Lisbon - Accessible Tour ABOUT Photo: João Paulo Lisbon - Accessible Tour Known as the ‘City of the Seven Hills’, Lisbon is increasingly becoming a more accessible city by removing architectural and uneven barriers. The introduction of new paving, ramps and appropriate signposting has created conditions facilitating the movement of people with difficulties in mobility, and made it possible for everyone to enjoy public spaces, enabling them to move around independently. We recommend three tours to get to know the most iconic areas independently: Belém, a massive area which was once the port from which ships and caravels left for the epic sea voyages of Discovery; take a walk from Bairro Alto to the Castelo de São Jorge (São Jorge Castle), the nerve centre of Lisbon where there is a lot of entertainment on offer; then, continue to the Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations), a modern space reclassified for the 1998 World Fair to celebrate the feats of the great Portuguese explorers of the 16th century. 2013 Turismo de Portugal. All rights reserved. 1/7 [email protected] Photo: Ponte 25 de Abril - Lisboa © Turismo de Lisboa To follow these tours, visit the links (above this text), where you will find information on each of them and maps which will help you during your visit. To move around between different areas, there is a network of public transport, guaranteeing connections in the area. In the city, Carris is a company that operates buses and trams, and has adapted vehicles, such as the Metro. However, not all its stations are accessible. In CP trains, in some of the connecting train stations, it is possible to move around independently, but in others you need to request assistance in advance. Taxi transport is an option you can consider as there are several taxi companies which have adapted vehicles. For more details on public transport in Lisbon, click on the link ‘Useful Information’. BELéM In the 15th and 16th centuries, ships and caravels left Belém to discover distant lands on other continents. Witnesses of this period are two monuments which you can visit and which are classified by UNESCO as World Heritage sites - the Jerónimos Monastery and the Tower of Belém. But, there is very much more to know in this area with gardens on the river bank, where it is very pleasant to have a walk. Download the map and follow the tour 2013 Turismo de Portugal. All rights reserved. 2/7 [email protected] Belém is a flat area with regular paving which is generally in good condition. So, it enables everyone to move around more easily and safely. We recommend that you start your tour at the Museu dos Coches (Coach Museum) (10), which contains the world’s most unique collection housed in a recently built and totally accessible building. Photo © Museu Nacional dos Coches The tour continues along Rua de Belém where visitors need to walk carefully, especially along paved surfaces of crossings where a little wear and tear in some places, for example where there are tramway lines, make secure movement difficult. Along the walks, there are obstacles because of the many shops and restaurants in the area. This may require you to move onto roads that are destined for vehicular traffic. Most of these commercial spaces do not have accessible entrances. However, many of the restaurants have terraces in the pedestrianised area overlooking the Gardens (Jardim) - an excellent option for meals. Crossings, which are generally low, have a few uneven spots of two or three centimetres, which may require extra effort. The Jardim Botânico Tropical (Tropical Botanical Gardens) (7), one of the largest green spaces in the city, is the next point on our tour before proceeding to the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery) (6), located on the other side of the street. This very beautiful monument, the best example of the Manueline architectural style, enables everyone to take full advantage of the visit by providing tactile routes, information in Braille and audio support equipment. Moving around on the ground floor is facilitated by wide spaces, without obstacles, making the most emblematic spaces, like the Church and the Cloister, easier to visit. Located at the western end of this building, the Museu de Marinha (Maritime Museum) (5) offers similar conditions enabling everyone to see its collection which includes many nautical instruments and replicas of caravel of the age of the Discoveries. Photo: Praça do Império - Mosteiro dos Jerónimos © Arquivo Turismo de Portugal At the Praça do Império (Empire Square) (8), we recommend a walk around the garden which has regular paving, in tar and beaten earth, but there is a pronounced unevenness in some areas. Its trademark is the impressive fountain which is lit up in different colours at