Category: Travel

Portugal – Lisboa, Fado, and Oporto, June 2015

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Lisboa (Lisbon)

Geographic context:

Portugal showing Lisbon and Porto (and Madrid, Spain for geographic context).
Portugal showing Lisbon and Porto (and Madrid, Spain for geographic context).
Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon, area around Hotel Avenida
Lisbon, area around Hotel Avenida
Lisbon: Hotel Avenida Palace, Plaza Rossio, Café Nicola
Lisbon: Hotel Avenida Palace, Plaza Rossio, Café Nicola

Lisbon is a port city, and in addition to excellent Iberian ham common to Spain and Portugal, they have lots of good seafood.

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The port area was only a few blocks from my hotel.

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This interesting building was next to my hotel:

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I wondered what it had been in its better days before the bottom floor was taken over by a Starbucks (very popular with the locals) and a youth hostel.

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Well, I was fooled by the facade – it was always thus: This is a train station!

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The train platforms are on the top floor of the building. This seems improbable, but Lisbon is hilly and the train tracks are probably well above the harbor area where building was located.

And, of course, the Eurozone crisis has hit Portugal hard and everyone has an opinion.

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Unsurprisingly, this translates roughly as

Off the Euro!
The government is betraying the nation.
Bring back the Escudo!
Viva the government of democratic and patriotic unity!

There is a note from Jorge written below the third line of the protest poster:

de abril, portugal nao devia un centavo a ninguém Hoje, deve mais de 400 mil milhoes de euros e paga juros de 9.000 milhoes de euros annalmedte. onde estao os ladroes? Did you mean: de abril, portugal nao desvia um centavo a ninguém Hoje, deve mais de 400 mil milhoes de euros e paga juros de 9.000 milhoes de euros annalmente. onde estao os ladroes? April, Portugal was not un penny to anyone Today, it owes more than 400,000 million euros and pays interest 9,000 million euros annually. where thieves station? In 2014 Portugal's National debt was €225 billion. In 1990 it was €37 billion. (http://countryeconomy.com/national-debt/portugal)

NO de abril, portugal nao desvia um centavo a ninguém Hoje, deve mais de 400 mil milhoes de euros e paga juros de 9.000 milhoes de euros annalmente. Onde estao os ladroes?
NO (?) April, Portugal [owed] not a penny to anyone.
“Today, it owes more than 400,000 million euros and pays interest 9,000 million euros annually.”
“Where thieves station?” (Google translate.)

[In 2014 Portugal’s National debt was €225 billion.  In 1990 it was €37 billion. (http://countryeconomy.com/national-debt/portugal) (Europeans do not use the term “billion,” but rather thousand million.)
So Jorge is not exactly right, though correct in spirit. -wej]

Not that anyone that I noticed – other than Jorge at sometime in the past – was paying much attention. Though Portugal is only a tick or so different from Greece economically, they seem have made a full hearted, and apparently successful, attempt to bring themselves back into alignment with the EU.

Fado

Fado is an interesting music form. The word means “fate” and the song type apparently started in the coastal fishing villages at the beginning of the 19th c. Given the dangers of small craft fishing in the Atlantic, it is not hard to see that there is a chance of fateful loss each time the boats go out, leaving the women and children to long for their men.

The music had evolved into a modern, popular form, but most of the clubs specialize in the traditional form.

I was lucky enough to run across a Fado cabaret near my hotel (Avenida Palace) on the Praca du Rossio square, and so booked dinner and the show. (To book you have to leave a €30 deposit, but when you have dinner they credit the deposit toward dinner.)

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Cafe Nicola (Praça Dom Pedro IV 24-25, 1200-091 Lisboa, Portugal, +351 21 346 0579) looks like any of the other, numerous sidewalk cafes on the square, but on the inside it is a quiet, small, and sophisticated cabaret that served very good food along with their “Nights of Fado” show.

Fado (Portuguese:destiny, fate) music can be traced from the 1820s in Portugal, but probably has earlier origins. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. However, in reality fado is simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain structure. The music is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade which means to miss or to long for someone or something. Fado only appeared after 1840 in Lisbon, at that time only fado marinheiro (sailor fado) was known and was sung. Nowadays, there are two main varieties of fado, those of the cities of Lisbon and Coimbra. The Lisbon style is the most popular, while Coimbra's is the more refined style. http://www.mandolinluthier.com/fado_page.htm At Cafe Nicola, Praca de Dom Pedro IV, 24, Lisbon, Portugal
Fado (Portuguese:destiny, fate) music can be traced from the 1820s in Portugal, but probably has earlier origins. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. However, in reality fado is simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain structure. The music is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade which means to miss or to long for someone or something. Fado only appeared after 1840 in Lisbon, at that time only fado marinheiro (sailor fado) was known and was sung. Nowadays, there are two main varieties of fado, those of the cities of Lisbon and Coimbra. The Lisbon style is the most popular, while Coimbra’s is the more refined style.
http://www.mandolinluthier.com/fado_page.htm
At Cafe Nicola, Praca de Dom Pedro IV, 24, Lisbon, Portugal

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The food is excellent as well.

