3 Best Sights in Lisbon, Portugal

This family-friendly museum uses multimedia exhibits to bring Lisbon's history to life. Over the course of an hour, the story is broken down into chapters, with a focus on the country's golden age of maritime adventures. A multilingual audio guide takes visitors through a series of exhibits. Midway through, a small cinema shows a short but dramatic reenactment of the 1755 earthquake and the fiery aftermath.

Capping the postearthquake restoration of Lisbon's downtown, Lisbon's answer to the Parisian Arc de Triomphe offers a splendid viewpoint from which to admire the handsome buildings around the Praça do Comércio. Access to the arch is via an elevator and then up two narrow, winding flights of stairs. Once at the top, young visitors delight in ringing a giant bell, while the grown-ups can admire views of the Tagus River in one direction and the shopping strip of Rua Augusta in the other. The red-roofed houses and grand religious buildings that climb up the surrounding hillsides complete the scene.

One of the original buildings on Praça do Comércio houses the Café Martinho da Arcada, a literary haunt since 1782, favored by modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. The main rooms contain an expensive restaurant; adjacent to it is a more modest café-bar.