Visiting the abandoned winery at Almada, near Lisbon.
In preparation for my trip to Lisbon in September 2023, I researched several lost places. One of the most spectacular ones I found is an abandoned harbor. However, this abandoned harbor is not located directly in Lisbon but on the opposite riverbank of the Tagus River at Almada. Here are a few impressions of my visit.
Table of Contents
- Know before you go
- Graffiti
- Houses are partially burnt down
- The harbor
- Tips for photographing
- Is the abandoned winery harbor of Almada worth a visit?
Know before you go
The abandoned harbor in Alamada once belonged to a winery. I couldn't find an exact date, but sources mention the owners left it at the end of the 20th century. The winery comprised a harbor and many manufacturing and storage buildings along the Tagus riverbank. Unfortunately, only the port is accessible.
The abandoned harbor of Almada lies at the foot of the hill where the Cristo Rei statue is located. When facing the parking lot of the Cristo Rei monument, you should see a small path to the left. Follow it downhill and be careful: It's a steep dirt road with lots of gravel; thus, it is slippery! When you hike down, take a look to the left. You'll get some beautiful sights of the 25 de Abril Bridge. After about 15 minutes, you should reach the abandoned harbor.
Please note that the buildings of this lost place are all decayed: roofs and floors are burnt and collapsed, and thus it is perilous to enter the buildings.
To go down to the harbor platform, look for stone stairs in an abandoned building. They looked safe to me.
Stairs going down to the platform of the abandoned winery harbor.
The abandoned harbor in Almada is no longer a top-secret lost place. You'll encounter fishermen, other urban explorers, and possibly homeless people here.
Graffiti
Most notable in the abandoned harbor is the graffiti you'll encounter everywhere. I'm used to seeing graffiti in lost places, but most of the stuff I saw so far was mainly writings and tags. The graffiti in this lost place in Almada differs: You'll see many high-quality paintings like these two.
You'll see many beautiful graffitis at the abandoned winery in Almada.
Look closely. Graffiti is everywhere.
Houses are partially burnt down
As I've mentioned, not a single roof or floor is intact. It looks like someone tried to burn the entire place down to the ground. The wooden beams of the ceilings and floors look like they could come down any minute.
Roofs and floors are collapsed at the abandoned harbor.
Please mind one of the golden rules of urban exploration: Before entering a building, look up if something could come down.
The harbor
Once you've taken the stairs down to the harbor platform, take a few wide-angle shots to capture the beauty of the decayed buildings. You'll find even more beautiful graffiti here.
The platform of the abandoned winery harbor.
Use the iPhone's wide angle lens to photograph at the platform.
Tips for photographing
Though the area is relatively small, I suggest you bring a wide-angle lens - or an iPhone Pro with a built-in ultra-wide lens. As always, I recommend to shoot RAW with your iPhone. This will allow you to bring out the stunning details of decay.
If you want to capture long exposures like moving clouds with an iPhone, Reeheld camera app is a great way to take long exposure photos without a tripod on iPhone.
Visit the abandoned Almada harbor at noon. The sun will be behind above the hills, which means you'll have great natural light to take photos here. Suppose you go here for sunset or blue hour photos. In that case, you should check the review of two blue hour calculators I use on my iPhone.
Bring a flashlight. Though all buildings are collapsed, there are a few dark corridors. If you don't have a flashlight for urban exploration yet, I recommend the Wubenlight X1, a powerful 12000 lumens flashlight. Learn more about this flashlight by heading to my Wuben X1 Falcon review.
Is the abandoned winery harbor of Almada worth a visit?
The short answer is yes if you like to photograph abandoned, decayed, and burnt-down buildings. Do not expect to find relics like wine bottles or wine barrels. All relics were removed decades ago.
Once you're finished exploring the abandoned harbor of Almada, continue along the riverbank to see the facades of more decayed and abandoned buildings. But these are all private properties, and you can't enter them.
Abandoned buildings with tiles along the riverbank in Almada.
After approximately 45 minutes, you'll reach the Elevador da Boca do Vento. You can ride it for free and enjoy a stunning view over the riverbank of Almada and Lisbon. Go down again and continue for another 45 minutes until you reach Almada's (not abandoned) harbor. From here, you can take a ferry back to Lisbon.
