Lisbon on foot, uphill both ways
Seven hills, worn limestone pavements, custard tarts as fuel and a city that rewards every climb with a view.
Lisbon is a city of viewpoints, and every viewpoint is at the top of something. I walked it for four days and came home with stronger legs and a list of terraces I'd happily sit on again.
A walking day
- Start low, by the river, before the tour groups.
- Climb through Alfama by the stairs, not the streets. Get lost on purpose.
- Reward yourself at the castle walls, or at any miradouro with a kiosk.
- Descend for lunch. Grilled sardines if it's the season, a bifana if it isn't.
- Climb again. There is always another hill.
The pavements
The streets are paved with small, polished limestone cubes laid in waves and patterns. They are beautiful and, after rain, as slippery as ice. Wear shoes with grip and walk like a local: slowly, confidently and never in a hurry.
Lisbon taught me to stop measuring a walk in kilometres and start measuring it in pastries.
By the last evening I'd stopped taking the tram entirely, not out of virtue but because the walk was the point.