The castle and the Mouraria
The whole-city view from the ramparts, then down into Lisbon's most mixed quarter for the murals and the food. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Martim Moniz
Start where the city is loudest — the square at the foot of the hill, the most mixed corner of Lisbon, Chinese and South Asian and African shopfronts side by side. Get the climbing done while it's cool; the castle gate is a steep fifteen minutes up.

2. Castelo de São Jorge
The hilltop fort and the reason for the view — the whole city laid out below, the river beyond, peacocks stalking the ramparts. Buy the ticket and walk the walls slowly. Come at opening to beat both the heat and the queue.

3. Largo das Portas do Sol
Drop off the castle hill to this terrace on the way down — a last wide look over *Alfama* and the *Tejo* before you turn inland into the *Mouraria*. A *quiosque* (a garden kiosk-café) here if you need a sit after the ramparts.

4. Mouraria lanes
Down into the quarter the Moors were pushed to after 1147, and Lisbon's most diverse ground ever since. Murals, tiled saints, washing overhead, the smell of cooking from a dozen kitchens. Wander; the lanes are short and they all run downhill.

5. Largo do Intendente
The square that was Lisbon's roughest and is now its most talked-about, ringed with tiled façades and cafés. The Viúva Lamego tile shopfront on the corner is worth the walk on its own. Sit a while; this is the turn-around point.

6. Martim Moniz
Back down to where you started, and the green-line metro. If it's lunchtime, the square's stalls and the surrounding streets do some of the best-value eating in the city — Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Mozambican, all within a block.

The castle and the Mouraria