The Alfama district is the oldest district of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the S\u00e3o Jorge Castle and the Tejoriver. Its name comes from the Arabic Al-hamma, meaning “hot fountains” or “baths” (the name “Alfama” could also be derived from the Arabic wordAlfamm, meaning the “mouth” in Arabic. It is pronounced variously depending on the location of the word in a sentence). The district includes thefreguesias (parishes) of S\u00e3o Miguel, Santo Est\u00eav\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Vicente de Fora and part of the two streets, “Freguesia da S\u00e9: Rua do Bar\u00e3o” and “Rua S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o da Pra\u00e7a”. It contains many important historical attractions, as well as an abundance of Fado bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n
The Rua do Bar\u00e3o is one of the streets of the Freguesia da S\u00e9, which begins at the Rua S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o da Pra\u00e7a (where once stood the Door of the Alfama) and ends at Rua Augusto Rosa (at the Cathedral’s walls). The toponym “Rua do Bar\u00e3o” is due to the fact that Jo\u00e3o Fernandes da Silveira, the first Baron of Alvito, minister of Portuguese kingsDom Afonso V and Dom Jo\u00e3o II, lived here.<\/p>\n
During the times of Moorish domination, Alfama constituted the whole of the city, which later spread to the West (Baixa neighbourhood). Alfama became inhabited by the fishermen and the poor, and its condition as the neighbourhood of the poor continues to this day. The great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake did not destroy the Alfama, which has remained a picturesque labyrinth of narrow streets and small squares. Lately the neighbourhood has been invigorated with the renovation of the old houses and new restaurants where Fado\u2014Portuguese typical melancholy music\u2014can be enjoyed.<\/p>\n
Overlooking the Alfama is the mediaeval Castle of S\u00e3o Jorge, royal residence until the early 16th century and now offering the best views of the city. In the slopes of Alfama there are other terraces (miradouros) from which to see the city, like the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, near the church of the same name and over remnants of the Moorish city walls, and the Miradouro das Portas do Sol (Gates of the Sun). Near Miradouro of Santa Luzia is located the Museum of Decorative Arts (Museu de Artes Decorativas), a 17th-century mansion with magnificent interiors.<\/p>\n
Among the churches of the Alfama are Lisbon Cathedral (12th\u201314th centuries), the oldest of the city and located to the West of the neighbourhood, the Convent of the Grace (Convento da Gra\u00e7a, 18th century), near the Castle, the mannerist Monastery of S\u00e3o Vicente de Fora (late 16th\u201318th century), where the Kings of the House of Braganza are buried, and the baroque Church of Santa Engr\u00e1cia (17th century), now converted into a National Pantheon for important Portuguese personalities.<\/p>\n
From 2012, Alfama is part of the freguesia of Santa Maria Maior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Alfama district is the oldest district of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the S\u00e3o Jorge Castle and the Tejoriver. Its name comes from the Arabic Al-hamma, meaning “hot fountains” or “baths” (the name “Alfama” could also be derived from the Arabic wordAlfamm, meaning the “mouth” in Arabic. It is pronounced variously depending on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[146,147],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3630,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions\/3630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}