Lisbon

The great star of Lisbon’s sweets is the Pastel de Belém. This recognized candy has its origin in the conventual confectionery, namely in the Gerónimo’s Monastery. At the Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém, next to the Monastery, it is still possible to taste the original recipe that has been followed since 1837. A variant of the Pastel de Belém is the Pastel de Nata, the latter being possible to find throughout the region of Lisbon and even Portugal. The Pastel de Belém consists of a puff pastry filled with a cream. Can be decorated on top with sugar and/or cinnamon. Delight in a Pastel de Belém accompanied by a “bica” (espresso) is an experience not to be missed when visiting Lisbon.

Cod is one of the foods most consumed and appreciated by the Portuguese people. The cod dishes are present at the table of the whole country, but some of them are typical dishes of Lisbon. This is the case of Bacalhau à Brás and Pataniscas de Bacalhau. Bacalhau à Brás has its origin in Bairro Alto by the hands of a tavern named Braz, who mixed shredded cod with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs. Nowadays it is a dish served in almost all the restaurants of Lisbon and a little by all the country. Pataniscas de Bacalhau are made with cod, egg, flour, onion, parsley, salt and pepper, and can be served as a snack or as a main course accompanied by rice (usually tomatoes or beans). Meia Desfeita is also one of the most popular cod dishes, and it combines cod slices and chickpeas.

Being considered Portugal “a planted seaside country”, the fresh fish could not be lacking in the Portuguese table of the Portuguese, being confectioned of the most varied forms. In restaurants, the most popular are the grilled fish, the Sardine, the Golden and the Sea Bass. Seafood also takes on high value, namely shrimp, barnacles, clams, lobster and crab.

Although the origin of the name of this dish is uncertain, it is probably derived from its resemblance to small fried fish. Peixinhos da Horta are nothing more than pre-cooked green beans, which are then wrapped in a mixture of flour, olive oil, beer or milk, eggs, salt and pepper, and fry in very hot oil. This specialty can be served as a snack, as an entree or as an accompaniment to meat or fish dishes.

Traditionally accompanied by a very fresh beer, snails are one of the best and most desired snacks in warm weather. Cooked with garlic, onion, chilli, olive oil, bay leaves, oregano, salt and pepper, snails are one of the most sought after dishes on the summer terrace.

This typical dish of Portuguese cuisine, originated in the region of Lisbon, has its name in honor of the poet Raimundo António de Bulhão Pato (1828-1912). It is a dish very common in shellfish and breweries, made with clams, olive oil, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper and lemon last even before serving.

Baptized as Fernando, Santo António is also known as Santo António de Pádua and was a Doctor of the Church who lived at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Santo António is also known as one of the most remarkable intellectuals of Portugal. He was endowed with an enormous culture not only religious and literary but also of the area of profane sciences. He distinguished himself as a theologian, mystic, ascetic, orator, and thaumaturgy. He became one of the most respected figures of the Catholic Church for his great knowledge. In 1220 he became a Franciscan and the following year he was part of the General Chapter of the Order in Assis. He was later transferred to Bologna and then to Pádua, in Italy, where he died on 13 June 1231. Shortly thereafter, his reputation for holiness led him to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Santo António is seen today as one of the great saints of Catholicism and is also considered the Holy Matchmaker. Every year, during the popular feasts of Lisbon in June (the Popular Saints), Santo António is one of the saints celebrated.

