Portuguese Voyage - Stop 3: Lisboa (Days 7 - 11) - Slowly Falling In Love with Lisbon......(Part 1)

Ah....... Lisbon, Lisboa.... there is a myriad of things to say, and I don't know where to start!

View from Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, Alfama

View from Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, Near Bairro Alto and Principe Real

View from Miradouro de Santa Luzia, Alfama

The famous Tram No. 28 - Take a ride to catch a glimpse of the different neighbourhoods of Lisboa

Since I ended my last post on Fado Coimbra, I shall start with Fado Lisboa!
Without a doubt, I prefer the Fado Lisboa to the Fado Coimbra. The Coimbra one is a bit duller and 'heavy' (if you heard the song in the last post). In contrast, the Fado Lisboa, although also due to sad motivations, is slightly upbeat and is sung by women!

Rainha do Fado (Queen of Fado) Amália Rodrigues, in Alfama

The motivation: the feeling and sense of saudade... Finally the word is introduced! This is an example of a word, that, in English, there is no word which can accurately capture the essence of it.

Now imagine this: When the likes of Vasco da Gama and Afonso de Albuquerque were on their mission to find 'treasure' (spices!), they hired the poorer men, of the Alfama neighbourhood, and ex-convicts as their crew. (Ahem ahem... to all my Serani friends out there, your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather might have been an ex-convict... #justsaying...lol)

So when the husbands set sail, their wives, families, etc, obviously missed them, added with a sense of longing, sadness, wondering if they will ever see their loved ones again. That is what saudade means (well, in my interpretation :S. If there are any Portuguese out there, would truly appreciate if you could assist in clarifying... :D).

This influenced the wives to sing songs filled with their emotions, sorrow, feelings - Fado.

The beginnings are also hard to determine. One theory says it is from the Moorish culture (Lisbon was conquered by the Moors in the 700s - 1100s). The sadness and melancholic characteristics, as well as the rhythm, of Fado, are said to be from Moorish culture. The other theory says it originates from the songs of Brazilian slaves - singing of their journey at sea and hardship on land.

Whichever it is, head to the A Tasca do Chico to listen to some live Fado! There are two branches - one in Alfama and the other in Bairro Alto. I went to the one in Bairro Alto. The performance starts at 9pm but be sure to get there early as it gets crowded.

A Tasca do Chico

If you do go after 9pm, you will have to queue outside - my advice, GO EARLY!
The singers are not professional Fado singers, but they are exceptional.. I nearly had goosebumps!

*Just some cool info: Fado was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011.*

Now, that's it about Fado.... There is so much more to Lisboa: the different neighbourhoods, the GLORIOUS period of Portugal, the city's glow, the enchanting monastery and much more - which I will detail in my next post(s)... hhehe

One last advice: A fellow traveller once told me, "Wherever you go, ALWAYS go to the highest point to view the city, be it a hill or a tower.... ALWAYS!"
As you can see from the pictures above, my crazy-self went to all the viewpoints in Lisboa! Lol... (There is one more picture missing). Well, it's a good advice to adhere to :)

Até logo..