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.

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.