dimanche 17 février 2013

Lisbon, Portugal; February 2013


Arrived on the Sunday (February 10, 2013); staying in town at the Bairro Alto Hotel (recommended by i-escape and reviewed, along with other sites and restaurants, on Trip Advisor). I left Toronto the night before with a delay of more than one hour, which meant missing my connection in Munich; fortunately there was a flight to Lisbon shortly after on TPA559. Rested for an hour or so before a business dinner at the hotel restaurant, the Flores.

Early up on Monday morning, and after some work and a copious petit déjeuner at the hotel, took the fabled Tram 28, just in front of the hotel, to ramble up to Graça through Bairro Alto, Chiado, Baixa and finally Alfama neighbourhoods.. Hilly Lisboa! Walked down to the castle – Castelo de Sâo Jorge. It dominates that part of Lisbon. Built on a hill (as it has to!) by the Moors in the middle of the 11th Century, it was taken over by the Christians about 100 years later (1147) – Royalty would have stayed there starting from the 14th century to the 1700s. It’s a landmark that is very much part of the history of the city and the country! Ventured about the castle – on its ramparts as well as its gardens, providing a magnificent view over the older Lisbon, as well as the imposing and wide Tagus River (Rio Tejo) – and the immense ‘Golden Gate’ suspended bridge, built in the late 60s.

Stopped by the gift shop to pick up a CD by what I am told is an emblematic local singer of the 60s, Amalia Rodrigues. Got also the address of a bookshop where to get a guide book by the famous national poet, Fernando Pessoa, Lisboa, what the tourist should see, probably written in 1925, and published posthumously. (Went to pick it up at the bookshop – Ler Devagar – in the Lx Factory compound that afternoon, only to go and find out that it is closed on Mondays; finally got a copy at Bertrand, near the hotel!)

Walked all the way down, stopping at Lisbon Sé (cathedral), built in the 12th century by the crusaders who took over the mosque that the Moors had erected there. (Walked around the nef; there is a cloister at the back which I did not go to.) Monumental!

Carried on to Augusta Street, one of the grid-like streets of Baixa, that gives, through a monumental archway, to the immense Praça do Comercio – by then it is raining slightly. Walked along Rua do Arsenal back to the Chiado neighbourhood for lunch at Largo along Rua Serpa Pinto. (After lunch, went across the street at the Teatro National de Sâo Carlos, on Largo de Sâo Carlos, to pick-up my ticket for the 20th anniversary performance of Portugal’s Symphony later on that week). Had a digestive coffee on the way back at the more than centenary coffee house of A Brazileira on Garret Street just as it merges into Largo do Chiado, adjacent to Praça Luis de Camoes, where the hotel is. Afternoon: time to go to work…Hosting dinner that night for colleagues, at Bica do Sapato, a very large restaurant that gives straight on the river.



On my way to work, stopped to visit the eclectic and considerable Museu Calouste Gelbenkian, an assemblage of Gulbenkian’s private collection - phenomenal (see separate blog entry)! Took advantage of a day off to go to Sintra, about 30 KMs away from Lisboa, by train (see separate blog entry).

Walked late afternoon down from Bairro Alto to the river (via the adjacent Rua do Alecrim – a few book antiquaries on the way). Demonstration across the hotel – the Ministry of Economy is nearby; (very loud) music and leftist songs dating back to the 1974 “revolution”. Reforms - read prices going up while the economy is not doing too well! Lots of work (renovation; “revitalization”) going on along the Teju – it’s enormously wide, at least at Lisbon’s height! Plaça do Comercio in the dying sun by a very clear day! The equestrian statue in the centre and the immense arch giving to the square by Rua Augusta, mostly under cover (being renovated). Wondered in the streets of Baixa, and found my way back through Chiado to Praça Luis de Camoes on the heart of Bairro Alto.

Concert tonight, at the nearby Teatro National de Sâo Carlos, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Portugal Symphony – better rest a little bit before!

(i.e. l’ensemble des cuivres et percussions de l’Orchestre Symphonique du Portugal ( l’OSP) sous la direction de Pedro Neves: un programme plutôt ‘dramatique’ – la Suite de Carmen; le Boléro; «An American in Paris»; quelques morceaux de Wagner, et puis pour finir «Malaguena»!...en plus d’une oeuvre de Aaron Copland – Fanfare for the Common Man – qui ressemble à une ouverture de Jeux Olympiques!)

"...et vous êtes passée, demoiselle inconnue, à deux doigts d'être nue, sous le lin qui dansait..." Jacques Brel

Lisboa, February 15, 2013