Vernaccia · CC BY 2.0
The Alfama lanes
The one part of Lisbon that survived the 1755 earthquake, best navigated badly.
Alfama is the medieval layer — the district the earthquake and the fire largely spared — and it is laid out accordingly. Lanes turn into stairs, stairs turn into somebody's doorway, and the map on your phone will confidently tell you to walk through a wall.
Put it away. The district is small enough that you cannot get genuinely lost, and the whole pleasure of it is the unplanned bit: washing strung overhead, a radio through an open window, a cat asleep on a step in the one patch of sun. Aim roughly downhill when you want to leave.
Before you go
- Footwear
- Polished limestone and steep steps — not the day for smooth soles
- Best time
- Early morning, before the tour groups come up from the cathedral
Published · updated · details checked
Researched from published sources rather than a personal visit. Check before you go.
Where it is
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