Mercado de Campo de Ourique

Most cruise passengers will not need to come here. It is a neighbourhood market about 4.2 km west of the ship, with no sights of its own, and the Time Out Market at Cais do Sodré is closer if all you want is a food hall. Campo de Ourique suits a different visitor: someone on a second or third trip to Lisbon, someone who wants lunch among residents rather than tour groups, or someone riding tram 28 to the end of the line who needs a reason to get off. To get there, take a taxi (about 15 minutes), or ride tram 28 to its western terminus at Campo de Ourique (Prazeres) and walk a few minutes into the district. Tram 28 is slow and often full; from the terminal you can board it in Alfama, but expect to stand or wait for a second car in high season. The market has two parts. The traditional stalls sell fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, bacalhau, bread, charcuterie, tinned fish, spices and flowers, and are busiest and best stocked in the morning. The central hall holds food and drink counters with shared tables; locals fill it at lunch from about 12:30 and again in the evening. The building is open from 07:00 every day, until 23:00 from Sunday to Wednesday and until 01:00 from Thursday to Saturday, though individual counters set their own hours. If you come, arrive around 11:30 to see the stalls before the lunch crowd, eat, and then walk five minutes along Rua Coelho da Rocha to the Casa Fernando Pessoa, or about 15 minutes to the Basílica da Estrela and the Jardim da Estrela, where the 28 also stops. Allow two and a half to three hours from the ship for the round trip and lunch. Skip it on a short call, or if you have not yet seen the Baixa, Alfama or Belém.