Portugal Visitor Guide

Chafariz do Carmo, Lisbon

The Chafariz do Carmo (Carmo Fountain) stands in Largo do Carmo, outside the ruined Convento do Carmo in Santa Maria Maior, central Lisbon.

Chafariz do Carmo

History

The fountain was built in 1771 to distribute water from the Águas Livres Aqueduct via an underground tunnel - the Galeria do Loreto.

Also in the square is the Palácio dos Condes de Valadares and the GNR Museum (Museu da Guarda Nacional Republicana).

During the 1974 Carnation Revolution, Marcello Caetano, who had succeeded Salazar as Prime Minister, sought refuge in the Carmo barracks. The building was surrounded by members of the Movimento das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces Movement or MFA) including Salgueiro Maia, who persuaded Caetano and his followers to surrender to General Spinola, the leader of the MFA.

Palácio dos Condes de Valadares

The Palácio dos Condes de Valadares stands on the site where the first Portuguese university was founded during the reign of D. Dinis, before being transferred to Coimbra. Often used as a school, the building is presently vacant.

The square is one of the most pleasant in the city lined with jacaranda trees and pavement cafes ideal for a relaxing cup of coffee or glass of wine.

The Chafariz do Carmo fountain dates from 1771

Access - Getting There

Visitors can reach the square on the Santa Justa Elevator, which connects Largo do Carmo to Baixa Pombalina, close to both Rossio Station and Restauradores Station.

The fountain is opposite the Convento do Carmo

Lisbon Related

Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa

Bairro Alto Map

Vintage Port

Vintage port refers to port wine made from the grapes of a single, exceptional year. It then spends no more than two years or two and a half years in a barrel or stainless steel cask before being bottled. Wines age much more slowly in a bottle than a barrel. Vintage ports require between 10 to 40 years of aging in the bottle.

Late Bottled Vintage Port

Vintage ports are often bottled with their grape lees and thus should usually be settled and decanted before drunk.

Single quinta vintage ports are vintage ports made from a single quinta rather than from several wine estates.

Vintage ports make up about 2-3% of the port market and vintages are only usually declared around 3 times a decade on average to guarantee their high price and standing. Vintage port years include 1945, 1963, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2007.

The IVDP - Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto - is the final arbiter as to whether a wine can be declared vintage or not.

All the major wine lodges such as Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Gould Campbell, Graham, Osborne, Offley, Sandeman, Taylor, and Warre in Vila Nova de Gaia across the River Douro from Ribeira in Porto produce vintage port.

Late Bottled Vintages

Late Bottled Vintage Ports (LBVs) are produced from grapes from a single year. However, they spend more than 2 years in the barrel or cask, typically 4-6 years and are ready to drink once bottled, though continue to age in the bottle for a few more years.