Miradouro das Portas do Sol

Viewpoint · AlfamaLisbon,Portugal

A terrace on the line of Lisbon's Moorish wall where Alfama drops away in terracotta roofs to the Tagus, the quarter the 1755 earthquake spared.

Alfama falls away directly beneath the Miradouro das Portas do Sol in terracotta roofs, whitewashed walls, washing lines and the odd palm, and slides down to the water. The drop is abrupt because the terrace sits on the line of the Moorish city wall, on the eastern flank of the castle hill. Alfama is the one quarter that came through the 1755 earthquake largely intact, which is why its lanes still run where they always did. The white mass of São Vicente de Fora stands to the left, with the pale dome of the National Pantheon behind it. This is a terrace people sit on rather than pass through. The marble figure at the rail is São Vicente holding a ship with a raven at each end. That is the city's arms, set here on what used to be the city's edge. A minute downhill along Rua do Limoeiro is the Santa Luzia terrace, which has the tiled panels.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Breakfast or golden hour — mid-morning to late afternoon the terrace is at capacity; early gives clear light and space, and the last hour gives the roofs turning colour.
The emblem on the statue turns up on every drain cover in Lisbon — once you have seen the ship and its two ravens here, you will not stop noticing them.
Shoot along the roofs, not down — pointing the camera down flattens Alfama; keeping the horizon in the frame keeps the fall of the hill readable.

Things to do

1
Take a chair and stay an hour
Buy something at the kiosk, take one of the deckchairs at the rail, and do not go anywhere. Alfama below changes with the light and with the laundry, trams pass behind you every few minutes, and a guitar often starts somewhere along the terrace in the afternoon.
2
Walk down to the tiled panels
A minute downhill at Santa Luzia, two blue panels sit beneath the pergola — the taking of the city in 1147 beside the drowned pre-quake riverfront — and both get less attention than the view.