Forget the souvenir concept: in Lisbon one buys SOUVENIRS
PLACES TO SHOP YOU CAN'T MISS
1. LXFactory
It is the center of the alternative and bohemian culture of Lisbon and true catalyst of the new creative trends . With its brick industrial buildings and its impressive urban art murals, you will recognize the place that once housed one of the most important manufacturing areas of the city, in the heart of Alcantara neighborhood.
In LXFactory you will find fantastic concept stores, vintage furniture, design objects… compulsory slogan: here everything is unique and original.
In addition, every Sunday an open-air market takes place on this island of creativity, bringing together young designers exhibiting furniture, clothing, jewelry, decorative objects... LX Factory has become the perfect place for a Sunday brunch followed by a day of shopping among its stalls and shops full of surprises.
LXFactory
two. Embassy LX
we moved to Prince royal , probably the most chic neighborhood in the city, to go shopping at Ribeiro da Cunha Palace , a 19th-century Neo-Arabic-style building that was transformed in 2013 into a “ concept mall ”. Embaixada LX is a beautiful space that, between arcades and infinite doors, houses some of the most interesting Portuguese fashion, design and craft shops.
It is a true luxury to visit the exquisite rooms of the old palace, now transformed into shops and exhibitions: Arts & Etc. offers us a selection of typical Portuguese objects perfect as a souvenir , in Latitude we lose our heads for the original bikinis and in Market we find a bit of everything…100% Portuguese design.
Market
3. Bookstores: the oldest, the most beautiful and the smallest
Someone once told me that all Portuguese are a bit of a poet. "Hard not to be in the land of Pessoa" -I thought at that moment. The truth is that the Portuguese have a close relationship with literature , which perhaps explains why in Lisbon there are some of the most interesting bookstores in the world.
** Bertrand bookstore: one of the oldest in Europe**
Inaugurated in 1732, this bookstore located in the heart of the Chiado neighborhood, holds the Guinness record for the oldest bookstore in the world still in operation. For skeptics, a poster in the entrance window gives reliable proof of this fact. The Bertrand bookstore, frequented by distinguished figures of Portuguese and international literature, It is one of the inescapable points of the literature lovers in the capital of Lisbon.
Bertrand Bookstore
** Livraria Simão : the smallest**
It does not appear in the Guinness book but there is no doubt that the Livraria Simão it is the smallest in Portugal and we would not be surprised if the whole world. With its 3.8 m2, the tiny bookstore does not fit its owner or the customer on duty at the same time. The size does not correspond at all to the offer: 4000 books available between literary jewels of Portuguese authors and some rarity like a first edition of a Rimbaud book.
Livraria Simão
**And the prettiest: Ler Devagar**
We already mentioned this library located in LX Factory as one of the most beautiful in the world . I don't know if it's one of the prettiest, but one of the coolest for sure: towering walls lined with books, an old newspaper printer and the already iconic bicycle hanging from the ceiling as an unmistakable trademark of the house and that makes this place one of the the most “instagramed” in Lisbon.
read wander (which in Portuguese means “read slowly” ) is more than just a bookstore, It is a space to enjoy literature with an intense program full of literary events and a library where we can quietly read a book until the “mmmmm” in the cafeteria make us come out of our literary lethargy. The famous "Martha's bolus" of the cafeteria must be, together with Saramago, one of the best sellers of the house.
A Portuguese Life
ITEMS TO BUY
1. Objects that are part of the life of the Portuguese
"Objects are capable of telling extraordinary and revealing stories about a town and its people." This is what you believe Catarina Portas , founder of ** A Portuguese Life Since Semper **, a space in which revive products and brands that have been part of Portuguese history : the famous pottery Bordalo Pinheiro , more fashionable than ever, the mythical toothpaste Couto , (sold in the best stores in New York) or the hand cream Benamor...
For years Catarina's team has traveled Portugal from North to South to find those articles of Portuguese creation and production that have been part of the Portuguese.
You will find Portuguese life in Chiado and in the Ribera Market. Not to be missed is its latest opening, a space in Mayor which occupies the old Viúva Lamego ceramics factory and which, according to the magazine time out It is the most beautiful store in the city.
