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A week will allow you time to linger in the city’s most atmospheric quarters and target the crème de la crème of Lisbon’s museums. Priceless porcelain, 18th-century French furniture and enigmatic Portuguese landscape paintings are displayed against a sumptous art nouveau backdrop in the Casa António Gonçalves. In Lapa, the acknowledged masterpieces of 15th-century Portuguese art are displayed at the Museum of Ancient Art. Chiado’s Contemporary Art Museum flaunts Portugal’s most dynamic naturalist artists of the 19th century, in a more postmodern setting. The eerie Convento do Carmo houses a mind-boggling display of artefacts from Peruvian mummies to classical antiquities. The wonderful display of azulejo tiles at the Tile Museum, a 15-minute bus ride from Restauradores, is one of the city’s best museums, while the Fado Museum will prepare you for more informed appreciation of the nuances and history of the national song and its iconic goddess, Amália. Northern exposure will be minimal with time constraints, but just 20 minutes by metro from Rossio, a half-day dedicated to the glitzy Expo site Parque das Nações unmasks Lisbon’s futuristic alter ego. With its modernist landscape, wonderous aquarium, child-friendly parks, and soothing riverside walkways, it’s a perfect antidote to the old town alleys and vertigo-inducing hills. Make time for serious city sleuthing in the medina of Alfama’s medieval streets. Get away from the crowds and uncover Lisbon’s African and Brazilian soul in raffish Mouraria and São Bento, or for more refined pursuits, amble the manicured streets of haughty Lapa. Lisbon’s panoramic beauty is best appreciated from the sea and the commuter ferry ride across the river to Cacilhas and the Rio-esque statue of Cristo Rey reveals Lisbon’s antiquarian splendour from atop the Golden Gate clone of Ponte 25 de Abril. By night, you can spend more time bar-hopping in Bairro Alto, become more familiar with fado in Alfama, dance to hip-swaying African mornas in São Bento or test your street cred at cool warehouse conversions, like Bico de Sapato. Less than an hour’s train ride from the city you can bask on the beaches of Cascais, explore its backstreets and its fishing village past. The 18th-century convent-palace of Mafra is a baroque masterpiece, the symbol of Portugal’s glorious hey day, while the lofty Palácio de Queluz is often refered to as Portugal’s ‘mini Versailles’.
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