Lisboa Parte 2

Little Vasco de Gama in the background, Oceanario

Sunday night we went to a Fado performance. Concert? I don't know. But it was so authentic, Rick Steves would have flipped out! We got the address from one of the hostel workers, so it seemed legit. When we arrived there were a few people standing on the street, in the doorway because the inside was packed. It was located in a family-run bar/restaurant, presumedly below where the family lived. The owner whose image was on the restaurant sign was running around inside delivering drinks and yelling "SILENCIO!" when the show started. There were 2 guitarrists and a drummer, plus various singers, one at a time. Fado is a typical, sad Portuguese song. Really beautiful, even if you don't speak the language, because the guitar is amazing. It seemed like it was electric, but it was a plain little Portuguese guitar. One local talked to us; he seemed excited to practice his English because everyone else inside was from the neighborhood. Then some older gent asked our British friend if she sings. It may have been in Portuguese, but I understood it in Spanish. When we explained we were just there to listen, he told us he was a Fado singer. Apparently some of the best Fado singers perform in this restaurant, entonces..we talked to a well-known Fado singer! Woohoo! We didn't see his performance though, because we had to catch the last metro home heh.

I fit right in!

Monday we rode to a part of town called Belém. There we saw the giant monument to exploration, Monumento aos Descobrimentos, and the grandiose monastery. And to top it off, of course we had to get pasteles from the famous Confeitaria de Belém. Their masterpiece is little egg tarts, and the line perpetually goes out the door. They were pretty good, but I prefer chocolate treats :P

Monastery of Belém

Also, it was Halloween. We didn't expect much festivities-wise, because it's more of an American holiday. But the Spanish people we know have told us lately it's becoming more and more common to celebrate in the American traditions. In the evening, while we had an after-dinner ice cream and stroll, we witnessed a parade of zombies! How fun is that! It seemed to be neverending...people dressed up in all sorts of dead/bloody costumes. One zombie couple even came towards us pretending to grab at us, saying "Mmmm! Santini's!" (ice cream company we were eating). At night we went to a Halloween Hostel Party.

New friends celebrating Halloween

Tuesday was our last half day in Lisboa. We went to a noted literary café, A Brasileira. Tried to eat lunch, but en fin Gianna and I just got some pastries at the counter. Delicious chocolate, fudgy goodness to be specific.  For lunch we went to a fancier place, and ate outdoors (on November 1st!!). There was a Portuguese school group performing in front of the café. Yeah entertainment! We wandered around town for a while, said our goodbyes, and then caught the train back to San Sebastián. Really enjoyed my time there, but after 5 days I was glad to be back in mi hogar español.

A note on the Portuguese language: To me it sounds like Russians speaking Spanish. They pronounce "s" as "sh" which gives it an Eastern-European effect. (Apparently they don't do this in Brazil). I knew some useful phrases like bom dia, boa noite, obrigada, é thanks to my pal Marlon. And from what I have picked up from signs in Portugal, I am a fan of their contractions! (Spanish only has 2 contractions: del & al) It seems for their 2 definite articles there is o (masc) and a (fem), so many prepositions that go before them get mashed together like ao, da, no. I dunno, I just find it interesting. Me fascinan las lenguas!!!