Wednesday night in Bairro Alto BY KALAF Largo de Camões, Wednesday, early evening. Half the people who pass through finish their day and rush off home, but others arrive in the aim of enjoying the best Lisbon has to offer in nightlife. Jump off tram no. 28, as I usually do, as since I moved to Baixa I’ve developed a liking for walking down Rua Garrett, but today is an exception – I don’t! – because I won’t be going home early. Wednesday is exclusively jazz and hip-hop night in Bairro Alto. Everything starts in the bar of the Hotel Bairro Alto. As I sip a tea, I make a few phone calls to those people who, like me, consider this the best day to visit the area. I leave the hotel, cross the square and enter Rua do Norte. When you’re a local, it’s virtually impossible not to stop at some of the shops to say hello and run your eye over what’s new. El Dorado gets my attention for its selection of vinyl, for which I nurture an unhealthy passion, and as I’ve recently become a major fan of street wear, I take the chance to call in at Sneakers Delight and Carhartt, but shops like Hold Me and TKO are always fun and colourful as you never know what you’re going to find. Rua da Barroca is probably where I spend most time in Bairro Alto. Firstly because of the record shop SupaFly (that vinyl thing again...) and secondly because of the unmissable bookshop Ler Devagar, which recently moved to the no less important centre of all that is alternative and avant-garde, whether in the world of music or art: Galeria Zé dos Bois. Another “good” reason are restaurants like A Tasca do Manel, Caracol and Inox, which I enter for a delicious chicken curry with banana. When I re-emerge, the street is busier. Napron (formerly Três Pastorinhos) has opened its doors. At Clube da Esquina I bump into some friends. We walk down to Bicaense to listen to the ‘jazz sessions’, but not before stopping off at Maria Caxuxa and swinging to the sounds of the DJ… Bairro Alto thrives on occasional encounters and so it is inevitable that you suggest and hear about other places where you can prolong the night. After the jazz, we head for Mexe and then onto Bedroom… See you soon. 24 24
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