I didn’t know much about Lisbon before coming here from Madeira - in my head I imagined it to be flat with grand buildings - kind of like Sevilla.
I was wrong.
Day 1
I arrived on a very rainy day. A quick metro ride from the airport took me right downtown. I saw a strange victorian elevator on the map right in the center - so that was my first destination.
Elevador de Santa Justa
Don’t do what I did and wait in the rain for a long time to pay money to take this thing up. You can walk up the stairs right down the street to the top.
Still worth it though. Got my first glimpse of Lisbon, which is definitely not flat. And definetely not boring.
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I would come to find out that Lisbon is one of the prettiest cities I’ll ever visit.
Continuing on, I stopped by the Grand Plaza (Praça do Comércio) by the sea, and got my first glimpse of the best thing about Portugal - the trams.
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It was raining pretty hard at this point, I was soaked and cold - so decided to walk up to the guesthouse early for a break. It was on top of a hill behind the main castle, right in the historic neighborhood of Alfama.
The view just outside where I was staying (Miradouro da Graça) was so nice, I just hung around there. This is where i discovered that Lisbon also has it’s own massive red suspension bridge, kinda like the one in San Francisco. Come to think of it, with the trams and hills - it’s kind of similar to that place.
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Day 2
The next day it stopped raining, and I went out in search of what I’m always looking for: more views.
I saw a huge park on the other side of town and figured that was a good starting point - the Parque Eduardo VII
The attention to detail in the city was really impressive. Everything seemed to be very intentional.
The sight-lines were always perfectly lined up, everywhere just felt nice.
I took a walk to see another park I saw, and found something much better.
Aqueduto das Águas Livres
A massive stone aqueduct, that you can walk across - like a dream come true
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Apparently Lisbon has struggled with getting clean water, so they built this in the 18th century. It survived the great earthquake, which basically destroyed the entirety of Lisbon in 1755.
You can follow the path where the aquaduct used to run all the way back to the city center. On my way there were a few buildings on top of a hill, I figured it would be a good idea to see if I could get on top of one.
Lisbon looking north - the benfica area - looks oddly similar to a South American city. There were a ton of tall apartment blocks, seemingly going forever - all brightly colored.
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Looking towards the center, you can make out more remnants of the aquaduct system.
My last stop was one last viewpoint, on the hill across from where I was staying last night. This plaza (Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara) was a party - there were hundreds of people here drinking and dancing.
And this plaza had the most styling way to get back down the hill.
The feeling of being in Lisbon was great. It was calm, and everything was just very nice looking. It’s staying up there as of the best cities I’ve visited.
9.5/10