Rooftop bars and other cool places with Sergio and Sylvia

LX Factory has restaurants, shops, and a flea market.

Sergio: Cool places, cool places… Oh, LX!

Sylvia: Yes, LX Factory is a really cool place! It's not far. It's by bus, just 10-15 minutes. 

Sergio: They don’t have a subway that goes there, so that is why it feels far, since we use the subway so much. But there is a bus.

Sylvia: But they organize a lot of events, so it’s fun. They have a market on Sundays, a flea market with handmade stuff, vintage, everything. It's one of my favorite spots in Lisbon. And Cais do Sodré. There are bars and restaurants. Pensão Amor! 

The pink streets of Cais do Sodre.

The entrance to Pensao Amor.

Sergio: Yes, it’s a really nice place to go now. Before the bars were not there. Now there is a place called Pensão Amor. You know, with the girls? They didn’t get rid of the brothel, but they gave it a new life. You still see all the old things. It’s very cool.

Sylvia: Then you have Bairro Alto. The outside of Bairro Alto, there’s a place called Lost In. It’s a very cool Indian-style place with a nice terrace near the miradouro.

Outside of Foxtrot. Inside, there's a game of pool going on, and a cat napping on an overstuffed chair.

Sergio: This area is a really nice neighborhood too, I really like it. São Bento and Praça das Flores. There are a lot of gay bars here—Finalmente, Woof, Tr3s. Then we have Foxtrot. It’s the oldest bar in the neighborhood. It has the ambiance of the '20s and '30s. And you have a similar bar in Príncipe Real, Pavilhão Chinês. You have to just get in and look around and get lost in the millions of things you have on the walls and ceilings. 

Sylvia: It’s like dolls and strange stuff, you can just stare at the walls forever. But the people are not as friendly as at Foxtrot, don’t you think? Because it's kinda fancy. Like I just went inside and took a look and left.

Sergio: I guess.

Sylvia: And in Santa Apolonia, you have a bar on the rooftop. That’s where the train station is, so they have the bar with train seats. Bit expensive but it’s a cool experience. Here in Lisbon, you have a lot of nice rooftop bars, with great views. 

Sergio: Yes, Park is really cool too, in Bairro Alto.

Sylvia: And Illegal Chinese! When I take friends around Lisbon, I always take them there because it's interesting. You don't have any labels outside, but when you go into the building, it’s a Chinese restaurant. It's so traditional now, and very famous here. It’s not a proper restaurant, and well, I’ve never seen any receipt! It's cool and a bit unusual. When you take your friends there, they're like, where are you taking me...

Sergio: It’s like you go up the stairs, and feel like, umm, now are my last hours in this world…

Sylvia: They’re all near Martim Moniz. One is on its own a bit further away, and then you have two more—one on the first and one on the second floor. The one on the second floor is best.

Exploring Lisbon's creative boom with Sara

I would recommend my friends to visit the design museum in Lisbon downtown. Then I want them to see all the streets. There are all sorts of new spaces like this one, which is called Rés do Chão.

Come to Poço de Dos Negros street. They're opening all kinds of new spaces here. There are designers and creative people coming to this area and opening new shops. It's pretty recent, so now is a good time to visit Lisbon.

There are so many new things happening. It was like a boom, because of the crisis. There were lots of young people unemployed, and the only way they could do something was to establish themselves and make this new scene. So there's a lot of things happening in design and illustration. It was the only way we could do something new, and work in the areas that we study. 

Saloia, a cafe and shop on Rua de Sao Bento.

And street food too! It's rising in Lisbon, with little places to eat and drink. Have you gone to the Mercado da Ribeira? That's one of my favorite places. They take the big restaurants around Lisbon and set up a small version in the market. 

You should try caco. It's a traditional Portuguese thing, and you can go to this building called Taberna Madeirense, and there you have bread de caco, from Madeira. And you can drink poncha, a traditional drink also from Madeira that you have to try. It’s a cool place to eat things like that.

For lunch go to Saloia. It is on São Bento street. They have all sorts of food there, and they have a grocery too, so you can eat and buy all sorts of Portuguese products.

Not "street food" but all over the streets in Lisbon, you'll find kiosks where you can order coffee, a pastry, or a drink.

The must-sees with Miguel

In Lisbon, you have to see the monuments in Belém, the castle, and the ancient—well not ancient, but typical—neighborhoods. 

Padrão dos Descobrimentos, or the Monument of the Discoveries, on the Tagus River in Belem.

The monuments are not quite in the center of the city, but in Belém. It was from there that in the really old days, they left for conquering the world. That’s what the monuments are celebrating. There are also gardens and museums in Belém.

The castle is important to see. Not just the neighborhood, but the castle, which is one of the most typical points in Lisbon.

The view from Castelo de Sao George, overlooking the city.

The neighborhoods to see are Alfama, Bairro Alto, and Mouraria. What’s special about them is the streets, basically. There are lots of different types of streets that go up and down, very skinny streets with lots of things to do and see. Like, hidden gardens. The best thing to do is just get lost in the neighborhoods, because every time you climb a street and turn around, you can see the river and the little buildings--everything. And Bairro Alto, at night, it’s the place to get some booze. Drink a bottle of wine, beer, hang out with friends. Cais do Sodré, also.

Then we have some really nice restaurants in the area. It depends on your wallet, really. My favorite place...Well, yesterday I went to a place with really nice hot dogs at Frankie Hot Dogs. I spent 15 euros and had 3 hot dogs with chips and bacon. So good. It’s near the university, so it’s cheap and all the students go there at lunch. And if you like fish, it’s not low budget but it’s really good, a place called Sea Me. 

Also, you have the restaurant Trevo. It’s at the beginning of Praça de Camões, which is a very important meeting point in the night when you go out with friends. In Trevo, you can have bifana, a pork slice on bread with sauce, and a beer. In Lisbon, we call it an "imperial."

Two more. Nearby, there’s a store that sells wine, ham, cheese, and olive oil, called Baco Alto. God of the Wine. There’s a shop downtown called Pollux. If you go to the top floor there, you have a view from one side of the city to the other side. You can also see a good view of the city from Park. It’s a parking lot where on the top floor, there’s a bar. And finally, just to check it out, the Elevator of Santa Justa. Then you’ll have a nice scene of the city.

Then by car or train, you can visit the village of Cascais. Really nice, really quiet. You can find some beaches, and it’s nice for a warm sunny day like this. Today it’s the 9th of November? On the 11th of November, it’s called…I don’t know. We eat chestnuts, and we drink wine. We call it the summer of San Martinho and say that the weather will be good, at least until the 11th.

One way to manage the hills of Lisbon: Elevators. After the many stairs that go up and down the city, they were the obvious next step. Elevador de Santa Justa dates from 1901.

Chestnuts sold in the streets of Lisbon in November, before St. Martin's Day on Nov. 11.