Monday, June 25, 2007

Number 7 - day 3 - Lisbon

Today we explored Lisbon, the City of Seven Hills. Story goes, there was a goddess in love with Ulysses, who came to Lisbon after the battle of Troy. He tried to escape, and this goddess turned into a snake, moving underground to reach him and stop him - thus creating the 7 hills in Lisbon. Besides the hills it also has cable cars and a bridge just like the Golden Gate, though smaller. The Romans were here in 200BC, then the Barbarians, then the Muslims, then the Christians - so it looks a bit like Turkey too. Since Portugal made key maritime discoveries, sailing to North Africa in 1415, around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and all the way to India in 1498 this city now is full of mixed cultures, spices, and flavors brought back from around the world.


We started in a beautiful old church, partially rebuillt after the last big earthquake in 1755, when 80% of Lisbon was destroyed.

We went up to St Georges castle, with a wall enclosing a village still inhabited today. At the very top of this hill, behind the fortress walls of the last redoubt, the views are terrific. With trees of olives and cork and beautiful cobblestone paths, it has a very old and peaceful feel to it. WE climbed aboard a trolley for a tour of the Alfama, the old Moorish quarter of Lisbon where the streets are so narrow (I know I keep saying this, but these were very extreme!) that we got stuck more than once because a tiny car had parked illegally and we could not get past. Old old old, Americans do not know what old is!!It is very interesting to gaze upon something and think about how it has been there for thousands of years. All the walking today is very energizing and it feels great to be out and about.
Lunch is a traditional Portuguese meal with many salads and one meat after another brought to the table and carved onto your plate. Beef, pork, ham, beef from a different part of the cow (there is a mpa to show you which part!), more pork, more ham, another kind of beef... you get the picture. Unfortunately our lunch stop prepares us only for siesta, so the visit to the Oceanarium is difficult - though interesting and mostly liked by everyone, stepping into the dark environment made most of us want to sleep!
There is itme for a rest at the hotel before heading out at 745pm for a night of Fado - a Portuguese tradition of song. Hunkered down in a basement restaurant with low ceilings, a very old building, we had a good dinner of Portuguese steak before the singing began. The Fado singers - there were 3 of them - sang one by one, accompnaied by a guitar player and a mandolin. It was very beautiful, and we all stayed awake! We were all amused at how the singers themselves seemed to chain smoke in between their performances.

No comments: