Lisbon : a classy hippie vibe

What is it like to live in Lisbon? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

I spent 5 months in Lisbon and I deeply fell in love with the city. It has a unique vibe and its own magical way to calm people down. Being built in 7 hills, the views you can get from all around the city are difficult to describe with words. Lisbon is the perfect city to relax: in a park, by the river, by the beach or in one of the countless miradouros. At the same time Lisbon is the perfect city for nightlife and art-culture lovers. In Bairro-Alto you can find countless bars to hangout, but truth is you will spend most of your time outside of the bars drinking and discussing with other people. Many gigs and live concerts are also organised in the city.

What is the student lifestyle like in Lisbon?

Lisbon is one of the most famous places for erasmus and international students at the moment. (Imagine that there is erasmus corner and bar in the center of Lisbon's nightlife) So it is kinda student-occupied and you hear young people speaking English all the time. There are a lot of universities, so that is both good and bad. If you want a more close community erasmus style, Lisbon might not be ideal for that. If you are sociable, you will never get bored of seeing the same people again and again.

How much does it cost to live in Lisbon?

Everything perfect till now? So Lisbon's most negative is renting a room. Because there is no possibility to rent your own appartment of course. For a room you will pay sth between 300-400 euros. Within these prices you can find something descent, but depends also on how lucky you are, cause houses are usually worse than you see in the famous websites such as uniplaces, housinganywhere etc. Most of these houses also host young workers or for internship, so it is not really common to stay in an appartment full of erasmus people.

However beer is cheapest as it gets. For 1 euro you get a half liter beer in Bairro alto. (and 3-4 euros for a normal drink). Coffee is about 0. 50 cents to 1 euro in a coffee shop. In most of the universities you have a full menu option for 2, 65 in the canteens. Ask for it, in my university it was really decent.

Are the means of transportation good?

Yes if you live near by a metro station is really easy to move around in Lisbon. There are 4 metro lines so most of the city center is covered by them. However bus network is also really good from what I've heard. Metro stays until 1 at night every day and there are night buses from 01h30 and every one hour. They are quite good except Saturdays that they get crowded. But uber is also an option as distances in Lisbon are really small for a capital.

What about the Universities?

My university Universidade Nova de Lisboa- SBE was extremelly demanding for erasmus students. We were together in classes with portuguese people and they expected from us to have the same attitude and study as much as them. Portuguese people in the university were not so friendly, even though portuguese in general are lovely people. Generally I would not choose it again, as the whole university acted like a top-10 in Europe university something way far from reality.

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Food is typical mediterannean, but because I am Greek I might be a bit strict in this topic. Portuguese have both dishes with meat and fish and they are both quite good, but a bit overpriced for me (around 7 to 10 euros per dish). Bifana is a good option for fast food (sth like a traditional pork burger). You can get it for 2-3 euros. And of course pao com chourico after hangovers and pao com sardinhas for santos populares fests in June. Bacalhau and salsicha are also really famous portuguese meals. Pastel de nata is also nice if you like sweets. You can get them from all around the city instead of waiting a huge queu in Belem for the most famous ones.

What places would you recommend visiting in Lisbon?

Every little corner has its own magic in Lisbon. If you wanna go shopping go to Rossio - Baixa or Colombo commercial center. If you wanna feel the old vibe of Lisbon visit Alfama and Mouraria. If you want to chill in the morning or afternoon go to Cais by the river and I guarantee you will forget all your problems. Santa Catarina in the sunset with live music and cheap beer from the mini market. And at night you will probably end up pub-crawling in Bairro Alto and Pink street. However my favourite area in Lisbon was Anjos-Intendente. For sure you will visit Casa intependente. But this area is full of associations and alternative places where they host live gigs and dj sets with undergroung music. People in these places are really welcoming and they will not judge you for nothing. True hippie vibe. Try Anjos70 in Wednesday and Crew hassan or Desterro if you want to continue after midnight. Sundays try the RDA69 vegetarian pizza. (I never thought in my life I would like a vegetarian pizza, but here I am now writing about it. )

Except santa catarina miradouro, you should definitely visit nossa senhora do monte, graca, santa luzia and sao pedro. There are many more depends on if you like it more crowded or not.

Lisbon is a city full of parks. People really know how to relax and enjoy their day by the grass. Saldanha's park is the nicest for young people. Alameda's park is huge and really peaceful even though it is next to one of the main city's roads. Parque eduardo is also really really nice and with a great view. There is also a really nice big park next to Belem.

If you want a beach close to the city, Carcavelos is half an hour away with train and Caparica a bit more with bus. Cascais is also an option with a nice village by the beach. Estoril was also a really cute village.

One hour away from Lisbon you can find the Sesimbra beaches in the Setubal area. Setubal city is nothing special but the beaches and arrabida are really worth visiting.

I will now stop writing cause the more I remember the more I want to go back to this wonderful city. Enjoy Lisbon and relax, because that is what Lisbon is about, positive and peaceful vibes.