This little collection of photographs would probably never land in a tourist brochure for Lisbon, but I chose them because this is what I saw and this is what you’ll see, too. Between the miradouros, souvenir shops, and trendy restaurants are scruffy bars, homes with hanging laundry, graffiti, peeling paint, plants, and inadvertent pigeon perches.
These photos were shot over the course of two days, mostly walking around in the Bairro Alto neighbourhood and the rest closer to Cais de Sodré. The thing about August is that this is the month when most Portuguese take holidays, sometimes their entire annual leave. This raises the tourist-to-resident ratio to a lopsided level unseen the rest of the year, and many places are shuttered for the month. As a result, most of the photos are devoid of people when in reality the city is teeming with tourists, but concentrated in the tourist zones.
If you live in Lisbon or are familiar with the city, you’ll probably recognize where I took the pictures. My favourite is the first one — the Pirata Bar (Pirate Bar), which in its current state is looking most un-piratey with the colourful bunting, Mediterranean blue doors, and happy yellow walls.
You can find more photos in the growing Lisbon 2016 album.
August 14/16, 2016
Album: Lisbon 2016
