We came upon the Conserveira de Lisboa purely by chance, on a rainy day in Lisbon when we were making our way up the hill to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. Seeing a brightly coloured window we took shelter under its blind for a while and then got drawn in to the shop out of curiosity to see what it was selling.
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It seemed a little unlikely to find a Lisbon sardine shop selling only colourful tins of canned fish. But if it was to be found anywhere in the world, it had to be in Lisbon. Here the smell of grilled sardines invites you in to many a cafe in summer, especially by the seaside. In fact we found that it wasn’t just sardines, but also anchovies, tuna and other kinds of tinned fish.
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Now, I can’t say I’m a great sardine lover, but I must say that I was seduced by the slightly kitsch, retro paper packaging around each tin and the way that they were stacked up invitingly on the shelves. In the corner was a lady, deftly wrapping all the tins up in their decorative paper. These people had certainly made sardines into an art form!
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Conserveira de Lisboa website | Rua dos Bacalhoeiros 34, 1100 Lisboa, Portugal
They’d obviously sussed out what random passers by like us might purchase and we soon had a couple of little taster packs of four different kinds of tinned fish in our bags – ready perhaps to make some fishy aperitifs. You can guess what some of our nearest and dearest got for their Christmas presents.
So if you’re passing that way, or if sardines on toast are your favourite meal, or if you’re looking for an unusual souvenir of Lisbon, then pop into this quirky sardine store in Lisbon and check out a shop full of sardines at the Conserveira de Lisboa.
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This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com
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Jasmin
Wednesday 24th of July 2013
Hello, I enjoy reading through your post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
Saturday Six #12 - Misadventures with Andi
Tuesday 19th of March 2013
[...] I do also love Spanish and Portuguese sardines and I will now have to go on a pilgrimage to this store that Heather of Heather on her Travels shared. It is on the [...]
minh nguyen
Thursday 23rd of August 2012
I am desperately looking for a store in NYC that would import those Tricana sardines cans. I would be so grateful if you could help me. I accidentally tried the only can of Tricana sardines in tomato my daughter got as a gift from a friend. I loved it but she is angry at me. I need to return one can to her and get more for myself. Thank you
Seafood on the beach at the Chiringuito in Spain | Heather on her travels
Friday 30th of July 2010
[...] sweet taste of Horchata – in Valencia A shop full of sardines at Conserveira de Lisboa – in Lisbon A seafood feast at Limski Kanal – in Istria, Croatia #flickr_badge_source_txt {padding:0; [...]
Sherry Ott
Tuesday 2nd of March 2010
The packaging sounds and looks adorable...I think I would have bought some too! Fun when you can stumble upon gems like that!