Alcântara - EVEN MORE Escapades under the Bridge

Now, for this last one I'm going to talk about something a little different. Although, like you, I've didn't know previously about many of the places I've talked about in the other articles, getting to them wasn't hard, because they where either close to my house, or other people had already mentioned them to me before. So for this last article, though a bit shorter, I'm going a lot more personal. Now that I've already talked about the big Museums, the artistic alleys of Lx Factory, and even the brand new viewpoint, Pilar 7; I think it's appropriate to talk about the smaller, yet still great, things you can find by just walking a bit in Alcântara, which for me is just as good as visiting any big museum.

So, to start, maybe the height of the Pilar 7 Experience is too much, or Lx Factory and the Museums are crowded, or even the Riverside Walkway is just too windy and full. Well, you can just take a stroll from the Calvário Square up the streets of Alcântara and find the Avelar Brotero Garden. The Calvário Square is very important for the lives of the people of Alcântara, because not only a lot of shops, businesses and services are there, but because it is the meeting point of all the transports that go through Alcântara. So, because of this it is a fairly busy place. But it if you go to your left and go up the streets, you eventually find Avelar Brotero. This garden isn’t very big but it’s calm and honestly very pretty! It as suffered a lot of work during the years and it shows. So if you’re taking stroll and the steep streets of Alcântara (and all os Lisbon) are tiring you, just sit and relax a little in Avelar Brotero. The first time I "found" it, I was very pleasantly surprised!

Trams meeting in Calvário Square

Avelar Brotero Garden

I feel really bad for not mentioning Gateway City Comics sooner. This is for the more geeky crowd. Gateway City Comics is a small comic book store near Calvário square. The store has many different books and merchandise for your geek tastes, and the service is great, but the most important thing about it, is that it organizes many events in their street! The store opened in 2017 and has seen a growth in it’s community developed, attracting new readers and acknowledging the older ones. Flea Market Alcântara is their main event. Organized every first saturday of every month, this flea market is destined mainly for people who want to sell used comicbooks. The variety is immense and it can often be a place for very good bargains! They also celebrate the international Free Comic Book Day, which, like the names says, is a day where the owners of Comicbook Shops offer free books (always the first saturday of May)! It also has more singular events, like autographs and talking sessions with established comic book artists, and Artist’s Halley, where you can go check a multitude of different works by different artists of different experience and background!

Alcântara Flea Market, by Gateway City Comics

So this is, for now, my advice for you about Alcântara, this last article is shorter but much more personal. For more tips, be sure to read the other articles I've wrote about Alcântara if you what to know more about some of the places I've mentioned here!