January 4-6, 2023: Lisbon and Beyond

 

Moon over Lisboa

     “By day Lisbon has a naive theatrical quality that enchants and captivates, but by night it is a fairy-tale city, descending over lighted terraces to the sea, like a woman in festive garments going down to meet her dark lover.”

 ― Erich Maria Remarque

     The fourth day of the year found us landing in the Lisbon airport from Faro and checking into our Airbnb. Seriously, if you go to Lisbon, rent this place. It is a fifth floor penthouse--without an elevator, so be prepared for carrying your gear up the 98 stairs---and really nicely appointed inside. And it has two balconies!

You don't see keys like this anymore!

Worth the 98 stairs

     It was about 2pm when we arrived, so we looked for a nearby museum. Lisbon, like many very large cities, has a plethora of museums covering all sorts of art, architecture, antiquities----and weird crap like The Safe Milk Distribution Museum (no, not a joke), the Museum of Money, the Museum of Dermatology, the Criminal Investigation Police Museum, The Electricity Museum and Bordallo Pinheiro Garden which is NOT about ladies of the evening but a garden filled with gigantic slabs of blobby porcelain.  We elected to go to the museum that contains the tile work entitled Wedding of the Hen, the Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum.) 

The titular biddy sits pompously in her carriage headed for her nuptials

     The museum is housed in a former convent, Madre de Deus, which was founded in 1509. Tiles produced in numerous nations, but principally Portugal, are displayed and date back to the 15th century all the way to century 21 (no real estate plugging intended.) 

External view of Convento Madre de Deus, current housing for the Tile Museum

     The route of the museum follows a chronological order into the modern era of tile and ceramics. 

But of course, first there was pizza...

In keeping with the Latin tradition of celebrating Christmas until the annunciation, we found this lovely 18th century tilework of the nativity. 

Paul admires a 16th century tile work

The courtyard of the convent.

The chapel of the convent. Notice PMP darkening not only the door, but the sanctuary of the chapel.

A huge nativity in porcelain.

Modern tile

A very modern interpretation of a mangrove forest. The barebreasted lady is about 1 meter high. 

19th century porcelain of mermaids

    One of my very favorite tile pieces in this museum was a wall covered in tiles that showed the entire city of Lisbon just before the 1755 earthquake which killed about 60,000 people, destroyed much of Lisbon and in fact, the region and is thought to have produced a tsunami of 20 feet and collapsed 12,000 buildings. Sadly it occurred on November 1, All Saints Day, and many worshippers were in churches which collapsed.  If you walk along this wall, amazingly many of the buildings survived and are still in use today. 

Tile wall depicting Lisbon prior to the devastating 1755 earthquake. Many buildings still survive. 

     This evening we went for our "food splurge" meal at Eleven, a restaurant run by Joachim Koerper, a German transplant. We have eaten here before and it is always amazing (and expensive.)  Get ready for the food porn:

Vegan soup. (It's tasty but all about the presentation)

Grouper with "fish" cracker.

     The following morning, we slept late and then continued our museum tour with MAAT-- Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology. About half the joy was seeing the building itself , designed by British architect, Amanda Levete and situated on the Tagus River which is the heart of Lisbon.

The MAAT museum is located on the Tagus and has a walkway spanning for miles. You can easily climb onto the roof by design from the outside for a better view of the area. 

     The current exhibit is by Portuguese  artist/architect Didier Faustino called EXIST/RESIST and is a fusion of two exhibits by those names. He is very politically/global-warming  motivated and has some interesting concepts in his art. 

Faustino's work curated into 15 stations reflecting both the fragility of the planet and of words. The guy on his cell phone about halfway down to your left didn't work there and never moved even during the entire time we were in this museum. I think he was just someone born in 2000 and not a real piece of the exhibit but I am not sure.. 

Self portrait of Didier Faustino. He chews bubblegum then sticks it to his face creating a monstrous facade. 

Selfie, front and back (mirror) inspired in MAAT

     The museum also celebrated some new Portuguese artist who had won awards given by the museum. 

This female artist does her work in canvas but it is 3D. The one piece sits on the door and the blue lady is inside the room. 

Paul gives perspective to the size of these works 

Female Portuguese artist who works in glass. Love the way the light shines in and around it. 

    We walked back the three miles to our penthouse along the Tagus River and observed quite a few interesting sights:

     

I would ask if anyone has ever seen an enormous fake fish hanging out of a building, but I realize someone from Minnesota/Wisconsin might read this, in which case it would be normal.

