Lisbon

“Bonito mesmo é ter a alma simples” — Teresinha Maia de Loureiro

That translate into it’s really beautiful to have a simple soul. It so is.

Lisbon was fun, I met so many interesting people from around the world, thanks to getting a little lost and staying at a great hostel. It was a nice relief to be meet and be around people, after my stint of solitude through northern Portugal. It’s good to have both the solitude and the companionship, you appreciate each more. It’s the yin and yang.

I stayed two nights in Lost in Lisbon. Ironically, I was lost there, in Lisbon, when I arrived. And while being so, I realized that and chuckled with myself. I don’t take myself too seriously nor do I panic.

Now, I have a a very high stress tolerance. And being in a new city with no phone is actually a more solvable problem than you would think. I heard my dads words then, focus on the solution not the problem. And I was solution focused. And by asking for help, I met a kind and light hearted guy my age named João. We’re now good friends. Good things can come when being lost, you must learn to be comfortable while lost.

I asked João for help with directions. He had just pulled his street cab car, along the curb. He seemed friendly and available and am was eager to help. He dodged and weaved his old Portuguese styled cab (like an American ford model t) through the packed steeets of the center. Through the twenty five minute ride I got to know him. He likes surfing, speaks Spanish and English (we we were speaking a mix of English and Spanish) and has been working doing this tourist cab gig for a big, making good money.

It was a good way to get “thrown” into the experience of Lisbon early. He went through the center and I felt the rush of excitement, being with this lively, personable Portuguese guy my age as he avoided pedestrians and cars alike, in the bustling center.

While driving, my phone was being charged and he gave me some recommendations as to what to do in Lisbon, from museums to night life. By my hostel he stopped me briefly at a point to view the sunset. He was on shift, but it mattered to him that I saw it. It mattered to him to give me a discounted rate and help me find my way. And I mattered to him, for him to express that all though he was leaving the next day when I return, that we would meet up.

João es súper chulo y majo. Espero que le vea otra vez. Tengo muchas ganas de regresar allí y salir con el.

I found my way to the hostel down a quite cobbled street set on the decline of a fairly steep hill. Lisbon, like Oporto, is a steep city. I checked in and after that whirlwind of an experience I was exhausted, yet still adrenalized. After resting a bit, showering and feeling rejuvenated I made my way down to the bar to take advantage of the free sangria hour, designed to bring the hostel guests together. And I wanted to make friends.

I met Neli soon later. She too was studying abroad in Spain, in the warm cozy town of Huelva. She spoke excellent English, so good that you wouldn’t have know she was Slovenian. She was chilling in the lounge above the bar, working on a essay she was stressing. It was cool vibe up there, I plugged in the Christmas tree in the corner and reclined on a cushioned sofa. When I was on my way out I think I took a picture of the lounge and she commented, agreeing too, seeing my intent to photo it that it was a cozy spot. And so we began talking and talking. She motivated me to grab my laptop and get a little work down to on a paper of mine, ironically, in line with the subject of meeting new people.

After some sangria and some good progress made in my paper, with Neli, my new friend, we went out to explore around the hostel. We just wanted to walk and see pink street, a touristy party street that is as the name suggest a street painted pink. The other fun part to it is one sectioned there are rows of colorful umbrellas suspended twenty or so feet overhead. It’s a fun street and we bopped up and down it.

A cafe/bar we passed, still open drew us in with its shelves of books. Being both literary minded people we took a spin, and I was delighted to find written in Portuguese on a piano tucked in the corner Caliban’s “be not afeard…” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s play the Tempest. It brought me back to senior year of highschool when I had memorized it for an English class. It was crazy to see that, that very soliloquy I had poured in so much time into, in a cafe I just happened to stumble myself into in Lisbon. Here’s a picture of it.

The city center was alive with music and decorated beautiful with Christmas lights.

The next morning I went off early on my own excursion to Belem, a neighborhood about a thirty minute tram ride away from the center. I went there to see two museums: the Berardo Contemporary Art collection and the MAAT.

Here are some photos from the Berardo, maybe you’ll recognize a few works from Spanish artists from Juan Miro and Picasso and some pop art works of Andy Warhol:

But it wasn’t the worker from these big names that I felt most pulled by, a few lesser known, still prominent artists within their respective movements caught my eye. David Hockney’s “Picture emphasizing stillness” made on 1962 caught my eye. As you can see below, it visualizes a dog diving into two standing people with the assuring caption in between “they are perfectly safe this is is a still”. I have more to say, but to keep the post relatively short, it simply intrigued me. I have a few other works, which I was especially drawn to, pictured below. I made a quick sketch of a work by Uruguayan Joaquín Torres García entitled “Constructivo con gris y negro con centro rojo” I like the simplicity of the price and his drawing style.

