![\"lisbon](\"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/lisbonne-alfama-a-brasileira.jpg\")
<\/a>In the neighbourhoods of Alcantara and Cais do Sodre, and so on up the waterfront as far as Santa Apolonia station, the docks have been converted into trendy places where young people whiten their nights, scattering from overcrowded bars to overexcited clubs, getting drunk on electro under the lasers at LUX or rocking out to Afrohouse and Cape Verdean rhythms at the legendary Disco B Leza club, reopened in 2012 in a former warehouse. It's a real joyride, but one that starts very late, perhaps too late for the average business tourist. \"The atmosphere doesn't build until well after 1am,<\/em> explains Candice Gambetta, Sales Manager at Citytravel. However, to offer a glimpse of Lisbon's nightlife, we sometimes take the Urban Beach private.<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n When daylight returns, it's working life that is addressed in a very contemporary way on the banks of the 25 April Bridge, whose red silhouette is reminiscent of San Francisco's Golden Gate. Could it be that a new generation with a Silicon Valley mindset has subconsciously decided to settle here? Perhaps it's simply to seize the opportunity to convert brownfield sites into coworking spaces. For example, Village Underground Lisboa has set up shop in a tram depot, converted old containers into workplaces and even left old double-decker buses to the inventiveness of graffiti artists. Nearby, the LX Factory - LX being the abbreviation for Lisbon - has revamped a textile factory into a creative space, again with coworking spaces, but above all with designer boutiques and vintage furniture, artists' studios, trendy bars and restaurants such as A Pra\u00e7a and the caf\u00e9-library Ler Devagar. This little bohemian village is very popular in the evenings, but also on Sundays, when its streets are transformed into a lively second-hand clothing and goods fair.<\/p>\n For a long time, she had difficulty with anything new, but Lisbon is now daring. \"The mentality has changed over the last few years,<\/em> says Maria Joao Rocha, Sales Director. Was it a legacy of Salazarism? The fact remains that we felt we were not as good as the others. As a result, artists had to go out and make a name for themselves. But today, a street art star like Vihls, who made his name in Berlin, is coming back to Lisbon.<\/em>For Carla Fontes, Marketing Director of the InterContinental Hotel, the crisis has pushed people \"into a frenzy of activity\".to create new things, a new craft using cork, a new way of farming. Even fado is evolving under the impetus of young artists like Cuca Roseta and Ana Moura.<\/em>\"<\/p>\n Although the event is now almost twenty years old, the hosting of the Universal Expo in 1998 helped to boost this state of mind. For the occasion, and like other cities around the world - but before most of them - Lisbon remodelled an industrial no-man's-land to the north of the city into a new urban hub, thereby kick-starting the reclamation of the Tagus. Lined up close to the water, the pavilions have been linked by a long promenade lined with green spaces. At the same time, to achieve this metamorphosis, the former Expo site, now renamed Parc des Nations, invited leading architects such as Santiago Calatrava for the futuristic Oriente station, Peter Chermayeff for the Oceanario, Joao Luis Carrilho da Gra\u00e7a for the Knowledge pavilion and one of the great local figures, Alvaro Siza Vieira, winner of the 1992 Pritzker Prize, for the Portugal pavilion.<\/p>\n Since then, these buildings have been converted. While the Atlantico pavilion, a kind of large upside-down shell, has been transformed into a multifunctional auditorium called the MEO Arena, the participating countries pavilion has become the FIL (Feira Internacional de Lisboa) exhibition centre. \"Thanks to them, we are still benefiting from the 98 effect by hosting major events at the Parc des Nations, all in one place and just a ten-minute drive from both the airport and the city centre.<\/em>\"explains Celia Marques, Head of Sales at the Lisbon Convention Bureau. For example, the city has won a three-year contract from Dublin to host the Web Summit, one of Europe's leading high-tech events, starting in 2016. The Parc des Nations will also soon be the setting for an event organised by a major French company, bringing together 2,500 people. However, the district is also suitable for smaller events, with the FIL meeting centre and its rough concrete walls able to accommodate up to 500 people, while the Knowledge Pavilion organises cocktails and banquets for 200 to 300 participants in a futuristic atmosphere. A small robot has recently been hired to welcome guests.