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5.1.27 Restaurante Resina

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Largo do Calvário 1 Location HERE . Open 0900 - 2300 hours; closed Sundays. On Largo do Calvário, so almost next door to the LX Factory, and close to Museu da Carris and the Congress Centre, a small and unassuming Portuguese restaurant that celebrates a hundred years of serving up reliable and enjoyable food in 2027. There’s plenty of space inside, but if the weather is half-decent, which is most of the time, there is also space outside. It’s not expensive, the menu is not so extensive but includes staple meat and fish dishes. The Frango Assado is particularly good, served with thinly sliced potatoes that are sliced potatoes, and not crisps (that’s chips for you people Stateside). Most punters opt for one or more small beers or the house wine; water is either the usual still kind, or if it’s sparkling, it’s Pedras. Service is good if a little perfunctory, and if you’re an after meal coffee person, that’s good, too. Trams and buses stop more or less outside the door. It’s far less expen...
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6.1.14 Santini

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Outlets across the Greater Lisbon area. In the old downtown, try Rua do Carmo (location HERE ). OK it’s not really a coffee shop; the name of the game here is Gelados. Which means Gelato, if you’re used to the Italian form, or simply Ice Cream, if you expect the English version. The first Santini outlet was opened back in 1949 by an Italian family. Nowadays they are all across Greater Lisbon, from the Baixa to shopping centres like that at Amoreiras ( HERE ) to Carcavelos ( HERE ) and out at Cascais ( HERE ). Most of the flavours available to punters are made with full cream milk, with others, like the just amazing lemon, made as a sorbet. The pistachio has bits of pistachio in it, rather than just flavouring. Same with the coconut. And the recommendation is not just formed from my opinion: every visit involves not just sampling the product, enjoyable as that is, but also seeing who else rocks up - lots of parents with children, sometimes brought along by those children, grown ups with...
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4.7.8 Ericeira

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The mainly surfing oriented beach town (location HERE ). What is this seaside town about? That is answered for you on arrival at the bus terminal, where the indoor space, including waiting room, information office and toilets, is shaped like a ship, with the canopy over the bus stands shaped like a huge surfboard. It’s all about the sea, and watersports. Because Ericeira is a World Surfing Reserve. Well out of town to the north west of Lisbon, Ericeira is just about in the Greater Lisbon Metropolitan Area, and so you can use a Navegante card loaded with credit, to use in Zapping mode. How long it takes to get there depends mainly on the bus route you choose. Why so? The 2801, which stops just twice between Campo Grande and Ericeira, takes no more than 40 minutes for the journey. Route 2803, which takes a detour past the palace in Mafra, takes around 55 minutes. And the 2740, which serves Malveira, then makes most of the stops from there to Mafra before heading for Ericeira, takes a lot...
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7.2.29 September 2026

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GLÓRIA FUNICULAR So Carris have made their statement on the future of the Glória funicular. What visitors to the city will want to know is when it will be back, and the news is that it won’t reappear until 2029. The new cars will be stronger than their predecessors, they’ll be all steel rather than wooden bodied, and nothing will move until the safety aspects have been sorted, and proven to be sorted. No news about the Bica and Lavra funiculars, or the Santa Justa lift. But the timescales for the other funiculars may be similar to that of the Glória. Following all of that, we start, once more, with the alternatives to using funiculars. Don’t slog up those hills just because the funiculars have been suspended. Minibus 51E gives an alternative to the Santa Justa lift, and an alternative to the Glória funicular; Bairrobus 19B gives an alternative to the Lavra funicular; Bairrobus 22B gives an alternative to the Bica funicular. TRAM NEWS Carris are putting on a Desfile dos Classicos (tr...
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5.2.13 Bem Vindo

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Rua António Maria Pais 36 Location HERE . Open 1100 hours to midnight daily. Nepalese and Indian cuisine, mainly. Not far from Parque das Nações, but on the other side of the tracks, literally, in Moscavide. This is one of those neighbourhoods that was there long before the Expo 98 redevelopments. Locals look in for a coffee or a beer, delivery drivers wait for orders to be made up, and the kitchen staff bring your food to the table. That food is served in generous portions - the veg samosa was particularly substantial - and can be washed down with inexpensive drinks, a 33cl bottle of beer coming in at one and a half Euro, and a Caneca at just two and a half. The Nepalese menu includes MoMo and several Set options, while the Indian menu has a good range of curry options - which can be accompanied with rice or breads - and biryanis. A TV broadcasts whatever football can be found in the schedules, even if it’s second string matches from Germany. Service is good and the people running the...
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4.7.7 Eléctrico de Sintra

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Runs from near Sintra to Praia das Maçãs ( HERE to HERE ). Timetable and ticket prices HERE . That’s how the local council, who operate the Sintra Tram nowadays, spell it - the old way, with a C. And this mainly rural tramway has been through a few changes in ownership over the years: when Rodoviária Nacional, the state-owned bus operator created in the wake of the 1974 Revolution, was sold off, the operations west of Lisbon ultimately became Stagecoach Portugal. The new operator discovered that their acquisition also included the Sintra Tram. In days gone by, the Sintra terminus was outside the station, but now you have a short walk from train to tram. The route passes Ribeira, where the trams are now stored, then Galamares, Colares and Banzão before seeing all the villas on the Avenida do Atlântico, then passing Aldeia da Praia to reach Praia das Maçãs. And the journey takes around 45 minutes, meaning a leisurely pace and an opportunity to experience slower travel. On warmer and sun...
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5.1.26 Cais No Bacalhau

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Rua do Arsenal 158 Location HERE . Open 1200 to 1600 hours Sunday and Monday, 1200 to 2300 hours all other days. At the west end of Rua do Arsenal, just across the road from Corpo Santo, and a short walk from Praça do Comércio and Cais do Sodré, is this small and welcoming outlet majoring in, yes you guessed already, bacalhau dishes. It can be made into almost no walking at all by arriving on a bus or tram, as both stop outside the door. So I ordered the Bacalhau Assado, and that should be what gets discussed first, but as so often, those small distractions mean the review gets sidetracked. And the small distractions here were the olives. You know it will take a few minutes for a main course like that to be prepared, so one way to pass the time is to order a side dish. My favourite is to get a plate of olives, and these did not disappoint. But then a thought entered: these olives were served without stones. And thus the review getting sidetracked. Portuguese restaurants usually serve o...
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