Down to the river and turned left for some way, the river’s edge (unlike Porto's beautiful and dramatic Duoro river in a steep valley) was occupied by the defence forces and container vessels, not pretty but very functional. As we walked to the tile museum we thought, 'a yellow arrow to this place also', no, we had accidentally walked into the Camino Portuguese. Don’t worry, poppies and storks also excite me This will be the [...]
Our Canadian friend sent us an email saying that a good example for her of ‘Saudade’ might be something like: “even though she misses the Camino a lot, the memory of it is often enough”. I think she captures it well Today for us was not ‘saudade’ though, because we are reliving some memories. I feel like one of the staff to our German and French neighbours making ‘been there, done that’ comments such as: [...]
We had breakfast in an old villa called ‘Saudade’ with a Baroque ceiling, every room with its unique appeal. While chatting about this with the owner I asked her what the name ‘Saudade’ meant While ‘Duende’ is a special word in Spain (see sonnet - day 33), this word ‘Saudade’ is equivalently mysterious in Portugal, and has a totally different meaning even though for both there is an exquisite feeling involved. While in its simplest [...]
No car, no monks but we had the local bus so we went to the fishing village of Cascais. I don’t know how many fish they catch these days but they certainly have hauled in a full net of tourists. While it wasn’t our idea of a little getaway for the day, there’s always something to be found: an isolated cove, a peacock to play with, and fish to eat with lemon beer and lemon [...]
This is a palace and while it is a shack in comparison to yesterday's, this neo gothic beauty has that old Indian Raj feel about it. But the jewels in its crown are the eclectic gardens, from the eerie Portuguese cork trees with small ferns growing on the branches through to the succulents of Mexico, and lotus flowers in ponds below the trickling waterfalls. It was a lovely day and a handful of people made [...]
A glorious sight on top of a very high hill so we took a local bus with everyone else in Portugal. The designer and resident was a cousin of the ‘mad’ King Ludwig who spent a fortune on building his palace in Bavaria instead of on his constituents, (I’m not sure whether this was the same in Sintra). However it provides a lot of pleasure for those who come, (for the building is unique), and [...]
Sad to leave our little home in Lisboa, such a nice place and such lovely staff and our Angolan friends of three generations, and our Portuguese camino friends. However we will return for a day or two as it is a transit place to other towns and cities A short train ride sees us in Sintra, and yes a long walk uphill to our very big home in a local family’s lovely villa. Very difficult [...]
Our last full day in Lisboa, so down the hill across Rua Avenida and right, through the theatre district which is built on a river, a small culvert down the centre may signify this. Now up the other side, another place where no one goes, to see the crowded poorer streets below and the larger more well off folk above We came across another park on the side of the hill looking over the city, [...]
We went to the festival about 9.30pm; this is a major celebration and night parades flowed into a city strolling day. The night parade had a strong emphasis on the young and the ethnic Portuguese who while playing music and singing, did so in a reserved and humble way. The Rua Avenida was lined with locals and tourists gently clapping and cheering while the side street cafes had moved tables and chairs on to the [...]
Went for a walk early (to miss the mid 30s) up behind us and down towards the water via another street - and there was Pedro, who painted our type of art: simple, local and colourful. And what a delightful person, who chatted and listened, a very engaging and interesting man (just like our Potuguese Camino friends) who liked to have a different challenge daily so we gave him one. The painting we liked was of [...]
