Uphill today because that is where artists are meant to be as at market days but they showed up at neither place. On a later walk we found them accidentally in downhill places. I was looking for something iconic like marble designer pavements or tiled buildings. In the first place I found one but alas he was about to frame it for a friend. In the second place I also found one for $1,000, I’ll let you guess where that one is tonight. I’ll keep looking, otherwise it’s a photo of their favourite poet, Pessoa standing next to two tiles!!
Also downhill and towards the river Corrie bought a CD by an African Portuguese singer, Rokia Traore, whose music is laced with poetic lyrics like Leonard Cohen, sung gently with great sensitivity and a velvet voice. We had to order it in and it arrived on time, the system here works. While on Africa, in the main street there was a gentle African man with a few drums, who slowly tapped away at a nebulous beat and drew quite a crowd. As more and more people gathered, he increased the expressions on his face, increased and changed the beat a little, while a couple of African dancers did their thing, followed by a number of onlookers who were enthralled by the simplicity of the rhythm.
Lisboans as a whole seem to be a gentle sensitive people and the feeling around Lisboa reflects this wherever we go. We’re not pushed to buy in their stores or eat at their cafes, they give directions freely and so hospitable in their hotels. The writer Jorge Dias observed the people as being deeply human, sensitive, loving and caring without being weak. I’m sure there’s a downside but it’s not obvious yet
