You've probably walked past one

Portugal has picked its New 7 Wonders, and one of them is right here in Lisbon. It's Tuesday, 15 September. Twenty-seven degrees. Air quality: 48 (Moderate). Here's what you need to know.

🗞️ PORTUGAL HAS CROWNED ITS NEW 7 WONDERS

Almost twenty years after the first contest captivated the country, Portugal has chosen a new set of Seven Wonders. The winners were revealed on Saturday at a grand final in Sintra, broadcast live on TVI, after a public vote whittled 629 original nominations down to 21 finalists and finally to seven, one in each of seven categories.

This edition was all about built heritage: castles, churches, monuments and modern architecture, rather than the natural landscapes and beaches Portugal is usually sold on. The organisers' stated aim was to spread tourism beyond the coast and into the interior, and past winners have seen visitor numbers jump 20 to 40% in the year after winning, so for the towns involved this is a genuine economic prize, not just bragging rights.

The seven span a remarkable sweep of history and style. Leiria Castle took the Castles category, a landmark of medieval Portugal, while the Roman Ruins of São Cucufate, at Vila de Frades in the Alentejo, reach back to the Roman era. Lisbon's own cathedral, the Sé de Lisboa, won the Religion category, the capital's oldest church, begun in the 12th century and a fixture of every Alfama walk. The Usseira Aqueduct near Óbidos won Major Works, the red-brick Olhão Municipal Markets, opened beside the Ria Formosa in 1916, took the 20th Century vote, the Tiago Cabaço Winery in Estremoz won for 21st-century architecture, and the Episcopal Palace Garden in Castelo Branco completed the list in the Tourism category.

For readers here, the Sé is the obvious one to revisit, you have almost certainly walked past it, or watched the number 28 tram rattle by its doors, without going in. But the more interesting invitation is the rest of the list. São Cucufate, the Usseira Aqueduct, Leiria Castle and the Olhão markets are exactly the sort of places that make a good day trip or a reason to point the car somewhere you would not otherwise go. That is rather the point of the whole exercise.

Bottom line: Portugal has a new set of Seven Wonders, Lisbon's cathedral among them, and it doubles as a ready-made list of places worth the trip beyond the usual postcard spots.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Full biometric border checks are back, and Faro is feeling it most. Since 6 September, when the summer suspension window expired, Portuguese airports have resumed collecting fingerprints and photos from non-Schengen arrivals under the EU's Entry/Exit System. The PSP says it is running smoothly at Lisbon and Porto, but Faro has come under real pressure, at one point last week more than ten flights, carrying mostly British passengers, landed within 25 minutes of each other, bunching up at the border. Separately, Portugal is among nine EU countries that have told Brussels they will not enforce the system in full until the technology is reliable, so the longer-term picture is still unsettled. The practical read: if you are flying into Faro, especially from the UK, budget extra time at passport control.

The heat breaks this week, and Saharan dust is on the way. After another surge into the mid-thirties, temperatures are set to fall sharply across Portugal over the coming days, a welcome cooldown after a record-hot year, with Lisbon dropping from 35°C on Monday toward the high twenties. The catch is a cloud of North African dust drifting in with the change, which pushes air quality into the moderate range and can bother anyone with asthma or a respiratory condition. If that is you, keep an eye on the readings midweek and go easy on outdoor exercise while the dust hangs around.

Portugal has warned that Israeli settlements threaten the chance of a viable Palestinian state. Days after joining a coordinated move to restrict trade with West Bank settlements, Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel has sharpened Portugal's position, warning that continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is eroding the prospect of a two-state solution, and calling the E1 settlement plan incompatible with it. It keeps Portugal among the more outspoken Western voices on the issue, and follows the country's recognition of the State of Palestine in 2024. The measures target settlement activity specifically rather than Israel as a whole, and Israel rejects the criticism.

Hypno Summit Portugal — Europe's Boutique Hypnosis Experience Comes to Lisbon

For two days this October, Lisbon hosts a summit that brings some of the world's most respected voices in hypnosis and human behaviour into one room, and deliberately keeps that room small. Hypno Summit Portugal is capped at 100 people, so it runs less like a conference and more like a workshop: real access to the speakers, real conversation, and hands-on sessions rather than a distant stage and a crowd.

It takes place on 3 and 4 October at the HF Fénix Lisboa in Marquês de Pombal, hosted by the Lisbon-based clinical hypnotherapist and trauma recovery expert Ronia Fraser. The programme addresses challenges that many people struggle with but don't realise they can actually change: anxiety and fear responses, self-sabotage, confidence, relationships, body image, money beliefs, and how lasting change actually takes hold. The emphasis throughout is practical, you leave with tools you can use, not just theory you nodded along to.

You do not need to be a hypnotherapist to go. Some who attend work in therapy, coaching or health, many are simply curious about why we behave the way we do, and plenty come because there is something in their own life they are ready to work on.

→ Find out more and book your place

Lisbon Letter readers get an exclusive rate of €333, well below the standard ticket, with the code LISBONLETTER at checkout. The rate closes on 21 September, and with only 100 places, it is worth moving before both run out. Payment plans are available on request at [email protected] (subject line: Lisbon Letter).

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

MOONA CHICKEN (BAIXA)

Some days you have walked past your fifteenth pastelaria and what you actually want is a pile of properly crispy fried chicken. Moona Chicken, a small Korean spot on Rua da Conceição in the Baixa, is where to go, and it has a real claim to the best fried chicken in the city.

Korean fried chicken is a different animal from the Southern-US kind: double-fried for a shatteringly thin, crackly crust that stays crisp even under a glaze. Here you can have it plain with soy and garlic, or coated in yangnyeom, the sweet-and-spicy red sauce that is the classic, or their own "black secret" version.

Beyond the chicken there is tteokbokki (chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce), cheesy corn, and chibap rice bowls. And it leans into chimaek, the Korean tradition of fried chicken with cold beer, which is exactly as good an idea as it sounds. Three people can eat well, with beers, for around €50. It is open every day, midday to 10:30pm.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: order the bone-in wings and drumsticks over the boneless thighs, they stay juicier under the crust.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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