The symbol of Lisbon, romanticism aside, is the tuk-tuk. There are ones with tigers on the roof, with plastic floral decoration, painted bubblegum pink or disguised as a tram, any element that helps stand out among the tide of tricycles prepared to show thousands of tourists the 5, 10, 15 or 20 things that should not be missed in the Portuguese capital. The tram dominates the postcards and magnets, but the tuque-tuque has taken over the streets. When both agree on the ruas Narrow and steep paths leading up to St. George’s Castle sometimes form historical collapses. Trams are rigid transports, incapable of deviating a millimeter from their route, while tuk-tuks go at full speed, often flouting traffic regulations to facilitate a good photograph and giving their passengers that frivolous feeling, so vacationy. , that they are in a carefree republic where everyone does what they want. And so, without realizing it, Lisbon has entered the club of charismatic cities that only make visitors happy.
“I think it has even stopped making tourists happy. There are people who came years ago and, when they have returned recently, they discover that it is not the same,” points out Tânia Correia. Lisbon was born in the place where Tânia grew up, the castle of Saint George, a military fortress located on a hill that allowed the Tagus to be watched and that protected first Islam and then Christianity. On its slope, the Mouraría was built, a labyrinthine ghetto to house the Muslim inhabitants when the city was conquered by Afonso Henriques in 1147 and where residents of 50 nationalities now live together.
La Mouraría is one of the six historic neighborhoods that belong to the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior (10,000 inhabitants). Six jewel neighborhoods (Castelo, Mouraría, Alfama, Chiado, Sé and Baixa), full of history and culture, which are now the favorite streets of real estate investors, tourism entrepreneurs and tuk-tuk drivers. The Lisbon cool of hanging clothes, tiles and colorful facades that last year was declared the best urban destination in Europe at the World Travel Awards. The Lisbon that has lost close to 30% of the population since 2013. The Lisbon where 60% of the homes are tourist apartments. If the rate of expulsion of locals does not stop, in a few years tourists will only be able to see each other when they climb Alfama. Gentrification in full force.
In the midst of the euro crisis, while the country was under intervention, the conservative government approved a law that allowed the updating of old rentals and led to multiple evictions. In parallel, the entry of foreign capital was encouraged through aggressive tax policies (retirees from other countries who moved to Portugal would not pay taxes until 2020) and the creation of seen gold (golden visas), which provided legal residence to non-EU citizens in exchange for real estate investments. The Chinese became the most enthusiastic owners of Lisbon. All of this had one good thing: the face of the city was rehabilitated and beautified. And something very bad: a massive move of Portuguese to the periphery.
“We have lost population in the last 11 years because people were forced to leave not only because of the great economic crisis, but because the right-wing government that existed during the troika years applied measures that allowed people to be kicked out, and that also coincides with the entry on the scene of an apparently harmless activity, tourist apartments, which was deeply invasive for people,” analyzes Miguel Coelho, president of the Parish Board of Santa Maria Maior.
In six historic neighborhoods, 30% of the population has been lost since 2013 and 60% of the homes have been destined for tourist use. The heart of Lisbon has lost local life and now only offers business
The impact of the so-called Cristas law, which unceremoniously liberalized rents, was such that the board ended up developing the Faces of Evictions campaign, where expelled neighbors told their stories. Coelho believes that its impact helped the socialist government of António Costa to introduce some brakes and pursue real estate harassment. In 2018, a moratorium was decreed in saturated areas and a prohibition on opening more tourist apartments in Santa Maria Maior, although Miguel Coelho assures that they are now doing so illegally. In 2023, the Government approved a series of restrictive measures for these businesses that will now be partially reversed by the new center-right Executive.
