Paul Walters

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Night Train to Lisbon.

Night Train to Lisbon.


“By day Lisbon has a naive theatrical quality that enchants and captivates, but by night it is a fairy-tale city, descending over lighted terraces to the sea, like a woman in festive garments going down to meet her dark lover.” 
― 
Erich Maria RemarqueThe Night in Lisbon


In some small way, this city and I have shared a bit of history and so, what better way to see how both of us have weathered the intervening years than by taking the night train to Lisbon.

Arriving by train, anywhere, early in the morning gives a visitor an opportunity to observe the city and its commuters as they wake. Stazione Santa Apalonia, the city's oldest station,  funnels the morning rush-hour through its imposing front doors and onto the street  - actually, 'the morning rush hour' is a bit of a euphemism really as Lisbon seems to enjoy a good lie-in most days.


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A five-minute taxi ride will bring you to Bairro Alfama , the oldest district of Lisbon whose name comes from the Arabic, Al-hamma, meaning "hot fountains" or "baths."

This part of the ‘old city’ is made up of a series of winding, cobbled ‘travesas’ or laneways making their way through pastel coloured houses that rise to no more than five floors. At street level, an endless array of restaurants, bakeries, small supermarkets, wine shops and countless bars line the narrow spaces all of whom seem to offer similar produce or the promise of an evening of ‘Fado’ (traditional Portuguese music)


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These older areas of the city are undergoing a massive transformation with ageing apartments being snapped up by entrepreneurial developers, gentrified and then and turned into ‘modern’ suites. A thriving Air B&B market caters to the ever-growing tourist numbers, much to the consternation of many of the locals, who feel that this form of alternative tourist accommodation is devouring the culture of the districts. In amongst the masses of graffiti that seems to cover many of Lisbon’s buildings are scrawled messages that read, “Fuck Air B&B or “tourists go home.”


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 As one bar owner ruefully remarked, “Look, Air B&B is good for business but soon we will be so overrun with tourists that they will outnumber the old families and then, what we will end up with is tourists looking at other tourists.”

Portugal and particularly the capital Lisbon was, until just three hundred years ago was one of the mightiest empires on earth. Its colonial tentacles stretched across three continents, its ships bringing home untold riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Lisbon is a place that has endured more than its fair share of disasters, both natural and man-made. From Imperial riches to fire, plague, a devastating earthquake, a tsunami, revolution, coups, a royal assassination, abolition of the monarchy and, for a few decades a period of savage dictatorship.

As if that wasn’t enough, in 1987 along came the global financial crisis, which practically brought the country to its knees, making it teeter on the edge of bankruptcy for almost a decade. On the surface, it appears as if Lisbon is still suffering a few side from all those calamities.


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Lisbon could be compared to a punch drunk boxer who refuses to stay down after copping a savage beating. It staggers to its feet and flails ineffectively at the next crisis that seems to come its way with frightening regularity.

If ever there was a place where one could tell the exact time and date when its fortunes began to decline, this is that city.


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In 1755 when Lisbon was at the top of its game as the pre-eminent colonial power when, one fateful Sunday at 9.40 am, as its citizens were attending at worship,  two massive earthquakes levelled vast areas of the city, killing an estimated 250,000 souls.

If that was not enough, a giant tsunami tore through the ruins later that same day inflicting even more devastation and then, almost adding insult to injury, three days later the shattered metropolis was consumed by fire!

Lisbon today is still a charming, vibrant city even though parts of it look a little ‘shop soiled’ but, given that it predates the likes of London, Rome and Paris by hundreds of years its perhaps a little understandable. Wandering the cobbled streets one can feel its antiquity seeping out of the walls and clinging to every building, especially in the districts of Alfama and boho Bairro.


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Of the seven hills on which the city is built, the loftiest is in the Moorish Alfama neighbourhood which practically surrounds the Arabic-cum-medieval castle that looms over the terracotta rooftops that seem to be tumbling down to the waterfront.

To avoid the climb, century-old wooden trams and iron funiculars carry passengers to the top of even the steepest of the hills as they lurch and rumble their way up and down the tiny streets. They're not exactly the most comfortable form of transport for, as someone once said,” its like travelling inside an antique wardrobe on wheels.”


