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There were twelve years of excavations. The former Coculim Palace, which in 1755 was destroyed by the great earthquake in Lisbon , had the site under which every archaeologist dreams. Something knew the Eurostars chain when it acquired this building of the 16th century in front of the Tagus river in 2009.

What I did not imagine is that I was going to have to adapt even the kitchen to what turned out to be a public part of Olissipo , Roman Lisbon. "It is one of the best archeological museums in the city, " says Inês Ribeiro, herself an archeologist and founder of the Time Travelers tourism agency. "We can go back to the Iron Age in this hotel."

One of the rooms.

The tug of the past is such that every day at 10 in the morning, while guests stretch and notice the breakfast buffet, the Eurostars Museum welcomes spontaneous visitors who wish to see another side of Alfama, which hides under your feet The first surprise is found next to the lobby, where a Roman domus of 39 square meters stands. "It's in its original place," says Ribeiro. The 2nd-century mosaic that covers the floor is "the largest ever found in the Portuguese capital" and shows an image of Venus almost intact.

Major words is what the visitor discovers a few meters further, where excavations have brought to light a public area of Olissipo . " We still have millions of questions , but what we can see is a small Roman street, part of the city wall, a fountain and a well that, from what we have found inside, was used from the first to the sixteenth centuries" .

The facade of the hotel, an old palace.

Ribeiro says that it is not frequent to find this good level of conservation. "Everything is the heritage of the Portuguese State , but now the hotel has the responsibility of maintaining it." The archeologist keeps the most valuable for last: a stele with an ancient Phoenician inscription dating from the seventeenth century BC "It is the piece that all museums want."

In new windows here and there in the hotel you can continue discovering new objects, but the guest has nothing to fear when going up to his room: the five stars opened its doors just a year ago and its 101 rooms and suites can not be more current . The spa pool does not disappoint, on the contrary, it is one hundred percent suggestive. And in the Atlántiko restaurant , chef Nuno Oliveira updates the traditional Portuguese cuisine in a space that preserves a neo-Gothic arch of the old palace ... But don't be distracted: you have to try the cod à brás .

PRACTICAL GUIDE

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Eurostars Museum . Rua Cais de Santarém 52, Lisbon. Phone: +351 21116 6100 www.eurostarshotels.com.pt Price: from 180 euros.

Services: 101 rooms, spa with swimming pool, fitness room, meeting rooms, restaurant ...

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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