Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fado in the Bairro Alto
In the Bairro Alto, wander around Rua Diario de Noticias and neighboring streets.
Canto
do Camões,
run by friendly, English-speaking Gabriel, is easy to reserve and has good
music and tasty food. Call ahead to assure a seat (open at 20:00, music from 20:30 until
around 1:00 in the morning; €27 meal required—includes appetizer, 3 courses, water, and
wine; after 22:00 €11 minimum for two drinks; from Rua da Misericordia, go 2.5 blocks
the room feels like a stage show, with 25 or 30 tables filled mostly with tourists, all enjoy-
ing classic fado. Relax, spend some time, and close your eyes, or make eye contact with
the singer. Let the music and wine collaborate.
RestauranteAdegadoRibatejo
is a dark, homey place crowded with locals who en-
joy open-mike fado
(fado vadio)
nightly (except Sun) from around 20:30 to 24:00. Just
around the corner from Canto do Camões and less touristy (almost anti-touristy), you can
sit down here and just pay for whatever you want to eat or drink with no required minim-
um (€15 meals, Mon-Sat from 19:00, closed Sun, Rua Diario de Noticias 23, see map on
here
, tel. 213-468-343).
Fado in the Alfama
While pretty lonely and dead after dark, the Alfama has several bars offering fado with
their meals—just head uphill from the Fado Museum. Some bars are geared for tourists
and tour groups, but others feel organic, spontaneous, and part of the neighborhood cul-
ture. While schedules at any particular place can be inconsistent, if you hike up Rua São
Pedro de Alcântara to the Church of São Miguel, you'll hear the music wafting out from
hole-in-the-wall eateries and be greeted by men hustling business for their fado restaur-
ants. Generally you simply pay for the meal and enjoy the music as included entertain-
ment.
Fado
Fado songs reflect Portugal's bittersweet relationship with the sea. Fado means
“fate”—how fate deals with Portugal's adventurers...and the women they leave be-
hind. These are songs of both sadness and hope, a bittersweet emotion called
saudade
(meaning yearning or nostalgia). The lyrics reflect the pining for a loved one across
the water, hopes for a future reunion, remembrances of a rosy past or dreams of a bet-
ter future, and the yearning for what might have been if fate had not intervened. (Fado
can also be bright and happy when the song is about the virtues of cities such as Lis-
bon or Coimbra, or of the warmth of a typical
casa portuguesa.
)
