Alfama, Castelo & Graça

This is the Lisbon you have no doubt dreamed about: a Moorish castle slung on a hillside, cobbled alleys twisting to sky-high viewpoints and laundry-strung houses in a fresco-painter’s palette of colours. In this corner of the city, life is played out on the streets. Fado still rocks as it did way back when, one-pan family bistros fire up their grills at lunchtime, and the neighbourly vibe keeps things alluringly low-key, but not without a struggle. Lisbon's tourism boom is altering Alfama's character, so authenticity is endangered here.