Lisbon

The roller coaster that is Lisbon is on the rise again

In its golden age, Lisbon gained a reputation as the eighth wonder of the world. Travelers returning from the city boasted that its riches rivaled those of Venice. As one of the greatest maritime centers in history, Portugal’s capital imported exotic wares from the far-flung corners of its empire. The extensive contact signaled a new era in world trade, and Lisbon sat at the center of a great maritime empire, a hub of commerce for Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Today, after a decades-long slumber, there is excitement again in this luminous city. Construction went on around the clock as Lisbon prepared for EXPO '98, which marked the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's journey to India. Lisbon welcomed the world to its doorstep, and the visitors found a brighter, fresher city, as they continue to do today.

No longer the provincial town it once was, Lisbon has blossomed into a cosmopolitan city often beset with construction pains. Some of the formerly clogged streets of the Baixa have been turned into cobblestone pedestrian malls, and Lisbon is growing and evolving, making the city considerably more sophisticated than it once was, no doubt due in part to Portugal's joining the E.U.

© 2009, Wiley Publishing, Inc.