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information:
 Evening Fun
Oasis regularly
organises outings
for guests. The staff
keep you informed
about events, concertsand the best bars
to visit each day.
No curfew
There is no lockout
at Oasis so you can
stay out as late as
the locals do!
Oasis Parties
Every night we do
something to keep
you entertained...
Gourmet dinners,
Cocktail hours, BBQs,
costume parties,
games and more!
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It is midnight on a Saturday in the Bairro Alto, Lisboa's famously raucous High Neighbourhood, but the only thing moving is the laundry fluttering in the breeze between the balconies of the grand but dilapidated buildings that line the streets. A few plaintive strains of fado, the distinctly mournful songs of longing that are said to define the collective Portuguese character, waft out of the small neighborhood restaurants geared to tourists. Some cafes and bars are open, but the feeling is that things are winding down, not up. Don't be fooled. Navigating these lanes an hour later will require a very reduced definition of "personal space" to make any headway through streets teeming with enough high-spirited Portuguese youth to make one doubt - even granting that you may already be seeing double - if this can really be a country of just 10 million people. Throw in equal measures of tourists and students from other European countries, drinks costing $4.25 (at 1.22 euros to the dollar) and served in plastic cups to make carrying them easier (drinking in the street is legal), and the potent mix gives new meaning to the idea of a "high" neighborhood. Cheek by jowl doesn't begin to describe this crowd. The game is full contact - hand on back, hands on bottom, hand squeezing bicep, caipirinha spilled on special-edition Adidas - as revelers snake their way through the throngs. The storefronts that were shuttered minutes before have burst open, revealing an endless array of small bars, the decoration of which seems to have been left to young art students and fashion designers.
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This funky all-purpose rendezvous point occupies the steeply sloping premises of what was built in the 17th century as a women's prison and that functions today as a state-funded school for circus entertainers. Its location, perched on a ledge just below St. George's Castle in the Alfama, encompasses views over all of Lisboa, and its clients include clowns, jugglers, fire-eaters, and stilt-walkers, some or many of whom might be either in costume or practicing their stunts near the outdoor terrace and bar. Come here for drinks, tapas, or a meal, depending on whatever you're in the mood for, and keep moving up and down a labyrinth of indoor and outdoor areas until you find the spot where you feel most comfortable. During the daytime, the crowd is likely to include lots of students; after dark, the age tends to mature a bit, to between 30 and 45. Bruno, the Belgian-born owner, is nonchalant about what the place is exactly. It includes a cafe and bar, a separate tapas bar, at least two different dining areas, and a venue that's conducive to drinks that are consumed in anticipation of moving on to other nocturnal adventures.
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Finding an authentic fado venue in Lisboa is a bit like trying to find the Holy Grail. Repackaged for tourists, fado has become the antithesis of its primordial essence. Generally speaking, tour groups are packed into casas do fado to consume overpriced food and diluted fado while being flogged second rate CDs during intervals. Still, it is possible to hear authentic fado in Lisboa, to stumble across raucous amateur fado vadio performances, where the fadista arrives uninvited to a closet-sized tasca jammed with locals tucking into home-cooked bacalhao and rustic wine. Here, thereÕs no formal programme, only an orgy of emotional catharsis. Down earthy backstreets late at night, you are just as likely to hear a haunting soliloquy which in a nanosecond can confer the wild emotional resonance that a pricey two-hour performance will often fail to fulfil.
In casas do fado admission prices are generally based on consumo minimo, which can range from 12 euro to 35 euro for a three-course meal. Prices are not reflective of the quality of the meal and can vary according to which artists are performing. ItÕs always advised to check when you make a reservation which fadistas are scheduled to perform. | 
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The stereotype of the mild mannered, reserved and overly nostalgic Lisboeta is well and truly obliterated during the Festos dos Santos Populares in June. The celebration of Saints Anthony, John and Peter is the vibrant climax of the festival calender. On June 12, streets are festooned with paper chains, alleyways come alive with the sound of fado, the national fishing quota of sardines is consumed in one night and basil pots bearing love notes are exchanged. The Portuguese are intensely superstitious and thereÕs a saint for seemingly every eventuality: marital strife, tax evasion or brooding spinsterhood. During May, many Lisboetas crawl on their hands and knees to the pilgrimage site of F‡tima, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917. Moorish palaces, ruined convents and serene monasteries in Lisboa, Cascais and the Sintra hills provide the stirring setting for world-renowned concerts and music festivals. While throughout the year, LisboaÕs arbiters of liberal thought and style step up for festivals of film, fashion and gay pride.
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Before heading out, party in the Mansion with cocktail hour and dinner parties. Coming soon, the Oasis Lisboa photo gallery where you can check the party pics.  |  | |
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