Lisbon… The city on the seven hills… Mother of sailors and nautical investigators… Diamond enchased in the Tugus River (the Tejo). It’s the capital of the Motherland of ports – Portugal - where you can hear from a native a recipé of long and happy life: a glass of dry wine for breakfast, then one for lunch and only for dinner a glass of Portugal port. You’d better decide against taking a camera with you to Lisbon; otherwise you are risking standing all day long in one place, making shots. You will find something enchantly beautiful at every step: plant-like ornaments on flagstones, polished by thousands of feet; walls tiled in different patterns and colors; black tracery of metal of balcony bars with bright canvas of bedding and white shirts on ropes. And even clothes on the rope are blended with the city and look as if pictured by an artist. A person visiting Lisbon gets drunk with this city: these streets should not be gulped, but sipped in slow savouring.

When Lisbon overfills one’s mind, one can just stay on a lawn under a tree with little red peppers, enjoying simply being there.
A tourist can find comfotable cheap hotels in Lisbon as well as cheap rooms in Lisbon in any district, from 1 star hotel in Lisbon to 5 star hotel in Lisbon with bathroom facilities and a TV set in the bedroom. Most budget accommodations in Lisbon include breakfast, consisting of bread, jam and coffee, a generous spread of rolls, cereals, croissants, cold meat, cheese and fruit, but one can find restaurant, car park, internet, cozy bar and even shops, hairdressers, currency exchange, health club and bike hire in most of cheap Lisbon hotels. There is an incredible choice of Lisbon apartments in terms of architecture: from Lisbon hostels in modern buildings in historical and business centre to Lisbon hostels of traditional architecture, which were built in 1845 or, for instance, 1886, renovated or not.

There is a wide choice of small, cheap accommodations in Lisbon in the central parts of the city, Baixa zone. Lisbon’s extraordinary streets are almost perpendicular, and over the corner you can see as a street practically flows up endlong. Another one goes down with its jaggies. There is an unusual lift: you can get up and down or move to another district, one of seven hills, from Baixa to Bairro Alto. Bairro Alto is a part of Lisbon hard to pass by without noticing, with nightlife boiling till the very dawn. Though, even here people have no problems finding affordable lodgings.

The streets parallel to Avenida da Liberdade are places where you’re lucky to find a cheap bed all over the year. A lot of Lisbon hostels are located farther then the city centre: in the suburb of Lapa, around Parque Eduardo VII, or in the business area of Saldanha, near the Gulbenkian Foundation. There are also youth hostels in Lisbon (pousadas da juventude) including one in the city centre. The Western part of Lisbon takes up the Monsanto Natural Park, one of the largest urban parks in the world. It’s also convinient that every Lisbon’s hotel is not more than twenty or thirty minutes to the airport and in most hostels you will be understood in English, French and Spanish.

It’s interesting that Lisbon by day and Lisbon by night is quite a different city. At the noon time a tourist can find both funny-painted in brown and blue figures of cows and emblems over shops with costume jewellery and gloves. “Walk” into the medieval period: São Jorge Castle on the highest hill of the city; Alfama, which survived the earthquake of 1755, from the Moors period; Sé de Lisboa; Convent of Carmo. A visitor can have an incredible “look in” at the Discoveries period: Jerónimos Monastery, built by the King D. Manuel I; Tower of Belém, a military construction at the entrance of the Tagus River, classified as World Heritage by UNESCO, not far away the Praça dos Restauradores and the Elevator of Santa Justa, built in the end of the XIX century by Mesnier du Ponsard, can be found. A person fond of shopping will find a lot of big and small shops in particular areas in Lisbon, specially allocated for them. Shops are of different kinds such as international shops, designer boutiques and shops of handmade domestic leather items.

At night you’ll be able to see that people in Lisbon like going out to various restaurants and bars, theatres and discos, listening to fado singing and guitar playing. And the Fado Houses will impress you with the emotional music of  Lisbon.