Alfama area
The most popular area of Lisbon is Alfama hood with its castle – Castelo de S. Jorge classified National Monument since 1910 – overlooking the city. From the highest point, you’ll have a very nice point of view over Lisbon and see all the red tiled roofs with the port below. Wonderful feeling. To go there, take tram 28 and stop at Portas do Sol station and then best is to wander around…
Bairro Alto area
Litterally the ‘high hood’ from the Praça do Rato, just above another nice hood: Chaido. This is the alternative hood of Lisbon. In one word: it is good to get lost in Lisbon (and easy too ahhh with all the tiny streets that look like the same). Don’t forget to bring water with you, specially if you go in summer like us as it was very hot and dry!
But super fun to hang out there and find some cool murals.
LX Factory & Village Underground
LX Factory is like a hood of Lisbon, but a bit outside of the city in the direction of Cascaïs (the beach place of Lisbon). At the origin, this was a old portuguese fabrics factory speard on over 23 000 square meters created in 1846 – by the « Companhia de Fiação e Tecidos Lisbonense » – whici bacema later a print industry for Publico – the biggest newspaper in Portugal – and then the factory has been renovated to become what it is today: a trendy area with almost everything on site: from restaurants to concert halls, shops, sport centers, … and even a hostel for youngies.
Why Lx? Ah ah because this is simply the fancy nickname for « Lisbon »!
For us who are keen on street art, the place is a must-see as on top is it a big abandoned place with lots of industrial places to visit. The ambiance is very nice but better to go during the week, to avoid the the week-end crowd. What I like most (Steve, as I went on my own for a business trip in Lisbon) is that every place (shop, restaurant, …) played the game to keep the original vibes to make their business work around.
LX Factory – is also a street art must-see!
Every wall, building, … at each corner of the place has been invaded with colorfull pieces. Even bins! The sunset lights give a very nice atmosphere and make this place like an amazing open-air gallery.
Lx FACTORY
Alcantara, Lisbon
Train: stop Alcantara from station Cais do Sodré on line towards Cascais
lxfactory.com
From the outside, I saw big colorful containers and I thought from the train line that this was LX Factory. But in fact, nope. This is what they call: Village Underground – which is co-working spaces, full of restaurants and cool bars for evenings. Good to check out too, so plan a good half-day excursion to explore both.
To discover more about Lisbon in terms of places to go, to eat, to visit, check out my 10 good reasons to fly to Lisbon! Enjoy 🙂
