Portugal - a summary
Portugal
I hadn’t paid too much attention to what I would do in Portugal, being focused on my Marrakech dreams, but in the end it is Portugal I would return to first. What a beautiful country, the cities of Porto and Lisbon so charming and stunningly located alongside rivers and oceans.
Ginjinha - the local cherry liquor is sold from door way bars across the city at any time of day.
Today I stood at the spot Vasco de Gama waved goodbye to his King to depart for India. Portugal changed the world and introduced things to the East that were then discovered by the British and brought back to Europe. All this history can be discovered today in the monasteries and museums that in habit the incredible gothic buildings with ornate entrances and sweeping spires that still dominant the skyline.
The language of Portugal is hard to master retaining traces of Arabian and from it the citizens say Bey lang for Belem and the xao’s and the texieria’s and bao’s make sounds that are far from phonetic and lend an Eastern poetry to chorus of the streets.
The smell of the ocean and the call of gulls is ever-present acting as a lure for open air living and large empty cobbled plaza’s, the sound of trams rattling through the main streets taking passengers in from the outlying suburbs to work and then home again. Trains disgorge at the river terminal passengers from Spain, Mercedes taxi’s sleek in their cream livery spin through curves, up steep hills and along tree lined corridors of brass plaque entrances to secret, special worlds were only those who wear Prada live.
Men wear crushed raspberry and salmon shirts and still look manly, they turn their collars up and gel their hair, and still look manly. They wear yellow jeans, red jeans and white jeans, but that does not look so good. They look suave but not clichéd, and are never very tall.
Young men display heavy tattoos on buff biceps and look metro styling rather than mean and the ink work detail is as ornate as the gothic architecture of the city. Woman seem to live in cute platform shoes and happy colours and during the course of my days there I didn’t come across anyone in dark clothing, some grey with peach, some black with gold but nothing too overwhelming in a city where the sun shone brightly every day.
The food was beyond exquisite, the sweet yellow egg custards of the pastiles de nata, the salty cod fish, bachalua, the crispy plump bodies of the grilled sardines, the shiny olives, the rich golden glow of the olive oil, the sharp shots of cherry wine, the chorizo and the cheese..
Lisbon is a city for lovers, the sensuality of sensation and satisfaction, the late nights in fado bars talking with strangers against the sound of a mandolin and the ease of access to country coast lines with beaches of golden sand and fresh breezes that creates a sense of freedom from the world. Lisbon is the authentic soul of a multicultural, musical and magical world.
And while that is all true Portugal is also a great place to drink, be merry and stay out all night..we did it all, the tourist bars where we met a young dancer who was writing furiously. Tanja dared me to ask him if he was writing a love letter..and that started a long conversation on the psychological challenges of working with choreography and taking instruction…and it was so deep, then we moved on and met the chef, a delightful man who runs the kitchen in a well known restaurant..it was his day off, we met a couple, well we think they were a couple, he was from Norway and he was from Portugal and they were in town for a conference on blood work..Norway had a huge scar up his arm that looked like a shark bite but he said he ran through a window when he was six, maybe that’s what got him started in blood medicine..Everyone was out for conversation ..and in Lisbon the night is always young.
I am currently on a bus to Reading. Europe is amazing really I can use the internet on the bus and when you go to bathrooms the lights go on automatically, they flush automatically and then the taps go on automatically..I spend so long searching for switches and flushes and taps to turn it is silly...there's more to come about Portugal, including the John Malkcovich restaurant and the Christian Ronadho bar....mmmm
I hadn’t paid too much attention to what I would do in Portugal, being focused on my Marrakech dreams, but in the end it is Portugal I would return to first. What a beautiful country, the cities of Porto and Lisbon so charming and stunningly located alongside rivers and oceans.
Ginjinha - the local cherry liquor is sold from door way bars across the city at any time of day.
Today I stood at the spot Vasco de Gama waved goodbye to his King to depart for India. Portugal changed the world and introduced things to the East that were then discovered by the British and brought back to Europe. All this history can be discovered today in the monasteries and museums that in habit the incredible gothic buildings with ornate entrances and sweeping spires that still dominant the skyline.
The language of Portugal is hard to master retaining traces of Arabian and from it the citizens say Bey lang for Belem and the xao’s and the texieria’s and bao’s make sounds that are far from phonetic and lend an Eastern poetry to chorus of the streets.
The smell of the ocean and the call of gulls is ever-present acting as a lure for open air living and large empty cobbled plaza’s, the sound of trams rattling through the main streets taking passengers in from the outlying suburbs to work and then home again. Trains disgorge at the river terminal passengers from Spain, Mercedes taxi’s sleek in their cream livery spin through curves, up steep hills and along tree lined corridors of brass plaque entrances to secret, special worlds were only those who wear Prada live.
Men wear crushed raspberry and salmon shirts and still look manly, they turn their collars up and gel their hair, and still look manly. They wear yellow jeans, red jeans and white jeans, but that does not look so good. They look suave but not clichéd, and are never very tall.
Young men display heavy tattoos on buff biceps and look metro styling rather than mean and the ink work detail is as ornate as the gothic architecture of the city. Woman seem to live in cute platform shoes and happy colours and during the course of my days there I didn’t come across anyone in dark clothing, some grey with peach, some black with gold but nothing too overwhelming in a city where the sun shone brightly every day.
The food was beyond exquisite, the sweet yellow egg custards of the pastiles de nata, the salty cod fish, bachalua, the crispy plump bodies of the grilled sardines, the shiny olives, the rich golden glow of the olive oil, the sharp shots of cherry wine, the chorizo and the cheese..
Lisbon is a city for lovers, the sensuality of sensation and satisfaction, the late nights in fado bars talking with strangers against the sound of a mandolin and the ease of access to country coast lines with beaches of golden sand and fresh breezes that creates a sense of freedom from the world. Lisbon is the authentic soul of a multicultural, musical and magical world.
And while that is all true Portugal is also a great place to drink, be merry and stay out all night..we did it all, the tourist bars where we met a young dancer who was writing furiously. Tanja dared me to ask him if he was writing a love letter..and that started a long conversation on the psychological challenges of working with choreography and taking instruction…and it was so deep, then we moved on and met the chef, a delightful man who runs the kitchen in a well known restaurant..it was his day off, we met a couple, well we think they were a couple, he was from Norway and he was from Portugal and they were in town for a conference on blood work..Norway had a huge scar up his arm that looked like a shark bite but he said he ran through a window when he was six, maybe that’s what got him started in blood medicine..Everyone was out for conversation ..and in Lisbon the night is always young.
I am currently on a bus to Reading. Europe is amazing really I can use the internet on the bus and when you go to bathrooms the lights go on automatically, they flush automatically and then the taps go on automatically..I spend so long searching for switches and flushes and taps to turn it is silly...there's more to come about Portugal, including the John Malkcovich restaurant and the Christian Ronadho bar....mmmm
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