Lisbon – Mercado da Ribeira | TimeOut Market

Industrial ceiling decor – Photo by MissB – Sony a5100

Hello!!

Last time around in Lisbon, I was really surprised with the vibe in town. I believe it was the first time in over 5 years that the city didn’t feel stagnated. 
Never in these last years, I had seen soooo many constructions sites all over town.
Almost every street had something going on; new buildings, road remodels, old buildings restorations, you name it… 
Felt like that the money was back in town and everyone was trying to catch up with what could (and should!) have been done the last years.
May not be pleasant for those who live there but it makes me happy; it always saddens me to see old historical buildings/neighborhoods not being taken care of and nobody doing anything about it. As if it didn’t matter… I want to believe that it was all a matter of money.
Another thing that got my attention was the capacity of transforming an old place and give it a totally different purpose. An example: Mercado da Ribeira.

Mercado da Ribeira was originally an indoor market where people would go for groceries when major supermarkets (or grocery stores as they say in the States) were not around. 
Last time I had been there, they had other businesses going on besides selling/buying food/flowers; in the galleries of this building, a few restaurants had been open.
Didn’t get my attention back then and it was never a place that I’d think of “oh let’s go out for dinner over there!” nop.
But now, the game has changed! 
Mercado da Ribeira has become a trendy food court along with nice cute shops.

Portuguese food with a modern twist. 😋 – Photo by MissB – Sony a5100
You can easily spend the whole day there, eating, drinking, shopping and just having a great time. I believe it became a touristic hot-spot as there were TONS of tourists over there. No wonder….
They kept the outside of the building true to its origins (to my knowledge at least), and on the inside, the old butchers/flower shops (some still remain!) were transformed into restaurants. The decor is somehow a fusion between industrial and traditional.
The food offer is huge, making it almost impossible to choose what to eat, but I’d say that it is mainly focused on Traditional Portuguese Cuisine with a twist. 
Like I said before, I could easily spend there the whole drinking and eating… 😊
I loved it there and totally recommend it.
Besides the lovely food there, I also visited a shop called Toranja (Visit) where they sell artist decoration pieces.
Bought two pillow covers but they have many other items available. The staff was very kind and helpful.  The difficult part: not to buy the whole store!
O Castelo by Tiago Albuquerque 
 Ajuda in Yellow by Nuno Martinho.
Not the cheapest pillow covers out there (they retail for Eur22.95/piece), but certainly some of the most special and dear to me. Every time I look at them, home feels a bit closer.
So yeah, if you are ever in Lisbon, go check out Mercado da Ribeira! 😉
It’s very easy to find and reach by public transport (located across Cais do Sodré station – subway/trams/trains/buses go there).
See you next week!

Next post: January 12th 9am CET 

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14 Responses

  1. Só estive umas duas vezes neste Mercado mas gosto do espaço! Lisboa está de facto a melhorar em muitos aspectos! Muitos monumentos têm sido restaurados, tivemos (e ainda temos) obras que têm gerado um trânsito terrível mas que vêm trazer mais espaços verdes e ciclovias. Estamos a crescer muito graças ao turismo, porque investe-se muito nisso. Está uma cidade que nesse aspecto se iguala cada vez mais às grandes capitais europeias! 🙂

    Um beijinho,

    Sofia | Monochromatic Wave

  2. Olá Sofia! Obrigada pelo teu comentário.
    Sim, foi exactamente isso que repareiç Lisboa está trendy, o que se verifica não só na quantidade de turistas, mas também no número e tipo de obras, bem como no preço dos voos… Longe vão os tempos em que se ia a Lisboa com 40Eur ida+volta. #emigrasofre

    Beijinhos e espero ver-te por aqui mais vezes! 🙂

  3. Definitivamente tenho que dar um salto ao mercado da ribeira! Quanto ao facto de a cidade parecer estagnada nos últimos anos, isso foi mesmo devido à troika… A cidade está cada vez melhor. Por exemplo, o mercado de natal estava espetacular:)

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Hi, I'm Bárbara!

From PT living in NL

Love to travel & photograph as many memories as possible!