Some Portugal Insight...Thanks to my Couchsurfing Friends!

 Recently I met Isobel and Leonor. Isobel is a retired English teacher, who has been translating novels for twenty years. She is currently working on Ken Follett's triology and did some of the Harry Potter books. We sat outside for coffee and then walked around the Chiado-Baixo neighborhood, before we went to her house for dinner. As a perk from her teaching days, she has a lovely flat which she did have to pay to renovate, which can be passed along to her son. However, he has moved to Australia and may stay there! Isobel also has a violinist daughter, who has gone to Australia with her musician husband also. It was impossible to find jobs in Portugal for them.

Then I met Leonor, who is a widow and child psychologist. We met at a mall at the site of Expo 98, which was an interesting structure and grounds. After she left, I went to see the movie "Hotel Budapest" at the mall. All US TV and movies ARE in English with Portuguese sub-titles. She loves India! (Nisha, I told her she should visit you in Pena!) She also has two children-one with a job, and the other unemployed.

Looking out the front entrance to the Metro stop....

Each of the working children of these two women happen to be engineers. However, both of them are contract jobs. The one was moved to Australia by the hiring company, as he has a specialty.

Now THIS economy in Portugal is VERY difficult-really abysmal!...Leonor told me how restaurants "hire" people for three days to "train" them with no pay, and they are told not to come back after 3 days, and they bring in more people for three days, etc....The "minimum wage" is totally ignored!

I am very grateful these two women shared this with me to help me understand what people are up against here!

VERY Important Elements of Portugal's History: Fado and the Carnation Revolution

I stopped by the Saturday market and had not realized when Peter and I were there how huge it was...still was not tempted, however!

Famous painting in the museum

I kept walking down the hill to visit the neighborhood and the Fado Museum. Fado is uniquely Portuguese folk music...somewhat melancholy from what I have been told.  (My Portuguese is VERY limited, even though Peter left me with a "cheat sheet"!) My Couch surfing friends here have told me that it is enjoying a resurgence with the younger generation of singers. There seem to be Fado bars all over the place...still more churches I would guess!Here is a youtube link to one song.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HB406iGofo

Guitar for fado is unique.

 Ana Sofia Varela, the singer on this youtube clip, was in the museum concert along with a standard guitar and a Portuguese guitar.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUoFZcB_Pbk

I stayed for the short concert (four songs) after my tour.

April 25, 1974 was the date of the Carnation Revolution, when the dictatorship was overcome. The "bloodless coup" ended the reign of terror. This year's celebration was its 40th anniversary. There were signs all over the city, and lots of celebrations-both the night of the 24th, as well as all day on the 25th. After my visit to the Fado Museum,I walked into the Placa da Comerica, which was the first place Peter and I had visited, and enjoyed the festivities.

Many carried or wore red carnations.

Various military equipment and soldiers around the square

Very nice band concert!

Thanks for traveling with me!

"And then, where?" I wondered....

Well, I definitely had to go to the Tile Museum! I love tiles, and, if tiles in US kitchens had not gone out of fashion (they really had a short-lived use in the US), I would have tiles on my new kitchen counters! So I wanted to see this charming museum in an old convent (OH! of course, it is old!) In Portuguese it is Museu Nacional do Azulejo (tile).

Up and down this one-way, dead end street into the alley way to the flat.

It was an interesting walk from the flat to find it, as well! On the way back I met a young man-20 something from Tennessee who was teaching English in Spain.

I just realized that I captured a story in itself, as this dapper old guy appears to be and was harassing the woman next to him. Her parents sat behind them, and the father very loudly said, "She is my daughter, and you are an old man! Take your hands off her!" The old guy got off at the next stop.

April 18th was Good Friday, and I saw that the British Church was having a service, so I decided to go find that. Well, I arrived after the apparently very short service, but got to wander into the church and the British Cemetery through which you must enter the grounds and church.

British Church interior

British Church exterior

Henry Fielding is buried in the cemetery.

Estrella Cathedral is across the garden from the British Church.

Observing Good Friday inside Estrella

Nasturiums growing wild across from the flat.

"Best steak in town"? was the sign-tasty though!

Military HQ-Carnation Revolution took place here 20 years ago.

Right next door was the Carmo Archaeological Museum, dating back to 1389 and 1423, and the Church of Our Lady of the Carmo Hill.

Walking in....

Walking out....

Right around the corner from the flat is St. Vincent's Monastery whose actual name translates to St. Vincent outside the Wall, dating back to the 1100's. St. Vincent was the patron saint of Lisbon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora

The cloisters were decorated by 38 tiles with some of La Fontaine's fables. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fontaine

This blurry picture shows the corridor with 36 huge tiles of LaFontaine's fables, discovered in the monastery.

An example of one of the tiles with a La Fontaine fable...fun and very interesting to read!

 ...and to top it off, no pun intended, the tour took me to the rooftop with wonderful Lisbon vistas!

Next church over!

St.Vincent's

My Wanderings took Me to Castelo de Sao Jorge

There is still much to see, as there will be sights unseen when I leave next Friday!

Just as there is the management of wandering around, I LOVE the travel philosophy of seeing the city/country/place, as I wander around! Some days I just go out and go...wherever the day takes me! Some days I am more scheduled, but with all this time, I do not have to rush!

 On this morning, I started down the hill into the city....craning my neck to see what I could see.

 There is, of course, a huge church on nearly every corner!

Eventually I came to the neighborhood where the Fado Museum is (more about fado in another post!). Up and around the corner I smelled barbecuing, and I saw two men huddled over a little grill. It was easy to figure out which restaurant they were cooking for! For 8 euros, I had a tasty lunch! (This even included bread, which often has an extra charge in Portuguese restaurants.)

I had thought it was beef, but upon tasting, pork!

St. George

Castelo de Sao Jorge is the #1 sight to see in the DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Lisbon guide. The site of Lisbon's first settlement, three are Moorish remains, which Alfonso Henriques, the first king, took in 1147. Restored in 1938, after years of neglect, it is interesting in itself and a relaxing place to visit as well.

My birder friends would have loved the majestic peacocks! I had NO idea what the noise was until I saw them!

Art galleries as I walked down the hill from the castle.

Judy Garland and the Tinman?

Come back soon to follow my final Lisbon wanderings!