They’re crowded and running from sunrise to sunset. Some are old and rusty, but orange “Cacilheiro” boats are definitely part of our lovely town. Some say, that since the new Catamarans are being used they will soon disappear as they are becoming obsolete. Thank you again modernists! Now I’m praying to all my gods, the city mayor, the left and right parties and our king that doesn’t rule, that someone please have a look at these wonderful unique boats and please… please… don’t throw them to the nearest junkyard. 

There are many ways of discovering our old city: A walk in the old quarters, the old trams of Lisbon or, if you prefer, a trip to “the other band” as locals call it – meaning literally “the other band”. I’ve mentioned several times, that the light in Lisbon is different from every point, and if you get on a boat on a sunny day, the reflection in the river and the views of Lisbon are breathtaking. You must definitely see Lisbon from the Tagus river and enjoy a relaxing boat trip.

I recommend you take a trip to “the other band”, to Cacilhas for example – there are several small fisherman’s restaurants there, so you can have seafood. Walk on the deck to enjoy the views. From here, you can see the whole town from a different perspective.

It’s only a cheap 15 minutes trip on a traditional old “Cacilheiro” boat, you will enjoy every second!

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“Cacilheiro” boat trip | Relaxing, Restaurants | 1-way ticket € 1.20
Terminal Fluvial do Cais do Sodré 1249-249 | +351808203050
05:40 – 01:40 daily

This actually was my favorite spot for a perfectly cooked Round Steak. Now, I’m trying to avoid meat at all costs and it’s been quite long since I’ve been there. But when I get stuffed and bored of eating carbohidrates and vegs for weeks, there’s only one place I would go to just for beef, the “Carvoaria”.

Fortunately, the place keeps offering consistently good food at reasonable prices – and in times like these… better save some money for tomorrow. There are obvious football fans here, and the place could be packed on matchdays. There are autographed football shirts everywhere.

First, try the fresh rissoles and croquettes or a creamy fresh cheese with pumpkin jam. Then choose a good strong wine from the Alentejo region – with meat, always drink red wine. Choose your main dish of beef: Cow, pork or lamb. Also choose the meat-cut: Round, loin, rib, … And then choose the weight from 300g to 500g… and off you go!

Ask for rice, French fries (homemade) and mashed spinach as side dishes and try to make your own salad at the free salad buffet. There’s lots of vegetables to choose from. At the end you could also add sauce – Olive oil, barbecue…

Save some room and don’t forget to try the chocolate mousse!

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Carvoaria Jacto | Restaurants (Portuguese) | 400g Round Steak € 6.50
Rua Maria Andrade 6 B | +351218147555
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 22:00

I was there once again with some friends, just to enjoy a perfect Sunday late afternoon snack, after spending the day at Belém. The place was almost closed when we entered, we were served anyway!

There are several places in Lisbon with good croissants, but these ones are something else… “Croissant do Careca”, meaning “Baldman’s Croissant” – famous among locals – opened in 1954 and since those days is known for having the best croissants in Lisbon. Always packed inside and after lunch the odds of getting a table are even worse – cues are beyond your imagination. Blame it on the delicious and strangely addictive croissants with sugar on top. The magic potion, hangover-cure and sugar bomb is a must try snack in this side of town.

Pastelaria do Restelo aka “Café do Careca” serves the unbelievable ultra-caloric croissant all day long from dusk till dawn. Outside, during summer days, the place becomes crowded with locals reading the newspaper or just enjoying the best croissants they’ve ever tasted.

Inside the cozy but always noisy place, the smell of fresh cakes and coffee will shake your world. It’s sugar time baby! Try them with a glass of cold milk

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O Careca | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Croissant € 1.20
Rua Duarte Pacheco Pereira 11 D | +351213010987
Wed – Mon 08:00 – 22:00

Despite the numerous film festivals that have popped up in Lisbon recently, very few – if any at all – have focused on African film and culture. And there is plenty to show from this continent. That’s what “Africa Mostra-se” (AFM) has been doing in the last 2 years, very successfully, I might add.

The third time is a charm and this year’s edition will set out to be a major event in the Lisbon cultural scene. I was there for the last two and guarantee you will enjoy being part of this!

