Wow, it’s May 1st. Remember May poles? Bright ribbons and flower garlands? Not the same thing here. Nope, it’s Labor Day. That means more things are closed. And Labor Day here is similar to Labor Day in the U.S. Celebrating workers. Except in the U.S., we’d never take it on a Sunday. We make it…
My man in Macao
May 1, International Workers Day the world over, is Labor Day in Portugal and observed as a holiday. This reflects how the Socialist Party has dominated the political scene since 1974 when the Carnation Revolution ended Salazar’s dictatorship. So, like Easter Monday, a lot of venues were closed and, with the increasing tourist traffic loving…
Trash Animals
What’s with the trash sculptures emerging from walls as if from another dimension? I’ve come across four of them here in Portugal. So similar in structure and style, they MUST all be created by the same artist. A little internet research turned up artist Bordalo II (Bordalo Segundo). Bordalo II uses our discarded stuff to construct…
Cinderella has found her ride
And off we go, a quick train ride to Belem and then cappuccinos by the Tagus River. On to the National Coach Museum just across the street. What’s the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear stuff like Coach Museum? Uh huh, be honest. Musty stables with disintegrating covered wagons? Wells Fargo Pony…
When kings rode coach
Before we traveled, I made sure to bring an umbrella; I would have been better served if I had brought sunscreen. Today it got up to 27 degrees Celsius. Flush-faced Northern Europeans, sun hats, shorts. We lit out for the wide river promenade in Bélem. Cappuccinos at a cafe near a Portuguese-style RV park… …then…
Nothing to see here
Despite the programmed metro strike this morning, the above ground trains were operating as normal. We caught a train to Cascais, barely a 30 minute ride along the coast. Lisbon sits on the Tagus river which opens to the Atlantic. Cascais sits on the Atlantic. On the map below, the blue circle is where our…
Armless volleyball
With the weather predicted to be in the mid-seventies, we figured it would be good day to head west along the coast and scope out the resort town of Cascais. It’s an easy train ride, and we went early enough to avoid fighting for seats. (By early, I mean any time before noon. After twelve,…
I wanted to call this post…
Pretty Porcelain Pottery. But that’s just plain silly. And i didn’t even have my daily goblet of sangria. Oh, maybe THAT’S the problem. Today’s Target: Jardim Bordallo Pinheiro Route: Bus 706 to Cais do Sodre, change to Metro green line to Campo Grande. I was staring out the window on the bus, not really paying…
Behind that nondescript wall
Today was supposed to be without purpose, laid back and relaxing. No hike to any hilltop fortress, no wandering cold empty palatial hallways, no room-by-room exploration of museum antiquities, nope, just roving the crooked streets of Lisbon taking advantage of sunny seventy-degree weather. Then Ella mentioned something about porcelain sculptures near the Museo de Lisbon…
What IS behind that old blue door
at Rua da Esperança 16? We wondered leerily as the cab dropped us off at our new address in Lisbon a few days ago. A door that could use some love, a couple of guys feeling no pain leaning against the wall of the bathroom-sized bar next door. We buzz #2 as instructed. A woman…