April 2022

Three months in Lisbon

Lisbon is a beautiful city. Narrow, wavy cobblestone streets. Centuries old colorful buildings, some covered in painted tiles, with tiny doors and windows. I live in one of my favorite regions, the Jardim do Príncipe Real (Royal Prince Garden), at the corner of Travessa do Abarracamento de Peniche (Peniche Camp Lane) and Rua do Século (The Century Street). When the great earthquake of 1755 hit Lisbon and a large part of the city was destroyed, the Marquis of Pombal, then Secretary of State (later he would become Prime Minister) called troops from nearby Peniche to help in the reconstruction efforts, and the soldiers camped at the top of this hill, giving the name to the place where I am the one camping now. O Século was a newspaper published since 1880, with headquarters in a palace that still exists in the street that was named after that publication. This is how it works in Lisbon, almost every street has a rich history.

What is bacalhau?

There is great food in Lisbon. Seafood is the main attraction, but there are also many meat options too. I've had chicken, duck, turkey, pork, beef, veal, and boar. The most typical dish here is, of course, bacalhau (salted codfish), with a surprising number of variations. To list just the first ten I had: bacalhau à Brás (my favorite), bacalhau with cream, bacalhau with cream and kale, bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, bacalhau à Zé do Pipo, shredded bacalhau with chickpeas, bacalhau cakes with tomato risotto, breaded bacalhau slices with rice and beans, bacalhau a Lagareiro with baked potatoes, and bacalhau à João do Buraco.

And the museums?

Of course I've already gone on expeditions to Lisbon's museums and historical monuments. I'll try to be brief and mention only the three I liked the most and my favorite painting in each of them.

Museu Calouste Gulbenkian has a collection that goes from ancient Egypt to the Pre-Raphaelites. It's difficult to choose among so many things, but I think the painting that talked the most to me was William Turner's Quillebeuf, Mouth of the Seine (1833), with all those ascending elements, waves, clouds, birds.

At Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga it's easy to make a choice. The museum's big star is Hyeronimus Bosch's The Temptations of Saint Anthony (c. 1500). It's a companion to the ultra famous The Garden Earthly Delights (which is in the Prado Museum in Madrid), with images so crazy and imaginative that suggest surrealism about four centuries earlier.

Museu Coleção Berardo has a very rich collection of modern and contemporary art, with all those artists I like, from the most known like Salvador Dalí or Piet Mondrian to the undeservedly less famous like Josef Albers or El Lissitzky. Here my top pick is a vigorous painting by Pablo Picasso, Femme dans un Fauteuil (métamorphose) (1929). I didn't know it, and was captivated by the composition and the color palette.

And after Lisbon?

This message is being sent from the Munich airport, where I'm waiting for my flight to Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, my home for the next couple of months. I don't understand Bulgarian and I can't read the Cyrillic alphabet. It's going to be fun. Do skoro! ("talk to you soon", in Bulgarian).