Culture
African Lisbon Tour: A Conversation We Need to Have
The African Lisbon Tour is more than just a tour — it’s part of a movement started by a West African immigrant to Portugal to show the other side of the Times of the Explorers and Portugal’s colonial past, right here in the capital.
Bullfighting in Portugal
Bullfighting still has a central place in Portuguese culture, despite many activist groups’ repeated demands for its abolition. Despite our reservations, we decided to explore this Iberian tradition after being invited to a show at Lisbon’s last remaining bullring.
Why do Lisbon Bars Play Elevator Music?
This is not elevator music, this is Bossa Nova, which is being played in the bars and restaurants of Lisboa ever more frequently.
Lisbon Culture on the Cheap, Part 2: Museums
There are dozens of museums in Portugal’s capital and within a short drive, and almost all charge admission. Here are a few tips to do it on the cheap – or for free.
The Silent Lady: Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
When rebuked about not talking enough about her work, the modernist painter Vieira da Silva once retorted: “And what does one paint for? Isn’t it to make the canvas speak? The painter’s language is the paintings themselves!”
Almada Negreiros: Lisbon’s Futurist
Jack of all trades, master of none? Well, this saying doesn’t hold true of Almada Negreiros, as he seems to have mastered not only the literature and painting for which
A Glimpse of Hell: Lisbon’s Museu do Aljube and the Dictatorship
The Museu do Aljube takes us inside the prison that can be described as kind of purgatory between hell and hell, where prisoners were served a taste of hell to come. Step inside and have a look around.
Electricity Museum
A huge space dedicated to engineering, science, and exploring the history of Lisbon’s electricity
The Portuguese: Lisbon’s Own West End Musical
The humorous play is performed in English by the all-Portuguese cast, complete with brilliantly choreographed dance routines and re-written versions of popular international songs, like Wannabe by the Spice Girls, that keep the audience captivated and amused.
Museu dos Azulejos
See the history of traditional Portuguese tiles with a side of duck rice
Restaurante Panorâmico Then and Now
Crumbling, and marked with decades of graffiti, the abandoned Panorámico restaurant looms over Lisbon on a hill in Monsanto Park like a forgotten alien spaceship.
December 1st: A Celebration of Defenestration
The Portuguese saying De Espanha, nem bom vento nem bom casamento (literally: from Spain, no good wind nor good marriage) comes to mind in light of today’s celebration of Portuguese Independence from