Luís Vaz de Camões was a Portuguese poet of the 16th century, considered one of the greatest figures of Lusophony literature and one of the great poets of the West. Although there are few references about his life, it is known however that he attended the court of D. João III where he began his career as a lyric poet. Due to a love affliction he will have moved away from Lisbon to Africa, where he enlisted as a military man and where he would lose an eye on battle. After returning to Lisbon, he returned to the East, having spent several years there and faced various adversities and also fought alongside the Portuguese forces. During this time, Luís de Camões wrote his best known work, the epic of “Os Lusíadas”, which he published as soon as he returned to Portugal. Luís de Camões was a reformer of the Portuguese language, having become one of the strongest symbols of Portuguese identity and a reference for the international Portuguese-speaking community. He died on 10 June 1580 in Lisbon. The tomb where the Poet’s ashes are found is in the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, where it can be read carved on its stone “Aqui Jaz Luís de Camões Príncipe dos poetas de seu tempo. Viveu pobre e miseravelmente e assim morreu” – (“Here Jaz Luís de Camões Prince of the poets of his time lived poorly and miserably and thus died.”) Today her fame is firmly established. He is considered one of the great literary names and his works are translated in several languages, becoming subject of a vast amount of critical studies.

Born in Lisbon in May 1699, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquês de Pombal and Conde de Oeiras, was a Portuguese nobleman, diplomat and statesman. It occupied the position of most important state during the reign of D. José I acting like Secretary of State of the Kingdom. To this day he is one of the most controversial and most charismatic figures in the history of Portugal. Marquês de Pombal lived in a period of history marked by the Enlightenment, having made in this sense several administrative, economic and social reforms. One of the great feats was the end of slavery in Portugal Continental on February 12, 1761. He is also known as architectonic renovator of the city of Lisbon, by the plan of urbanism that rebuilt the city after the Earthquake of 1755. For this reason, downtown Lisbon is often referred to as Baixa Pombalina. Marquês de Pombal, after having been removed from the high positions by D. Maria I – A Pia, would eventually move to a family estate in Pombal Village, where he died at age 82 in 1782. His remains have been found since 1923 in the Church of Memory in Lisbon.

Born in Lisbon on March 28, 1810, Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo was a Portuguese writer, historian, journalist and poet of the Romantic era. His writings and political actions reflect his concerns as a liberal, even condemning the absolutism and intolerance of the crown in the 16th century and denounce the danger of returning to a centralism of the monarchy in Portugal. Alexandre Herculano was responsible for the introduction and development of the historical narrative in Portugal, being also considered, along with Almeida Garrett, the introducer of Romanticism in Portugal. His legacy includes some theater plays, non-historical novels, some poetry and historical narratives, such as Alexandre Herculano’s History of Portugal.

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa was born in Lisbon in June 1888 and died there in November 1935. He was a poet, writer, publicist, astrologer, literary critic, inventor, entrepreneur, translator, commercial correspondent, philosopher and Portuguese political commentator, most recognized worldwide. Recognized as an intellectual and poet, he accumulated throughout his life an immense and varied literary universe. His work is currently in the “Espólio Pessoa” at the National Library of Lisbon and comprises over 25,000 pages of poetry, plays, short stories, horoscopes, political texts and other assorted texts in Portuguese, English and French. A characteristic of Fernando Pessoa as a poet was, in addition to using his own name (in which “Mensagem” was his only published book in life), writing under dozens of names, having also been known by his heteronyms, namely by Ricardo Reis, Álvaro De Campos and Alberto Caeiro – personalities that he invented and to which he associated a style of writing and personality traits very characteristic and distinct to each one. Fernando Pessoa and his heteronyms became the greatest exponents of the Universal Literature of the 20th century.

One of the best known Portuguese writers, José Saramago is known worldwide for works such as “Memorial do Convento”, “A Viagem do Elefante”, “Cain”, and “Ensaio sobre a Segueira”, the latter adapted for cinema in 2008. In 1995 he won the Camões Prize and in 1998 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Saramago is considered responsible for the international recognition of prose in Portuguese. Known for his atheism, he was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party, having founded, along with other names, the National Front for the Defense of Culture. In June 2007 he created the José Saramago Foundation for the defense and diffusion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and environmental problems. Saramago died before the inauguration of the foundation on 18 June 2010 in Lanzarote. Two years later, in 2012, the José Saramago Foundation opens doors to the public at Casa dos Bicos in Lisbon, presided over by its wife Pilar del Río.