We propose a visit to Mouraria. Its name is a very practical one and indicates that this was the place where the Moors lived in the city.
After the conquest, the old masters of the city were not expelled because we needed people to live in the new conquered city. Thus, a new neighbourhood is born, first outside the walls, but later, protected by the wall of Dom Fernando.
We start our tour at the castle lift towards Largo Adelino Amaro da Costa. Arriving there, we follow the cobbled street, on the left, towards São Cristóvão, where we can visit the Church.
Leaving the Church, we follow to Rua Farinhas, but first we visit Largo dos Trigueiros, accessible by Beco das Farinhas. On the way, we will come across the work of the artist Camilla Watson: humanized streets with the photographs of the residents along the walls of the buildings. Trigueiros (in Portuguese Trigo means wheat) have nothing to do with wheat, but with the skin colour of the Moorish populations.
We return to Rua das Farinhas and continue to Largo da Rosa where we can admire the facade of the Marqueses de Ponte de Lima Palace and the Church of São Lourenço. The crosses of St. James, next to the door, draw attention to the immense age of this church: an inscription to the right of the door tell us that those who pray for peace and the exaltation of faith will be entitled to a year of indulgence for the sins committed.
Continue along Rua Marqueses de Ponte de Lima and Nossa Senhora do Socorro Church and Coleginho Convent will soon appear and, after, turn left into Rua da Guia. We are entering a space dominated by Fado. There is Largo da Severa, a fado singer that despite dying at the very young age of 26, has marked fado forever or the famous Rua do Capelão sung in a very famous fado song. In Rua João do Outeiro, you can visit Casa Fernando Maurício, a museum where you can discover or remember this great fado singer.
Rua do Capelão ends at Rua da Mouraria. Here we can admire the Manueline facade of the Old School of the Orphan Boys, also known as the Recolhimento do Amparo. Further on, to the right we have Nossa Senhora da Saúde Hermitage, São Sebastião Chapel. A little further on the left, we have an inscription celebrating the construction of the Fernandina Wall (on top of the pharmacy).
And you are now in Praça Martim Moniz. Today, one of the squares that constitute Lisbon downtown, once all this space was the continuation of the entanglement of the streets of Mouraria, also known as the lower Mouraria.. And so, ends this tour!
