Goodbye to the Cloud....

Finally....in Lisbon and it’s goodbye to the Silver Cloud, our home afloat for the past 16 days and to the 230 of our new best friends! It was an interesting itinerary over the 16 days, six very different countries (seven if you include Western Sahara) and around 4000 miles traveled since leaving Accra but in truth, we barely “scratched the surface” of West Africa. Silversea, our cruise host had advertised the itinerary as an “expedition cruise” but the reality was anything but that - really more a traditional cruise, a floating 5-star hotel, with brief stops in ports less visited. A few people we spoke to (presumably like us, experienced expedition cruisers) made the same observations, but for most, the cruise was likely “as expected” as many displayed neither the mobility or flexibility to have been able to cope with the rigors of the usual expedition cruise.

.....Olà Lisbon

Almost eight years to the day since we were last in Lisbon, or perhaps more accurately, eight years to the day we last left Lisbon. That was the day of Will & Kate’s wedding, when so distracted by the excitement of the occasion we only discovered that we’d left two suitcases behind in our vacation rental when we arrived at Lisbon’s airport! So fondly do we recall that chaotic day (we missed our flight to Casablanca) that we thought it would be fitting to base ourselves again in the same vacation rental. That and the fact that the house, perched on top of one of Lisbon’s hills at the end of a tiny dead-end street in an older residential neighbourhood close to the heart of the city, has perhaps the very best view in the entire city. And what’s more, it was still available to rent!!

(above, the view from the rooftop terrace of our house)

(above, the white house to the right of the pine tree is ours!)

Lisbon has changed much since our last visit which was at the time when Portugal had been hit very hard by the global financial meltdown. The country was in the grip of a major recession and buried under a mountain of debt entering into a period of austerity. Many of the city’s grand old buildings and palatial homes were badly rundown or derelict and tourism, a major economic driver was significantly down. But in the meantime, how things have changed! The centre of Lisbon and the the older areas, Bairro Alto and Alfama teem with tourists, many just there for the day disgorged from one of the massive cruise ships that dock in the city on a regular basis.

Lisbon has undergone something of a property boom fueled by the government’s decision to encourage foreign investment which includes the offer of a Portuguese passport to anyone investing a minimum of 500,000 Euros. The upside to this is that many of the formerly derelict old buildings have been renovated (although from what we could see, this is barely the tip of the iceberg) but much of this is by property speculators. So the downside of the boom is that many grand old city centre buildings have been converted into holiday let apartments (many AirBnB) and hotels. This inevitably has pushed up property prices so that few locals can actually afford to live in the city centre now, forced to move into one of the many “fascist era” concrete blocks (a term used by one of our guides) that are a feature of Lisbon’s outskirts. The AirBnB boom has gotten so out of hand that the government has now imposed a moratorium on any new ones. 

Unemployment is still high particularly among the young and new university graduates, many of the latter still leave the country for greener pastures in the more affluent European Union countries. That having been said, there are signs of an entrepreneurial boom among millennials - trendy boutiques selling Portuguese designed and manufactured clothing, many very interesting bars and restaurants off the main tourist trails and of course a booming tourist industry

“We Hate Tourism”

Much of Lisbon was destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1755 (considered to be one of the strongest in recorded history) followed by fires and a series of tsunamis. The rebuilt city had a central area for the rich designed around a grid system that predates Paris (and Manhattan!) and a bunch of crowded neighbourhoods built on six very steep hills. Today, vehicular access to and around these neighbourhoods with their crazy narrow streets and alleys is to put it mildly, challenging! Walking is almost equally challenging! The cobbled streets and sidewalks are worn smooth and slippery and littered with trash; the many ancient stairways with their broken and uneven steps (and equally trash strewn) only marginally safer. Still many “regular” Lisbonners live in these “cosy” neighbourhoods with a very strong sense of community and it’s in one of these neighbourhoods that we’re based. 

