Let us take a walk on memory lane to get to the bottom of this subject: the first reference appeared on the 17th Century, on the book of São Nicolau de Oliveira. “O Livro das Grandezas de Lisboa” (The Book of Lisbon Grandeurs): it surely resumes the content, where the saint describes his city with details.
The seven giants — São Jorge, São Vicente, São Roque, Santo André, Santa Catarina, Chagas e Sant’Ana — all of them where visible when arriving in Lisbon by river.
But São Nicolau de Oliveira forgot one hill: Graça, the highest of the city, only shadowed by São Jorge's Castle.The truth is that this oblivion was very convenient at the time: in fact, it's always better to share similarities with the legend of Rome than having one too many hills...
São Jorge
If we follow the legend – and keep Graça out of this counting — São Jorge the highest hill in town. Way up high, we can see the Castle, where the village that originated Lisbon was founded.
It was an important fortress that resisted years of wars. In 1147, the troops of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, invested against its walls for three months so they could conquer Lisbon to the Moors.
The name of the castle was dedicated to saint patron of the knights, in a manner of thanking the protection during the crusade. Nowadays, the area of the hill occupies the neighbourhood of Mouraria, the Castle and a small part of Alfama.