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.

Illegal Chinese and other favorite things of Micas

I will just tell you all the things I like. 

Tram 28 is very nice. It will take you from Alfama, all the way to the Basilica.

And ginjinha, in a chocolate cup! It’s really cool. Well, the thing is, I don’t like ginja. But I hear the one by Rossio square, there’s a really old one there, is quite good.

Ginjinha, or ginja, in a chocolate cup.

Ginjinha Sem Rival, a more traditional spot to find the Portuguese sour cherry liqueur.

The line spilled out the door at this "Illegal Chinese"--down the stairs of this apartment building in an otherwise un-busy street. A single waitress moved dishes on and off tables while answering the doorbell to bark wait times to groups of 20-somethings trying to snag a table.

I would also go to the Belém for pastries. You take tram 15E there. In Belém, you can also look at the tower and the monastery.

I love the contemporary art museum, but I’m not sure if that’s a must-see.

I also really like the Illegal Chinese. It’s not something very touristic, because you don’t come to Lisbon to eat Chinese food, but we have a lot of Chinese and Pakistani immigrants who live in Mouraria and Alfama, and they are just as part of the city as the Portuguese, so it’s a cool part of the city to see. These restaurants are very good. I’m a smoker, and inside you’re very chill, you smoke, you eat, and the food is amazing. 

Feira da Ladra, the flea market, which is open on Saturday. It’s nearby Santa Apolonia train station. It’s second-hand stuff—books, shampoos, a bit of everything. You just have to see it.

Also eat in Bairro Alto. I like Stasha, which is a very good one. It’s Portuguese food in a very contemporary way. The steak is really good, even if it’s not that traditional. Bitoque might be traditional, but Stasha isn’t a very traditional place. It’s just good food.

Then go listen to fado. I recommend Tasco do Chico. It’s like an old traditional restaurant for wine and beer, and they sing fado, traditional Portuguese music. Very Portuguese. They have two, one in Bairro Alto, but Alfama is the place to go to listen to fado. For live music, it’s either one of the other, they switch days.

You know, the main touristic spots are not everyday spots. But Lisbon is special that way, because our downtown is also an everyday Lisbon spot. It’s touristic, but the locals spend a lot of time here, too. The viewpoints, too. One of the Portuguese things to do is to have a beer, and enjoy the sunsets from a viewpoint.

Mouraria's tasca-crawl with June

I recommend to walk the district of Mouraria. There is a route called Rota das Tascas da Mouraria. It is a very old district that is not very touristic, but is one of my favorites. It is on the bottom of the castle. 

You can find the Rota das Tascas online. "Tasco" is bar. So you don't have to go to every single bar, but I recommend taking a ginjinha in one of them, and seeing the atmosphere of the district. It's authentic! It's like an old town, with children playing in the streets and dogs running around. It's like the old home of your grandmother. The architecture is very old because, like Alfama, this district survived the earthquake. They were the only ones,  so the structure is quite peculiar, like many of the buildings are a little sideways, because of the earthquake.

There is one tasco called Os Amigos da Severa. It's in a street where fado was born--like, people started singing fado there. The wall of the street had pictures in wood in the wall of famous fado singers. There is also a vegetarian restaurant I love, The Food Temple. It's in a very small square—I love that square. Go in there for a tea or a piece of cake or dinner. One of the cooks is from Thailand, so it's different. 

What do you love about Lisbon?

People is what I love. I'm not originally from Lisbon, I'm from Spain. The first time I came here it was a surprise. Everyone in Lisbon is open and so warm. I was standing in the square waiting for someone, reading a book, and an old woman walked up to me and was like, are you lost? Can I help you? And that would never happen in Spain, but it happens here in Lisbon.

So for me that's the best, the people. And I like that it is small, a lot happening, a lot of free live music. Small coffees and restaurants, and I like the variety. You can find the more sophisticated, bohemian, hippie, rockabilly.

The Secret Lisbon is the best Lisbon guide ever. It's not like, "In 19blahblahblah the king blah." It's a really nice book. It's not a novel, so read it in parts. It’s divided in districts, and it changes how you walk to the small districts, the small details. It's my favorite book about Lisbon. 

You know where you should go, is Estrela da Bica. It's not traditional Portuguese, but Portuguese people go there. You have to go early--like at 8. Otherwise it will fill up completely. I've gone many times around 8:30 and they are already booked for the first night. It's very very good. Maybe go up the funicular, have a tea and look around, and then drop by early to book a table.

Illegal Chinese is very cool. In Mouraria, there are three. There's one that is really good. There is one that is horrible, it's awful, it’s so bad. Everything tastes the same because they just cook everything in the same sauce. But it's cheap, I guess. But when I went there I was like, I'm never coming back.

Which one is the bad one? 

I don't know, they don't have names! They're just houses. You walk in and they have tables in the living room, the dining room, all the rooms. The last time, I went with four people, and there was just one little table for us in like, a tiny room.