Lisbon has a magnificent setting on hills at the mouth of the Tagus, which broadens into an inland sea, the Mar de Palha, before passing through a channel to reach the ocean. By convention the hills are seven, like those of Rome, but in fact the slopes are many and some very steep. On the height to the east stands the castle of St George, formerly regarded as the true seat of authority. It is separated from another height, the Alto, by a cleft, once an arm of the sea, and the city grew up between these and the water-front. It has now spread in all three directions on the north bank and has acquired suburbs on the other side, the Outra Banda. From a height, as the aeroplane approaches, it is a maze of red tiles and white walls, with the hills of Palmela and the sandy shores curving away toward the south. On landing, the missing dimension is restored and the vision becomes reality.

The airport at Portela de Sacavém is by modern standards near the centre: about four miles. It joins function with fantasy in the fashion of today, not architecture, but marbled like a bank with a façade of fountains. The taxi-rank is orderly, and there are buses; the underground, the Metro, is still on the way. The hotels are mainly near the centre. Lisbon sprawls but most of its inhabitants are flat-dwellers and its centre is compact; for the same reason, it is subject to traffic-jams in the busy hours and agreeably quiet at weekends. Much of the Baixa, the lower town, is easily covered on foot, and more of the city by the underground. The yellow trams which were one of the joys of Lisbon have been greatly reduced and replaced by long vehicles with trailers, or by buses of one or two decks. It is perhaps necessary, for, like all other cities, Lisbon has been overwhelmed by the proliferation of private cars. But it is a pity that Lisbon transport, like London buses, should be disfigured by aggressive and tasteless advertising. There are four elevators, three of them funicular, to avoid climbing the steeper places.

The castle of St George with its light fawn-coloured walls stands out above the city and is a useful landmark, being visible from many points.