Lisbon at a Local Pace

While yellow trams and custard tarts make for a colorful poster campaign, Paulo Sousa Costa insists the real Lisbon is far more nuanced. Here, he shares how to navigate the city at a local pace. “Come for the light and the food; stay for the way Lisbon makes you slow down.” For this week’s Fix, we selected a local who invites visitors to discover his city at the pace of its inhabitants. For each of my four visits to this magnetic city, I’ve relied on an old friend—Paulo Sousa Costa, whom I met in publishing in the early 2000s—to be my guide and restaurant advisor. A theater producer and co-founder of the Yellow Star Company, Paulo has lived in Lisbon since 2000. His passion for the old Lisbon experience is infectious and poetic: “The light is extraordinary—it’s not a cliché, it really is different–and the Tagus gives the city this enormous sense of space,” His words echo those of famed poet and author, Fernando Pessoa, whose writing captures that mixture of light, color, melancholy and affection for Lisbon in The Book of Disquiet: “There are no flowers for me like the variegated coloring of Lisbon on a sunny day.” “Lisbon manages to feel like a European capital and a village at the same time,” says Paulo. “Old men have their morning coffee at the same café they’ve been going to for 30 years, neighborhood eateries where nobody looks at the menu, and then, a few streets away, some of Europe’s most exciting new restaurants, hotels and cultural spaces.” “It’s a city you should walk, even though you’ll curse the hills,” says Paulo. Don’t just stay in the historic center and tick off monuments, he insists. “Get lost. Walk through Chiado, Bairro Alto, Príncipe Real, Alfama and Graça. Sit at a kiosk, have a coffee, drink a beer or a glass of wine, eat something, watch people. Then walk again.” Continue reading Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.