Lisbon Travel Guide (Lisbon, Portugal)

These are few more immediately likeable capitals than LISBON (Lisboa). A lively and varied place, it remains in some ways curiously provincial, rooted as much in the 1920s as the 2000s. Pre-World War I wooden trams clank up outrageous gradients, past mosaic pavements and Art Nouveau cafés, and the medieval, village-like quarter of Alfama which hangs below the city's São Jorge castle. Modern Lisbon, with a population of just over 3 million, has kept an easy-going, human pace and scale, with little of the underlying violence of most cities and ports of its size. It also boasts a vibrant, cosmopolitan identity, with large communities of ex-colony Brazilians, Africans (from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde) and Asians (from Macao, Goa and East Timor). Many came over to work on two major urban development projects in the Nineties: the preparations for the European City of Culture in 1994 and the Expo 98 . Lisbon invested heavily in these ventures and the rejuvenation of the city with new road, hotel, metro and bridge schemes. Disused dockland has been reclaimed and communication links improved with several showcase pieces of architecture and engineering like Santiago Calatrava's impressive Gare de Oriente and his sleek fourteen kilometre-long Vasco de Gama bridge which links Lisbon airport to a network of national motorways. The focus is still firmly on the future with Portugal's successful bid to stage the European Football Championship in 2004, an event which will again turn the world's attention on the Portuguese capital.

The Great Earthquake of 1755 (followed by a tidal wave and fire) destroyed most of the city's big buildings and twenty years of frantic reconstruction led to many impressive new palaces and churches and the street grid pattern spanning the seven hills of Lisbon. Several buildings from Portugal's golden age survived the quake - notably the Torre de Belém , the Castelo de São Jorge and the Monastery of Jerónimos at Belém. Many of the city's more modern sites also demand attention: the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian , a museum and cultural complex with superb collections of ancient and modern art and the futuristic Oceanarium at the Parque das Nações, the largest of its kind in Europe. Half an hour south of Lisbon dunes stretch along the Costa da Caparica and twenty kilometres north you'll pass the coastal resorts of Estoril and Cascais before reaching the lush wooded heights and royal palaces of Sintra and the monastery of Mafra , one of the most extraordinary buildings in the country.