1590 PORTUGAL (Lisbon) - Bairro da Sé in Lisbon

The municipality of Lisbon, the capital and the largest city of Portugal, included 53 freguesias (civil parishes) until November 2012, when a new law reduced the number of them to 24. Locally, the inhabitants may more commonly refer to the spaces of Lisbon in terms of historic bairros (neighbourhoods). These communities have no clearly defined boundaries and represent distinctive quarters of the city that have in common a historical culture, similar living standards, and identifiable architectural landmarks. The oldest bairro of Lisbon is Alfama, which spreads down the southern slope from the Castle of São Jorge to the River Tagus. Its name, derived from the Arabic Al-hamma, means fountains or baths.

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