What's considered rude that travelers do in Lisbon?
Lisbon has a few friction points worth knowing before you arrive. Speaking Spanish to locals is the most reliably irritating one — Portuguese and Spanish are not interchangeable, and Lisboetas notice. Entering a pastelaria, ordering, and immediately leaving without sitting or at least pausing reads as transactional in a city where cafés are social infrastructure. Photographing people in Mouraria or Alfama without acknowledgment, particularly elderly residents sitting outside, is considered intrusive rather than charming street photography. Loud group behavior on trams — especially Tram 28, which is a functional commuter line, not a theme park ride — irritates both locals and the operators. Haggling at established shops is uncommon and unwelcome; flea markets like Feira da Ladra are the exception. Finally, showing up to a fado show at a house like Tasca do Chico and treating it as background noise while you talk through performances is genuinely disrespectful in a context where silence is understood as the baseline courtesy.
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