Category: Portugal

Postcard from Lisboa, Portugal: Dreams of eternity etched in stone

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A bookworm’s dream. Bound for eternity with book in hand.

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Or perhaps a book in hand and an adoring dog at your feet.

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Doggie heaven. A fresh fowl ever ready everyday.

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Alas, the curse of a king. Forced to keep sword in hand and faithful hound ever vigilant until kingdom come.

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Or eternally wait for an answer from God.

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Or the poor saint who is given no rest. Her work on earth still in demand. Saint Justina, chastised for chastity and Catholicism. A recipe destined for martyrdom. Beheaded in the year 304, the rest of you unearthed and removed by papal politics some 1,500 years later for veneration by the faithful in Lisboa, far away from your Basilica in your native Padua and leaving the residents of Padua without the protection offered by the potent physical presence of their patroness.

I have no worries of being publicly preserved for prayers from the faithful. Sainthood passed me by at an early age.

But, if it’s at all possible to be buried with book in hand, please make it a well-loaded Kindle.

And, maybe, just let Howie rest in peace wherever he lies.

Postcard from Lisboa, Portugal: Bringing home the groceries

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Requesting they not overload bags, sometimes I have been known to whine to checkers at grocery stores about having a second-floor kitchen at home. A flight of stairs separates the car from our kitchen. But our apartment in Lisboa might have reformed me permanently.

There is a fairly large grocery store close to our apartment. As a pigeon flies. But as a person walks, a few flights of stairs must be navigated when bringing home the goods.

These photos represent the climb. One photo is shot downward, not because that is the direction we get to go but because a restaurant’s umbrellas blocked the view of some of the stairs.

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Motivated by a sale on a favorite bottle of wine, the Mister has made a couple of extra sprints back and forth without me.

At the base of the first flight of stairs is one of the hole-in-the-wall ginjinha bars. Ginjinha is an extremely fortified cherry-flavored beverage served in shot glasses – think an adult-version of Luden’s cough drops on steroids. Although it doesn’t have to be thrown down in one-gulp multiples the way Anthony Bourdain did before staggering off down a street.

As we carried up a supply of groceries/wine this afternoon, I was wondering if a one-shot stop at the base would be helpful.

What would Anthony do?

Postcard from Coimbra, Portugal: Parting Shots

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Don’t know why I haven’t shared more sidewalk shots, as we spend so much of our time walking them. This is the only one in this batch of photographs, but Portuguese sidewalks tend to be incredibly beautiful with varying geometric or lyrical designs. A culture paying artistic attention to what lies underfoot fills me with admiration.

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While females are associated with fado music in much of the country, Coimbra’s fado traditions are associated with the male population of the University of Coimbra. Rather than hear it in a club, we went to listen to the songs of loss or longing as preserved and presented by the nonprofit organization of former students, Fado ao Centro. Here, the male vocalist sings accompanied by a classical guitar and a 12-string Portuguese guitar.

The song we recorded is one of courtship, sung below the window of the target of affection. If the woman favors the attention, she signals by turning the light in her room on and off three times. Those gathered around in the street signal their appreciation of the talents of the musicians not by applause, but by clearing their throats three times at the conclusion of the song of yearning.