<\/p>\n From the Parc des Nations, slightly to the north-east of the historic centre and the many museums in the Belem district, there is one obvious route to these other cultural hotspots: the Tagus, of course. \"Speed boats run from the Parc des Nations to the docks,<\/em> explains Antonio Rosado Cruz, Sales Manager at Cordialtours. During incentive breaks, we invariably include a cruise to let you appreciate the city from the river.<\/em>\"<\/p>\n Once disembarked in Belem, to the west of the city, visitors are treated to a contrast between the Lisbon of yesteryear and the Lisbon of tomorrow. In terms of history, the Lisbon of yesteryear, the Belem Tower that defended access to the river and the Hieronymites monastery are sublime examples of the Manueline style, which exuberantly interprets the canons of late Gothic with marine motifs. Ropes, shells and anchors are all references to the fact that Portugal was the world's leading maritime power at the end of the 15th century. On the modern side, the clear lines of the architecture of the new carriage museum, designed by the Brazilian Paulo Mendes da Rocha, showcase one of the richest collections of ceremonial carriages in the world - cars of the very latest style, as the Portuguese court demanded the very best to demonstrate its power - and the masterpieces of contemporary art in the Berardo collection.<\/p>\n Housed in the Belem cultural centre, a sober building no doubt so as not to overshadow the magnificence of the Hieronymites monastery just opposite, this museum presents almost a thousand minimalist, conceptual and arte povera works, as well as works by the great names of cubism and English and American pop art. As a final touch, the outdoor garden hosts arty evenings, where participants circulate among statues by Henry Moore in particular. Without a doubt, the guests appreciate the privilege of being there; without knowing that, on the other side of the street, others feel the same way as they dine in the cloister of the monastery, one of the most beautiful in the world and which can be privatised in an exceptional way.<\/p>\n While the Belem district can be visited during the day, corporate groups can take a day trip across the Tagus to the centre of Lisbon on an electrico, a vintage tram that has been hopping up and down the city's steep streets for ages, to the point where it has become one of Lisbon's emblems. \"What bands are looking for above all is authenticity,<\/em> says Candice Gambetta, from Citytravel. Our programmes include one or two museum visits, but no more than that, to give you time to soak up the atmosphere of the city.<\/em>\"So you have to be prepared to give in to tradition, especially when it has so many charms: Climb to the top of the Arch of Triumph on rue Augusta to admire the lower city, the Baixa; stroll through the Alfama and its houses with azulejo-covered walls; climb - in an electric tuk tuk for those in a hurry or lazy, like those offered by Eco Tuk Tours - to the Sao Jorge castle, the Moorish citadel reconquered by Dom Afonso Herniques in 1147, which offers its esplanade for grandiose cocktails overlooking the whole city at sunset.<\/p>\n To round off the evening, the Chiado and Bairro Alto districts show that Lisbon is first and foremost a party town. In their narrow streets, Lisboans come across the youth of the world, with their Erasmus passports under their arms, re-enacting the Portuguese version of L'Auberge espagnole. \"I don't have any particular addresses to recommend, just let yourself be carried away by the atmosphere.<\/em>\"explains Antonio Rosado Cruz. Every night has its own surprise. You have to wander around as you please, always with the chance of spending an unforgettable moment, whether in the trendy surroundings of the Silk Club, a club whose rooftop offers a 270\u00b0 view of the city, or in the crowd of bars in the Rue de Alataia and its bohemian surroundings, where jazz tunes emerge here and more contemporary music there. Elsewhere, of course, fado.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>PAINTINGS FROM AN EXHIBITION<\/h3>\n
<\/a>SPEED BOAT ON THE TAGE<\/h3>\n
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