During our few days in Lisbon, we chose three very different tours among the many on offer. In Lisbon now it’s possible to “Hop on/Hop Off”, take a “Hippo”, an amphibious vehicle known in most places as a “Duck”, buzz around in a “Tuk-Tuk”, glide around in an electric vehicle (drive or be driven), be a menace on an electric scooter or Uber bike. Or just walk and get a month’s worth of exercise each day strolling up and down the steep hills and narrow streets and alleyways of any of Lisbon’s oldest neighbourhoods. 

We go for the walking option for the first of our tours. Our guide Paulo, for for the tour of “Jewish Lisbon” is the city’s the only licensed Jewish guide so he tells us and much in demand. Portugal in general and Lisbon in particular once had one of Europe’s largest and most flourishing Jewish communities. That all changed in 1497 when the Portuguese king declared that Jews either leave the country (with nothing) or convert to Catholicism. So began (at least in Portugal) the phenomenon of “crypto-Judaism” defined as “the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing another faith.” Paolo recounts the story of the Jews of Belmonte, a remote village in the north of Portugal who maintained strong secret traditions for centuries. A whole community survived in secrecy by maintaining a tradition of marrying within the community and hiding all external signs of their faith. So cut off we’re they from the outside world, they and their practices were discovered only in the mid-20th century! We spend 5 hours walking around Lisbon’s historic neighbourhoods with Paolo, unsurprisingly without spotting too many signs of Jewish life or history. Paolo talks non-stop for the 5 hours (his day job is as a university lecturer) and tells some fascinating stories (with I’m guessing quite some poetic license!) about Portuguese Jewish history and Jewish life in Portugal today.

We get a somewhat different take on Lisbon from Miguel who drives us around the city in an old Portuguese army Jeep on behalf of an outfit called “We Hate Tourism”! The company was started during the depths of financial crisis by a bunch of university graduates who couldn’t find work. As the name implies, their tour is designed to provide a view and image of the city and daily life that provides a take on things different to that presented on the usual tourist tour. And it does!

Portugal’s Got Talent!



And finally we we meet up again with Diogo Varela. Diogo and his family live in the house just three doors down the street from our rental. Diogo, as well as being a well-known film and documentary producer in the Portuguese-speaking world, is Portuguese musical royalty! His great aunt, Amalia Rodrigues (who died in 1999) was considered the greatest exponent of Fado, Portuguese folk music. Known by her first name throughout the Portuguese-speaking world, Amalia received a state funeral after her death. Amalia’s sister, Diogo’s grandmother who died in 2018 at the age of 95 was also a renowned Fado singer. We’d first met Diogo on our last visit to Lisbon when he guided us on an unforgettable night of Fado clubbing. Unforgettable also for him as at the end of the night (sometime around 4am) he fell or was pushed resulting in a couple of broken ribs! This time, Diogo was keen to start the evening at a Fado club where his son, Gaspar was playing the classic 12-string Portuguese guitar accompanying the Fado singers. Gaspar now 15, it turns out is a true child prodigy! His talent was first identified when he was just 7 years old and there’s You Tube video of him accompanying his renowned great-grandmother. Just to add to the story, Madonna who has apparently fallen in love with Lisbon and Fado and now lives here part of the time, also fell in love with Grandma and Gaspar! So much so, that Madonna flew the family to New York to have them spend New Years Eve with her. We watched Gaspar, truly spellbound as for three hours he accompanied Fado singers in the club. One of the singers, just 13 years old, addresses Diogo as “her future father-in-law”!

(above, the kid with the curly hair is the super-talented Gaspar! The girl in the middle photo above is the 13-year old Fado singer who seriously fancies Gaspar!!)

We end the evening at a dimly lit club hidden away in an anonymous building listening not just to Fado but also to traditional music from the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde whose music has been a big influence on Fado.

Another memorable evening, a bit of a hang-over, but this time, no broken ribs!