Tagus

THE CITY towards the river Tagus. This ancient quarter surrounding the castle, seat of the Portuguese kings Lisbon, this eighth wonder, the greatest in Christen- for four centuries, overlooks the two Lisbons that are dom, this outstanding city, famous and mostnob/e — now intermingled — the Lisbon of today and yester- according to the Iaudatory description made of it by day. Gradually, the centre of gravity of the city has Tirso de Molina in E/ Bur/ador de Sevfl/a ~, stretches moved downwards, increasingly nearer to the Tagus. out, blue and silver, on the banks of the Atlantic, The devastating earthquake of 1755 interrupted Lis» whose sea routes it formerly controlled and for which bon's charmingly anarchical growth and brought it is now an obligatory stopping place. about the subsequent city planning by the Marquis de The oldest part of the city lies in terraces at the foot of Pombal, thus modernizing the city's appearance. Ne- St. George's Castle and was the original nucleus of vertheless, some delightful urban relics of the past ha- the city. When the walled precinct stubbornly defen- ve survived, apart from the Alfama and the Bairro Al- ded by the Moslems was stormed by Christian troops to; there are others with such a marked personality as in 1147, the first real enlarging of Lisbon began, with the Mouraria area, the Madragoa and the $50 Cristo- the picturesque mediaeval district of Alfama moving v50 district, along whose charming little streets are