Friday, February 29, 2008

Lisbon's nostalgia

In my mind's eye Portugal is crafted tiles, exquisite street lamps, and an architectural style that speaks of nostalgia for the sea.

The aura of most Portuguese cities is one of a former empire. Walking the streets of Lisbon, you feel the city is looking out to the sea with this nostalgia to conquered land (although the city itself overlooks a river). Upon seeing the
Monument to the Discoveries built in honor of the nation's explorers, one feels that one day the people of Lisbon have knelt and prayed while anxiously awaiting the explorers' return home.

In spite of the melancholy, the city has a sort of nonchalant air going at the pace of its trams and funiculars. Sometimes the mood is even festive instead of rain washed and lonely, but that's only on occasions. In Christmas, Europe's tallest Christmas tree fills Praça do Comércio - the city's main square- with people singing along to jingle bells and and savouring roasted chestnuts. On sunny days, you can enjoy eating delicious fresh fish in any of the restaurants flanking the Tejo river.

I remember a friend saying that if you want to know a city like a local you have to feel its subway, I'd add that some of them are indeed works of art. One thing I'll always remember about Lisbon is its metro, whose lines are labeled with a seagull, a boat and a compass. One particular station, Parque, makes passersby think that they are passing through an empire, portraying on its navy blue tiles a white globe where Portugal is connected to its former colonies through dotted lines. As for the people who travel the subway they seemed warm without being as sociable as their Mediterranean neighbors. The dog-obsessed should be warned that they might end up broke in a matter of stations, as the Lisbon equivalent to street artists are young boys playing the accordion with sad puppies perched on their shoulders while holding small buckets where commuters should drop a few coins.

To really be touched by the beauty of the city, go up the
Elevador de Santa Justa which is by itself a work of art. This neo-gothic creation twists iron into lace, providing very inspiring shadows and patterns for talented photographers (it's a shame I'm not one of those*). Once up the elevator, if not too dizzy from the altitude you can absorb the scenery and see from above the city on seven hills. Inspired by the view, I recall running out to the Baixa Chiado shopping area to buy pastel crayons, I bought only 4 crayons, silver to paint Santa Justa, blue gray to paint the river, adobe to paint the rooftops and yellow to fill my painting with trams.

Come night hit
Alfama's bars, where jazzy music replaces the mournful Fado that haunts you downtown throughout the morning. Onda Jazz is where I listened to Cape Verde's barefoot diva Cesária Évora for the first time. It's strange how contagious Portugal's nostalgia is, for the former colony's blues are still filled with nostalgia in spite of their African beat .

If you're in the mood for a day trip, head to Sintra, it's the closest thing to a fairy tale, with enchanted forests and castles, its beauty is beyond what I can describe. In Sintra buy hand crafted ceramics to remind you of this magical city and eat queijadas to munch on the way back into town.


Photo:
Elevador de Santa justa (*I'm thankful I have friends who are good photograhers, this one is borrowed from Francisco Fuentes)
Links:
Lisbon metro and its
parque station homage to the discoverers
Monument to the discoveries
Onda Jazz Bar
More on
Cesária Évora and a song of hers
Sintra UNESCO World Heritage Site
Recipe for Queijadas

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have the address for that jazz bar?

Cindy de Seriousguide said...

We found our information on your blog !

Hello,

Allow me to present myself: I am Cindy, information manager for the French travel guide collection: Seriousguide
Seriousguide are collaborative travel guides, indeed the information they provide comes from personal travellers experiences related on our website: www.seriousguide.fr
The last issues we published are Barcelona, Corsica and Le monde à Paris ( addresses to travel in Paris). Our next guide is on Lisbon.
Our website is opened and travels published by Internet users represent an essential information for our printed guides.
However, we also notice interesting contains from others blogs.
That’s why we pre-select the bar Onda jazz in Lisbon that you seemed to have enjoy a lot. So we sent one of our correspondents on the spot to check out every details we needed to publish it in our Lisbon Seriousguide.
If we decide to keep this activity for our guide, we would like to quote your pseudonym as our first source for this activity.
I want to emphasis on the fact that we are not going to use the text you wrote for your blog, but we want to mention you since it’s thanks to you that we found this interesting information.
If you agree, could you please send me your answer by email at the following address: documentation[at]seriousguide.fr?
You can also create your profile on www.seriousguide.fr in order to describe your travels and be informed about our publications.
Best regards,
Cindy