Longing For Lisbon
It’s hard to believe my lovely little weekend in Lisbon was already two months ago, but it was. And herewith some of my favorite shots from some of my favorite parts of that lovely town. I know I’ve already shown you a lot, but as you can tell I loved this city. I’ve just returned from the highlands, where I got some nice shots which I’ll post at some point. But I’m going into an intensely busy two weeks, so wish me luck and enjoy these for now. Thanks.
The Pairing Perspectives Experiment: Lisbon
Forest or tree? Grain of sand, or stretch of beach? Since learning how to use the panorama function on my camera I’ve been quite captivated experimenting with when it’s a nice tool. Some of you have voted in favor of more panoramas, and I thought with this entry I’d expose you to some of the framing, editing, and selecting challenges I have in figuring out what to share with you each time I see things that grab my imagination. I recall a conversation once with my brother about the youth tendency to state their boredom on a regular basis – how this baffled us both, since the world is so endlessly full of fascination. If you’re not finding it, maybe it’s time to change your frame of reference, focal length, or angle. It nearly always works for me. This is an experiment: vote yea or nay to further such experiments, by viewing this entry more times (= more future such pairings from other locations) or fewer times. Of course, comments are also welcome. Cheers – enjoy.
Big Snails Climbing the Wall…
Prior to visiting Lisbon, I’d always knows the Iberian peninsula excelled at tile arts. I’d even had an idea that Portugal had a special concentration of tile and ceramic talent…but I hadn’t quite understood the extent to which Portugal focuses on the tile arts. In our last entry. Lingering in Lovely Lisbon, you saw quite a few shots of houses with tile facades. There are many of these, throughout Lisbon – I’d go so far as to say it was a rare city block in which I didn’t see at least one house that was fronted with tiles. Curious about all these tiles, I did some online research and learned that the city museum had both very interesting internal tiles, and a modern tile-art garden…from which garden, as you see above, very big (but mercifully not living) snails climb the walls of the museum itself. 🙂 The museum grounds also offered many a peacock and peahen (I thought of my young friend Cate who seems to appreciate new and unusual fauna in all forms), and one of the more unusual fungi I’ve seen. (Regular readers know how fascinated I am by all forms of fungi and other such jungle-undergrowth types of life…see for instance this unusual life form https://somuchworldsolittletime.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/rainforest-growth-of-some-sort.jpg or perhaps this one https://somuchworldsolittletime.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ambua-fungi-on-tree.jpg
Seriously – isn’t fungus fascinating?! Enjoy.
…the wall tiles of a kitchen scene (which should appear below, depending which browser you’re using & how well it interprets this layout) are from inside the museum. I recorded it by way of indicating a bit of the colonial history. Draw your own conclusions…
Lingering in Lovely Lisbon – Part I
Rather like the endless beauty and discovery I found below sea level at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, I found that nearly every street corner I turned in Lisbon revealed a new vista I didn’t want to forget. And I walked a lot – as I always do when I arrive in a city where walking carries little risk of being mugged :-). Much as I surrendered to lovely Lisbon and went wild with the shutter of my camera, I am surrendering to the reality that it’ll be a while until I’ve sorted all of the photos from Lisbon, and so I’m posting the first half now. You the wonderful readers of smw, slt can determine whether you see the rest of the Lisbon shots. What remains to be sorted are the final day’s shots, when I went inside the Castelo: that’s the old fortress atop the green hill you see above, and which you’ll see in various shots below. I spent most of a lovely sunny day exploring that old fortress which began as a Moorish fortress and became the seat of power in the newly-formed independent kingdom of Portugal in the mid-12th century. Then there’s a sub-chapter I’m considering, which could show you ceramic sculptures and tiles, along with some peacocks, peahens, and tree fungus from a visit at the city museum. Let me know if these are more than enough Lisbon, or if I’ve piqued your appetite enough that you’d like to see more. Believe me that I’ve edited out a ton of photos…and I’m still left with a lot.
Needless to say, Lisbon floats in a rich sea of history. The cathedral, seen with a street car in front of it above, is the oldest intact building now extant in Lisbon. It was built on the site of an old mosque shortly after the Christian armies captured this region from the Moors who had been in charge for the past several hundred years. (And we wonder why religious wars still mar our world today?) The lovely plaza below was designed and built after the massive earthquake which destroyed most of Lisbon in the mid-18th century, and is named after the Marquess of Pombal who led the rebuild and gained great power during that period, helping reduce the influence of the nobility and strengthen the monarchy in a manner that, by the history I’ve read, helped create a bit more modernity and progress for Lisbon & Portugal. Further up, you see a panorama of Commerce Plaza right by the river at sunset: situated by the river where the trading ships used to anchor, this is a monument to the importance of tiny Portugal’s vast sea trade and exploration history. Let’s remember that in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries Portugal and Portuguese explorers and sea captains helped lead the European exploration of most of the globe. Walking the streets of Lisbon, one is constantly reminded of this history. It’s a lovely modern city with a ton of history in its hills, streets, and river-fronts. 
Look closely at the shot below and you will see my shadow. I enjoy fitting in indirect self-portraits like that. 🙂
This evening at Commerce Plaza was full of neon-shirted people about to participate in some major “Lisbon Week” athletic event…I never found out more detail, but you’ll see all the neon shirts and that’s the best explanation I have. “Lisbon Week” is some sort of local discover-Lisbon festival, from what I gather.
Being a very catholic country by history and tradition (at least since they ousted the Moors from whom they no doubt derived so much of the the tile and decorative-arts tradition that still thrives), one finds Misericordia in street names, buildings, etc. From my Unitarian-Universalist, English-speaking background, I thought it all sounded a bit depressing. Then I did a wee bit of research and learned it’s Latin for mercy, compassion. Kewl, huh? 🙂 Oh, and about that monument across the river – never did any research on it and never crossed the river myself, sorry Next visit. But it’s got a nice dramatic look on the skyline, doesn’t it?
(so much world, so little time....) 
