Welcome to my Travel Newsletter!
I’ve wanted to start this newsletter for a long time, although I’m still not sure what it really is. You may notice it evolve over time, which I’m actually quite excited about. Some weeks you could receive mostly travel recommendations and restaurant tips, or deep dives into cultural norms through anecdotes, I’m even brainstorming language tutorials. There’s so much that can be done here, and I’m really glad you decided to follow along.
Beginning where we are
(Above) Alfama Mirador, View of the City
Lisbon is located in the lower half of Portugal, far to the west. It is 33 km away from the Atlantic Ocean, or a 40 minute train ride (€2.50). Due west of the city is Cascais, once there you take hard right up the coast toward Sintra (yet to be explored by your’s truly, but give me a week). Lisboa (Portuguese spelling) itself, sits along the mouth of the river Tagus, also called the Tejo Estuary. To cross the river to the south you can take a ferry or drive across the bridge, which seems to be a model version of the Golden Gate Bridge. In the mornings, you can walk, run, or bike down a trail that rides the edge of the river. The morning clouds rolling in over and through the bridge make you wonder if you are in the Bay Area. If you look to the left of it, you’ll see The Cristo Rei, immediately confusing any geographic suspicions. Apparently when Rio decided to build their own statue, Lisbon offered theirs first and were turned down. Truly, a win for home city.
(Below) View from the Patio below The Ponte 25 de Abril )
(Above) Seaside in Cascais
The city is split into 24 neighborhoods, measuring about 8.4 km from Cais do Sodre (nearest to the river) to the border between São João de Brito and Bairro da Calvanas (the northern edge of city). The buildings throughout Lisboa are stacked together, slowly growing upward and closer as the population grows. The western quarter of the city has seen the most metropolitan growth. An afternoon spent in Chiado and Baixa includes classic European cafe sightings mixed with trips to H&M and the possible trip up the Elevador de Santa Justa. The lift opened in 1902, a beautifully built, wrought-iron elevator and popular tourist attraction. For reasons unclear to myself and several tourism websites, you can ride up the elevator for free, where you find a viewing deck that costs €1.50, or you can ride back down the elevator for €5.30. Curiously, the elevator can carry 20 people up and only 15 down, perhaps the reason for a steep premium on returns, or a just fact you didn’t know you learn today.
Dinner at Restaurante Rio Grande
Moving east, you’ll hit Barrio Alto, home of Pink Street. This is where the party lives, but only until 2am. If you’re new to the city and have a friend or two with you, bar hopping here is the easiest way to have a wild night (though it’s not the locals first choice). Beginning early (7pm) you get a table at Restaurante Rio Grande. If you can, sit outside under the umbrella installation providing Pink Street with a ceiling. Prepare for a proper European meal, bottle of wine (white and Portugese), starters (Clams in Broth), possibly another bottle of wine and dinner (the Grilled Bream), then the obligatory (but not mandatory) after meal cigarette. By the time you’re done it should be 10pm and the bars will be starting up. Beware of pickpocketing here, as well as in most of Lisbon. Never leave your phone on the table, keep your bag in your eyeline and never hung on the back of your chair. While you run the risk of having your possessions taken here, unlike in America, they’re only after your things and wouldn’t harm you in the process.
One quiet days, Graça and Alfama offer a wide variety of touristic view points, cafés, and small wine bars. The streets in Alfama alternate between what could generously be called a two lane road and cobblestone alleyways complete with winding staircases. The tram, a yellow street-car (€2.50 per trip), runs through both neighborhoods, and is the best way to avoid walking up and down every hill. In Alfama you’ll find a basic array of food options, I’ll let you know as soon as I find something that really stands out. However, the views here are perfect for sunset. There is a Mirador (viewpoint) in Alfama and Graça. In Alfama you can purchase an Aperol Spritz while sitting on a white couch overlooking the river. In Graça, you can stop by a small mercado for a few Super Bocks, hop the fence at the edge of the stone patio that is the church’s Mirador in Graça, and settle in with your beer on the dirt floor and see the sun set behind an immaculately vibrant city.
Transportation Breakdown
Airport to city (train): €1.50 Redline to downtown (buy a metro card rather than single ticket, save 50c)
Train to Cascais: Cais do Sodre Station €2.50 - 40 minutes ride (departs every 20 minutes, arrive 40 minutes early to get in line for tickets)
Ferry across Tejo Estuary: 4 different destinations ranging from €1.30-2.80 for a single trip (must buy two single trip tickets as no round trip options are available)
Bridge across Tejo Estuary: The Ponte 25 de Abril (the 25th of April Bridge (aka the Perfect Date Bridge))
Notes: Bolt over Uber, average cost to cross the city is €5, a trip from Cascais to Lisbon €20-40
Do not ride the train alone after 8pm
Art show review:
‘Language is Foreign’ by Dora Garcia at Rialto 6
Last Friday, I went to an art opening that felt closer to pre-pandemic times than anything else I’ve attended; art or otherwise. The show was on the second floor of Rialto6, a curator run space divided into two galleries holding 2 exhibitions at a time. The lower gallery has black walls, while the upper has white, visually representing their intended conceptual contrast.
Dora Garcia exhibited Language is Foreign upstairs, a video driven exhibition with readymade sculptures to support. The show focused on the abilities of language. Language contains endless ideas, it’s a tool for ideological conversion and conceptual evolution. On one hand, it has created literacy which serves to gatekeep the intricacies of contemporary thought from those out of the loop. On the other, it inspires discussion and communication, allowing community, and humanity, to thrive.
Several tables were laid out as you walked into the space. On each were two open books, one without any notes, and another, bloodied with annotations. They conveyed two ways of interacting with the written word. One of consumption and absorption, the other investigatory and thorough. These mirrored the two video installations.
The space was broken up into a lower level and a loft, each had armchairs and couches in front of projected videos. Below, a group of Portuguese university students sit in the library discussing philosophy. The topics range from the hierarchy of image and language to the ways language has evolved to describe current social dilemmas. Above, a group of English men sit around a table reading old English texts to each other, scribbling notes in the margins. They examine fiction, looking for the meaning behind lost phrasing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Both videos demonstrate the scientific nature of linguistics and its desire to be investigated.
Garcia’s collection of work italicized literature’s magic. They contain intricate worlds, meticulously built word by word to convey one specific meaning. They’re architecture and growth condensed into a collection of pages. I also can’t help but question the morality of hiding so much thought behind the wall of literacy. Can we not intertwine them with oral tradition? Is there the same magic to oral tradition that there is in transporting through a book? Are audio books the bridge of this gap?
Digression: Our brains were altered by the written word. 15th century Crusades included efforts to expand literacy. By reading the Bible, one was closer to god. With massive spikes in literacy, and continued education leading to generations of literate individuals, our brains began to change. Where as our ancestors used visual recognition to understand their world, literate societies learned of danger from text. As we learned to read, our brains developed an area of the left ventral occipital temporal region. This relocated facial recognition to the right side of the brain and lessened our instinct to holistically process (we now see details rather than the whole picture). Our verbal memory was improved and the connection between right and left brain was strengthened to speed and improve information transfer.
In a way, through literacy we played god. Language shapes our world and our relationship to it. It has altered our bodies, been weaponized, and fueled revolutions. It’s a force, and I’ve never thought so much about it until seeing Dora Garcia’s work.
Digression citation: https://thisviewoflife.com/martin-luther-rewired-your-brain/
Coming next: reflections from my research into generational trauma, narrative comfort, and confronting colonialism in Portugal. Along with reviews of Sintra, Costa de Caparica, and (hopefully) James Bond’s Casino and beach.