Trams and tuk-tuks roller coaster through the hills of Lisbon, a city of enticing lookouts, al fresco lunches and daring street art
Morning breaks over Lisbon’s seven hills. In the medina-like lanes of Alfama — one of the city’s oldest, loftiest neighbourhoods — the light is beginning to creep through window shutters, washing over the azulejo tiles and bathing the terracotta rooftops in an amber glow; in the distance, the Tagus river glitters.
While Alfama is high, Graça is even higher still, set on the tallest hill. Over the past decade, the district has been reimagined as a blank canvas for street artists, enabling it to reach new heights on Lisbon’s cultural scene. “Vhils started as a tagger but got his big break collaborating with Banksy at the Cans Festival in 2008,” Véro explains. “Now he uses explosives, demolition tools and chemicals to carve the city walls, in a process he calls ‘creative destruction’.” You might think this would ruffle local feathers, but Lisboetas hardly bat an eyelid, she assures me.
“With street art, you can paint wherever you want,” he says. “It creates a cultural dialogue with communities and gives underrepresented people a voice — even a sense of pride. In this way, it can be a catalyst for social change. It’s a shared experience — people feel free to give their opinions.” After work, many Lisboetas gravitate towards quiosques: gazebo-like kiosk cafes in the city’s parks, gardens, squares and miradouros. They sell inexpensive wine, beer, coffee and snacks.At the nearby Miradouro São Pedro de Alcântara, people are already sipping piña coladas to reggae beats mid-morning, with the city spread at their feet. There’s a hint of spring in the air, with the first puffs of blossom evident on the trees between the tinkling fountains scattered around.
We trundle up to the pine-shaded Miradouro Senhora do Monte, Lisbon’s highest viewpoint, where the wide-angle vistas reveal the city in all its multi-tiered glory — sweeping from the castle across the river to Cristo Rei, a late 1950s tribute to Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer, and beyond to the forested mountains of Sintra. I recognise the historic centre, fading where the skyscrapers of modern Lisbon sprout up.
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