Wandering Lisbon

It had been so long since I’d traveled abroad that I

anticipated my trip to Portugal with a sense of

wonder and trepidation. Would the country seem

foreign or would it have taken on American culture,

especially now with the explosion of transplants?

I’d done most of my research on a Facebook page

devoted to single female travelers, so I assumed a

trip was safe, doable and not beyond my means.

After a harrowing flight during the high season of

August, I was relieved to discover that Lisbon is much

cooler than New Orleans and completely without rain.

(I had just left 90-degree heat, humidity and frequent

rainstorms.) Honestly, I was reminded of California’s

maritime climate with cool evenings.

I was also pleasantly surprised that although Portugal has modern conveniences, it is visually still an ancient land. At every turn, there is evidence of its gloried past. Bronze statues of soldiers on horseback grace every plaza with multiple, impossible-to-remember royal and military names.

Lisbon’s modernity is the outcome of a catastrophic earthquake, fire and tsunami in 1755. Yes, all three! The earthquake caused a tsunami on the Feast of All Saints, when candles lit in every church ignited fires that destroyed what remained and drowned worshippers. An estimated 60,000 Portuguese died.

The city was rapidly rebuilt by the zealous Marques de Pombal with help from neighboring countries, including England, which needed its seaport and wines. Lisbon’s riverfront plaza, Praca do Comercio, broad and grand, faces the Tagus River where giant sailing ships, called caravals launched for distant destinations more than six centuries ago, claiming colonies in Africa and South America for commercial exploit.

City streets and plazas are paved with decorative stone, limestone and basalt, which served as ballast on ships. At the riverfront, the undulating design recalls the tsunami. (For some reason, perhaps the word, I had always associated those massive waves with the Pacific Ocean, specifically Japan or Hawaii, but they are caused by underwater volcanic action.)

I stayed three different times at the Living Lounge, my home base, which I had learned about on a Facebook page. My flight delayed, then canceled, then rerouted, had caused me to arrive two days late. Yet, I found the hostel from the airport via metro thanks to detailed directions provided by the staff. Hostels don’t have the most elegant reputation in the United States, but were quite comfortable and friendly. Given my inability to speak more than a couple of Portuguese words and without a traveling companion, I would not have engaged in a single conversation in more than three weeks had I not stayed in hostels. There I met youngish people and single women from Canada, Australia, Wales, Germany, Italy, England and Brazil who spoke English fluently and were interested to exchange travel information and wanting to know more about New Orleans.

A typical Portuguese breakfast includes a pastry, cold cuts, cheese and cucumbers,.

AI should have purchased a lighter, carry-on suitcase, particularly for climbing the country’s many hills, but I had more than enough summer clothes and twice utilized a downtown coin laundromat, where the washers were far more energy-efficient than American machines. Good shoes are a must and two of the three pair I brought did not work out, so it is important to choose carefully.

An Alfama mural depicts a famous Fado singer. Fado is a mournful ballad expressing women's sadness when their men were long at sea.

Every city has good coffee, pastries, including the famous custards, Pastels de Nata. I ate some of the best Italian food I’d ever tasted, as well as fried cod caught in the North Sea. People are friendly and helpful; trains and buses run on time and, overall, life is quite pleasant.

My first stop in Lisbon was short, but I returned to do a more thorough exploration, taking the yellow Tram #28 through Graca, Alfama, Baixa and Estrela neighborhoods. Because I was traveling in the high tourist season, it was not so quick to board the famous tram and after two tries at different times of day, I queued for over an hour to enjoy glimpses of other neighborhoods. Portugal had many colonies in Africa and South America, thus its population and cuisine is quite diverse.

Winding street in Alfama, Lisbon's oldest neighborhood, sandwiched between the ancient Castle of St. George and the Tagus River.

Jeronimos Monastery was built from riches derived from the spice trade.

Besides the usual tourist attractions, including the majestic Jeronimos Monastery, which definitively demonstrates not only the power but the wealth of the Catholic Church. Eventually, the government threw out the Jesuits and stripped the Catholic Church of many of its edifices. Monasteries have become museums, although churches have not been turned into condominiums and restaurants as they have in New Orleans. Many people still attend daily mass.

The presence of the Moors for almost 800 years had a lasting effect on agriculture, food, art, literature and customs. The Portuguese are handsome people with dark hair and olive skin, descended from Arabic, Celtic, Germanic and Sephardic Jewish invasions.

Tile (azulejos) are everywhere, as decoration on buildings and protection from heat and moisture. One of my outings was to the National Tile Museum, a ways off the beaten path, which had attracted a great number of other visitors. I learned that there were several phases of tile design, starting with geometric shapes and patterns. Colors, animal, plant and even human images were introduced over the centuries.

Santo Antonio Chapel inside the National Tile Museum, converted from a former convent.

One of many provocative tiles, apparently a comment on medicine, at the Tile Museum.

In addition to the National Tile Museum, which provides centuries of history of tile design and production, I ventured to another more modern neighborhood to visit the Banksy Museum to see more than 100 reproductions of the contemporary artist's work through video, graffiti, canvases and murals. I had seen a couple of his politically themed works in New Orleans post-Katrina, but seeing them altogether was a very powerful experience.

Portugal is a small country, the size of the state of Maine, so it does not take much time to drive its length, experiencing different terrain, climate and history.