night. Also in this square, it is worth visiting the Centro Cultural de Belém (the Belém Cultural Centre) (4), which stands out for its modernity as being a fully accessible space, which houses the Berardo Museum, various terraces and a vast programme of shows and exhibitions. The tour continues on the other side of the train line, but as there are no accessible crossings between Avenida da Índia and Avenida Brasília, closer to the river (they all have stairs), it is necessary to find other means of transport to continue the tour. On the other side of the train line, you can visit the Museu do Combatente (1), which is endowed with wide spaces where it is easier to move around, except along the walls and the upper floors where access is by a staircase. In the immediate surroundings, there is the vast Jardim da Torre de Belém (Belém Tower Gardens) (3). It is a leisure space that is greatly valued, where you can find a model of the tower itself, a world heritage site, with a description of it in Braille for everyone to know more about it. However, because of its architecture, access is difficult of people with reduced mobility. Photo: Padrão dos Descobrimentos - Torre de Belém © Arquivo Turismo de Portugal The Padrão dos Descobrimentos (the Monument to the Discoveries) (9), another main attraction in this area, is inaccessible for wheelchair users owing to the stairs at the entrance and access to the terrace. It is always possible, however, to view the sculptures adorning both sides of the monument, which pay homage to the great explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Their sea routes are immortalised in the enormous ‘Rosa-dos-Ventos ‘ (the Compass Rose), designed in stone on the ground. The last visit on this tour is MAAT – Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) (11), at the former Tagus Power Station which supplied electricity for the whole city of Lisbon in the first half of the 20th century. It is framed by more uneven paving, requiring visitors to move around more carefully. Inside the Museum, the space is fully accessible for people with reduced mobility. There, visitors may see temporary exhibitions put on among the vast calendar of activities, as well as the structure of the buildings. FROM BAIRRO ALTO TO CASTELO 2013 Turismo de Portugal. All rights reserved. 3/7 [email protected] Download the map and follow the tour To get to know the heart of Lisbon, we recommend a tour which leads from Bairro Alto to the Castelo de São Jorge (São Jorge Castle), via Baixa Pombalina (Pombaline Downtown), an area full of shops and restaurants. The starting point is the Largo de Camões (Camões Square). However, before starting the tour, we must mention some of the places surrounding the square, which may be a pretext for future visits. For example, if you go up Rua da Misericórdia, you will find the Igreja and Museu de São Roque (São Roque Church and Museum), which houses true treasures of Sacred Art. Opposite the end of Rua do Alecrim, there is the Cais do Sodré (Sodré Piers), where you can find other options such as a walk on the Ribeira das Naus, a very pleasant walk along the riverbank to Terreiro do Paço (or Praça do Comércio) with terraces and leisure spaces; the Ribeira Market which was remodelled to incorporate a very busy restaurant and leisure area; and at a short distance away, the Museu das Comunicações (Museum of Communication) (14), all accessible for people with reduced mobility. At the Cais do Sodré, there is the train station from which trains leave for Cascais, a journey with beautiful views of the Tagus river and the sea. Photo: Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara © Turismo de Lisboa Returning to the starting point of this tour, from the Largo de Camões, dominated by the statue of the great Portuguese poet, the tour continues along Rua Garrett, where you will certainly feel restored in the two churches standing facing each other - Loreto Church and Sacramento Church, access to which is by stairs, which makes the visit difficult. Further on, you will certainly want to stop to take a photo of the table in the terrace of the Café A Brasileira, near the statue of Fernando Pessoa. To the right, on Rua de Serpa Pinto, there is the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea (National Museum of Contemporary Art (12), which presents a complete retrospective view of Portuguese artistic development. Like the Museum, all these routes are fully accessible, but the steep slope of the streets can make it difficult to walk easily. Further down, there is the Igreja dos Mártires (Church of the Martyrs) (11), where the steps at the entrance render it inaccessible for wheelchair users. The same applies to some of the many restaurants and shops which make up Rua Garrett and Rua do Carmo.