Interview with Cláudio Carneiro (Lisbon Spotter)

Today an interview with Cláudio Carneiro, Spotter for our Lisbon cityblog

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’ve been Brazilian for all my life, Portuguese for the last years. And although I really enjoy being Portuguese, above all I enjoy being European. My friends know that if I could, I would live every second year in a new country, live life in other cities, find out my own private spots. Since I cannot be in all countries at the same time, I try to have friends in all of them, and believe me, good ones! This way I can experience living there, even for a short time.

I’m kind of a “Bon Vivant”. I enjoy good food and good wine and non-stop leisure. Its not hard to guess that from my spots. I mostly write about restaurants, and I can blame on Portuguese people for that. I do believe no other european people dinner out so much. But I’m not complaining here. I’m just saying I feel like a fish in the water.

When I think about my life, my friends, my love life and all the places I’m able to visit, it’s happiness I feel. No kidding.

How do yo like being a Spotter?
The best thing about being a spotter is visiting other spotter’s spots. I really love reading the spots description and then try them all. I know I probably won’t enjoy all the spots, but visiting a spot through a spotter’s eye is different, since I’m visiting a place someone likes enough to tell the world about it. The second best is when I read nice comments in one of my spots. Not only it makes me proud of myself, but makes me come back quickly to that spot, as a kind of finishing line, with a prize.

Why Lisbon?
I’m crazy about history, the ancient world and mainly castles. Lisbon has all of these, plus a great night life, which gets better and better, a sunlight no one can find in any other city and wonderful beaches just a few minutes away.
When visiting Lisbon you have to remember, and that is not very hard, that Portuguese cuisine is one of the best in the world and that Portuguese wine is indeed very good and inexpensive. So try as many different Portuguese plates as possible, drink portuguese wine, have lots of fun and take advantage of the wonderful city which insists in showing us, throughout the many belvederes, how beautiful and modest a city can be.

What do you know about Lisbon what no tourist will know?
I know lisbon has a total different pace. It’s charm is in it’s music, Fado, and in its poetry. So, to enjoy the city it’s necessary to slow down, give it time for wandering around, for listening and mainly for paying attention to the details. Lisbon is full of secrets, but they are not hidden, it’s there for every one that stops and watch.

What is the most popular neighborhood to live in Lisbon at this moment?
Mainly all the historical neighborhoods are trendy, but the winners are Chiado, Santa Catarina and Principe Real. Incredibly, living in these places, you can live close to everything and feel like living in a small town, but with everything a metropolis has.

Can you describe a perfect day in your city?
It would be sunny, which is not very difficult. I would wake up early and have breakfast in Botica do Cafe.

Then head to the beach, on the other side of the Tagus river, and get some tan till lunch time. Back to Lisbon, I would have lunch in Trempe, on the outside tables. Then have some cupcakes from city cakes for dessert.

The afternoon I would spend in saint George castle, and then walk around visiting the Roman theater and wondering around Alfama. The sunset I could watch from Portas do Sol, the bar with the best view.

Then a play or a concert followed by dinner at restaurant Spot Sao Luiz, which would be not be a problem, since its in a theater.. I’m just a few steps from Bairro Alto, so night would go on with drinks at Bairru’s Bodega and the rest would be a mistery …

Check out all Cláudio Carneiro’s articles and the other interviews with our Spotters.