The festival – which was originally conceived as a fundraising activity for ISU, a development NGO – has been showing the Lisbon public the richness and cultural diversity of Africa, giving a positive outlook and avoiding the preconceived ideas that still exist about the continent.

While the focus is on African cinema, AFM offers much more: theater and dance, painting and sculpture exhibitions, photography workshops and contests, cooking classes and debates in different spots around Lisbon. All this for very little and for a good cause, because part of the funds will revert to the Nô Djunta Mon volunteer program.

AFM starts on May 23rd with the documentary “Mionga Ki Ôbo” and the national premiere of the film “Otelo Burning” at the Franco Portuguese Institute and finishes on June 2nd with the Arraial – a lively gathering with African food, music and crafts in A.T.L.A., another great spot in Alfama. 

Check out the full program and their facebook page for details.

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África Mostra-se ’13 | Art & culture, Cinemas, Music, Festivals & events
Avenida Luis Bivar 91 | +351962313048
May 23 – Jun 2

Brunch. On Saturday and Sunday. In Cais do Sodre. 

Cafe Tati, situated on the road directly behind Mercardo Ribeiro, opens at 11:00 at the weekend and, for € 10 you can have a delicious, filling brunch, complete with freshly-squeezed orange juice and coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and a choice of fruit salad or cereal and yoghurt to start with.

The main course is a beautifully arranged plate of local cold salamis, hams, salmon and cheeses which are accompanied by a portion of scrambled eggs and toradas (huge, fat slices of hot toast), jam and butter. Then, just when you think you can’t possibly eat more and are contemplating another shot of coffee, a little slice of carrot cake appears on your plate, just to finish things off.  

The atmosphere is casual and laid back and the cafe tends to start filling up after 12:30 when people have finally woken up to the world of the weekend.

This quirky little cafe is decorated with a random selection of chairs and tables and the crockery is all mismatched and some of it is delightfully old-fashioned.

It is also possible to have lunch or dinner throughout the week in this charming venue, and it is a good place to meet in the evening for a drink before heading on to one of the other bars in the area. Check out the Cafe Tati blog for information about live music events.

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Cafe Tati | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants | Brunch € 10
Rua da Ribeira Nova, 36 | +351213461279
Tue – Sun 11:00 – 01:00

This restaurant, located in the old Pharmacy Museum at Santa Catarina in Lisboa, has a fabulous concept. When you enter, you are shown to your table by somebody wearing a white lab coat. The tables are all decked out with beakers posing as oil and vinegar containers and a look around you makes you feel like you are in an ancient apothecary’s shop with all sorts of medicine vials and pill bottles in glass-fronted cabinets around the walls. There is an odd assortment of old, antiquey-looking tables and chairs and the restaurant has a cosy, intimate feeling about it. The wine is served from beakers too

Once you have finished taking in the decor, the best bit about the restaurant is that the menu is a surprise. There is no menu to speak of but your waiter will tell you what is on offer for the night. You have the opportunity to mention any food allergies or preferences at the start of the meal. The night we went our starter arrived in a test tube and was a melon ‘shot’ (alcohol free) topped with crispy bacon – a superb combination. The main courses were a lobster risotto (with NO shortage of lobster in it) and a black pork dish which was delicious and the waiter very kindly gave us a sample of all the desserts on one plate to try – the best, of course, being the chocolate mousse.

All in all I would thoroughly recommend this restaurant for the experience alone!

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Restaurante Pharmacia | Restaurants (Portuguese) | Set menu € 28
Rua Marechal Saldanha, 1 | +351213462146
Tue – Sun 13:00 – 01:00

This is one of Lisbon’s oldest providers of bread, cakes and biscuits and all things sweet. Established in 1902 in Saldanha, this pastry shop has one of the widest selections of sweet treats that I have seen in Lisbon.

The huge glass-fronted display cases act as windows into a world of such a variety of traditional Portuguese pasteis de nata, cream cakes, apple tarts and petit fours that you can spend some time deliberating what to have with your coffee (which you will drink standing up at one of the tables around the room).

My favourite cake of all time in Lisbon is the pastel de nata, and the bakers at Sequeira have not let me down – these little pastries are always fresh and the pastry flakes perfectly. This pastelaria is very popular with the locals of the Saldanha area.

Sequeira also bakes these delights in perfect miniature form so you can buy a whole selection to take away with you and sample at your leisure (we often have a selection of these around the office!).