Quartermaster's Shop
two. Oprah Winfrey soaps
Last Tuesday, I received a call from a colleague in the UK. At the opening of a new boutique hotel in one of the fashionable areas of the British capital where he was attending, a wonderful and disturbing fragrance did not leave him alone. Asking those in charge of the event where that suggestive smell came from, he finally got the answer: they were candles of the brand Portus Gale with aroma of port wine . "Ana," he told me, "get me as many as you can. I've fallen in love."
The same thing that happened to my friend, trend hunter, It must have happened to television's Oprah Winfrey with the Portuguese soaps Claus Porto and Ach Brito, of which she declares herself an unconditional fan.
The truth is that the tradition of soaps in Portugal is not new, it starts in the 19th century and is characterized by the composition of its products, totally natural , and its precious packaging. These are the brands you can't miss: Claus Porto, Ach Brito, Castelbel and Portus Cale (their collection of home scents is fantastic) .
Where to find them?
In the shops to Portuguese life, at Galeria 343 _(Rua 4 de Infantaria nº 12) _, in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood and in some souvenir shops.
A Portuguese Life
3.**Beautiful handmade gloves at Luvaria Ulisses**
It is one of the stores with more charme from all over Lisbon. A very small store with empire furniture and a neoclassical facade that since 1925 sells handmade gloves to the political, cultural and artistic elite from the city.
Dare to take a trip to the first half of the 20th century and visit this wonderful store where its employees will show you their creations and the correct way to put on gloves (with talcum powder) . Surely you go out with more than one pair.
4.**A design object that triumphs in the world: BOOX **
This particular object, invented by the Portuguese Pedro Albuquerque , is one of the best sellers of one of the best-known online design stores in Europe (Decovry).
BOOX is a transparent acrylic box specially designed for display pages from books or magazines. An article or a book that marked your life? Well, put them in this showcase and hang it like a painting so you never forget them. Really original.
In Lisbon, you can buy the BOOX at their store located at LX Factory.
5.**Chocolate at Bettina & Niccolò Corallo**
Surely you did not imagine it, but in Lisbon you can find one of the best chocolates you've ever tasted in your life . In this tiny café run by Bettina Corallo and hers, her son Niccolò, in the midst of Prince royal _(Rua Escola Politécnica, 4) _ we found the best chocolates in the city: ginger, pepper and fleur de sel...
The chocolates are made in the same store and on the same day with products, some of them from the family's own plantations in Africa. The nice Bettina will not hesitate to explain to you, with her characteristic passion, the whole process. To finish the purchase, nothing like having a coffee , for some the best in Lisbon, accompanied by a piece of chocolate . Perfect combination.
Bettina & Niccolò Corallo
6.**Objects made with cork in Pelcor Store**
That Portugal is the first exporter of cork in the world, that's as far as we go, but imagine something as unlikely as a cork umbrella It's starting to seem weirder now. And the fact is that the times are gone when this material was used only for bottle caps. The Portuguese brand Pelcor was one of the pioneers in using cork beyond stoppers. Some of their products are already on sale in the very Museum of Modern Art in New York (MOMA).
We recommend a dive into the Pelcor Store _(Rua das Pedras Negras, 28) _ to verify that creativity with cork has no limits and, incidentally, admire its iconic umbrella.
7.**And of course, COFFEE**
In a place where coffee is almost a religion, a list of places to buy it could not be missing. Our favorite is the store To Carioca , an art deco palace with two wonderful coffee grinders that They date from 1936.
In To Brazilian : you can also buy the most famous coffee bean in the city, a combination of seeds from origins as diverse as Colombia, Brazil or Vietnam and toasted according to its own technique.
A Brasileira: the best of espressos
8. Preserves in the Conserveira de Lisboa
Located in an old store from 1930 in which nothing seems to have changed since then (including the cash register, a real museum piece still in use) the Canning of Lisbon (Rua dos Bacalhoeiros, 34) offers a single product: canned fish. But beware, they are not just any canned fish. Beautiful vintage-style packaging and fish from the Portuguese Atlantic waters guarantee one of the best souvenirs to take from Portuguese lands. The most typical are, of course, sardines.
Follow @anadiazcano
Canning of Lisbon