VOGUELIVING.COM.AU 193« cultural centre, a complex of bookstores, galleries
and bars in a former munitions factory. Adding
cultural cachet to the district of Belém is the Museum
of Art, Architecture and Technology, a dramatic new
building by AL_A, opened there in October. Lisbon’s
produce market, Mercado de Campo de Ourique, has
been transformed into a clamorous meeting place
lined with gourmet food stalls and pubs under an
industrial-era atrium.
But it remains a city of traditions, of wonderful,
original façades and beautiful old shops, some badly
in need of repair, it’s true, but gorgeous in their
dilapidation. On the main pedestrian street, Rua
Garrett, there’s Bertrand, the oldest continuously
operating bookshop in the world, which dates to 1732.
Further along the street, there’s Paris Em Lisboa,
selling Parisian fabrics, bedding and towels since
1888, still with its original wooden interiors. Around
the corner on the Praça de Pedro IV, the city’s downtown
hub, the jewellery store Joalharia Ferreira Marques features one of
Portugal’s most beautiful Art Nouveau façades. Nearby, there’s the
tiny glove shop, Luvaria Ulisses, dating from 1925 that fits no more
than two customers at a time.
Lisbon’s gastronomy involves more than sardines and bacalhau,
and homegrown chefs such as Jose Avillez are playfully modernising
traditions but (thankfully) Portugal’s most famous culinary export,
the egg custard tart, or pastel de nata, has been baked and sold
at Fabrica de Pastéis de Belém since 1837. The cinnamon-sprinkled
pastéis de belém, using the original recipe handed down by the
monks of the Jerónimos Monastery, is so delicious it’s worth
the inevitable wait in line.
“We always do things a century after everyone else,” our official
guide explains as we study one of the finest examples of Portuguese
Baroque, the late 17th-century São Roque church, which was built
a hundred years after Baroque began to flourish in Italy. Unlike many
other important churches in Europe, it’s tucked away, with only a few
tourists marvelling at the ornate chapels, in particular the Chapel of St
John the Baptist, which is inlaid with 27 precious gemstones.
But for most visitors, including this one, Lisbon’s arrested development
is its great charm. Go soon, while it’s still delightfully retro. VL
There’s the tiny glove shop,
Luvaria Ulisses, dating from 1925
that fits no more than two
customers at a time
clockwise from top
left: upstairs at the
Embaixada shopping
emporium in Príncipe
Real. A suite at Palácio
Ramalhete. A view
across Alfama from
Hotel Memmo Alfama.
A street scene in Chiado.