A Night at the Fado

Portugal has a few national past-times – eating grilled sardines (nothing like we have in the US), soccer and Fado.

The Portuguese people love misery. The more people gathered together in misery, the better! And what better way to express it than through music.

Fado is usually a melancholy series of songs about unrequited love, longing and unfulfilled dreams. There are many fado houses in Lisbon but we were able to visit (as a group) a true local, inexpensive fado house in the very old working class district of Alfama. This place was NOT fancy – think roadside diner minus 2. But is  authentic. The sardines were being grilled on a round charcoal grill outside in the small cobblestone street when we arrived. The smell was aweful!!! I couldn’t imagine eating those fish! We were shown into a small, cramped room with tables jammed together, the room was lit by dim lights covered with red cloths and I couldn’t imagine where musicians and performers would stand! The party started – the wine flowed, everyone was having a great time! Local olives, cheese and bread covered the table and then the sardines arrived!!! The moment of truth was at hand! And….they were fabulous!!! Gone was the fishy smell, instead they had a wonderful smoked smell and mild taste. I expertly boned both of mine and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Just as we finished the fish and before the next 2 courses the fado music started. Two guitar players brought their chairs out and placed them in the center and began playing. The music was beautiful and haunting at the same time, almost too beautiful to be sad. As the family style portions of pork, chicken and salad were passed around the tables the singers, one at a time, began. Although we could not understand most of the words, a word here and there helped us understand the meaning of the songs – love not returned, sadness, dreams lost or not obtained. It was something I don’t think you would see anywhere else. Pure, simple and expressive of the Portuguese culture. The singers were incredible! We left late into the evening, our stomachs and souls satisfied.

Tomorrow we leave Lisbon for Evora.

Sintra and Cascasi (“Kashkai”)

We left the urban sprawl of Lisbon on Saturday morning for the towns of Sintra and Cascasi. Both towns were used by the Portuguese royalty and wealthy during the summer to escape the heat of Lisbon. Sintra is located in the mountains. It is a breathtaking village that has a perfect Mediterranean climate - cool and sunny with a nice breeze. The views are spectacular! And the architecture expresses both the Moorish and Spanish influences. We visited a 14th century palace in Sintra. The walls were tiled in beautiful colors and patterns and many were tiled in the blue and white style and depicted life during that time. The intricacy of the handwork was amazing! One of the most interesting things in this particular palace were the ceilings in various rooms. One room has a ceiling painted with 27 birds to celebrate the marriage of the king’s daughter at age 27 – very old for that time. Another was painted with 136 magpies depicting the queen’s 136 ladies in waiting – magpies representing old gossips. Another was painted with several different types of ships – the Portuguese were great sailors and explorers and finally one was painted with the heads of big game, depictions of the important lords and their coat of arms. The palaces in Portugal are no where near as elaborate as some of those we’ve visited in Great Britain and Scandinavia but beautiful in their own right.

We left Sintra for Cascasi – a visit I was looking forward to! Cascais is about 30 minutes from Sintra and is on the Atlantic Ocean. Cascasi is considered a fishing village but is, in addition, a resort town with shopping and restaurants. The drive in was stunning! Bright blue sky blended with bright blue ocean all lit up by a perfect sunny day! It’s the kind of place that just feels good! A few of us decided to stay behind and have lunch. We found a beautiful outdoor café and had a great lunch of local rose, garlic shrimp, salad and bread. After a walk we made our way to the train station, fumbled around buying tickets ($1 euro bought us some help from a local teenager) and made our way back to Lisbon to enjoy a night of local culture. Oh, and for those of you who know us…we did buy a bottle of Port for the remainder of the trip! Our favorite after dinner drink. The hotel charged an outrageous $25 euro for 2 drinks!!

So far we seem to only have one a**hole in the group. The guy is a short little loudmouth who thinks he knows more than he does. The worst part being his constant comments about how bored he is and his sarcastic, demeaning comments to his wife. She just seems to be able to put up with it. Other than that it’s a really fun group and we’re enjoying traveling with the people we met from Great Britain last year.

Lisbon

Lisbon is a city built on 7 hills. It was almost completely destroyed in the 1774 earthquake and subsequent tsunami but has been rebuilt. It’s like most large European cities – busy, noisy, traffic, etc. One key difference – it’s not laid out on a grid making getting around by yourself next to impossible. And the street names are on the sides of the buildings and very hard to read. So far Lisbon proper is probably my least favorite city that I have visited in Europe. The people are extremely nice but the many of the buildings downtown are dirty, rundown and covered in grafetti. Portuguese is hard for me to catch onto. I can make out many of the words when I see them but I do better with reading Spanish and French. Nonetheless , we’re getting by. We’re staying at the Four Seasons and it is a beautiful hotel. We woke refreshed , went down and had a fabulous breakfast – the kind I like with fruit, meat, cheese and smoked salmon, Dave had his eggs and bacon. The only thing missing was the champagne (LOL) and got ready to begin the tour at 2pm.

