LISBON

Lisbon basks in the sun refecting o the Tejo River and quickly seduces mostvisitors. The mixture of history and modernity, of small town and metropolis, of theantiquated and the shining new is irresistible. Add excellent shopping, late but safenight life and restaurants with Europe’s best fish, and you have the city in a nutshell

Lisbon’s heart is beside the river, even if the city hasgrown in all directions. Sit down at a pavement café on

Rossio Square and you will see the Baiza, the at citycentre, that dates from the 18th-century, between yourselfand the river bank. Look up in one direction and you willsee the São Jorge on the top of a hill. Look in the otherdirection and you will see the ruin of the Carmo Church onanother hill. Walk, or take a tram to one of them and youwill discover the quarters of old Lisbon, most of them with

a magnicent view of the rest of the city and the river Wander north from Rossio, you will soon end up onastately 19th-century avenue, in the part of the city which isstill called "Avenidas Novas." Even further north, thebuildings become really new, with the city’s two largefootball grounds, Luz and Alvalade, and lastly the airportwhich is twenty trac-jam-free minutes in a car fromRossi. Most of the best sights, restaurants and nightlife aresituated along the river. There is good shopping along theAvenidas Novas, but otherwise the rule is to keep close tothe river to get the best out of your visit.