Blogs from Portugal, Europe - page 241

Beauty is a Fall Day in Lisbon Last Night Last night we strolled around the Baixa (pronounce Buy-Sha) district prior to dinner. Dinner in Lisbon doesn’t really start until 7pm and even then most people aren’t eating yet so, we took our tie heading to dinner. We just explored the area and looked at all the shops. Its easy to see why Europeans are more fashionable than Americans are, there are inexpensive (and expensive) clothing shops everywhere. Also, its interesting to compare what Capitalism has done to American business in compared with Europe in general. There are restaurants everywhere, some of them small than the average American bedroom. Its amazing that so many little places, its surprising they stay open. We ate dinner at Mrtinho da Arcada which is off the Placa da Commercio which ... read more

I’m trying, for these last days in Portugal, to cover a lot of ground. Still on my agenda are the little walled towns of Obidos and Evora; Coimbra, a busy university town two-plus hours to the north, is sadly slipping from my sights. Three weeks ago I’d planned on splitting some time between Porto and Lisbon - a brief diversion as I passed through Portugal en route to Andalucia. But suddenly I’m pining for places that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow before; words like Alentejo are exerting a mystical pull, and this modest country is plucking all sorts of chords in my heart. I’ve packed an overnight bag for a couple of days in Obidos, a picturesque hamlet just an hour and change from Lisbon. You can’t visit this town, on a hill-top overlooking tidy ... read more

One night Ivana, a CouchSurfer from Serbia, stays with us at Luis’ place. She shows up at half-past ten with what looks like half of Belgrade crammed into her suitcase - a massive bag with rickety wheels that dwarfs her tiny frame. Contrary to her first impression, she quickly explains that she’s not, in fact, the world’s worst backpacker: she’s moving to Portugal to get her Master’s in architecture, and for the next year that giant suitcase will stay put at her place in Porto. It’s an ambitious project, moving to a country she’s only seen once before. Worth noting, too, is the fact that she doesn’t speak a word of Portuguese. It wasn’t until after she’d been accepted that she realized her courses wouldn’t be taught in English - a fact that, she admits, ... read more

Boa Dia, that and about three other words is the great repertoire of my Portuguese language! I have to laugh, for the last month all that has been jibber jabbering around me has been the "throat clearing" dialect of Dutch mixed with a little Antwerp version (although both Dutch apparantly they are different a bit like comparing an American from Alabama to a Brit from Brixton). Where is this place? Finally I know where I have been for the last month and could possibly point to it on a map, don´t hold me to it though! If you check out Portugal and find a city on the coast called Figueria da Foz then I was about 15minutes in land from there. The Termas da Azenha were I was based was a healing place of relaxation during ... read more

From the front of Luis’ house you can see the Tejo - a faint little thumbprint, a glittering smudge, down at the foot of the street. There’s something reassuring about a city built on a river. You’re reminded of the historical forces that shaped the place, the powerful fleets that once fanned out from the mouth of the Tejo into the broad waters of the Atlantic. There was a time when this city was the nerve center for one of the great maritime empires on the planet. With a little imagination, you can see those tall masts beyond the TV antennae and satellite dishes. You can picture the sails unfurled and puffed out, filled with the wind that sends the laundry flapping on the balconies and windowsills today. You never get the sense in Lisbon ... read more