amália Rodrigues.
Portas do Sol viewpoint
Rodrigues, as is obvious, also occupies an important place in the Fado Museum which is located in the Largo do Chafariz from Inside , the square that provides two entrances from the river to Alfama and from which we begin the ascent through the neighborhood that leads us in five minutes to It was once a dream _(rua do Barão 22) _, the store that Julietta Franco opened six years ago.
To cross the threshold of her door is to enter a fantasy world in which dolls, toys, ornaments that are magic are sold. Franco, who chose Alfama to open her business because she had lived here for years, is the artist who creates by hand, one by one, all the products that one wants to take home.
From the beauty of this universe to that provided by the books of Fable Urbis _(rua Augusto Rosa 27) _, a bookstore that opened its doors on March 21, 2017, coinciding with World Poetry Day.
The titles on its shelves are mainly about Lisbon, their history, their gastronomy or their art and they do it, of course, in Portuguese, but also in other languages. And yes, Spanish is among them.
As recommendations, they point to Unusual and secret Lisbon , by Vitor Manuel Adrião, a book organized by neighborhoods designed to enjoy discovering more unknown aspects of the city; Y The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, by José Saramago and the kind of illusion of being able to enjoy this author and the other great Portuguese writer, Fernando Pessoa, in the same book.
ChiCoraçao store in Alfama
In the number 22 of this same street, rua Augusto Rosa, it is inevitable to go into ChiCoração and wander among all its articles made with Alentejo wool: from coats to blankets, through scarves and even puppets, key rings and toys.
They are in charge of the entire process, which begins with the collection and ends with the sale, and it is precisely this control of the production chain and the possession of their own factory that allows them take advantage of all the material and make those smaller and more detailed products. Everything, everything, made in Portugal.
After visiting the cathedral, once a mosque, continue the ascent to say goodbye to Alfama in style. Literally. The Santa Luzia viewpoint, with its views over the Tagus, its bougainvillea and its tiled walls, is the first step before taking the mythical tram 28 to go down to the real world.
Santa Luzia viewpoint