There is a restaurant attached to the bakery where you can have lunch, usually consisting of soup and a buffet selection of traditional Portuguese dishes such as duck rice, fish dishes (bacalhau) or stews. Sequeira is closed on Sundays.

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Pastelaria Sequeira | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee & cake € 5
Avenida da República 11A | +351213140749
Mon – Fri 07:00 – 20:00, Sat 07:00 – 19:00

Tucked away in a tiny little street in the suburb of Penha Franca is the entrance up to Miradouro do Monte Agudo. I think that this miradouro is one of the prettiest in Lisbon and offers a spectacular view over the red rooftops that characterize this city. The 180° view of Lisbon is stunning, from the river right up to Saldanha and the north.

This miradouro is off the beaten track and if you approach it from Graça (rather than Anjos) the route to it is nice and flat! Go through a gate in a rust-colored wall (with a rather misleading red No Entry sign on it – this is for cars rather than pedestrians) and there is a windy cobbled road that leads up to the view, which took my breath away the first time I saw it.

There is a little kiosk that serves sandwiches, coffee and beer up here, and you can sit and watch the sun set over the river whilst sipping on a nice cold imperial (beer). This miradouro has been renovated – the tiled benches have been well-restored and the pillared pergolas have been repainted giving the area a pleasant ambiance. If you like to relax, with a gorgeous view in front of you then this is the place for you. Even though winter is here, on the sunny days you can wrap up warmly and still enjoy the view with a nice warm coffee.

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Miradouro do Monte Agudo | Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Coffee & cake € 5.00
Rua Heliodoro Salgado
Apr – Sep 10:00 – 22:30 daily, Oct – Mar 10:00 – 18:00 daily

Lisbon has the most fabulous fresh fruit, vegetable and fish markets where it is possible to buy healthy, fresh food for extremely reasonable prices.

Even if you are here for a weekend, staying in a hotel in the Saldanha area and don’t need to cook for yourself, it is worth popping into Mercado 31 Janeiro for the experience. The ground floor of the market is a brightly-colored, lively area with a vast array of fresh fruit and vegetables laid out in the centre whilst the sides of the hall are flanked by butchers’ stalls selling fresh cuts of meat. The sellers call out as you walk past their stalls to try and tempt you into buying their wares.

The mezzanine floor consists of the fresh fish market and is said to be one of the best fish markets in this area of Lisbon. The variety of fresh fish in Lisbon is superb and I love to go here to buy salmon steaks to cook. This is not for the faint-hearted if you don’t like the smell of fish or are disturbed by the sight of whole fish and squid reposing on beds of ice! At one end of the floor is the fresh flower stall which provides a burst of color to the cooler, slightly austere air of the fish market.

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Mercado 31 de Janeiro | Shopping, Snacks | Lunch € 10
Rua Engenheiro Vieira da Silva | +351213540988
Mon – Sat 07:00 – 14:00

I spend a lot of my time out and about in Graça which is one of Lisbon’s oldest areas. This charming neighborhood with its narrow pavements is brimming with various pastelarias and restaurants that are mainly frequented by locals who live in the area.

One of my favorite restaurants when I want to indulge in a great value for money, hearty Portuguese meal is O Pitéu. This restaurant, with its unassuming facade (easily missed from the street) seats only 80 people but is always full, mostly with the local residents of Graça. The inevitable television screen flickers away on the wall but this is overshadowed by the enthusiastic chatter of the diners and the fabulous food.

The portion sizes are generous and the food is delicious and typically Portuguese which is very reasonably priced. I recommend any of the fish dishes, especially the dourada (golden bream) and the signature dish Bacalhau Pitéu. For meat lovers the Porco à Alentejana is very good as are the livers – cooked Portuguese style. Every day there is a different special dish on offer and these can be seen on the restaurant’s Facebook page, complete with photo of the dish.

I love the lively atmosphere Restaurante O Pitéu as I really feel like I am a local living in Lisbon! During meal times it is definitely necessary to book, especially if you are in a group.

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Restaurante O Pitéu | Restaurants (Portuguese) | Main meal € 12.00
Largo da Graça 95 | +351218871067
Mon – Fri 12:00 – 15:00 & 19:00 – 22:30, Sat 12:00 – 15:00