Lisboa Day 3 (Monday 9 September)

Monday is washing day (so goes the song), which meant our first sightseeing of the day involved front-loading washing machines. However, it was among the easiest wash we’ve had to do while travelling, and we were soon wandering through the Baixa, the commercial area, on our way to the Cathedral.

Baixa is the area with most of the “Pombaline” style buildings, named after the Marquis de Pombal who, as First Minister, rebuilt the area after the 1755 earthquake. There are definitely some tourist traps, but it is mostly small shops, cafes and restaurants. We made strategic purchases at a shoe shop (sandals for after each day’s walk), and then Paula discovered a great little ships where two designers sold modern takes on Portuguese wares — the distinctive tiles reimagined in a modern style and turned into trivets, sardine dishes, kitchen stuff. More baggage was the result.

Everything in Lisbon is conditioned by the earthquake. The high ground survived the tsunami but was often destroyed by fire, except on the rocky hill where the old poor quarter of Alfama stands. The cathedral survived and is therefore quite different from the baroque that is the usual fare among the churches (there are three within 100 metres of Solar dos Poetas where we are staying). The tourist crowds were off-putting, but we visited most of it and had a good time making jokes about the extraordinary stuff in the treasury. Five minutes in one of those copes and the bishop would have been toast, but he had been granted the right to fans by one of the popes, which puts him ahead of most Australian bishops, who have very few fans. 🤣

In the afternoon, we did a tour of the Alfama, which retains a little of the culture of the old poor quarter it once was. Sailors, fisherman, small traders and prostitutes seem to have made up its population for much of its history, and it is the birthplace of the musical style of fado, which expresses much of the sentimental Soledad at the heart of Portuguese culture. Salazar’s promotion of it as a national artform nearly doomed it after the Carnation Revolution, but it is everywhere now.

Tomorrow it’s Porto. We would come back to Lisbon. There is much more to explore.