A HIP DESIGN DISTRICT ON THE SPRAWLING GROUNDS OF AN OLD LISBON FACTORY COMPLEX

by YouShouldGoHere
July 28, 2013
in Do This, Go Here
3

[LISBON] — In a tucked away corner of Lisboa, in the no-man’s land between the core of Lisboa and Belem, is the bustling new design and arts district, the cornerstone of which is the LX Factory. Set on movie-set looking ground of an old manufacturing district, the LX Factory is a great place to get away from the more tourist parts and hang out amid the design firms, production studios, restaurants and shops — all having a design-centered focus. Very cool retail and restaurants, even a hotel, all tucked under the constant roar of the off/on ramps to the Big Bridge. It’s a destination place, so don’t do what I did and try to walk there from Barrio Alto on a 98 degree day! The cool thing is they didn’t gloss it up, but kept the place to its core history, with wonderful decay and industrial bones still in place.

Two great places to be sure to check out: the 1300 Taberna restaurant, set in beautiful space with factory skylights and extremely nice people and, the Ler Devagar bookstore — which is the store that attracted me to this special place and often cited as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. It is set amidst an old printing plant, which like the rest of the area, they left all the old parts in place, so the whole bookstore is built around the old two story printing press, with seats, racks and even a cafe nestled amidst the old printing units, catwalks and folders. So cool. Worth the trip. A lot happenin’ here.

Also, there’s a restaurant around the corner owned by Tito Paris, one of my favorite musicians, who plays a cool Cape Verde-an style of songs and fados. Casa de Morna.

1300 Taberna

Ler Devagar bookstore

Ler Devagar bookstore — A cafe tucked under the dormant printing units and catwalks

Ler Devagar bookstore — An entire bookstore built around what brung it, an old printing press, perfectly left in place. I used to sell printing presses in my first job, so you can imagine how I crawled all over this place. Not to mention the books, cafe and CDs.