One stop on our Lisbon weekend was the old district of Alfama also known as la Française oder la morgadinha de Alfama. Once a busy part of Lisbon it´s relatively quite these days due to the pandemic. The name Alfama probably comes from the Arabic Al-hamma, which roughly means springs or baths.
The district is probably best known for the fact that the old tram 28 meanders through its narrow streets. Best way to explore Alfama is to take the Tram 28 to the top and walk down through the narrow cobblestone streets.
From the viewpoint Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen you will have a wonderful view over the district and what you can expect on your way down. That´s from where I´ve already sighted a painting I wanted to see closer.
Although Alfama is best known for the many old shops and handicraft shops, it is above all the old, beautiful houses, narrow streets and the art that you can admire on every corner. Streetart is very big in Lisbon and there are no rules about the type of art.
The further you go down the slope, the deeper you dive into this great district. There are so many narrow streets, junctions and old stairs that sometimes you have to turn around and take the next junction so as not to miss anything.
But after a few wrong turns I found the mural, which I had already discovered from above. But not only that, there were more and more works of art that were shown to the left and right of us.
Little arty things like this one just make me smile.
There is another art trend in that district that I really like. They hang up big photos of old local residents. That´s a lovely way to remind people who was here first and to respect them.
From top to the bottom of Alfama there are a few historical buildings you should visit. We only had the time to see the Igreja de Santa Engrácia, a 17th century baroque church. A very impressive building that you should definitely visit from inside if you have the time. That was the point were we realised that one weekend is way way to less to explore that city.
In this district alone there is so much to see and explore that I could post weeks about it...but I did not even had the time to see half of it...so we continue after our next visit.
But one thing that should never be missing on our city tour is the appropriate catering. We love to try new things that a city or district is known for. In case you're wondering how we always find a good restaurant for our lunch menu, that's pretty easy. We always use google maps and choose the one with the best ratings. In this case, the choice fell on a small Portuguese restaurant called Ginja de Alfama.
Would you sit down here? If not, because it doesn't look fancy, you will be missing out. It was very simple but lovingly prepared food. And finally there was the well-known and homemade Ginjinha, a Portuguese liqueur. A bowl of homemade rice pudding from the neighboring friend of the restaurant was also a must.
I definitely fell in love with Lisbon and can´t wait to visit it again. We were already thinking about moving there next year in spring as it offers way more stuff to do and explore than the Algarve. Furthermore I´m kind of missing the city life.
