Lisbon User Guide

Largo Necessidades Location HERE . Best combined with a visit to Quinta Real das Necessidades. Necessidades Palace forms the backdrop ... Not so high above the north bank of the river, but plenty of seating and shade, with good views of The Bridge. South facing, so warmed by the sun, even in the winter months. ... with plenty of seating ... Just across the street is the grand façade of Necessidades Palace. And the best way to arrive here is from the south exit from Quinta Real das Necessidades - otherwise, it’s a bit of a climb up from Alcântara. Hence the recommendation to do both green space and viewpoint in one visit. ... and a view over The Bridge Alternatively, you can access the viewpoint from a 773 minibus, which stops at Largo Necessidades en route from Rato and Estrela to Alcântara. [ HOME ]

[also known as Jardim das Necessidades, or Tapada das Necessidades] Calçada Necessidades Location HERE . Open every day during daylight hours: opening hours posted at access points. Reception committee Another park spread out over a south facing hillside, with the result that it is warmed by the sun even during the winter months. CAUTION uneven and potentially slippery paths, steep hillside. Some visitors have passed adverse comment on the uneven paths and untidy greenery, but that is sort of the point here, and the endearing quality of this corner of the city, which has Very Few Tourists, but lots of locals. Cacti. Real and very sharp ones Given the steep slope of the site, it’s best to enter at the north side - the top - and work downwards. That entrance is on the Rua do Borja, close to where the 67B Bairrobus stops. You can couple that short journey, from Praça da Estrela, with a ride on the 25 tram. So what’s the USP of this park? Cactus. An area covered by real and very sharp cac...

Getting Around - Trams: more holes in the Rua da Prata. Not so long after the big hole in the Rua da Prata was sorted out and tram services resumed, the roadway, or rather the sides of it, have suffered a partial collapse at the very north end, close to Praça da Figueira. The hole at the east side of Rua da Prata As a result, both the 15 and 25 have been cut back to turn at Cais do Sodré once more. The works at present look like they are at an exploratory stage. In other words, we don’t yet know how bad the collapse is. There is pedestrian access, but the street is closed to all other traffic. The hole at the west side of Rua da Prata Tram 28: the works in Calçada da Estrela, which have cut the route of the 28 and meant turning back at Camões, are moving slowly up the hill, but will be continuing for some weeks yet. A substitute minibus, which can detour around the road closure, is running between Camões and Prazeres. Substitute minibus at Prazeres Padrão dos Descobrimentos - still c...

Praça do Comércio 78 Location HERE . Open daily from 1000 to 1900 hours. Behind the colonnade at the eastern side of Praça do Comércio is this exhibition space that gives you a potted history of Lisbon in around an hour, give or take the odd ten minutes. Free for those with a valid Lisboa Card. Most useful for those new to The Great City. In the colonnade behind the trams You get an audio guide and headset in your preferred language, then follow the (Latin) numbers, from I to XII, and XIV to XVII. The audio guide knows where in the exhibition space you are, and tells you when the commentary has finished, so you can move on to the next instalment. The missing numeral, XIII, is a depiction of events on November 1, 1755, when the Great Earthquake struck the city. For this part, take off the headset, sit back, and relax, if that’s the right term for such a grim event. What the stories told do very well is to emphasise the long history of the city, that it was a major trading post in the wa...

Rua Tristão Vaz 22 Location HERE . Open daily during daylight hours. Below the south fringe of Monsanto Park, but still way above the north bank of the Tejo, occupying the small gap between Restelo and Ajuda, and hemmed in on all sides (well, nearly) by apartment buildings, this small park has at its highest point two well-preserved windmills. So it’s also known as The Windmill Hill. Next to one of those windmills is a viewpoint, from which you get the whole river panorama, from The Bridge and Cristo Rei, all the way downstream to the open ocean. Do all the nearby buildings make for more noise? Well, no: the park is an oasis of calm away from this part of the urban sprawl. Even the noise from aircraft approaching Lisbon Airport is a distant thing. There is a dog park, a children’s park, plus a marked 1000-metre circuit for those wanting to put in a few laps’ jogging, or measured walking. Toilet facilities are provided, as well as a picnic area with tables. Best entered from the north e...