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Lisbon, History and Life

March 7 through 10, 2002

Dear Friends and Families,

Four days in Lisbon left an unusual impression. We loved the city, but find we have remarkably little to say about it. Lisbon is a blend of old, not-so-old, and new. There are broad city views from the many hills but none as dramatic as Arcos de la Fronteira or San Francisco or Stockholm. The cuisine is good but not French-special. The streets are neither clean nor dirty and neither crowded nor empty. Lisbon for us was a bit like many other places we've seen on our Roadtrip but at the same time unique. Even our impression of Lisbon is hard to put into words but we'd come back again and again.

So what did we see? First, we saw our small hotel, the Residencia Roma. Marianne disliked it right off, but we arrived at almost midnight so there was no chance of looking around. Then, every day something improved. We got a better room. Marianne talked with the young lady who had checked us in and discovered that she was the owner's daughter. That made the family-run place more personal. And the price and location were right so maybe Marianne would recommend the Residencia Roma after all!

In every European city, we are bound to see churches, forts, squares and, optionally, museums and galleries. So it was with Lisbon. Our first visit was to Sao Roque Church, a 16th century church originally run by the Jesuits. The Portuguese royalty expelled the order in the 18th century but not before they had managed to have the Pope send the beautiful St. John the Baptist chapel from Italy to be installed as a side altar in San Roque's. It was reportedly built in the Vatican, used for a single papal mass, and then disassembled and sent to Lisbon. The blue lapis was marvelous and it's easy to see why the guidebook called this the most expensive chapel, per square meter, in Portugal.

The next church was even more unique because it was just a shell. Much of Lisbon, and Portugal generally, was destroyed in a massive 1755 earthquake and resulting fires. The shell of this Carmelite monastery was left as a monument and, 250 years later, still evokes a sense of awe. The old altar area is closed in and houses a small museum complete with shards, skulls and bones, but the real attraction is the open church.

What's next? Oh yeah, forts and squares. The castle of St. George overlooks both the part of the city, called the Baixa or lower city and across to Barrio Alta, the upper city. There is also a view of Alfama, a pocket of very old streets that managed to survive the 1755 earthquake and fires. The castle itself is pretty mundane, just rebuilt inner walls and outer ramparts with no indication of how the space had been used in its time. Now that we are becoming castle connoisseurs, we look for that connection to old life inside the walls and are disappointed when it is missing.

Elsewhere in Lisbon, there are many public squares and monuments. The 18th century reconstruction meant there was plenty of public space and even today there is a requirement to sit at a sidewalk cafe and relax and watch the traffic go by. In the course of all this contemplating and study, we noticed the pigeon-on-the-head phenomenon, wherein every monumental statue was crowned by birds. I don't know how they train all these birds.

Next, there's a stroll through an old town, in Lisbon's case the Alfama district. Between the time of the earthquake and the mid-20th Century, this district was a poor neighborhood, sandwiched between the port and the castle hill. Nowadays, it's being gentrified but not too much. The streets are still narrow and the places too small for real gentry. We did spot one place squeezed against the castle wall that looked like we could fix up. How expensive could it be to remodel a couple hundred square feet?

Finally we spent some time at a couple of museums and galleries. Some of the art collections were unremarkable, lots of religious art, and bits and pieces of more modern works. However, the Gulbenkian Museum was remarkable indeed. Calouste Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil magnate who moved to Lisbon at the time of World War II and was so grateful to his adopted homeland that he left the city his personal art collection, provided it was all displayed in a single location. That display is now open to the public and constitutes an art history course all to itself. There are fine specimens of Roman art, real pieces not shards, as well as Islamic art. The rugs were wonderful, as were the tiles and ceramics. This quality collection continued up through modern works of the mid-1950's. I think this must be an almost-perfect museum. It is viewable in a couple of hours and every piece on display is perfect. (One drawback, no photos allowed. Sorry, you'll have to visit yourself.)

So there you have it. Please visit Lisbon yourself and tell us your impression. Hopefully you will have words that better capture the magic we found here.

Until then, stay healthy and check out the pigeon-monument phenomena in your neighborhood. If nothing else, it's a chance to relax.

John and Marianne

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Created March 14, 2002

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