Giant Rubic's Cube of containers being unloaded at the Lisbon harbor. 

     

     For dinner, we enjoyed a really nice tapas restaurant we have visited before, Tasca do Esquina. The staff is very attentive and the food is great. Limited food porn (can't make you TOO jealous.)

Yum!

     Today, we decided to FINALLY go to Sintra. We have been told repeatedly to do so, so we obeyed. 

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage site about 30 kilometers northwest of Lisbon. We left early in the morning and noted quite a lot of traffic coming into Lisbon (no surprise) and were grateful we were headed the other way.   Our initial destination was Pena Palace and Park. The palace exemplifies the 19th century Romanticism style of architecture atop a rocky peak. The building was first a monastery taken over by the Portuguese kings as a summer home. 

Parts of the palace NOT destroyed by the 1755 earthquake are in RED. Yellow is relatively new construction by Portuguese kings. 

     The origins of this Walt Disney-esque structure reaches back to the 12th century as Our Lady of Pena chapel and the construction of the monastery was ordered by King Manuel I and stayed a monastery until 1836.  King Ferdinand II (king-consort of the Portuguese heir) was a cultured polygot speaking seven languages and interested in art and culture. He fell in love with Sintra and the monastery and began to restore the buildings damaged in 1755 to new glory.  He was very influenced by the Moorish traditions, specifically the concept of Shaherazad and the thousand nights.  He also established a massive garden area. His second wife was an American opera singer, Elise Hensler (aka Countess of Edla) and they added more impressive reconstruction of the site.  This family lineage occupied the Palace until 1910 when King Manuel II was captured and dethroned (and eventually executed.) A revolution replaced the monarchy with a democracy shortly thereafter.  

All monarchy need a big kitchen

For all you hunters, the stag room,

I wouldn't ordinarily include such a nondescript scene but THE KING painted the murals on the wall. Apparently ,even a king wants to paint naked ladies. 

Leave it to the king to have nice serving dishes..and tiles. 

The view from Palace Pena all the way to the sea. 

     Next we moseyed on over to Quinta da Regaleira to view that house, chapel and gardens. The original owner was a wealthy Brazilian mine owner who was fascinated by the Knights of Templar and Freemasons and pretty much did some weird planning with these themes in mind. Since his death,  the structures have been owned by a variety of private citizens (including a family with 18 children!) as well as a Japanese real estate interest. Fortunately, it is now owned by the city of Sintra. 

The Initiation Well.  This is a spiral descent (you can walk to the bottom) where the Templar Cross is displayed. Supposedly it hosted secretive ceremonies. Basically it was gloomy , wet and a great setting for a horror movie.

These caves run beneath the gardens (which aren't overly in bloom in January) and is called Gruta do Oriente.  Supposedly more ceremonies here. Not sure what Mason ceremonies exist event though my grandfather was one. Paul found a book of Freemason secrets in his old house tucked away in a remote space. I'm not a big fan of societies performing rituals in dank tunnels myself. :)

View of the gardens. 

A flower that WAS in bloom in January. 

     Overall, it was a nice visit with many great views and some really beautiful buildings and gardens. 

A view across Sintra from the National Palace in Sintra. 

     We were back in Lisbon by early afternoon and were lazy until dinner at Prado. We highly recommend this eco-friendly tapas place in Baixa-Chiado area.  

Lisbon remains highly and beautifully decorated all over the city with Christmas lights. 

Good grub. Go there. 

    It's our last night here and we will bid Lisbon a very fond farewell and hope to see it again in the future. 

“Lisbon, to me,
is the Lisbon of Pessoa.
Just like London is Woolf’s,
or rather, Mrs. Dalloway’s.
Barcelona is Gaudí's
and Rome is da Vinci’s.
You see them in every crevice
and hear their echoes
in every cathedral.
I’d like to be the child,
or rather, the mother of a city
but I neither have a home
nor a resting place.
My race is humankind.
My religion is kindness.
My work is love
and, well, my city
is the walls of your heart.”
― Kamand Kojouri

Paul's Ponderings:   We've had a great few days  here with a variety of cultural and dining experiences and barely scratched the surface.    Lisbon is a very dense urban setting with abundant hills and streets that are medieval and winding in many places.    The loft we stayed in was fantastic but the climb up and down nearly 100 steps was not for everyone (sometimes we felt like that included us).     The weather has been great.      Hopefully we will return again!