visit Lisbon

Oriente Station or Gare do Oriente is one of the main transport hubs in Lisbon, Portugal. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and it was finished in 1998 for the Expo' 98 World's Fair in Parque das Nações, where it is located.

The Oriente station is an inter-modal terminal: Its facilities serve and interconnect several forms of transport. Passengers can change between Lisbon subway, long- and medium-haul regional and international trains. There are connections into the underground system, national and metropolitan buses or taxis.

The station complex in Parque das Nações includes a bank, shops, ATMs, and left luggage lockers. The station has a roof of glass and steel made to look like a row of trees and is particularly impressive when illuminated at night.

Have your own private accommodation near the Oriente Station by choosing one of Traveling to Lisbon's Parque das Nações apartments.

Portugal has a surprisingly large variety of gastronomic delights. From Minho to Algarve, Portuguese diet include fish, chicken, vegetables and fruits. Pork, goat, partridge, quail and rabbit are typical meats in Portugal.

In Lisbon, you'll find a wide variety of restaurants, ranging from traditional and typical taverns to sophisticated and international places. Young and innovative chefs have reinvented Portuguese cuisine, with interesting and refined ways of preparing traditional Portuguese dishes. You'll also find amazing regional dishes in small taverns in Lisbon's charming old neighbourhoods - always in an extremely friendly environment. Whether you're looking for finesse, abundance, tradition or simplicity, Lisbon is the perfect place to have a meal.

Grilled sardines are the queen of Lisbon during the summer and on the Popular Saints festivities. You just can't avoid smelling it in the small quarters of Alfama, Bairro Alto and many other locals around Lisbon in June, when the Popular Saints celebrations crowd into the streets of the city.

Bacalhau is also a famous dish in Portugal and Lisbon. Salted and dried under the sun, it is said that there are 365 ways to prepare cod in Portugal. Pasteis de Bacalhau, Bacalhau cozido and Bacalhau à Brás, the typical cod dish in Lisbon, with onions and thin slices of potato, scrambled eggs, black olives and parsley.

Another national dish, but made with meat, is cozido à portuguesa, a thick stew of vegetables with various kinds of meat. But before any meal in any a Lisbon restaurant, try the delicious bread placed on the table. Other typical dishes - caldo verde, a green soup made of potatoes, fried onions and thinly sliced galician cabbage, served with slices of chouriço - Caldeirada, Fish stew and Feijoada. Finally, the Carne de porco à alentejana is a delicious everyday dish. Pork comes in cubes along with fried potatoes and clams.

The best way to take full advantage of a meal in Lisbon, is to combine it with Portuguese wines, from all regions and suited to all tastes. Due to the country's rich winemaking tradition, Portuguese people have the skill of choosing the right wine for the right dish.

The Lisboetas are tireless drinkers of coffee served in small cups, locally known as bica, available all day long and in all types of cafes. Make sure you don't miss the world famous Pastéis de Belém, the custard tarts in the beautiful Belém area.

Plan your city break or holidays in Lisbon and enjoy your stay in the city where eating is most definitely a pleasure.

Mariza began singing fado as a child. At the age of five, she would join in the spontaneous singing at her parent's restaurant in Mouraria, one of Lisbon's most traditional neighbourhoods. Mariza was born in Mozambique, but her family moved to Portugal when she was a baby, giving her plenty of time to get immersed directly in the Fado Houses where singing is part of everyday life.

Fado music is the heart of the Portuguese soul. It is a Portuguese folk song typically of doleful or fatalistic character and usually accompanied on the guitar. To Mariza, "Fado is an emotional kind of music full of passion, sorrow, jealousy, grief, and often satire."

Mariza walks the fine line necessary to both genuinely carry the fado's tradition and bring it freshness for today. Her performance style captures the raw emotion that characterizes the genre, but with her own personal twist. If you cannot understand Portuguese, there is no problem. The way Mariza sings fado communicates directly to the soul and the emotions, tugging at the heart with a performance that speaks of longing, love and nostalgia.

All of her albums - "Fado em Mim" (2001), "Fado Curvo" (2003), "Transparente" (2005) and "Concerto Em Lisboa" (2006), plus the DVD "Live In London" (2004) - were Platinum winners.
Her latest album "Terra", release in 2008, is the beginning of a new cycle. Special guests in "Terra" features Dominic Miller, Concha Buika and Tito Paris.

With Amália Rodrigues gone, the Portuguese looked for a new voice to express fado. Mariza is considered the new "Queen of Fado."

Here is an example of Mariza Fado. Barco Negro is one of the songs Mariza performed during her concert in the Union Chapel, London in 2003. Barco Negro is one of Amália Rodrigues famous fados.

With origins in the Middle Ages, the Feira da Ladra, that literally means "Thieves Market" is the oldest market in Lisbon that still takes place nowadays.

The market took place originally near the St George's Castle, and later at the Rossio central square. Since 1882 until today, this flea market is situated in the Campo de Santa Clara street, just behind São Vicente de Fora church in the Alfama district. The best way to enter Feira de Ladra is through the arch ‘Arco de São Vicente' where the famous Tram 28 stops.

Every Tuesday and Saturday from the sunrise until it sets, in tents, tables or on the floor, the Feira da Ladra exposes its products, mainly antiques and second hand items.

At the Feira da Ladra visitors may find antiques, ceramics and objects in glass, old and modern books, photographs, coins and stamps, furniture, new and used clothes, shoes, military artefacts, vinyl's, cd's and what else imagination can conceive. Everything can be found in the Feira da Ladra at reduced prices, right in the heart of an historical quarter of Lisbon.