Roaming freely on free Sunday: Lisbon Day 2 (1 Sep 2013)

WARNING: Long post for a long day! Just look at the pictures if you like!

Our second day in Lisbon, a free day meaning nothing was organised, was somewhat disappointing, not so much for what we did do but for what we didn’t. We made some strategic, in retrospect, mistakes, and so missed one sight in particular that we wanted to get to, the gardens and museum of Gulbenkian. It didn’t help that we weren’t in top condition … Sue had a sore throat and Len had a cough and sniffles, presumably from the same virus! Nonetheless, we did have a very interesting time.

The first strategic mistake was to use the hop-on-hop-off-bus. Cyra doesn’t usually recommend these but suggested that given Lisbon’s spread-out nature it is a good approach in this city. The trouble was that it was SO slow. Our second strategic mistake was to decide not to do the Gulbenkian in the morning as we passed it on the bus, but to do it in the afternoon on a second go-round on the bus. The reasons for this were logical … It was free all day on Sunday while Belem’s attractions were only free until 2pm on Sunday, and we were told they’d be busy so get there early. Early ended up being 11 am by the time our hop-on-hop-off-bus got us there … The so-called, or so Sue thought she heard, 45-minute route, took well over an hour and we’d already had quite a wait before it took off. Oh well, the things you learn … and we did learn and see things from the bus, so it wasn’t wasted.

Belém

Belém (or, Santa Maria de Belém) is a district located a few kilometres west of the city centre. Its name comes from the Portuguese for Bethlehem. It is famous as the place from which many of the great Portuguese explorers set off on their voyages of discovery, such as Vasco da Gama who departed for India from here in 1497. It is a former royal residence and contains the 17th-18th century Belém Palace.

Belém also has two UNESCO World Heritage sites and is the home of the Portuguese tart. In fact, what we call Portuguese tart, the Portuguese call Pasteis de Belem. We had to go to Antiga Confeiteira de Belem, the official bakery that has made them since 1837. Despite apparently churning out 10,000 tarts a day, it still manages to produce superior tarts … and Len knows, having eaten his fair share over the years. Some members of our group, we discovered later, ate three or four. Len had one … and would have gone back for a second except for the queue! Sue even had one … There are certain things one just has to risk, and Sue’s skin is holding up well in this conducive climate. Germany may be a different matter.

The main sights we visited were:

• Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (monastery) is probably the top sight in Lisbon. Ordered by Manuel I to commemorate Vasco da Gama’s successful return from India, building started in 1502. Originally meant as a church for the burial of the House of Aviz, it also became a house of prayer for the port’s seamen. It took 50 years to build partly due to a three-decade break in construction after Manuel’s death. It’s in Manueline style (ie Portuguese late-Gothic). We saw the church but could only stay in the back as a mass was in process. The staff at the door handed out shawls to women whose shoulders were bare … not needed for daggy, sensible cotton shirt wearing Sue though! The church contains the tomb of Vasco da Gama who, of course, we older tourists know well. Sue loved the simple, stone-vaulted Gothic ceilings. What we particularly enjoyed were the two-storied cloisters. The stonework was decorative combining European and Moorish styles. Gargoyles, of course, but also ornamented arches within simple round arches, and patterned columns, and a lovely warm colour from the pedra lioz, a local gold-coloured limestone. In an extension, added to the monastery during the restoration of 1850, is located the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia and the west wing of the Museu da Marinha. The monastery, along with the Belem tower, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
• Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), a 52m high concrete sculpture looking out over the Tagus River. It was erected in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. The design represents the prow of a ship on which are bas-relief statues of explorers, cartographers, and other historical figures, with Henry at the head. It’s an attractive and impressive statue. In front of or behind (!) it is a square (placa) inset with a map showing the routes of various Portuguese explorers, but it was hard to see given all the free Sunday sightseers.

All this exploring was hot work, so we had a quick, refreshing lunch at a little place called Cafe A Margem, overlooking the river. Sue usually drinks water, when not imbibing wine, but she decided to join Len in trying a fresh fruit juice. Len’s Lemon was pretty sour and needed the sugar they provided, but Sue loved her Apple, Pineapple and Ginger juice. All it needed was more ice for the hot day.

• Torre de Belém/Belém Tower was, really, what threw our day. We got there about an hour before the free entry ended at 2pm. It’s a fortified tower, designed to be both part of a defence system at the mouth of the river and a formal gateway to Lisbon. At one time it was also used as a prison. It was built in the early 16th century and is also primarily in Manueline style. It’s built from lioz limestone and comprises a bastion and the 30 meter four storey tower. Of course, we wanted to climb the tower … But that meant ascending a very narrow one-way spiral stone staircase. To manage the traffic, there are lights at each storey telling you when it is your turn to go up or down. We got up alright, but the line to get down was something else. It was a spiral itself, and became a bit anarchic when, at the point the light said the next bunch could go down, people were still coming up. Sometimes the next bunch went down after the going down light had gone off, causing more chaos on the stairs. Other times they just waited. It was hot up there on the roof in the sun, though fortunately only low thirties! We got down eventually but this little trip – while an interesting traveller experience!- had cost us a lot of time, and we still wanted to see the Maritime Museum.
• Museu da Marinha/Maritime Museum. Of course, given Portugal’s role in the age of exploration we had to go to the Maritime Museum even if it meant we might have to give up seeing the Gulbenkian art collection in the upper part of town, though we still hoped to make that too. It’s a pretty traditional museum with lots of objects including miniatures of the ships used in the past, sculptures and paintings. There’s an excellent map in the entrance showing the extent of Portuguese exploration. We’d read somewhere that the Portuguese may even have been the first to sight Australia but this wasn’t shown on the map. The part of the museum we most enjoyed, probably, was the new section containing actual boats, including old royal barges and some huge rowing boats used for fishing, and a couple of planes including an old wooden one from 1917 …

And we still thought we could make it to the Gulbenkian … But the hop-on-hop-off-bus was so slow we realised by the time we got back to the start that time had defeated us. I guess it just means we’ll have to come back to Lisbon another time.

Fado and food

While the day was a free day, the evening was not … joining in wasn’t compulsory but who, particularly folk-world music enthusiasts, wouldn’t miss an opportunity to experience Fado. Fado bars abound, many presenting dinner-fado deals for tourists, but Cyra had sussed out a more traditional little venue where we could just have a drink and some nibbles – bread, olives and sheep’s (the common form here … whoopee) cheese. Sunday night is apparently “up and coming” night at this bar, and we heard one singer accompanied by two guitarists. We couldn’t understand a word but enjoyed the sound – and the experience. Hit the play button below for a short unedited clip:

 
For those who don’t know, Fado, like most folk traditions, has complex origins but the current form was established in Portugal probably by the 1820s-30s. It’s defined by mournful tunes and lyrics, and was traditionally about the sea or the life of the poor – but can now be about anything. However, it needs to have a particular structure and convey a feeling of resignation and melancholia (for which the Portuguese word is “saudade”, or “longing”). It made Sue think, rightly or wrongly, of Orhan Pamuk’s book Istanbul and his description of “huzun”.

After hearing a few short sets of Fado, we set off for dinner at another treasure recommended by Cyra, Patio De Bairro. Its menu is a sort of fusion Portuguese. Sue loved her grilled tuna with caramelised onions and broccoli, and her meringue and berries dessert. Len had garlic prawns and, for dessert, a cold strawberry soup … And it all, with beverages, including wine, came to around €20 each.

Three-words

SUE: Tourists, Tarts, Throat
LEN: Spiral Staircase Phobia

and the stills…

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