Like everywhere, Lisbon has its secrets, mysteries, stories and curiosities. From famous sweets to the use of the term 'alfacinha' to refer to someone, I'm going to reveal five curiosities about the Portuguese capital that not all Lisbon residents know.
A Belém Tower, one of the country's registered trademarks and listed by UNESCO, was once a prison. The famous tower was built in the Age of Discoveries as a military project strategically positioned from where people could be seen entering the Tagus River (and consequently the city) from the sea. But what many people don't know is that it was used as a political prison during the Liberal War in the 19th century.
Lisbon was not always the capital of Portugal, because the one who held this title was the small city in the north of the country – Guimarães. Located near the city of Porto, Guimarães was the country's first capital, since its designation in the 12th century. It was also there that the first king of Portugal was born. In the historic center of the city there is a wall with the words 'Aqui Nasceu Portugal'. The fact is that the city has a beautiful 10th century castle and dozens of spectacular buildings that are worth a visit.
After Guimarães, the country's capital became the famous student city of Coimbra, a role that the city played for exactly 100 years. After this period, Lisbon became the capital of Portugal, with the exception of the 13-year period during the 19th century when the capital was the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
Who born in Lisbon it is called Lisbon and Alfacinha, as it is believed that this nickname, from alfacinha it came from when there wasn't much food and the people of Lisbon basically had vegetables for their diet. Among them, lettuce has become the most consumed and favorite. It's an affectionate way of calling a Lisboner.
Lisbon has one of the smallest bookstores in the world, in addition to having the oldest, opened in 1732. But the smallest is on the border between Baixa and Alfama, in Escadinhas de São Cristóvão. It's worth visiting this tiny space, which can fit just over two people, but with more than four thousand books for sale.
One of most secret recipes in the world is in Lisbon, the famous and delicious Belém Pastries. The sweet, manufactured locally in Belém since 1837, is reproduced throughout the country and cannot be called pastéis de Belém, but pastéis de nata. The fact is that the production of the originals, the Pastéis de Belém, is done in modules, where the confectioners only know their part of the recipe. Only THREE people in the world know the full recipe. Big secret that has already made television stories all over the world.
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