Lisbon

Lisbon - darkometer rating : 2 - The capital of Portugal is not only a great city to visit in its own right (it is in fact one of my favourites !), it also offers a few comparatively hidden gems for people interested in dark tourism. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Lisbon is a grand old city that was once the nerve centre of an entire colonialist empire. And there are references to this to be found in the city too (not least the rather pompous “Explorers’ Monument” in Belém – see below ). For more general historical background see also this stand-alone chapter on Portuguese History ! A particularly dark chapter in Lisbon’s history was the devastating earthquake of 1755, one of the worst to ever hit anywhere in Europe! The ruins of the Carmo Church that have been preserved still stand as a stark reminder of this catastrophe. The city had suffered severe earthquakes before, but this was a disastrous event that shocked the rest of Europe. It remains one of the historically most significant such disasters in human history. The rebuilding of the city created the entirely new district of Baixa, with its right-angled street grid pattern and representative monumental buildings on the waterfront around Praça do Comércio. More recently, Lisbon, as the country's capital, was also the seat of the right-wing dictatorship regime that ruled the country for over 40 years. But it was also the place where this era was ended in the so-called Carnation Revolution of 1974 – see under history .