Procópio, behind the iron gate
Procópio is hidden in a small alley off Rua do Século, behind an iron gate that gives no indication anything is there. It has been open since 1972. Walking visitors miss it routinely; even Lisbon residents who think they know the city occasionally end up at the wrong corner. Here is how to get there.
Start at the top of Rua do Século, near Praça do Príncipe Real. Walk down (south) on the right-hand pavement. The street curves; the buildings on your right are tile-faced and tall.
About 200 metres down, on your right, an iron gate set back from the pavement under a stone arch. There is no sign, no menu posted, no light from the street. The address - Alto de São Francisco 21 - is small and easy to miss.
Push the gate. It is unlocked. Walk down a short tiled passageway. The bar's door is on your left at the end of the passage. The interior is low-ceilinged, art-nouveau, almost entirely original from 1972: stained glass, mirrors, brass fittings, a long wooden bar.
Sit at the bar if you are alone or with one other person; take a table if you are three or four. Procópio is a literary bar - the founders were poets and journalists, and the wood-panelled walls still carry a faint sense of conspiratorial conversation. Order a vermouth or a port-tonica. Stay an hour.