The downtown of Lisbon, called “Baixa Pombalina” area is the heart of Lisbon and was completely rebuilt after the devastating 1755 earthquake. Covering an area of about 255 hectares, it contains magnificent squares, which are interconnected by straight avenues filled with grand 18th century architecture.
The Rua Augusta was considered the opening of Lisbon to the world. It´s to symbolise a “portal” to the city of mysteries. By passing the arch, you go from darkness and ignorance, to the light and wisdom that Lisbon provides. Be enlightened with its histories.
This church was build built in the 12th century, when we conquered the Moorish city and made it Christian. On the same place was a mosque, that was destroyed, and this church build on t´s place. It´s the only Church in Portugal that has a “Holy Door”, and one of the few in the Christian World. Why? Come and find out...
Explore the Roman Theatre that was built in the first century, in the time of the Roman emperor Augustus. The roman city was called Felicitas Iulia Olisipo. Augustus gave the name to the existing settlement on the occasion of its ennoblement between 31 and 27BC. With the conquest of Hispania, peace is decreed in the empire, promoting the establishment of intense commercial relationships with several roman provinces. The wealth of Olisipo, mainly piscicultural, and its privileged geographical position transformed the city in the maritime capital of Lusitania. Abandoned in the fourth century, it was only discovered 1798, after the 1755 earthquake, while Lisbon was being rebuild.
View the S. Jorge Castle, located in the old medieval citadel, which was inhabited by the Moors who fortified it for their defence. When D. Afonso Henriques (Portugal´s founding King), took the castle in 1147, after besieging it for 3 months, expelled the Muslims and opened the castle doors to Christianity. In case you want to visit the castle inside, you have the possibility to ask your guide to buy the tickets for you (not included), as he has the “fast track” possibility. In this way, you don´t have to wait in the long lines to get your ticket.
At the Viewpoint of Santa Luzia (one of the nicest in Lisbon), you can see the oldest neighbourhood of Lisbon, Alfama. See the mountain range in the horizon (when good weather), the Arrabida Natural Reserve, 50 kilometres south of Lisbon. The church in this small square is the “National Headquarters of Portuguese Knights of Malta”. What is their mystery?
Walk up (and down) Alfama, the oldest and one of the most typical neighborhoods of Lisbon. Its name derives from the Moorish al-hamma, meaning baths or fountains.
"Climb" to this part of the city to get an idea of what you are able to do in Lisbon for the rest of your stay.
Surrounded by the Chiado area, is Largo do Carmo with its historical jacaranda trees. In this square, still "resist" the ruins of the Convento do Carmo, built in the 14th century, where the Archaeology Museum and the Carmo Museum is currently installed .
From the top of this neo-Gothic structure (built 1902) you can have another view over Lisbon and the Rossio Square. The engineer Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard was responsible for the design, contrary to the popular belief that there is a connection to Gustave Eiffel. It is well known that Ponsard applied to this lift some of the techniques and materials already used in France.
Discover the "darker" part of this square in Lisbon´s history...
Sadly this square has a very dark history, as it was the centre of the Holy Inquisition in Portugal. Most public punishments, tortures and killings where done here. If you would be summoned to Rossio, it would never be a good thing… Discover it´s histories. Here is also the point where the tour ends.
Good overall - our guide was nice and informative but we could have done most of these activities on our own. I think his English could use improvement as we struggled to understand several communication exchanges.
Seeing Lisbon on foot is the best with Maya learned the old and new in Lisbon. Perfect tour. Always was interested in our comfort level. Private is the only way to go
Very informative tour, Maia was excellent guide who was very knowledgeable and engaging, who knew Lisbon & Lisbon’s history very well. Makes Lisbon much more enjoyable when little but important details are pointed out and explained. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏👏👏
Had a great walking/sightseeing tour of Lisbon with Joao . His knowledge of the historical sites was deep and he kept us interested with engaging info and stories! Really enjoyed the experience!
