Esthetic/Aesthetic

Lisbon Sidewalk

I haven't been taking many Brooklyn pictures, sorry.  You see, in theory I like the idea of lots of sunshine but in reality all that sun takes its toll on me and come summer I skitter between any available shade to avoid getting fried by my mortal enemy, Mr. Sunshine, so I've been spending a lot of time indoors.

Religion in Portugal

Perhaps part of why I liked Portugal so much is that only a small percentage of the "must sees" have to do with churches.  Don't get me wrong, I liked Belgium too, but I never need to see another baroque church as long as I live.  I got my share in one little country.

First the Carmo Convent - Its a church that was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1755 leaving only its shell remaining.  Inside the little gift shop area was two mummified children of about 8 years of age who were each squeezed into a 1x2 foot glass box for the world to walk by every day.  It was really morbidly fascinating and as far as I could see had little relevance to the convent itself.   I wasn't allowed to take pictures of them, so you'll have to trust me.

One day I spent almost 5 hours just sitting on the edge of Portugal near Cascais reading The Brooklyn Follies and wandering further up the coast every hour or so, or whenever it started raining onto my book.  Along the way I came across El Boca Do Inferno! 

Its significant to this post because at the top of El Boca Do Inferno! is a little chapel with a little cross that keeps the devil away, I'm assuming.

And the language police would also like to apologize that the original namer of El Boca Do Inferno! did not use spell check.

And lastly the Jeronimos Monastery in Belem, the most peaceful place I may ever have been in my life.  The cloisters were so lovely, too lovely to put into words.

And here is inside the actual church part.  There was no flash allowed so I couldn't take a clear picture of a statue of a little saint who was stepping on the heads of 6 children.  I'm getting the feeling that the Portuguese have an odd relationship with childhood.
   

Castle of the Moors

I apologize for being away this week.  I started my new show and I haven't been home much.  But that's a good thing.  Perhaps it's too soon to say it, but I think it'll be a fun show. 

On to the Castelo Dos Mouros which is a 10 minutes walk down the mountain from the Pena Palace. 

Inside a little nook was this old advertising for the castle with a view of the Pena Palace behind it.  If I could have figured out a way to get it out I would have brought it home.  I think it would look great on my wall.

It rained on me a little bit everyday but this day I was so far up that I didn't mind all the beautiful clouds and the shadows they made.

After leaving the castle I walked the rest of the way into Sintra.  It was about a 40 minute walk through the greenest forest.

At the bottom of the hill I walked out of a little alleyway onto a road and there waiting for me was Limpy who was taking upon himself to escort all the ladies out of the forest and into Sintra.  He even waited patiently for me when I needed to stop and take pictures.  At one point I stopped to pull out my map to make sure he was leading me in the right direction and I could have sworn he rolled his eyes and gave me a doggy, "huff".

He was very brave and protected me from these two hellions who almost resemble the bullies from A Christmas Story if you use your imagination.

I'm not sure where he disappeared to after he walked me to the edge of town, I think he went back up to the forest trail to wait for his next customer.

Lisbon Window

There are a lot more pictures, I'm just a little over dealing with them.  This is one of my favorite ones, though.

By the way, my weekend was good.  I got to see friends that aren't around a lot.  In fact, on Friday I had the very unique experience of being invited to a "passion" party that was held in a funeral home in the Bronx (except the word passion was a little different).   A very odd experience.  I was reassured that there were no dead people in the building because it was killing the mood for me to think of a group of people giggling about dildos when there was a corpse nearby. 

The Pena Palace in Sintra

At first glance you think that there is no way this is a real place because all you can think of is Disneyland, but in fact it is an actual historical palace and it's amazing to look at.  There were no pictures allowed inside but it was very Marie Antionette with lots of fancy beds and bathrooms and even little molds to make candy in the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, I took a lot more pictures and I'm trying to get them all uploaded onto my Flickr page but it's time consuming.  You can look there if you really, really want to see everything.

The Barrio Alto

Normally I'm very wary about any neighborhood that is listed as the "in" place to hang out in a guidebook because chances are it's overrun with Gaps, McDonalds and tourists who prefer their trips to include everything they enjoy from back home with none of the culture of the place they're visiting.  But the Barrio Alto was my absolute favorite part of Lisbon.  It's situated on a hill in the older section of Lisbon and is made up of little tiny streets and alleys.  During the day it looks practically abandoned but around 2 or 3 in the afternoon all the gates and doors open up to reveal lots of adorable little shops and bars and restaurants that you could spend an entire vacation wandering around or at least until 4AM when they close.

The Map of the Barrio

There was supposed to be the Elevador de Gloria on this street, but it was down for repairs so I hiked up in my cute going out shoes and skirt in order to visit the Port Wine Institute.  (Where you see the hill end is not the bottom, it goes on much further).

The Port Wine Institute was all tourists, but I got the chance to try two glasses of port.  I preferred the 20 year old Churchill port.  Sorry the picture is all fuzzy, I had to order the bread on the right because two glasses of port on an empty stomach isn't the best idea in the world.  After having my port I went to a Fado bar where everyone who worked in the restaurant sang a couple of songs, including the cooks.

Here's another shots (from another day) looking up the steps to the neighborhood.

Fortunately I found the Elevador de Bica to take me up.

Here's a few shots around the neighborhood.

You'd think people wouldn't like their walls being painted, but it seems to be encouraged.

There were a few repeated pieces, like this one of a guy painting over "culture".

I liked this one too.

Unfortunately, this place wasn't open when I came across it.  I think every city needs its own Wild Dreamers Association.

I'm back

Portugal was fantastic.  It was 1000% more beautiful, charming and fascinating than I had imagined.  I'll put some pictures up the next couple of weeks until I get tired of them (I took about 700). 

The Latest

From Me.

I leave for Portugal in 2 weeks, and I feel a little nervous going somewhere where the language barrier is much greater than I've travelled through alone before, but everything I've read about the place it seems like a very nice, clean easy country to travel through.  And I'm certainly not going very far beyond the normal tourist borders (as much as I'll probably regret that).  I keep looking at the website of a travel writer who has an extensive Portugal blog.  It just looks like such an amazing place.   When the hotel I was staying at couldn't find a room for me for Saturday and Sunday, fortunately a friend had forwarded a NY Times link to me about Portugal and now I'll be staying 2 nights in Cascais, a sedate little suburb of Lisbon with lots of pretty beaches, which was my main goal of going to Portugal.