Lisbon – Day 3 – Jewish Lisbon, Barrio Alto, Chiado
Sunday, 07-Jun-2026
Tags: Travel
We checked out of the HF Fenix and walked a few hundred feet to the Epic Sana Marquese (where Larry’s meeting was going to be) to leave our bags for check-in later and headed to our tour of Jewish Lisbon, taking the Blue line to Terriria de Polo, and walked up to Largo Portas do Sol through Alfama. In June, Alfama hosts the Festas dos Santos Populares, celebrations featuring street parties, live music, and grilled sardines, going all night into the morning hours. Alfama was littered with bottles, smells of fish and beer, and beautiful decorations hung over the streets.
Terrira de Polo looking up at Alfama
Alfama street parties
View from Largo Portas do Sol
With a few other people, we took a tour of Jewish Lisbon with Luciano Waldman from the Jewish Cultural Center. The Center was founded by Luciano in 2019 with the aim of promoting the Jewish-Portuguese heritage and Sephardic culture in Lisbon. We learned about the history of Sephardic Jews in Lisbon from 482 CE to the present day, including the expulsion of Jews and the forced conversion to Christianity of those who stayed in Portugal. We started at Largo Portas do Sol, stopping at a mural depicting the history of Lisbon.
We descended to Rua da Judiaria, stopping at the the cultural center and a mural — a collaborative work by Israeli artists Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid.
I was raised on a warm floor
And told there was plenty of room to spread out
Those were days of promises
These days
It’s goodbyes every night
We noted the wall that separated the city from the Jewish quarter.
Then we walked down through the waterfront to the stone Jewish Star at Largo de Sāo Domingos memorializing the massacre of the Jews in 1506 in that location ("In memory of the thousands of Jews who were victimised by intolerance and religious fanaticism, killed on the massacre that started on 19 April 1506, on this square.”), and finally stopping at the Hamsa plaque, which is part of the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) project, installed near Rossio Station in 2026, memorializing the WWII fleeing of Jews through Lisbon (“Rossio Station 1935-1945, arrival point for thousands of people fleeing Nazism in occupied Europe, it also welcomed transports of children”).
A couple of interesting historical facts:
- Notable Jewish figures during the Age of Exploration: Pedro Nunes, a mathematician and Chief Cosmographer; Isaac Abravanel, a statesman, philosopher, and financier; and Abraham Zacuto, an astronomer, whose knowledge was crucial for maritime expeditions, including the one that discovered the sea route to India.
- The first book printed in any language in Portugal's capital city, Lisbon, was a Hebrew book, the Commentary on the Pentateuch by Moses ben Nahman (Nachmanides). It was published by Eliezer Toledano in 1489.
We thanked Luciano and ate a light lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Rossio Square, and headed back to check in and relax.
About 3:30, we headed off for the Rick Steve’s Bairro Alto & Chiado Stroll in reverse. Eileen had been there the previous trip, but Larry had not.
We took the Blue line to Baixa-Chiado in Baixa, and rode serveral multiple escalators up to Chiado. We came out on Rua Garrett, took some pictures in front of the famous Art Nouveau A Brasiliera cafe, a hotbed of literary thought in the 1920s, including one of Eileen next to poet Fernando Pessoa.
We walked to Largo do Cormo. We walked past the Convent of Carmo, mostly destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, but did not walk through as it was Sunday and closed. We then made our way to the end of the famous Elevador de Santa Justa, closed for repair (Eileen went up it in 2015), where there are great views overlooking Lisbon, including Rossio square.
We then walked to the Miradouro de Sāo Pedro de Alcāntara, one of the best viewpoints in Lisbon. There is a huge array of stands for food, beer, etc, and a nice park below. We hung out in the park and then back to the stands for a beer before heading home. We walked down alongside the closed Gloria funicular, also closed for repair following a 2025 accident that led to 16 deaths and 23 injuries.
We took the metro at Restauradores back to the hotel, getting there about 6 pm.
For dinner, we ate nearby at Banzé, a great little restaurant that offered tapas style food along with standard meals. We shared chorizo, octopus, cod croquettes, and mussels, all fantastic.
Pool on the top floor of the hotel and the view
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
