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Published: October 2nd 2009
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Somewhat regretfully, we departed Sevilla and head to Lisboa through the Algarve. Our first stop was in Italica, a Roman town founded in 206 B.C. by Publius Cornelius Scipio "Africanus" to provide land and accommodations for his veterans of the battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginians were defeated in the Second Punic War. In that battle, the Carthaginians were finally evicted from the Iberian peninsula, opening up the rich lands for Roman domination. Italica later became the birthplace of the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian (actually, there is some dispute about Hadrian, nephew of Trajan). Today, the oldest parts of the town are buried under the modern Spanish town of Santiponce, ane the excavated portions are from a later era when those emperors enhanced the town of their birth. The site includes houses, a temple complex dedicated to Trajan, large public baths, and a large theater (or colosseum) which could seat 25-40,000 people. Most of the ruins are much less well preserved than in many sites in Italy, but there are numerous large mosaic floors showing a considerable degree of complexity.
Leaving Italica, we proceeded more or less along the coast to Palos de la Frontera, near Huelva. At the
site called Mariner's Rock, there is a Franciscan monastery which has been there since the thirteenth century. Prior to that, the site had held a temple dedicated to Melqart (Baal of biblical references) and subsequently a site for worshiping the Roman goddess Proserpina. It was here that Christopher Columbus stayed for two years while trying to persuade the Spanish monarchs to support him in a voyage to the Indies. He made several serious mistakes involving navigation, but was correct in his central assertion that easterly trade winds would provide him with swift passage in the southern latitudes, and then return him swiftly if he sailed back by a northern route. He departed from Palos de la Frontera in three small vessels, only two of which returned from the journey. The monastery site contains the monastery site itself, with rooms where Columbus stayed and met with the Franciscans, small scale models of the ships upstairs, and full size replicas in a nearby lagoon.
Driving back out through the ugliest industrial area I think I have seen (think Bayonne NJ without the charm), we left for Portugal. The southern portion of Portugal is known as the Algarve, and is an area
of beaches and resorts on the Atlantic. We went through areas where virtually every electric transmission tower had 1-5 stork nests on top, but otherwise there was little of interest to see until we turned north. We then headed into an area with scattered cork trees, many with the bark stripped and in various stages of recovery. They seemed to grow at random, with thick groves in some areas and only scattered trees in others. Although I am sure that our impression was only partially correct, it seemed that cork production was a haphazard affair. We also passed through areas of forests of pine and invasive eucalyptus trees, not native to the area. Finally, we arrived in Lisboa.
Lisboa is the largest city in Portugal, but seems to have a fairly compact city center area. We went downtown to have a drink (what else?) and ran into multiple roaming bands of first year students from a local university underging a hazing of sorts (or initiation). Closely observed by more senior students in flowing back robes (think Harry Potter without a wand) they performed small acts of street theater then requested small coins as donations (don't know what for). Proceeding
further, we found a large number of them at a fountain where they collected buckets of water from the fountain, then were doused with that water by the upperclassmen. I wanted to stay for the developing wet t-shirt contest, but was hustled away. We ended up at Gambrinus Restaurant. While the cost would keep me from going there often, it was a wonderful splurge, with great fish dishes and my own veal kidneys in madeira. We finished with a 1985 vintage port that was to die for.
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Laura
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Sounds amazing, have a glass of wine for me :)