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At the imperial Praca do Comercio, Portugal’s grandiose history is certainly on show, replete as it is with a giant statue of King Jose1st sitting nobly atop his trusty steed Gentile. The square is surrounded on two sides by magnificent baroque buildings,  perfectly framed by the stunning Arco de Rua Augsta arch, built no doubt on the profits of one of the most ostentatious colonial empires in history.

Lisboetas (natives of Lisbon) are by and large nocturnal creatures for, once the sun goes down they seem to get up! 

A night on the terracotta tiles begins with a raucous dinner in one of the bar-filled cobbled lanes of boho Bairro or Alfama before moving from bar to bar until the last slow hours of morning.



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What is infinitely pleasing was to see is that Lisbon is still a major literary city as attested by its citizens sitting on chairs outside coffee shops, bars or in parks reading their books, shaded by jacaranda trees in full bloom.


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The public is well served by bookstores but a must visit is Bertrand in the centre of the ‘new’ Lisbon’ as it is the world's oldest bookstore. You can also find the world's smallest bookshop, Livraria do Simão, at just under four square metres in size into which some dedicated soul has managed to squeeze in around 4,000 books!


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One thing the Portuguese do brilliantly is sausage. On the Praca da Figueira, on some days, food stalls fill the air with the aromas of everything from chorizo and rich black pudding to farinheira, a smoked flour sausage, and alheira, a chicken equivalent… they are, simply to die for!

If you feel the need to escape the city it is certainly worth visiting Sintra, an aristocratic hill town replete with fairytale palaces, manicured floral gardens and wild woodlands.


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There is also Cascais, which was a minor fishing village, until King Luís I (1838 - 1889) chose it as his royal summer retreat. It’s a charming little town with its elegant fusion of decorative 19th-century architecture, and its beautiful cobbled streets, packed full of rather trendy restaurants and bars. 

After a few days here I feel that Lisbon and I have perhaps once again bonded which isn’t that hard really as she is ever such a charming mistress.

Paul v Walters is the best selling writer of several novels and when not cocooned in sloth and procrastination in his house in Bali he scribbles for various travel and vox pop journals around the world.


Komentar

Paul Walters

5 tahun yang lalu #20

Nick Mlatchkov . There is indeed and what a splendid movie it was. The language is breathtakingly beautiful and I loved Jeremy Iron's rather doleful performance.

(Nacho) Ignacio Orna

5 tahun yang lalu #19

Night Train to Lisbon, last Train to Lisbon last train to lisbon, just heading out last train to lisbon, just leaving town but i really want tonight to last forever i really want to be with you let the music play on down the line tonight....(E.L.O)

Lada 🏡 Prkic

5 tahun yang lalu #18

It's been a long time since I travelled by train. I still remember the feeling of travelling by night train and walking through the cities that have awakened slowly. What you wrote about old Lisbon, reminded me greatly of the Old Town of Dubrovnik which is overrun with tourists. Tourism has its dark side. I like how you presented Lisbon in its essence. Suffice to say that this post is a great read. :)

Lada 🏡 Prkic

5 tahun yang lalu #17

It's been a long time since I travelled by train. I still remember the feeling of travelling by night train and walking through the cities that have awakened slowly. What you wrote about old Lisbon, reminded me greatly of the Old Town of Dubrovnik which is overrun with tourists. Tourism has its dark side. I like how you presented Lisbon and captivate its essence. Suffice to say that this post is a great read. :)

Paul Walters

5 tahun yang lalu #16

#13
CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit . Thank you for that well thought out and crafted comment . Thank you for taking the time to read always much appreciated.

CityVP Manjit

5 tahun yang lalu #15

Part 1 of 2 ========== A couple of things to note for me. This is another reminder of me the anti-tourist backlash or as you wrote "tourist go home" graffiti in Lisbon, as you have documented them in other places like Venice and Barcelona. I think of this as an awakening of the difference between travel becoming a means to broaden one's mind and travel reducing the travel experience to the basest consumption level of a tourist. Not only do people want their cities back but that preservation of local culture shows us that evolution is a rather important concept in life - whereas the B&B tourist is still living in the world social media thrives in - to update a page on Facebook, which for me is not that much different to a twisted mindset that is feeding their own social habit. Either way real lives are disrupted, whether a city is being taken over catering for tourist trinkets or non-travel related, where a city is undergoing gentrification and the rich kids are the one's terminating the cultural fabric of a place.

