This one thing about Lisbon STUNNED me instantly [English Practice]

Picture this. Sunshine. Custard tarts, warm from the oven. Golden light bouncing off beautiful tiles.

The sound of Fado. F-A-D-O. That's traditional Portuguese music. Beautiful and sad. Where am I? It sounds lovely, doesn't it?

This is Lisbon in 2026. A really wonderful city to visit. And I was there in May this year, so in this episode I'll talk about my trip while giving you the opportunity to do some great English language learning. And this may even encourage you to visit Lisbon or properly Lisboa as it's called within Portugal. I'll

tell you about the things I did and saw in Lisboa and at the end I'll give you an important piece of advice if you're thinking of visiting this capital city. Now if you arrive in Lisboa in May, one of the things you notice is the light. There is something beautiful about the light in this city and the

buildings are painted pale yellow, pink and terracotta. And everywhere you look there are tiles. That's T-I-L-E-S in English.

But in Portuguese these are 'azulejos'. That's A-Z-U-L-E-J-O-S. Azulejos. And these are the glazed ceramic squares that cover the fronts of buildings.

Many of them have geometric patterns. Some show saints and ships and moments from history. And some of these are really beautiful. I love the idea of a house front covered in ceramic tiles.

And of course Portugal is known for its tiles and ceramics. Some of these tiles are falling into disrepair though and that's a shame. If something is 'in disrepair' it means it needs attention, it needs repair or mending. So that's the 'azulejos'. Lisboa is also known for being a hilly city.

So it's full of Miradouros. M-I-R-A-D-O-U-R-O. And a miradouro is literally 'a viewpoint'. And a Lisboa miradouro is often a terrace high up on a hill with a tiny kiosk selling coffee and drinks.

And the views in Lisboa are fantastic. There are terracotta rooftops sloping down to the river. And the coastline around Lisboa is complicated. So everywhere you look there is water. Often the sea, sometimes the river. One of these miradouros that we visited, Castelo de São Jorge. In English I guess that would be St

George's Castle. Castelo de São Jorge was built in the 11th century. In an era when North African and Muslim people ruled Portugal. Commonly referred to in English as 'the Moors'. M-O-O-R-S. And we talk about 'Moorish architecture'. Castelo de São Jorge is a beautiful site. And there are great views

from all around the castle. One of the things we particularly enjoyed there, well the place is full of peacocks. Those beautiful blue birds that open their tail.