Excellent Free tour in Lisbon - Maggie

... so on our previous visit, way back in 2002, we just wandered and blundered on our own. It's very easy to blunder in Lisbon, no previous experience necessary. This time, we wisely decided to take advantage of the free guided [walking] tours. You are, of course, expected to tip the guide at the end of the tour; that is made perfectly clear up-front. But I assure you that it was worth every penny, or rather euro-cent.

We signed up online (duh!), see https://www.takelisboa.com/book-now, and chose the option called Centre - the heart of the city. The meeting place was none other than my fave "Benetton Square" (see previous post), next to the Fernando Pessoa Sculpture, and the guide would be carrying a blue umbrella.

Nina & Fernando Pessoa. Note T-shirt, indicative of balmy weather

 Not surprisingly, the statue above was drowning in tourists that morning... so we moved a few meters away, to the statue of the poet Antonio Ribeiro, smack in the center of the square:

Maggie, a.k.a. Margarida, was absolutely great. An energetic young (27) woman with good English (acquired, apparently, from watching TV!), a sense of humor, a people person (a must for a job like this!), well-versed in the history of Lisbon, full of ethical and moral insights, and slightly hyperactive :-)  Not to worry -- she didn't tire us out too much...

The Amazing Maggie, w/blue umbrella over right shoulder

The tourists (mostly couples) were from London, Brazil, Romania, Namibia, Germany, and New Zealand.
Frankly, I didn't remember any details from our previous visit to Bairro Alto, the so-called Bohemian part of town with its endless bars and restaurants; and definitely didn't know any of the local history. So it was all new and fascinating stuff.

After two and a half hours of energetic walking, standing, looking around and listening, the time came to say goodbye, at the huge Praca do Comercio:

Thank you, Maggie!

Along with the above photo, Maggie sent us all a list of non-touristy restaurants and bars, the ones that the locals favor. She also included vegetarian restaurants, because there's always a demand for such.
However, by then Michael and I were both hungry and tired, and settled for a pizza nearby, before taking the Metro back "home" and collapsing for a good siesta.

Which doesn't mean we didn't profit from Maggie's recommendations! In the evening we took the bus to o arêgos, which unfortunately has no website, but you can read about it both on TripAdvisor, see here, and on Facebook, on this page. It was delicious, and very reasonably priced.

Next post: about our second walking-tour. Coming soon. Or soonish :-)