Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal Tuesday, June 14, 2022
It’s official. Today marks the beginning of the FINAL
segment of our 6-month adventure. We
have been anticipating this day for various reasons: we’ll be home soon, we’ll see family and
friends soon, we will enjoy three very full days in NYC with Marcia and Ruth
including 3 Broadway shows, and about 200 new people are boarding just for this
“transitioning ride” from Europe to Newfoundland to New York City on July
4. 200 new people means that this
half-filled ship is almost full. We
won’t know what to do with lines and people and a newly-popped bubble. Our final antigen tests yesterday came back
negative—hurray!—and we’re hoping that new people won’t rock our boat, so to
speak.
Today is one day only in Lisbon. We hadn’t scheduled a tour through the ship,
so we boarded the shuttle bus at 9:30 with about 25 other fearless souls and
were dropped off in a busy section of the city with many nearby squares,
looking for a tram or a sightseeing bus or whatever we can find. Surprise!
We found an unexpected gift: a
group of young people in yellow shirts carrying a yellow umbrella to signal
that they are free walking guides who will take groups around the city for
tips. Our male guide was from Lima,
Peru, spoke excellent English (“I’m studying literature and history”), and had
a deep love for local history. About 8
of us joined him for a brisk and thorough walking tour of various barrios in
the easily-accessible city, teaching about important dates, people, and
sights. Sooooo, here goes:
We started in the center in a area
known as the Restauradores where buses, trams, decorated tuk tuks, and such
were centrally located, the square of origin was called plaza de Rossio, an old
Roman square with a fountain. A couple blocks away is the National Theater, a
neo-Gothic style with Shakespeare standing at the peak of the gable roof.
Historically, about
70% of Lisbon was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake and a good portion of that
which was left was heavily damaged by the ensuing tsunami all of which happened
on All Saints Day while people were worshiping.
Older than Rome, and also having 7 hills, Lisbon has been inhabited by
the Phoenicians, the Moors, and others before gaining its own name and
governance. For 100 years it was the
richest city in the world.
In another nearby smaller square was a church with a round
memorial and a Jewish star on it. This
is to memorialize a wicked time when over 1000 Jews were killed. Repenting, the
city of Lisbon is now called the city of tolerance. The church, named Santa Domingo, is better known
as “the cursed church” as it has had so many fires, most recently in 1965, that
it was decided to worship inside its very burnt interior. The photos are poignant. Not sure you can see
the melted angels’ wings. On a bulletin
board was information about the fire in 1959.
Originally, the church was built in the 1500s.
Leaving the church we were in yet another square that was
basically fabricated when a hospital burnt down and is now an open air market.
On this square is a statue of Joao, a bastard king.
Then we took to the hills.
Up, up we climbed to. It echoes
the rhythms of the waves of the ocean and gained recognition and popularity
when a prostitute sang it for an aristocrat who introduced it to Lisbon. Next, up and up to discover the rich music
birthed in Lisbon: Fada find some spectacular overlooks of the entire city,
and, of course, our cruise ship which had one of the best ports of call
ever.
At the top of one of the hills, overlooking from left to
right: the sea (of straw) in early ages
floated the straw on the sea, the Tejo River, statue of Christ built by Salazar
in 1950s to be bigger than the one in Rio, church without a roof from 1380s.
Going east and downhill, the pink house is the oldest in
Lisbon, saw the Church of St. Vincent of Outside (the Moorish wall), de Gama
Bridge is 2nd longest in Europe at 17 km.
At the Santa Lucia district viewpoint, we saw tiles made
starting in 1600s to document the people who lived there and something about
their lives. See photo. The Alfama barrio is the 2nd
oldest neighborhood in Europe, second to Greece, Alfama comes from Arabic word for fountain or
water.
Further onto another hill, we stopped at the fortress of St.
Jorge then saw a mosaic of the Queen of Fada music.
Street art recognizing the prostitute who made Fada music famous
We tasted one of the city’s flavors: a Ginjunha which is a
cherry liqueur served in a half-shot-sized chocolate cup. You bottoms’-up the liqueur, then pop the
chocolate into your mouth. Ahhhh. A tasty sugar high.
For the cathedral without a square: Christians built a cathedral in place of a
mosque, but the builders were soldiers and not artisans; therefore, simple
bulky Romanesque 13th century.
Cathedral of Se or Sa. Saint of
lost things.
A three-hour walking tour.
Fabulous! 87 degrees, so back to
ship to cool off. And nap.
Elevator on building built by student of Eiffel
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