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Sadly subway work means you can't step deftly from the viewing platform into Bairro Alto instead descend again and wend your way there

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Sadly, subway work means you can't step deftly from the viewing platform into Bairro Alto; instead, descend again and wend your way there on a warm autumnal walk.Lunch on the runBy the time you huff to the top end of rua Garrett, you'll need a coffee and pastry. From its eastern terminus, steer a southerly course to touch down amid the swirl of traffic around Baixa. Stay on the same heading, and soon you reach the foot of an Eiffel-designed lift called the Elevador Santa Justa It hauls you from humdrum sea level to a higher plane. Summer visitors missed out on the full glory of the route, but track repair work has now finished.

For 150 escudos (about 50 pence), ride the whole, hilariously convoluted journey from Prazeres, west of Bairro Alto, to the square named Martim Moniz (north of Baixa).Take a hikeThe tram reveals Lisbon to be defiantly three-dimensional. Rising to the west is Bairro Alto (approximately biru altu), and to the east Alfama.Check inAim for the centre. Bairro Alto and Baixa have plenty of modest options; in the former, the Pensao Londres (rua Dom Pedro V 53, 00 351 1 346 2203) charges 6,200-9,200 escudos for a double room, corresponding to pounds 21-pounds 31. In Baixa, the Pensao Insulana at rua da Assuncao 52 (00 351 1 342 3131) offers good value at 8,500 (pounds 29) per night, including bathroom and TV. Breakfast is included in all these rates.Take a rideTram 28 is one of Europe's great little journeys - an exercise in kinetic eccentricity as it sways up improbable gradients and squeezes through impossible gaps. British Airways (0345 222111) and TAP Air Portugal (0171-828 0262) fly from Heathrow.Get your bearingsThe helpful tourist office outside the customs hall at the airport (open 6am-2am) will provide you with a map of the city.

The Aero-Bus runs to the centre between 7am and 8.40pm daily; as Lisbon airport is so close in, a taxi costs only pounds 4.The city sprawls along the north shore of the Tagus, but you need focus on only three basic areas The flat part in the middle is Baixa (pronounced bye-sha). New, cheap flights have opened up the city as an accessible weekend destination. And it's one Continental capital where you don't have to adjust your watch.Beam downThe lowest fare to Lisbon is likely to be on AB Airlines (0345 464748) from Gatwick; flying next weekend, the cheapest return is pounds 131 including tax. Portugalia (0990 502048) flies from Manchester, but not at weekends; leaving next Friday and returning on Monday costs pounds 201. For the same fare, GB Airways (a British Airways affiliate, 0345 222111) flies from Gatwick on Tuesday and Friday via Gibraltar.Moroccan Information and Advice Centre, 61 Golborne Road, London W10 5NR (0181-960 6654)..

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