Saturday, June 2, 2018

Lisbon


Getting tired of hearing about my trip yet? Only one more week to go. I'm trying to condense Lisbon into one post except for two days. Those days get their own.

The apartment in Lisbon, or more properly Lisboa, was within walking distance of the waterfront on the nearby main avenue, about a 30 – 45 minute walk depending on how fast you walked and how many times you stopped, in a residential neighborhood on the fifth floor (yes, with an elevator). After the long day of driving from the Villa to the Lisbon airport, turning in the car, cab rides to the apartment, and check-in, we were all ready for dinner. 

view of Lisboa from my bedroom window at the front

the view from the back dining area

Jane was leaving the next morning for home so we went out for a farewell dinner at a seafood restaurant nearby where we learned the difference between seafood and fish and also were introduced to the Portuguese speciality that is only available at a certain time of the year...snails. Not the escargot of France but small, like the ones in your garden, snails.


Thursday, I stayed in in the morning needing a bit of rest and solitude while Denise went to the Marionette Museum (and I kick myself for not going with her for I never made my way on my own) and Catharine and Vicki walked around the city and then later I went out exploring the general neighborhood, getting some soup for lunch at a pastelaria, and bought some strawberries and apricots from a street vendor since the fragrance almost knocked me down walking by. Friday was much the same with Denise staying in and Catharine, Vicki, and I walking down to the waterfront and stopping for lunch and then exploring some of the old town neighborhoods with narrow cobblestone streets and pedestrian ways walking up and down hill as Lisboa is built on 7 hills.

St. George's castle in the distance which we did not visit

lots of oblique streets and buildings with rounded corners




where the ships set sail from during the exploration age

There were a lot of performers of one kind or another on the large pedestrian plaza that took up the last 6 blocks or so of the avenue leading to the arch. These guys were great, playing and singing with this one hitting the tambourines with high kicks.


Skipping ahead two days we basically did the same thing on Monday only this time Catharine and I visited 3 tile stores, two that sell high quality reproductions and one that deals in antique tiles, while Vicki struck out on her own. The prices dashed my hope of taking some home.


the antique dealer's back room

like small jewels

the facade of one of the tile stores

Tuesday, my last day in Portugal, we went to two markets...the 'thieves' market or Fiera do Ladre, a giant flea market two days a week, Saturdays and Tuesdays. Since our Saturday was otherwise occupied, we went on Tuesday and from there to the Time Out market for lunch which was an indoor fruit/vegetable/flower market and a mall of different restaurants/eateries with common tables to sit at, kind of like a food court on steroids only it was all really good food. Took a cab back to the apartment, I packed while Catharine and Vicki provided me with dinner and I left the next morning.

Lisboa, like every part of Portugal I saw, was clean, some cigarette butts in between cobblestones, that's the only trash I saw. What they did have though was tagging, a lot of tagging. I was amazed how much there was. Basically every street level facade was subject. And one place we regularly passed in our outings was tagged during our visit. I have pictures. I queried our guide on Saturday about the presence and apparent toleration of such. He didn't seemed concerned as it wasn't gang related. 



I did see some interesting street art.

this one in Oporto



not exactly street art but she drew us into the shop



and this tree




next: Sintra and other points of interest

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7 comments:

  1. I am not a big admirer of tagging. I would probably like it more if I liked the style of it.
    But I certainly AM a huge admirer of tile. When did we stop making and using it? It's so gorgeous.

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  2. Fabulous. I wanted to know how the snails tasted. Chewy? Did you eat them? That tile store is gorgeous and the dancing guy was priceless.

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    1. I did eat them and yes, they were chewy but the flavor was fine.

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  3. My synopsis to date is "overwhelming!" Took me a minute to decipher "tagging." It's what we call graffiti,up north here. Or perhaps it's that because ours is gang related, where to buy what. Though, every train car that passes is top to bottom graffiti, and I understand that's also considered a renegade art form. Renegade because it must be done without being caught. Anyway, back to Lisboa and Portugal--simply overwhelming!

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  4. Very nice to see, you had a wonderful trip . Can't play the tambourine that way.

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  5. We could NEVER tire of your photos from your amazing trip, all are wonderful, I love traveling with you. The tile shop would be too difficult to resist. Each one a gem , as you say. Hope you managed to bring a few home.

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  6. Graffiti is everywhere. I often wonder why people feel the need to do that. There was some lovely art, though, painted on the buildings.

    The tile building is a beauty.

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