Even so, the board intends to combat the exodus with a Return to the Neighborhood program, aimed at people who were forced to leave in the last 15 years. One of them could be Tânia Correia, forced to leave the Castle neighborhood when the owners decided to sell the building. “I wanted to buy my apartment, but horizontal division was not allowed and she was forced to sell the entire property. When my contract ended, they did not renew me,” she recalls. Correia grew up in one of the houses built within the wall of St. George’s Castle, where she also wanted to see her son grow up. Although five years ago she had to move to Buraca, on the outskirts of the capital, and now she spends an hour on public transportation to get to her job at a multinational insurance company in the center, El Castillo is still her she neighborhood of her. Her mother remains there, and she only knows a few neighbors. “I can understand that we need to sell our country to capitalize on it because we are poor, but it can be sold to attract luxury tourism and not low cost“, Add.
![Tourists wait for the arrival of the line 46 tram on Augusto Rosa Street, in the historic center of Lisbon.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/ISI6BVZRG5EKVPYMMGUD7MVBOU.jpg?auth=c3656735f70187296b1b994bac95689a0a63dd402a934a608b5f8b33822d8858&width=414)
The law prevents the eviction of elderly residents, but everything else is governed by the market. Where there were tenement houses there are now tourist apartments. Where was the mercearia, the traditional grocery store, now has a modern bar. Collective life, which was structured around school, small businesses and neighborhood associations, languishes, although nostalgic people from the diaspora return every weekend.
Portugal received more tourists (30 million) and income (25 billion euros) than ever in 2023. And Lisbon is a must-see, one of those cities that have built charisma both for the real, its geographical and urban uniqueness, and for the imaginary. If it is a city mourned, longed for, loved and recreated by Amália Rodrigues, Fernando Pessoa, Antonio Tabucchi or Antonio Muñoz Molina, how can it not captivate the 700,000 cruise passengers who last year made a tour quick to taste a port, photograph Liberty Avenue from the top of Eduardo VII Park and be dazzled by the reflections of the sun on the tiles?
Visitors now enter new stores that look old while the authentic ones disappear. Casa Senna recently closed after 189 years in Chiado, as did the Ferin bookstore. Being one of the most beautiful and the second oldest—it was founded in 1840—did not save it from disaster. In the disputed heart of tourists there is only room for a historic bookstore. And none, no matter how old, can compete with Bertrand, opened in 1732 and, therefore, according to Guinness, the oldest in the world. A few meters away, the historic Paris in Lisbon, which offers linen and cotton bed and table linens, has put up a sign warning groups not to crowd in front of its window. Opened in the 19th century, it is one of the few traditional businesses that still survives in Chiado, amidst the fever of shops. paste of cream, magnets and Bacalhau pastries.
Just as people, institutions and businesses related to culture are also being expelled to the periphery
Vintage is on the rise as decoration for tourists. The traditional is displaced. Bad times for a cultural institution like the Academia de Amadores de Música, founded in 1884 in the center of Lisbon and forced to abandon its current headquarters on Nova da Trindade Street within a year. After overcoming the effects of the Cristas law for a decade, the owners took advantage of a legal loophole in 2023 to raise the monthly rent from 540 to 3,800 euros. “Only with a patron could we afford the rents in the area,” says its president, Pedro Martins Barata.
The Academy is part of the cultural and political history of Lisbon. Among his partners were the writers José Saramago and José Cardoso Pires, and among his teachers, great composers. Perhaps without the Academy, Madredeus would not have existed, the group that triumphed throughout the world with its demand for traditional music outside of fado, since both the vocalist Teresa Salgueiro and the guitarist Pedro Ayres Magalhães were trained at the school.
Like people, institutions and businesses related to culture are also expelled to the periphery. Pedro Martins Barata loves his city but no longer recognizes it: “When I go to Baixa or Chiado, I feel like I’m in an amusement park for foreigners. The idea of Chiado as the center of Lisbon’s cultural life has already disappeared. Except for theaters and museums, which cannot be altered, almost everything is a store of international brands or brands. souvenirs. “Tourism has decimated everything.”
#Lisbon #dying #success