lisbon is best seen walking its cobble streets, so always have in mind that for your better sake you need sensible comfortable shoes. i am quite adamant when i tell my guests at palacio belmonte to forget the tourist map and just navigate themselves the back streets of old town lisbon with only a few waypoints that i show them from the palacio's terraces. it's very easy to get lost in them, but i believe that it adds to the mystique of the maze that the old town is. i always tell them to navigate their way with the aid of what is available to them. as an example to direct them to the flee market on a saturday morning, i tell them to head east towards the rising sun, go down one hill, across the tram line and up another hill to reach it. easy right? when its mid-day and the sun is high, start walking parallel to it and to the river, while continuing downhill to reach alfama. when they hear fado music and the sound of kids playing in the street they know that they are in the heart of the oldest district of the city. from here to come back to palacio belmonte you just need to climb the hill, as we are at the very top and no matter what direction you take you will always eventually reach us. it is much more adventurous and personal to know that you are discovering your way through lisbon much like the portuguese discoverers did in the xv century.
