Café A Brasileira

When this café opened in 1905, customers not only got a free bica when they bought a bag of beans, but the waiters were courteous too. These days prices are steep and the service is off-hand. Inside is a little cheaper and you can gawp at the carved wood interior and modern art. At its 1920s peak, A Brasileira contributed greatly to the idea that while Coimbra studied and Oporto worked, Lisbon talked and made revolution. Now it's all about tourists taking snaps by the Pessoa statue or listening to buskers playing in the square. It only really has any atmosphere after midnight, when flotsam from the Bairro Alto - including the odd tipsy local intellectual - washes in.