The Portuguese Guitar is the primary accompaniment of Fado singers, though there is usually a Spanish guitar as well. The notes of the Portuguese guitar sound to me to be a higher pitch than the Spanish guitar.

The Portuguese guitar is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, six double courses. It has a distinctive tuning mechanism, the famous 'Preston' tuner (otherwise known as 'watchkey tuner') most notably associated with fado, although it is used in a broader context. Its origin is undoubtedly the 'english guitars' introduced into Portugal during the C18-19. There are two distinct kinds of modern Portuguese guitar models: the Lisboa and the Coimbra. A third kind of Portuguese guitar, the guitolão, has recently been added to the family. Visually and most distinctively, the Lisboa guitar can be differentiated from the Coimbra guitar for its larger soundboard and scroll ornament above the tuning machine in place of Coimbra's tear-drop shaped motif. http://www.mandolinluthier.com/fado_page.htm I asked the musician about the guitar and he said that it was a Lisboa guitarra, but that it was tuned like a Coimbra guitarra because the Fado singers liked that better.
The Portuguese guitar is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, six double courses. It has a distinctive tuning mechanism, the famous ‘Preston’ tuner (otherwise known as ‘watchkey tuner’) most notably associated with fado, although it is used in a broader context. Its origin is undoubtedly the ‘english guitars’ introduced into Portugal during the C18-19.
There are two distinct kinds of modern Portuguese guitar models: the Lisboa and the Coimbra. A third kind of Portuguese guitar, the guitolão, has recently been added to the family. Visually and most distinctively, the Lisboa guitar can be differentiated from the Coimbra guitar for its larger soundboard and scroll ornament above the tuning machine in place of Coimbra’s tear-drop shaped motif.
http://www.mandolinluthier.com/fado_page.htm
I asked the musician about the guitar and he said that it was a Lisboa guitarra, but that it was tuned like a Coimbra guitarra because the Fado singers liked that better.

I recorded several of the songs. They usually start with several minutes of unaccompanied guitar music which is then joined by the singer. Listen to one of the songs that I recorded at https://youtu.be/4_Ayej0fzpw

Took the train to Porto. Left from Estação do Oriente, Av. Dom João II. This is a very modern station designed by Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava does a lot of transportation related structures that are futuristic and proactive and part artwork. See http://www.calatrava.com/projects.html?all=yes for a showcase of his projects. He designed the new World Trade Center Transportation hub that New Yorkers seem to love or hate, there is apparently no middle-ground, and that I plan to visit as soon as it is complete (soooon now). He was supposed to design the new light rail hub at Denver Int., but the airport authority got cold feet. I think that they are trying to build a reduced version of his design, but without his help.

My pictures of Estação do Oriente:

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Very, very nice (even though the roof leaked).

Oporto (Porto)

Porto, Portugal
Porto, Portugal
Porto around the Ponte Luis I bridge: Hotel Intercontinental at top, Porto Cálem at bottom.
Porto around the Ponte Luis I bridge: Hotel Intercontinental at top, Porto Cálem at bottom.

Visited Porto for the annual TERENA networking conference (TNC15) which is the main European research and education networking meeting. Stayed at the Hotel InterContinental just south of the downtown area and about a 10 minute walk from the river.

Porto, Portugal: Looking north at the Praça da Liberdade from the Hotel InterContinental.
Porto, Portugal: Looking north at the Praça da Liberdade from the Hotel InterContinental.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along Praça da Liberdade. The front of the Hotel InterContinental on the right.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along Praça da Liberdade. The front of the Hotel InterContinental on the right.

Oporto (Porto) is a very pleasant city. It is on the Rio Douro a few miles up from the Atlantic, and a breeze blows up the river keeping the area at a perfect temperature (at least in early June when I was there).

Café, Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I I think that this cafe was a pop-up. Whole thing was modular, even to the toilets. Walls were 6'x6' fiber board pieces with special hardware to assemble them into wall sized units.
Café, Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I
I think that this cafe was a pop-up. Whole thing was modular, even to the toilets. Walls were 6’x6′ fiber board pieces with special hardware to assemble them into wall sized units.

There are dozens of tiny river front cafes on Rio Douro in the area just west of Ponte Luis I bridge. This modern cafe was not typical – most of the cafes were in the old warehouses that were 25 ft. above the water – for unloading.

Typical cafe on Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I bridge.
Typical cafe on Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I bridge.

The food in these little cafes – at least the several that I samples – ranges from good to excellent and the prices are quite reasonable.

Porto, Portugal: Grilled herring, water front café just west of Ponte Luis I.
Porto, Portugal: Grilled herring, water front café just west of Ponte Luis I.

The wine is also quite good and very reasonably priced.

Porto, Portugal: The Rio Douro wine growing region is the third oldest named region in Europe after Chianti and Tokay. A very good bottle of wine at a restaurant cost €10 and an excellent one €15. I suppose that we do not see this great wine in the US very much because a lot of it goes to making port.
Porto, Portugal: The Rio Douro wine growing region is the third oldest named region in Europe after Chianti and Tokay. A very good bottle of wine at a restaurant cost €10 and an excellent one €15. I suppose that we do not see this great wine in the US very much because a lot of it goes to making port.
This is the meal start: a good, local soft cheese, olives, white port, and bread. Nice!
This is the meal start: a good, local soft cheese, olives, white port, and bread. Nice!

