One of my favorite places while recently visiting Lisbon was a charming little shop full of vintage dolls and toys: Hospital de Bonecas, The Doll Hospital.
In 1830, a herb shop owner also started selling simple cloth and clay dolls. Since then the family-run business has continued to sell new and vintage dolls, repair and restore dolls and toys, and open up their collection and workspace as a delightful museum of all things dolls.
I enjoyed seeing room after room of dolls in various states of restoration, from beautifully styled and fully dressed, to wonderfully wabi-sabi style flawed and incomplete. On a sunny and bright Lisbon afternoon, it was very cheerful and child-like. (Might also be interesting to see on a dark day if you like moody, moldy Quay Brothers films?)
