Cheira Lisboa--Smells Like Lisbon

As nice as Belem is, I was ten times more excited to go to downtown Lisbon. It is a gorgeous city. But be warned, it's made up of seven hills. Good for a thigh and bum workout, not so much for tired feet.

A Parisian store in Lisbon. It may have the flair of Paris, but we're in Lisbon baby.

My tour guide for this leg of the adventure was my cousin Rita and she was absolutely invaluable in showing me the sights and explaining history. We started our tour in the Chiado district of Lisbon, a trendy area home to charming boutiques, cafes and poets, especially Portugal’s Fernando Pessoa.

Fernando and I

Then we walked to Carmo square and over to the Santa Justa lift (which was made in 1900 by Raul Mesnier de Ponsard, an apprentice to Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame). Only, we didn't actually take the lift, we took the stairs.

Santa Justa Lift

From there we got a pretty good view of the streets of Lisbon that were redone after the 1755 Earthquake. Up until then, Lisbon had been rocked by a few earthquakes (eight in the 14th century, five in the 16th century and three in the 17th century) but this one was particularly bad. It destroyed 85 per cent of the city and killed 60 to 90, 000 people.

Lisbon, and that area on the hill is Alfama

The River Tagus

View of the Rossio square, one of the most important squares in Lisbon

As a result of the destruction caused by the earthquake, Lisbon had to be rebuilt. Instead of rebuilding according to the old plans, the Prime Minister at the time, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, rebuilt using modern urban planning. As a result, the streets in the Baixa Pombalina (Pombaline Downtown) area are grid like and symmetrical.

Straight streets are a trademark of Pombaline design

Beside the elevator was the Carmo Convent, a Gothic cathedral. The Convent was mostly destroyed in the 1755 Earthquake, except for its arched frames. It also has a modern significance. In 1974, it was the headquarters of dictator President Marcelo Caetano during the Carnation Revolution that removed him from power (via a military coup). A year after the coup, Portugal held its first free elections since the 1920s and restored democracy to Portugal (Caetano's Estado Novo, or "New State" regime was the longest authoritarian regime in Western Europe). The convent still shows the bullets used to "encourage" Caetano to surrender.

Convent do Carmo

Bullets from the attack on Caetano's headquarters in 1974

Now, it’s used as an archaeological museum that houses two Peruvian mummies (it was closed when we visited).