Ines Carvalho

I grew up on a lane in Alfama steep enough that my grandmother timed her shopping trips around it, and I still live two streets from where I was born. On camera I like starting before the tour buses arrive, when the washing lines and the cats have the alleys to themselves and the light comes in low over the rooftops. I explain the neighbourhood through what survived the 1755 earthquake rather than through a list of dates, since that is how locals actually talk about it. Nine years of guiding later, I still take the long way through Alfama out of habit.