DK Travel : Lisbon : Places of interest

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Adraga

Beyond Cabo da Roca, this pretty beach is reached via Almoçageme, off the Sintra road. The area is affected by Sintra’s cooler climate. The single restaurant is excellent.
Alcácer do Sal

The name itself is a bilingual history lesson, mixing the Arabic for castle and the Portuguese for salt. The town’s once-Moorish castle is now a pousada, while the salt trade that dates back two millennia now plays a smaller role than rice-growing.
Aqueduto das Águas Livres

Lisbon’s long-legged aqueduct was built just over a decade before the 1755 earthquake – which it survived, continuing to supply water to the shattered city. Some facts and figures: the 35 arches marching across the Alcântara valley are up to 64 m (210 ft) high, making them the tallest stone arches in the world at the time they were built; the aqueduct’s span is nearly 1 km half a mile; the main water source was 58 km (36 miles) of ducting away; the system was only taken out of service in 1967. The Museu da Água organizes walks across the aqueduct.
Assembleia da República

This building has been the seat of the Portuguese parliament since 1833, when the Benedictine monks of the Convento de São Bento da Saúde were evicted – a year before the official dissolution of religious orders. The vast monastery was adapted in fits and starts; today’s formal Neo-Classical building was designed at the end of the 19th century. In a city of hills and impressive prospects, it sits surprisingly humbly at the bottom of a hill.
Avenidas Novas

The “New Avenues” – now a century old – are an uneven grid of streets immediately to the north of Pombal and Parque Eduardo VII. The area is a fairly typical example of late 19th- to early 20th-century planning: wide streets have tree-lined lanes down the middle, and grand residences line the main avenues. It became the heart of a newer, upper-middle-class Lisbon, away from the crowded conditions and perceived unsalubriousness of the old riverside districts. It has been much altered along its main axis, Avenida da República, and 21st-century shopping has come to Praça Duque de Saldanha, but this area of Lisbon is still a respectable residential one.
Basílica da Estrela

This domed Lisbon landmark was built from 1779 to give thanks for the birth of a son and male heir to Dona Maria I. Sadly, the boy died of smallpox before the church was finished. Inside is the queen’s tomb, and a nativity scene with over 500 cork-and-terracotta figures; ask the sacristan to show you it.
Belém

Now part of a larger city, rather than the distant suburb it was in the pre-motorized era, Lisbon’s westernmost district nonetheless retains pleasant contrasts with the city centre. Refreshing river breezes and a cluster of some of Lisbon’s main sights contribute to its appeal (see Belém: Sights ).
Bucelas and Beyond

Head here for a taste of rolling inland Estremadura – and some great white wine.
Cabo da Roca

The westernmost point of mainland Europe is a suitably dramatic clifftop location marked by a lighthouse. There is also a quotation from Luís de Camões’ epic poem The Lusiads, carved in stone. But beware: Cape Roca is subject to the climatic peculiarities of the whole Sintra region. Take a jumper, even if it’s hot when you leave Cascais; temperatures can be 10 degrees lower here, and the winds strong. Collectors of memorabilia can buy a certificate to prove that they have walked on the continent’s western extremity. There is a good café and restaurant, called O Moinho, near the turnoff from the Sintra road, and Ursa beach lies just north of the point.
Cabo Espichel

The cliff-top southwestern-most point of the Setúbal peninsula is in some ways more attractive than the more illustrious Cabo da Roca.