Glass enjoys a stopover in Lisbon

Lisbon: city of ceramics and culture – Glass enjoys a stopover in Portugal’s capital

MOST European capital cities have their “must-see” sights – a particular building, bridge, museum, whatever — promoted with such zeal that you’re left feeling these are obligatory sights and experiences, boxes to tick before you leave. To its credit, Lisbon doesn’t play that market-driven game and, instead, it’s the urban ambience as a whole that attracts: the vibes of a modest metropolis where trams trundle along  crooked-looking streets, citizens’ laundry flaps from poles leaning out of windows and beautiful tiles decorate everything from park seats to house fronts.

The Solar Do Castelo boutique hotel

The cliché that describes somewhere as being “tucked away” is best avoided so let’s just say that from the airport finding  the boutique accommodation of Solar do Castelo, manages to banjax both myself and the Uber driver despite GPS and digital maps. It was night and both our phones led us up increasingly tapered streets and through fortified-looking walls before the vehicle could no longer negotiate the narrow angles. Following the way indicated by a local and testing the durability of my wheelie luggage on a cobbled alleyway, Solar do Castelo was soon found: an 18th century, stone-built house with its front door painted a calm blue.

In the bright morning light, Solar do Castelo reveals its heritage status within Castelo de Jorge, the last stronghold of the Moors before it was captured in 1147 during the second crusade. The castle was home to Portuguese kings for the next five centuries and after the massive earthquake of 1755 a house was built where the royal palace’s kitchens once stood. The house is now Solar de Castelo, thoroughly renovated but crafted to preserve its past with exposed sections of original walls, the original cistern and a lovely patio garden. Old tiles decorate the walls and bougainvillea, box and hibiscus bless the space with bright colours.

Solar Do Castelo Hall

In daylight, the geography around Solar do Castelo was no longer confusing and the glamour of spending a couple of nights in such a location worked its magic. All the neighbouring streets are cobbled and as impossibly narrow as they had seemed at night but now there are neat bars and eateries to take note of and heavenly little shops retailing art and craft items. The bags, wallets and everything else for sale in The Cork Shop  is  made of – can you guess? – cork.

Chapito a mesa a stone’s throw from Solar de Castelo, is owned by a circus  and the spiral staircase that leads up to the restaurant seems designed for acrobats to rehearse their twirls and tricks around. Practice sessions for the circus do indeed take place and some days the downstairs café is closed for this reason.

A Cevicheria restaurant

Ceviche links Portugal with its ex-colony in South America and A Cevicheria is devoted to marinated seafood and raw fish. I manage to snag one of the seven places at the bar before 7.30 in the evening (tables allow for another twenty seats) and realize how lucky I’ve been – no reservations are possible – after seeing wannabe diners regularly turned away and determined ones waiting outside for a seat. A Cevicheria’s popularity is due to its celebrity Chef Kiko and the six-course tasting menu throws up original ideas like tuna ceviche with lychees and hazelnuts plus foie gras generously sprinkled over the top with the aid of a cheese-grater.

My PopOut map of Lisbon led me through the grand squares and buildings that define the city centre, best represented by places like Rossio Square and the nearby train station. You’ll pass them both on the way to the quality flea market that stretches for a kilometre on Avenida da Liberdade.  Old jewellery and elegant bric-a-brac compete for space on the makeshift tables but politeness reigns supreme and no-one pitches their sales.

Pavement tables at Ad Lib

Also on the pavement of Avenida da Liberdade are the outdoor tables Ad Lib the wallet-friendly restaurant of Lisbon’s Sofitel hotel. The three-course lunch, including a glass of wine and tea/coffee, is particularly good value and especially so when the dessert trolley is wheeled to your table and you see the goodies.

The newly opened MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture & Technology) Lisbon

Architecturally, the city’s most outstanding sight is not an ancient building or square but MAAT, an ultra-modern (it opened in October), undulating structure: the Museum of Art, Architecture & Technology. Organic and fluid in form, it sits on the waterfront of the Tagus in the area where Vasco de Gama set off in 1497 for the epic journey that would end in India after his four ships had sailed around the African continent. If MAAT’s shape evokes the maritime – humpbacked like some giant whale – its ceramic tessellated cladding echoes the ubiquity of tiles that are such a characteristic of Lisbon’s urban architecture.

The MAAT Lisbon

The interior of MAAT is a single cavernous space on a scale which dwarfs its human visitors whereas stepping inside Calouste Gulbenkian is an intimate experience by comparison. The fabulously wealthy Calouste Gulbenkian bequeathed his private art collection to Portugal on his death in 1955 and it includes a small number of priceless exhibits. Precious Assyrian and ancient Greek artwork are in one section while one of the European galleries  is home to Rembrandt’s Portrait of an Old Man: a figure whose world-weary stare gazes at you in a spiritually arresting moment of sadness.

The Varanda restaurant Lisbon

The restaurant Varanda is an artistic treat of another kind, occupying a palatial space richly carpeted and looking out through giant windows to soothing lines of trees.  Inside, giant floral displays and a soft green colour scheme guarantee relaxation – as does the champagne trolley and the sushi that features in the grand lunch buffet.  Varanda encapsulates the charms of a city that can be reached from London in a two-hour flight with TAP and a half-hour journey on the airport’s shuttle bus. It’s as easy as that.

by Sean Sheehan