We met up with the people we had travelled with last year and began the 3 hour city tour. The parks are beautiful but missing flowers, of course it’s Europe so there had to be a couple of churches and monuments. I can’t put my finger on it but there seems to be something missing here that we found magical about other European cities. But all in all, no complaints. Portugal does have an interesting history. There’s a lot of Morrish influence. I keep forgetting how close to North Africa it is. We had the opening night cocktail party and dinner – always fun to find out where everyone is from. The group is a bit younger than those on the last 2 trips we have taken and seem to be getting to know each other quicker.

Tomorrow Sintra and Cascasi. I’m looking forward to Cascasi – it’s on the ocean and considered to be the Portuguese Riveria!

We're off to Portugal and Spain! con't

I had considered taking an Ambien but thought I had better to be alert in case we nose dived into the Atlantic. Of course Anne’s advice was “take it, you’ll sleep through the whole disaster”! Thanks! Next came the passenger altercation. The guy across the aisle from Dave had a bad attitude from the start. Seated behind him was a rather large handicapped woman. Apparently he was not able to put his seat back due to her size and he became rather irritated as the night wore on. Next thing I know a very stern flight attendant is trying to get him to take his seat, he refuses, she asks the woman to swap seats with him, she refuses at first and so it goes on for a few minutes. He insisted that he must sleep and needed a different seat, she was in tears. It was 3am! I was exhausted! But of course I’m glued to the whole drama. Finally she relents. I keep looking back to see if the guy really is sleeping – he’s not.


We touch down in Frankfurt. I am avoiding mirrors at all costs. Especially the ones on the plane with the florescent (think dressing rooms) lights. No amount of makeup could make me look better at this point. We had a 3 hour layover to make sure that luggage was transferred and we could grab a bite to eat. WRONG again. After going through another set of checkpoints (btw, no removing of shoes, plastic bags w/ liquids and no long lines) and immigration we stroll down to our gate looking for real food. Afterall, we are in a major International airport. NO SUCH LUCK! What do we find – another snack bar next to the gate. And this was the only option (or Chex Mix). However, being in Germany, they did have good beer. So, that became our carbo loading lunch. Somehow I could not jack myself up for a hotdog and potato salad. So beer it was - it never tasted so good. We get to the boarding area and what do we find, not 1 but2 screaming toddlers! Holy crap, it’s a 3 hour flight! They SCREAMED the whole 3 hours! I had my head on the tray table. The one consolation – the guy in the seat next to me was gorgeous! And probably 23-25. Vanity kicks in for a brief moment until the harsh florescent light of reality comes on. One, I could be his mother; 2, I look like death warmed over and probably smelled that way too! Oh well….I am happily married but we all want to feel attractive. He probably would have called me “ma’am” if we had spoken. Two hours after landing we arrive at the hotel, bags in tow, take a quick nap and head out to dinner. We found a beautiful little outdoor restaurant near the hotel but the menu is in Portuguese. I talked Dave into trying it - we can get Italian anywhere. It turned out to be some of the best food and wine we have had and cheap! We toddled back to our hotel and 29 hours after we started we popped an Ambien and slept like babies for 11 hours. Let the adventure begin!

We're off to Portugal and Spain!

Once a year we try to take a “big” vacation. This year it’s Portugal and Spain!


We got up early the day of the trip - Dave had to make the rounds at the office and drop the car off. We both wanted to be at the very unpredictable LAX early to check luggage, get through security and have a bite of lunch. Lo and behold we are on the airside of the terminal in an hour! A miracle at International. Next stop – find food and drink. We start the journey to our gate knowing that there would be plenty of options, afterall, domestic terminals are full of restaurants airside and knowing how long some of the International flight layovers can be, we were sure there would be options. WRONG!!!! There was only one “snack bar” – and I use that term loosely. But, it was that or a bag of Chex Mix in my purse. So, $50 later (seriously) we had consumed one halfway decent ham sandwich, one bad chef salad and a glass of wine each. I kid you not! We were raped! But we had something in our stomach. Next stop – it’s time to fly. I booked us on Lufthansa because the price was right and we could fly directly to Frankfurt, then on to Lisbon, avoiding changing planes at JFK or Newark. I found out after I booked the tickets that the fare class was not upgradeable due to the low cost. No big deal – we’ve flown coach to Europe before. So we boarded, passed through Business class, me looking longingly at the big seats that would fold back into recliners for the night’s rest. We got to our seats and big surprise – the seats and leg room were so minimal that even I was thinking “oh shit, 10 hours….”. I thought Dave was going to cry but he’s a real trooper. That is until we took off and the rather large woman in front of Dave suddenly reclined her seat all the way back, almost breaking his knee caps! He yelled so loud that I everyone around thought he was having some kind of attack. He tried to gently push her seat up with his legs but she wouldn’t budge. Finally she relented slightly. Next came dinner – or should I say the economy version of what they called dinner. It made the snack bar look like a 5 star restaurant. The only redeeming feature of dinner was the 2 free glasses of cheap wine. Now, time for some sleep. However, I couldn’t get comfortable and a baby was screaming its head off! So, I watched a couple of movies, did some crosswords and prayed that I would pass out from sheer exhaustion!