Earthquakes and Espionage: A Tour from Lisbon’s Baixa to Bairro Alto
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Lisbon’s elegant squares and winding streets have centuries of stories, about everything from maritime empires to earthquakes.
On this walking tour, you’ll explore the city’s dramatic past through its architecture, neighborhoods, and the characters who shaped it, discovering how disaster, ambition, and resilience built the capital you see today.
The tour starts at Praça do Comércio, the riverside square where Vasco da Gama’s fleet departed for India in 1497. You’ll pass through the triumphal arch and walk through Pombal’s orderly Baixa district, rebuilt on a grid after the 1755 earthquake. You’ll make your way down pedestrianized Rua Augusta with its distinctive hand-cut stone pavements, and reach São Domingos Church, site of the 1506 massacre when religious intolerance sparked three days of violence.
You’ll climb toward Bairro Alto, where cobbled streets and iron balconies reveal a neighborhood untouched by reconstruction. You’ll hear about its evolution from printing press hub to Fado birthplace. The tour ends at A Brasileira café, where Lisbon’s intellectuals have gathered since 1905.
On this 90-minute walk, you’ll also have a chance to:
- Decode the symbolism of King José I’s statue, where his horse tramples snakes representing crushed disasters
- Sample ginjinha, a traditional cherry liqueur, at a 200-year-old shop where shots cost just €1
- Discover Figueira Square’s transformation from earthquake-destroyed hospital to open-air herb market
- Hear how Lisbon became Europe’s espionage capital during WWII, with agents filling cafés and casinos
- Walk Rua da Rosa, named after a painted flower when many residents couldn’t read street signs
- Visit Cervejaria Trindade, a former monastery refectory turned 1834 brewery with spectacular 1863 tiles, and São Roque Church, built atop a plague cemetery
- Cross into Chiado and access the Elevador de Santa Justa viewing platform
- See the House of the Tablets, covered in Masonic-themed tiles representing Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture
This walk reveals Lisbon’s layered history through the neighborhoods where it actually happened, one hill at a time.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Mark Whiteley
I trained as an actor at London's prestigious Arts Educational School where I learnt about the voice and the art of telling stories. I went on to work in theatre, television and film for 10 years eventually running my own theatre company for 20 years. As a company we tried to make the work as imaginative and unique as possible, in one show we walked across the UK with no money, food or accommodation to see if humanity was kind. In another play we emigrated to Poland and used the experience for an award winning UK tour about immigration. I turned shops into theatre spaces, I performed in barns, houses, fields and many of the UK's best theatres.
In 2014 I won a prestigious Manchester theatre award for my play Thick as Thieves. I've taken three shows to the Edinburgh festival winning rave reviews along the way. In 2020 our world changed forever as COVID hit. My theatre company "went dark" and I lost my passion for it. On a whim my wife and I bought a motorhome unseen in an auction and in blink of an eye a new obsession began... travel.
To date I have been to most countries in the European union, I have parked up in woods, on cliffs in car parks. I have travelled far and wide until I picked Portugal to put down new roots. But even that wasn't easy, where do you live in a foreign land? The answer is you go out in the motorhome and look, so that's what we did. From the mountains in the north through the midlands and into Algarve we travelled for two years until we discovered Tomar.
We bought our home in 2025 and because I needed to find work I started studying Tomar's rich history and researching the stories about Templar Knights, Portuguese kings and how Portugal once discovered the world. With my background in performance and storytelling I began take travellers around Tomar sharing not only the history, but Portugal's culture too. This is what brought me to Voicemap and their excellent team and production values.
On my audio tours I take the role of your friend in whatever city we are in, I like to make you smile and see a place as a real city, not a museum piece. Seeing a place warts and all is what makes the difference between an okay tour and a great tour.
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 11
Jewish memorial
Please stop here for a moment so I can tell you more about it.
After the massacre there were riots and looting for three days, when the King returned he executed hundreds of the rioters, including the instigating friars. Following the... Read More
View locations and route
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Praça do Comércio
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Arco da Rua Augusta
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Praça da Figueira
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Church of Saint Dominic
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The 1506 Jewish Massacre Memorial
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Glória Funicular
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Passeio dos Artistas
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Bairro Alto
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Largo Trindade Coelho
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Santa Justa Lift
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start location1100-148 Lisbon, Portugal
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Total distance3km
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Final locationR. Nova da Trindade 2, 1200-445 Lisboa, Portugal
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Distance back to start location631.13m
Directions to Starting Point
The tour begins in the Praça do Comércio or commercial square by the giant statue of the king on a horse.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
A Ginjinha - taste the famous Portuguese liqueur
Manteigaria Silva - A cod and ham shop well worth a look in.
Church of Saint Dominic - Where the massacre of thousands of Jews took place.
Millennium bcp - Where they discovered Roman and medieval remains
Trinity Theatre - a beautiful theatre to behold
Church of St. Roque - Very ornate, very grand. Sit down close your eyes and bring peace to yourself.
Museum of the National Guard - learn the history of Portuguese police.
Santa Justa Lift - Amazing experience to see the city Scape of Lisbon.
Best time of day
To enter the churches and shops go between 9am to 4pm.
Precautions
As you go through the Baixa it's busy, tourists are always a target so keep your wits about you and your valuables out of sight.
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