CityVP Manjit

5 tahun yang lalu #14

Part 1 of 2 ========== A couple of things to note for me. This is another reminder of me the anti-tourist backlash or as you wrote "tourist go home" graffiti in Lisbon, as you have documented them in other places like Venice and Barcelona. I think of this as an awakening of the difference between travel becoming a means to broaden one's mind and travel reducing the travel experience to the basest consumption level of a tourist. Not only do people want their cities back but that preservation of local culture shows us that evolution is a rather important concept in life - whereas the B&B tourist is still living in the world social media thrives in - to update a page on Facebook, which for me is not that much different to a twisted mindset that is feeding their own social habit. Either way real lives are disrupted, whether a city is being taken over catering for tourist trinkets or non-travel related, where a city is undergoing gentrification and the rich kids are the one's terminating the cultural fabric of a place.

CityVP Manjit

5 tahun yang lalu #13

Part 2 of 2 ========= The other thing to note is the parallel of your journey in Portugal to a Spanish bee who has been buzzing in relatively the same environs recently. In this case that bee is Marta Navarro Saiz where she was contemplating which city she actually preferred i.e. Porto or Lisbon https://www.bebee.com/producer/@marta-navarro-saiz/sigue-tu-camino-de-azulejos-azules-hasta-oporto Her blog is here https://ysifly.com/ I love seeing the parallels drawn by two travellers who have recently been in the same region and the perspectives both of you offer - because they are enriching and they are respectful to place, rather than an act of consumption, which is really a parasitic act and treating a destination as a host to exercise kitsch and other such acts of shallow entertainment for people who are taking a break from miserable work lives and thus have no reason to second think a mindless vacation - because the vacation was meant to be mindless. What I therefore read here is an exercise in mindfulness, which if noticed by the locals of the places you both visit, should carry respect for travelling, while still wanting to their city back or at least respected as an organic culture, rather than petri-dish where tourism is merely a growth. Another great write up Paul !

John Rylance

5 tahun yang lalu #12

Lisbon has moved up my bucket list of places to visit.

Debasish Majumder

5 tahun yang lalu #11

it is always amusing to go through your delectable buzz Paul Walters! enjjoyed read and shared. thank you for the buzz.

Jerry Fletcher

5 tahun yang lalu #10

Paul, Thanks for making sure I read this wonderful rendering of a "lovely old lady." I grew up in another city of Seven hills--Cincinnati, Ohio and one of my fondest memories was riding a trolley that rolled onto a funicular to climb to the top of Mt Adams.

Ian Weinberg

5 tahun yang lalu #9

Another masterpiece Paul Walters Since you're doing this so well, I've decided that I don't have to visit these places any more. So if it's not too much of an imposition, I'll draw up a list of places that I've wanted to visit and await your missives!

Gert Scholtz

5 tahun yang lalu #8

Paul Walters What can I say? Place after place my list keeps growing with your interesting history interwoven with the descriptions of these wonderful places. Last week Madrid, now Lisbon – where to next? Thank you Paul.

Paul Walters

5 tahun yang lalu #7

#6
Ken Boddie Thanks, Ken. You will have to get a bigger bucket!

Ken Boddie

5 tahun yang lalu #6

The closest I've been to Lisbon, Pak Paul, was being taught some rudimentary Spanish by a Portuguese gentleman prior to a trip to Dominican Republic that never eventuated. Damn you again for increasing the length of that bucket list.

Joel Anderson

5 tahun yang lalu #5

I too have  been here many times.  Nicely done.

Pascal Derrien

5 tahun yang lalu #4

I love this city I have been there many times , my kids love it too. A lively patchwork of a city, the Aquarium is a VERY impressive Natural museum on the modern side of the city :-) Lucky you :-)

Graham🐝 Edwards

5 tahun yang lalu #3

Fantastic Paul Walters

Paul Walters

5 tahun yang lalu #2

Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards

Paul Walters

5 tahun yang lalu #1

CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit

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