Alfama holds a charm that is hard to resist. Its narrow streets, with their myriad names—rua, beco, escadas, escadinhas, largo, terreiro, calçada, travessa—have a small-village feel and invite you to slow down and appreciate their nuances and details. Often portrayed as the neighbourhood that survived the earthquake, this is not entirely true. Alfama certainly escaped the structured, modernising reconstruction that transformed much of central Lisbon, leaving behind not simply surviving buildings, but a surviving urban structure that echoes millennia of history.

This tour will take you to some of Alfama's most famous viewpoints and lively squares, but also off the beaten path, into its quieter streets and little squares, where some of Alfama's long-time residents still take their time and stop for a conversation from their balconies.

And, of course, as an art historian, I will make sure you don't miss some of the extraordinary monuments that hold so much of Lisbon's and Portugal's history within their walls, including Lisbon Cathedral and, in my opinion, one of the must-visit monuments in Lisbon: the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.