Maia, was an excellent guide. She was easy going and enthusiastic, but most importantly she was knowledgeable and very personable. She knew where to take us and how to get us there. Everything was organized. avoided lines and she gave us the inside story. Our group really enjoyed our tour and at the end of the day we all knew more about Lisbon and felt like we made a friend. Please wear comfortable shoes. I jokingly say that it is all uphill, but it was.
We have used Joao Dickmann for 2 separate trips to Lisbon. Joao always makes sure we have the best experience and we do. Paulo was our guide and we fell in love with him and Lisbon. We took friends with us last trip and toured all over Spain and Portugal. Lisbon was by far our best experience. Paulo has such a love and passion for his country. From the tastiest cuisine, hand tile making, wine tasting, historical sites and Fado, he knows it all. The Coronavirus has hit this industry hard. Do what you can to help! We have a trip planned there in August with our daughter and son-in-law. Viva la Lisboa!
This was our second time to book in three years and we were NOT disappointed. We requested Paulo as our tour guide because we had him 3 years ago. We had friends with us and we knew he would give us an excellent tour. The great thing is you get a private tour and can make requests. Paulo is so passionate about his home city. He knows the best places to visit and to eat. Places we would have never found. We asked Jaio for a good place for Fado and it was magnificent! Casa de Lehares, I think I spelled that correctly. It was a short walk from our cruise ship. TakingUThere is excellent!!!
By far, the guides we had, Joao & Rodrigo. we the best we found in Portugal. Prompt pick up and always at our sides to explain and answer any question. Both had a through knowledge of the history and culture of Portugal. 100% recommendation.
We were part of a small group, 9 total. Joao was our tour guide for a day of walking around Lisbon and he is extremely easy to listen to and and very knowledgeable of course. Joao is a very interesting man and had many great stories to tell. We then another day went to Sintra and the Pena Palace along with Rodrigo as well. What a stunning place, despite the mist! Both men are a pleasure to visit Portugal with and highly recommended.
I am sure that this is the correct company that I am writing this review for. The tour guide we had is featured in the photos. We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal after 15 days in another country in which we had 6 different official guides, all in various cities, all arranged for us by Firebird tours. We expected the same level of care in Portugal for the next part of our trip. Firebird arrange for Taking U There to be our local private guide company for 4 days in Lisbon and the surrounding areas. Our guide Paulo is a nice person who tries his best, but he is simply NOT AN OFFICIAL GUIDE. His answer to many of our seemingly basic questions was “I don’t know”. We learned that it is imperative to have OFFICIAL GUIDES because they maximize your most important commodity while on vacation- time. They get you into the best attractions without wasting time standing in line and share valuable historical insights with you. He treated our visit too much from his own perspective rather than what a tourist is looking for. We started our city walking tour by walking uphill from our hotel up to the Moorish Castle in Lisbon, but he wanted us to only view it from the outside saying it was just a bunch of walls and we could get a good view from the outside, and we should not waste our euros. He did not understand that we paid thousands of euros for this trip, and it was absolutely ridiculous to not go inside. Because we insisted, we did go inside on our own at first. He did eventually join us for a brief time, but did not offer any insights into the historical monument beyond when it was erected. Later he himself described the Moorish Castle as one of the most important historical sites in Lisbon. He kept telling us things like, you can come back later, and you do not have enough time to see everything. We had 3 full days scheduled with him. If we did not see things with our “guide”, when were we supposed to see things? Next we drove around. Their van is very old. Dusty inside, and the back windows don’t go down, so he invites you to slide open the door if you would like to take a photo. This is unsafe and unacceptable. It was an uncomfortable 3 days with this guide who was constantly telling us what a good job he does, checking to see if we were enjoying ourselves, and reminding us that his livelihood was dependent upon the tips he received. Our final (4th) day was supposed to be a tour of 3 locations with his boss. His boss got some other German tourists however, so they arranged for a driver with a print out (again NOT AN OFFICIAL GUIDE) to take us. He was very nice and patient, but I would never recommend this company to anyone visiting Lisbon.
