Beautiful Lisbon

We stayed in a hotel/bed and breakfast called Dear Lisbon -Gallery House that we’d found on another visit to Lisbon. It ‘s comfy and lovely with art and artistic styling, and it’s great walking anywhere from there. AND that cool Tram 28 stops right outside which is truly one of the best way to see alot of the city and people watch people on the sidewalks and in the tram. We were a little overenthusiastic last night when we returned from a long day of walking , sightseeing,taking in the sunny days as people hung laundry high above us, etc etc. The Tram stopped outside, the sky was turning pink to reflect off of the clay roofs, and we dashed to ride the city once more before leaving today. It got more and more crowded as we went the tracks up and down hills as we spied on what outdoor diners were eating and which bars had the most young Europeans lounging outside. We had to walk back to our hotel because the return tram was so packed. But hey, it was just another way to enjoy the warm evening and see what everyone was out doing.

We had to do our research on the revolution since so many posters referred to it as the Carnation Revolution. It is now celebrated as Freedom Day since the peaceful revolution where soldiers had carnations in their rifles as a mostly peaceful act took down the dictatorship that had been in power for many years. This year is the 50th anniversary of the shift to democracy that came out of that day,and 25 April, 50 years of freedom has all sorts of celebrations . Sadly we will miss them. The posters were everywhere and quite varied in their presentation.

Will had the idea for us to go to the National Tile Museum on Friday afternoon when we got in from Funchal. We found a bus to take us down towards a more industrial part of the city, across from which we could see containers of all sorts of goods being loaded and unloaded from/to container ships.

The museum is in an old building that was once home to nuns, and there’s a church inside with remarkable marble, tile and ornate gold painted wood fixtures and frames. One thing I learned from the guide I listened to on my phone is that much of the gold painted frames and woodworks could be painted by melting a few pennies. The coating of the gold is that thin!

Anyway, it was a very cool museum, really worth the trip to see and learn some history. And it also makes the ubiquitous tiles around the city seem even more special and artistic in lots of varied ways.

Before we got back on the bus, Will led us to another art installation he’d read about.

We had some lovely encounters with people in Lisbon- one with a young Dutch guy now living in the city as an intern, I had another with a man who’s from Bangladesh who shared his hopes his company will help him stay. We met several Brazilians who’d come to Lisbon for better work possibilities..

We spent Sat afternoon roaming around this old Industrial complex that we’d visited 5 yrs ago when it seemed to be just coming together. LX FACTORY is now a a blend of amazing artisans and offices for artists, jewelers, tech folks as well as other creative folks. There are also shops of gorgeous handmade things from pottery to leatherwork, a small shop dedicated to origami made by two young origami expert artists, clothing and this incredible bookstore shown in the photo above. The grafiti outside the buildings is as artistic as any painting in a museum.

I’ll quit here. You get the gist: Lisbon is filled with art, artists, beautiful vistas that stretch up narrow steep streets, mysteries that come out in their music and art. It’s definitely a place we plan to visit again, and maybe again.