Five great ways to experience Lisbon
Mary Lussiana shares her favourite corners of the city
h Culinary Backstreets offers three different tours (each celebrating a different neighbourhood), which take you into a hidden Lisbon where generations of families have been salting cod and preparing piri-piri chicken over charcoal pits. On the Song of the Sea tour, you’ll wander past docks in search of cod fritters and goose barnacles in the narrow streets of the working-class district of Alcântara. culinaryback streets.com h The most charming way to tick off a few sights is by riding the wooden tram 28 as it rumbles through the city’s most historic streets. Starting at the foot of Bairro Alto, the carriage trundles through the shopping districts of Baixa and Chiado before labouring past the churches and castles on the cobbled hills of the Alfama and Graça neighbourhoods. h Underdogs is a cultural platform founded by Vhils, Lisbon’s best-known street artist. You can book a three-hour guided walk to visit a variety of urban art all over the city, such as Obey Giant by Vhils and Shepard Fairey. The tour ends at the Underdogs Art Store in Cais do Sodré, where you can buy limited editions of the work visited, as well a wide range of signed editions. under-dogs.net h In Lisbon’s latest up-andcoming neighbourhood, where streets are lined with faded 19th-century palaces, you can’t miss buzzy A Cevicharia. The doors are always open, revealing a giant sponge octopus hanging from the ceiling, and a crowd is always milling outside, waiting for a table. Kiko Martins, the chef, has crafted a short but very sweet menu: highlights include a Portugueseinspired ceviche, which uses codfish with a chickpea purée, and the potato causa, which mixes avocado purée with potatoes in black cuttlefish ink. acevicheria.pt h In a city of rooftop bars, Entretanto claims the top spot for its views. It is on the seventh floor of the Hotel do Chiado, high above the rooftops and overlooking the cobbled streets of Chiado, with the Tagus River slipping by in the distance.