Lisbon: pastel de nata, ginjinha (cherry brandy), hills, tiles, trams. Yup, we’ve been on the road again to bring you some more of our ‘Fear of Flying 48 hours in…’ travel guides. Please check back soon on tlfw.co.uk for the full Lisbon experience. In the interim and whilst I’m putting the full post together, to give you a flavour of this pretty creative city I wanted to quickly tell you about a beautiful ethnographic community art project in the cool Mouraria district which I was shown on Saturday whilst on a Lisbon Street Art walking tour.
As well as the wonderful and typical tourist attractions of Lisbon such as Belem I fell in love with Mouraria which has more of an authentic, alternative and artsy vibe.
Mouraria was originally a Moorish slum back in the twelfth century and also the birthplace of Fado music. Like much of Lisbon, this area is pretty run down but in the last few years, it has had some investment and renovation with the onus on celebrating and protecting the local community. Hopefully, it won’t become too gentrified and trendy.
The centre of Lisbon, this area here, is very heavily populated with the elderly. And when I’d arrived, all the buildings in this little alleyway here hadn’t been touched for about 100 years. I immediately saw a connection between the elderly and the walls. I felt their spirit was in the walls.
I am really looking forward to telling you more about some of the other hidden gems in Lisbon that I came across.
Here’s some ‘típica‘ melancholy Fado to keep you busy in the meantime. Have a tissue handy!
Absolutely love Lisbon – been Oct 2015 and Oct 2016. Wonderful, quirky, eclectic city – with so much to see and do whether it’s art, culture, food history. I’ll be back there again next year.
We can’t wait to go back!