Literary itinerary: Pessoa, Saramago and Camões

Portugal is a country of poets. It has a national epic, Luís de Camões's The Lusiads, which tells of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India; one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, Fernando Pessoa, who wrote under dozens of different names; and a Nobel laureate, José Saramago, who turned the country's history into visionary novels. In Lisbon writers' statues sit at café tables, their lines are painted on walls and stairways, and every neighbourhood has a page to tell.

This eight-day itinerary begins in the Lisbon of Pessoa and Saramago, climbs to romantic Sintra, which enchanted Byron, visits the great convent of Mafra, the setting of a Saramago novel, and his home village of Azinhaga, passes through the university of Coimbra, where Camões studied, and ends in Porto, with the most photographed bookshop in the world. A journey for those who love reading and want to discover Portugal through its books.

Three writers, one country

Luís de Camões (c. 1524-1580) studied in Coimbra, fought in Africa, where he lost an eye, and spent years travelling in India and China; legend says he saved the manuscript of The Lusiads by swimming ashore from a shipwreck. The epic, published in 1572, is the great story of the Portuguese discoveries. Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) spent almost his whole life in Lisbon, working as a translator of business letters, and published only one book in Portuguese in his lifetime, Message; he wrote under many heteronyms, invented poets with their own biographies and styles, such as Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos. At his death he left a trunk with more than twenty thousand sheets of paper. José Saramago (1922-2010), the son of peasants, was a mechanic, journalist and late-blooming novelist, and won the Nobel Prize in 1998. See Portuguese literature.

Day 1: Pessoa's Chiado

Start in Chiado, the elegant quarter of cafés and bookshops. Outside the café A Brasileira, opened in 1905, a bronze Pessoa sits at an outdoor table, and there is always someone sitting next to him for a photo. A few steps away, on Largo de São Carlos, a plaque and a sculpture mark the house where he was born, opposite the opera house. On Largo Camões stands the statue of the poet of The Lusiads, and a little further down that of Eça de Queirós, author of The Maias, embracing a naked woman who represents Truth. Visit the Livraria Bertrand, founded in 1732 and considered the oldest bookshop in the world still trading. In the evening go down to the Baixa, the merchants' city where Bernardo Soares, narrator of The Book of Disquiet, worked, and have a coffee at Martinho da Arcada, on Praça do Comércio, where Pessoa had his own table. See Baixa and Chiado.

Where to stay: in Lisbon, for three nights.

Day 2: Saramago and the Alfama

In the morning go to the Casa dos Bicos, a 16th-century palace with a diamond-pointed façade, home to the José Saramago Foundation. The exhibition tells the story of the writer's life and books, and in front of the house, beneath an olive tree brought from his village, lie his ashes. Then climb into the Alfama, the oldest quarter, which Saramago describes in The History of the Siege of Lisbon, up to the Santa Luzia viewpoint and São Jorge castle. If you have read The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, you can follow the character's steps between the Hotel Bragança, the Alto de Santa Catarina and the statue of Adamastor. See the Alfama.

Day 3: the Pessoa House and Belém

In the morning take tram 28 to Campo de Ourique to visit the Fernando Pessoa House, the flat where the poet lived his last fifteen years, now a cultural centre with his room, the famous trunk, a library of his annotated books and a space devoted to the heteronyms. In the afternoon go to Belém, where the Jerónimos Monastery holds the tombs of Vasco da Gama and Camões in the church and, in the cloister, Pessoa's tomb. Have a pastel de Belém at the historic pastry shop. See Belém and trams and viewpoints.

Day 4: Sintra

Sintra (about forty minutes by train) is the quintessential romantic town, all forests, palaces and mists. In 1809 the young Lord Byron visited and in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage called it a "glorious Eden"; in Eça de Queirós's The Maias the characters come here to stroll. Visit the National Palace, with its great conical chimneys, the Pena Palace, coloured like a fairy tale on the mountain top, and the Quinta da Regaleira, with its initiation well and grottoes. Return to Lisbon in the evening. See Sintra.

Day 5: Mafra and Azinhaga

Pick up the car and drive to Mafra (about forty minutes). The palace-convent, built by King John V in the 18th century with Brazilian gold, is one of the largest buildings in Europe, and its construction is told by Saramago in Baltasar and Blimunda (Memorial do Convento), the novel that made him famous: the love story of Baltasar and Blimunda among thousands of labourers. Visit the library, with 36,000 antique volumes and a colony of bats that eats the insects that would otherwise damage the books at night. See Mafra.

In the afternoon drive to Azinhaga (about an hour and a quarter), the village on the banks of the Tagus where Saramago was born and spent his childhood, recalled in Small Memories. A statue of the writer sits on a bench in the square, and a small centre recalls his life. Then continue to Coimbra (about an hour and a quarter).

Where to stay: in Coimbra.

Day 6: Coimbra

For centuries Coimbra was Portugal's only university, and its University, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, crowns the hill. Camões and generations of poets studied here. Visit the 18th-century Joanina Library, one of the most beautiful in the world, with gilded shelves of exotic wood and, here too, bats that protect the books; the Hall of Acts and the tower. Go down into the old town for the Sé Velha, the Romanesque cathedral, and in the evening listen to Coimbra fado, sung by students in black capes. See Coimbra.

Day 7: to Porto

Return the car and take the train to Porto (about an hour). In the afternoon visit the Livraria Lello, opened in 1906, with its ribbon-like red wooden staircase and stained-glass ceiling: one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world. There is an entrance ticket, deducted from the price of a book. Then stroll along rua de Santa Catarina to the Café Majestic, an Art Nouveau café from 1921. See Porto and central Porto.

Where to stay: in Porto, for one night, or two if you can.

Day 8: Porto

On the last day go down to the Ribeira, the riverside quarter, cross the Luís I bridge and visit a port wine lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia. Eça de Queirós fans can take a trip up the Douro valley to the Casa de Tormes, the country house described in his novel The City and the Mountains. Fly home from Porto Airport.

How much it costs

To save money: the Lisboa Card covers public transport and many museums; in Portugal a coffee at the counter costs under a euro, even in historic cafés if you stand. In tascas a lunch of the dish of the day costs €10-12.

Practical information

• Bookings: buy tickets for Livraria Lello and Pena Palace online; the Joanina Library is visited at fixed times.
• Lisbon on foot: the city is all ups and downs, with stone paving that gets slippery in the rain; wear comfortable shoes. See calçada portuguesa.
• Tram 28: the most famous and the most crowded; board at the terminus or early in the morning, and watch out for pickpockets.
• Mondays: many Lisbon museums close on Mondays.
• Documents: EU citizens only need a valid identity card. See getting to Portugal.

Variations

• Óbidos: the walled village that became a "literary town", with bookshops in churches and markets; see Óbidos.
• Lanzarote: Saramago spent his last years in the Canaries, where his house is now a museum.
• Fado: Amália Rodrigues's songs set to poems by great poets; see the fado itinerary.

What to read before you go

By Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet and a selection of his poems; by Saramago, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis for Lisbon and Baltasar and Blimunda for Mafra; and, for an Italian in love with Lisbon, Antonio Tabucchi's Pereira Maintains. See also saudade.

Final tips

• Pace: Lisbon deserves at least three days; don't overfill them, leave time for cafés and viewpoints.
• Combinations: from Lisbon you can link up with the fado itinerary; from Porto with the Douro and port wine itinerary.
• A tip: at Martinho da Arcada, order a coffee and a glass of aguardente as Pessoa did, and open The Book of Disquiet at random: every page seems written for that square.

See also our other itineraries in Portugal.

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