Four of us just finished a comprehensive 3 full days of touring Lisboa and the surrounding area. Our guide, Paulo Levy, just could not have been better. He was enthusiastic , knowledgeable, and very considerate of our needs. We got a very good education on Portuguese culture in a relatively short period of time. He showed a high degree of flexibility in changing the itinerary when asked. We are so pleased with this Company and it's staff.
My husband and I enjoyed our day very much. Rod shared a lot of information with us. He was able to answer all our questions. We would recommend this trip to anyone who wants an overview of beautiful Lisbon. Rod also was able to help us organize train tickets. We appreciated the personalized service. Thank you Rod and TakinguThere for a great day. Carol
Spent the better part of 4 days with John (and Rodriego) and were very impressed with both. Their friendliness and knowledge were wonderful. Saw Lisbon, Belem, Sintra, Óbidos, cascais, Mafra— and enjoyed them all. John was our primary guide, but Rodreigo was every bit as knowledgeable. John was particularly well versed on the Moors and their historical influence in Portugal. Very enlightening. Plenty of anecdotal information about Portuguese royalty through history, especially as it related to the various palaces and churches we saw. Don’t miss a chance to work with John on your next trip!
<p>Our guide was the best. He was so full of information and facts. Really know his job. Had a private van and he took us all over Lisbon. We asked to be taken away from the crowds and more of the local places. He did and we were very happy he did. We ate in a local market, had Lisbon famous cake away from town and enjoyed a wonderful day. Highly recommended.</p>
<p>Tour guide lacked information. Nice man however not fully prepared to answer basic information. It appeared that the number of tourists visiting Lisbon is straining the tourist infra structure.</p>
<p>Our driver, Rod, met us at the ship on time. His English was excellent and he was enthusiastic about Lisbon. I had a list of places I wanted to visit. He did all of them, plus some additional areas. He was cooperative and went out of his way to assist us up steps when there was no railing. He made an effort to drop us off or pick us up near the sight so we did not have long walks over the cobblestones.<br/> We were with Rod for 7 hours and he was cheerful and cooperative the whole time. He was knowledgeable about the city and eager to share with us. <br/> I would rate him A as a guide.</p> <p>Phyllis</p>
João Dickmann guided us through Lisbon for over 5 hours. The tour was entertaining, very informative and authentic.
Four of us went on a private guided tour of the city. Our guide João Dickmann lives in Lisbon, but speaks excellent and accent-free German. He knows his city and its history, which jumps you around every corner, very well. He didn't owe us an answer and showed us many things we would otherwise have walked carelessly past. João readily responded to our wishes and the five hours passed far too quickly.
Lugares bonitos....mas o nosso Gui não estava com a placa com o.meu nome...o quê no Arco da Rua Augusta dificultou bastante a identificação, necessitando ir a um telefone e ligar para a Central...também pouco disponível o nosso Guia Paulo....mas cumpriu todo o trajeto determinado.
Belem Tower is impressive to see. According to my research it was built on the banks of the Tagus between 1514 and 1519 by King Manuel I of Portugal to guard the entrance to the port of Lisbon. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983, together with the Hieronymite Monastery.
It was a super day with Joao, he is there with all his heart, explains everything great, responds to questions and his own wishes. Unfortunately, if he didn't know that he was also making a transfer to Sintra, he would have booked it with him otherwise. We can only warmly recommend Joao. Making city breaks more often with private guidance, Joao has been the best so far. Thanks again in this way. The 5 women from Hamburg. Greeting Karin
Joao is a really great city guide. We were traveling with our 11-month-old daughter and stroller. He chose the route so that it was not a problem. A great day in Lisbon, we will come back and book then of course with Joao.
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