Lisbon at Walking Pace

Everyone tells you to ride Tram 28. Do it once, early in the morning, before the crowds. Then get off and walk — Lisbon is a city that rewards the people who are willing to climb.

Alfama, before breakfast

The oldest neighbourhood survived the 1755 earthquake that flattened most of the city, and it still has the tangled, medieval street plan to prove it. Go at 8 a.m., when the only sounds are canaries in balcony cages and someone hosing down a doorstep.

The miradouros

Lisbon is a city of viewpoints. My favourites, in walking order:

1. Miradouro de Santa Luzia — bougainvillea, azulejo tiles and the river.
2. Miradouro da Graça — locals with beers at sunset.
3. Miradouro da Senhora do Monte — the highest, and the quietest.

What to eat

• A pastel de nata still warm from the oven at Manteigaria — dust it with cinnamon.
• A garlicky lamb sandwich, eaten standing at a counter.
• Grilled sardines in June, during the Festas de Lisboa, when the whole city smells of charcoal.

Fado, properly

Skip the dinner-show fado. Find a tiny tasca in Mouraria where the singer is also the waiter and the guitarist is somebody's uncle. When the lights go down, stop talking. That's the rule.

Lisbon taught me that slowness is not the absence of plans. It's choosing to let the city decide the next turn.