Lisbon

I've been silent too long, the consequence of getting locked out of my Google account because of a bizarre hotel wifi connection and my own stupidity in not being able to remedy the situation.  But, I am now back on line and ready to share with you a wonderful trip to Portugal with a few stops in Spain.  Here's the first installment:

I arrived in Lisbon mid-day on March 29^th and had a free afternoon to get oriented and begin to see the sights.    Lisbon is a city a lot like San Francisco – built on hills, with a bridge across the Tagus River that not only looks like, but was built by the same engineer as, the Golden Gate bridge -- and there are cable cars too.   The climate is similarly dry and the hinterland, which we saw on the way to Porto two days later, looks very much like California. 

Lisbon Cable Car

Bairro Alto café

Not far from the hotel on the Avenida Liberdad I found a tiny cable car that runs up a steep slope to the Bairro Alto, an old section of town on top of one of the hills.  In 1755, Lisbon was struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami that wiped out most of the town.  Thus, the remnants of really old Lisbon are mostly on top of the hills.  At the end of my brief ride, I found a stunning view of the castle looming over the city and a charming café where it must be lovely to escape the heat in summer;  it was already busy in the somewhat chilly air.

Tiled Street Sign

The city is famous for the tiles that adorn the exterior of its buildings and there are many examples in this part of town.  Bairro Alto is a neighborhood in transition.   Lots of small restaurants and fado bars, lots of shops catering to the economic status of the current residents, but also huge amounts of renovation and trendy designer boutiques and upscale shops.  It was delightful to wander the narrow cobblestone streets.

Aflame District Street

Another wonderful old neighborhood that survived the earthquake is the Alfama district, one of the few that retains a distinct connection to the period of the Moorish occupation.  It is full of tiny streets and small squares and it is here that the fado tradition is at its richest.  This is definitely a district to explore on foot.

Alfama District

Mosaic Sidewalk Along the Waterfront

It doesn’t take two steps to discover something special about the streets, or at least the sidewalks, of Lisbon.   They are all done in mosaic tiles.  Some are just squares of white stone; others are made in intricate patterns, usually of white and black stone.  

Lisbon is a city of many contrasts – a colossal castle on top of a hill, elegant 18^th century squares, large and inviting public places, tiny little streets with tiny little buildings lining them and sometimes overhanging them.   

Portugal has a fascinating history, but one that is mostly sidelined in history classes because its moment on the world stage was so brief.  But I learned many things, some of which I hadn’t known.  
First, the original inhabitants were Celts.  Second, the Romans arrived in the 2^nd century BCE and remained for 700 years, making Portugal a thoroughly Roman province – and a Christian one after Emperor Constantine’s conversion.  Third, it wasn’t long after the Roman Empire collapsed that the Moors arrived (711 CE), although the population remained largely Christian.   Fourth, it was the French Prince Henry of Burgundy (those Burgundians were always hungry for more land) who drove the Moors out as part of the general pushback of Christendom beginning with the Crusades in the 11^th century.  Henry’s son Alfonso became Portugal’s first king.

Belem Tower

Lisbon is full of a style of architecture known as Manueline (after King Emanuel I), a late Gothic style that is simply stunning.  Probably the most famous example is the Belem Tower that sits on the river front, the last remnants of a fort there.  Even a simple window is a work of art.  I just loved the lightness of this architecture.


Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’, whose father and then elder brother reigned through most of the first half of the 15^th century and to whom a beautiful monument has been erected on the banks of the river, is widely considered to be the instigator of Portugal's Age of Discovery.   It was he who invested heavily in the design and construction of sailing ships (the famous caravel) as well as in the science of navigation.  

Monument to Prince Henry the Navigator

Vasco da Gama, who died in 1524, was Portugal’s renowned explorer, as we all learned in school, building on the assembly of navigators, shipwrights, map makers and other trades assembled by Henry.   Indeed, Portugal was so rich that the Kings of Portugal and Spain actually got together to sign a treaty dividing the world between them – forgetting only to advise the English and Dutch to stay home.

Portugese Caravel

Part of a Map of the World Surrounding the Monument to Henry the Navigator

So Lisbon has a rich and storied past, some of it crumbling now.  Although Portugal faded into a distant fourth or fifth as a colonial power, it had its own Colonial Wars (like the French in Algeria) which ended in the mid-1970’s and left a monument on Lisbon’s central river front and a lot of complex feelings behind -- like our own experience in Vietnam.

One thing for sure – the Portugese are a cordial and welcoming lot who love to eat (the custard tarts are a national treasure) and make some fabulous wines, including a white port that is a terrific aperitif.  They also eat a lot of cod – no wonder there were so many Portugese among the fishermen who flocked to the outer banks when North America was first settled.