A different meal was grilled octopus. Very tender, unlike some that I have had. On a bed of some sort of pilaf.

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At least this part of the riverfront – labeled “historic” on some of the tourist maps – is very picturesque.

Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I bridge.
Rio Doruo, just west of Ponte Luis I bridge.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along the Rio Douro on a Sunday afternoon. The first bridge is Ponte Luis I. Note that the river level deck is the auto roadway and the top deck is for trains. Porto is a bit like Portland, Oregon: It is built on the sides of the fairly deep ravine that the Rio Douro has carved out. Roadways come down to the river, but the trains stay on the plane above the river.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along the Rio Douro on a Sunday afternoon.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along the Rio Douro at the Ponte Luis I. Note that the river level deck is the auto roadway and the top deck is for trains. Porto is a bit like Portland, Oregon: It is built on the sides of the fairly deep ravine that the Rio Douro has carved out. Roadways come down to the river, but the trains stay on the plane above the river.
Porto, Portugal: Looking east along the Rio Douro at the Ponte Luis I. Note that the river level deck is the auto roadway and the top deck is for trains. Porto is a bit like Portland, Oregon: It is built on the sides of the fairly deep ravine that the Rio Douro has carved out. Roadways come down to the river, but the trains stay on the plane above the river.
At the north end of Ponte Luis I bridge where the road starts the climb up to town.
At the north end of Ponte Luis I bridge where the road starts the climb up to town.

Evening on and about the riverfront.

Porto, Portugal: Looking west along the Rio Douro at the waterfront cafes.
Porto, Portugal: Looking west along the Rio Douro at the waterfront cafes.

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On the south bank of the river are all the big port blenders and exporters. Many British firms because the British
On the south bank of the river are all the big port blenders and exporters. Many British firms because the British “discovered” port in the late 16th c. and started importing it. Eventually they became the big blenders and exported in Portugal. (They did not invent port – it was made in monasteries along the Rio Douro long before the British showed up.)
You can just make out the marquee signs of the big port houses: Taylor’s, Offley, Dow’s, Sandeman, Warre’s, Cockburn’s, Ferreira.

Walking up from the river toward town ….

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One of four windows of a port shop.
One of four windows of a port shop.

 

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Along the river front.

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I drooled over a ship model in at crafts store by the river. (Don’t think it was for sale.)

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The cafes are in old waterfront warehouses. The cargo ships anchored in front and off-loaded. The narrow walkway is used by the cafes for outdoor seating. The ring set in the walk was used to tie up the ships. It is about 18" in diameter and sticks up a bit. The tourists are always tripping on them.
The cafes are in old waterfront warehouses. The cargo ships anchored in front and off-loaded. The narrow walkway is used by the cafes for outdoor seating. The ring set in the walk was used to tie up the ships. It is about 18″ in diameter and sticks up a bit. The tourists are always tripping on them.
Tie rings for the lugers while unloading at the warehouses.
Tie rings for the lugers while unloading at the warehouses.

 

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Walking down river (West) toward the conference center:

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The conference reception at Taylor’s Port.

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Portuguese countryside (on the way to Paris).

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Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents) and the origins of the baby crib

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While visiting Florence (Italy) for an exhibition of Hellenistic Bronze I spent a day wondering around the city and ran into the Ospedale degli Innocenti. I had heard of the Hospital of the Innocents and assumed that it was a museum – which was only partly true.

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(The entire facility is under going a major renovation.)

Ospedale degli Innocenti was built between 1419 and 1445, and commenced operation in 1445. Its operation was described in the museum:

“Foundlings were taken in at the Innocenti, as indeed they were everywhere else in medieval Tuscany, via a stone column, akin to a holy water stoup, set outside the loggia on the facade, where they were left.

In the course of the 16th century they began to be taken in through a window that communicated with the women’s church, covered by a grate large enough only for newborn babies to be passed through.

On the other side of the wall was a small “hut” which became synonymous with the place where the children were abandoned and has been called a “crib” ever since.

In 1660 the grated window or crib, popularly called the “wheel”, was moved to the loggia’s northernmost end, towards what is now Via della Colonna. The wheel remained in use until 1875, when it was walled up. It is possible today to see how the tiny grate only allowed very small children to be passed through it. There was a bell which a person leaving a baby could ring to alert the wet-nurses on duty inside.”

The Ospedale operated as an orphanage for nearly 600 years, and the number of children it served is indicated by its archives:

Ospedale degli Innocenti, archives
Ospedale degli Innocenti, archives

(Compare this with the Long Room of the Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin where the Book of Kells is kept:)

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Though I am not sure that it is still an active orphanage in the original sense, the Ospedale is still very much an operational children’s facility:

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Here is an interior courtyard and the building decoration that has become the icon of the Ospedale (you can see a faint outline of it in the above sign).

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Ospedale degli Innocenti, exterior decoration
Ospedale degli Innocenti, exterior decoration