After a few hours there I bounced to another museum, to the nearby MAAT, located on the riverfront. Aunque Belém estaba petado con turistas, con suerte no hubo una cola cuando llegué allí.

There were two expositions, one of a contemporary Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos and the other called “The Surrealist Castle of Mário Cesariny” (a surrealist reference to André Breton 1924 surrealist manifesto). A work I can only describe as a giant metal framed piece representing a octopus, covered with tapestrys and lights greeted me upon entering. This piece of Vasconcelos is called Valkyrie Octopus (2015). I took lap after lap around it, underneath. It was incredible.

The exposition of Portuguese surrealist Mário Cesariny was in celebration of the centennial anniversary of his birthday. Surrealist literature is more my flavor of the surrealist art movement, and Cesariny did, although being predominantly a visual artist, dabble with poetry and literature. I still appreciated his painting and surrealist collages. Though in that vein, I found I was most drawn to his letters and the quotes of his they had put up, translated in English.

When I returned to the hostel I met Lukas. He had just arrived from traveling from Stugart German, where he is a tattoo artist. We instantly hit it off talking about travel and friends, about tattoos of course and I shared with him some pastries I had just gotten. He spoke really good English, though he was humble to confess he hadn’t spoken in a while. I encouraged him that his pronunciation was great. When you can make friends in your second language, and joke around marks you’ve achieved a high competency.

I went to freshen up, Lukas went to get some grub and we met up a hour later for some sangria. After meeting an Australian named Liam, another fellow hostel mate, and drinking a couple glasses of sangria we together left for a bar crawl organized by Sam, a medical student in Lisbon, from Nigeria. We were a motley crew, incapable of exhausting conversation with all of us sharing such diverse backgrounds. Liam joked that we all deviated a bit from our national stereotypes: Lukas, the German, didn’t drink beer, Ryan, an American, doesn’t eat fast food and he, an Australian doesn’t surf. We laughed through the night and after having made a few stops at some bars when went to a night club.

It wasn’t promising at first. There were like four body guards in front of it, and they told us it was private party. Moments later, Sam spots a guy who greets him, an assuring sign for the rest of us, who proceeded to spurt some words in Portuguese to the guards who let us pass through. One of the more interesting experiences I’ve had entering a club haha.

We had gotten there at midnight, which for Portuguese and Spanish standards is a pretty early time to begin a party. It didn’t seem to promising, the prospect of their being a fun party, but you bring your own weather to the picnic. Liam grabbed a drink I think Sam went to the bathroom and is scanned the dance floor as there were several groups already dancing. I spotted a group of girl who looked like they were having a good time and proceeded to lead my friends near them. We put our coats down on a table in front of the dj booth and I introduced myself to who I’d come to know as Teresinha and her two other friends Maria and also Maria.

As is often the case, you find yourself speaking a blend of what you. With the two Maria’s I was speaking Spanish as they could comprehend soansih, with Teresinha, who spoke quite good English, we spoke then of course English. And they were a joy to dance with and get to know. I especially loved it when an Abba song would come on, Teresinha told me that’s her favorite band and she had memorized all the lyrics and was fully into the music. It was a blast. I love everything about that time, dancing, getting to know people through different languages and I even kept some notes going as i often do to learn some portugués, they each loved adding a word when i asked what it meant. They were all really friendly to talk with and we danced until 4 am. It was a blast, loved every second of it.

It was such a memorable experience that I couldn’t help myself not to recommend Kati y Caterina, two German girls I met here in Lagos, to stay there. They’ll be going to Lisbon for New Year’s Eve and so I’ve put them in touch with another German friend, Lukas from Stuttgart.

A little aside: He’s with his buddy at that hostel for new years eye as well. And just by coincidence he’ll be in Barcelona the same days we’ll be there in the new year. The world gets lo smaller every day.

Again, I met them thanks to us all having the wrong address, which continued the theme of making friends while being lost. More on that in the next blog to come.

The free sangria at 8:00, the company I spent there with and it’s central location (a one minute walk to the famous pink steeet) all made it a lovely stay.

The second day, my first full day I went to two museums a in Belem.