NESSIE on the run

Sunday, June 30, 2013

LISBON | LER DEVAGAR

In my last post I mentioned how my favourite stop at Lx Factory was, unsurprisingly, a bookshop. I had actually heard about Ler Devagar from friends and magazines (as well as a few "Most Beautiful Bookshops" type of lists around the internet) but I had no idea I would find it at Lx Factory, and I almost passed it by unnoticed until my mum pointed to the door and said, "I have a feeling you'll like this."

This beautiful bookshop seems to have kept most of its building's original factory-like structure, uneven mezzanine and all, and its walls are lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books of a vast variety of themes and genres.

Although most of the books are portuguese editions, you can also find a few others in different languages - particularly textbooks. The photo above shows a detail of a display table dedicated to used books, which I greatly appreciate in independent bookshops.

Besides selling books, this store includes two cafés: one downstairs and another upstairs, in the aforementioned mezzanine. I remember going into Borders every morning whenever we visited New York to start the day with breakfast at the coffeeshop upstairs while browsing for books. Then of course Borders closed down, but there is something terribly satisfying about having coffee or a snack surrounded by books, and I was happy to see that Ler Devagar follows this philosophy.

I am not sure what the meaning of the bicycle decoration hanging above the shop means, but it adds a great touch to the place. Even if you forget the name of the bookshop, you can always remember it by "the one with the flying cyclist."

I will admit that I walked away empty-handed, but I look forward to another visit to Ler Devagar. Hopefuly next time I'll be joined by some of my friends/enablers.

Have you been here yet? Let me know what are some of your favourite independent bookshops.

Ler Devagar

Lx Factory

Rua Rodrigues da Silva, 103, G0.3
1300 - 501 Lisboa

Thursday, May 30, 2013

LISBON | LX FACTORY

This year for Mother's Day - which in Portugal is celebrated on the first sunday of May, so... this post comes a bit late - my mum and I drove to Alcântara in the morning to browse the sunday market at LX Factory.

I had personally never been to LX Factory before, but I'd heard great things about it from friends and magazines alike. Last summer my mum came here often to visit a fellow decorator's studio so she knew the place, though she hadn't yet been to the sunday market. So what is LX Factory? It used to be an industrial space, and has now been turned into what they call "a creative island", housing several unique shops, cozy cafés and gourmet restaurants.

On sundays the outside area hosts a second-hand market, with some handmade things thrown in to the mix. Since my mum is an early bird, most of the market stands were still being put together or simply absent when we arrived, which gave us an oportunity to walk around on that nice spring morning and look around the shops before the crowds arrived.

I was very surprised with myself for not buying anything (other than the homemade chocolate I bought for my mother,) but I must admit the market itself wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Maybe I went on a bad day, who knows. There are plenty of interesting antiques, records, a few pieces of cute handmade clothing... but I guess nothing really tickled my fancy that day. Can't say my wallet didn't appreciate that!

(The best part about this visit for me was stepping inside the Ler Devagar bookshop, but I'll dedicate it an entire different post. Spoilers: it is amazing.)

Towards lunch hour the sun starts to hit you right in the head and there is barely any shade to protect you from the awful heat, which doesn't really work for me and my heat intolerance. But hey, that's Lisbon for you, and each to their one. Lunch hour is when it starts to get busier though, there are more market stands to browse and more people to bump into. I must say the restaurants look absolutely delicious, even if they are not exactly cheap. We just drove back to Cascais to have some sushi buffet instead.