Sunday was our “free” day to roam to our heart’s content, and we naturally decided to make the most of it. We decided to go with a suggestion Logan made yesterday and hike up to one of the oldest districts in the city, Alfama. Here, there was the Castle of São Jorge, which we were able to see the previous day. Because we knew this would be a popular destination, we made a point of getting there around 10AM or so, and this paid off as we were able to get our tickets and inside with zero crowd involved. Getting there was a bit trickier, as it involved an unfortunate amount of winding, twisting, elevated streets; we got our cardio in for the day in those roughly fifteen minutes it took.

However once inside, it was evident of the strategic importance of the castle, since we had an insanely clear view of the city in all directions! Naturally, being at the top, we had to take pictures of the scenery. Prior to this trip I hadn’t really thought about Lisbon and its topography, but being that high really reinforced the idea that the city was perched up on the hills. Our mistake. The castle itself was erected in the 12^th century as a basis for the Portuguese knights to fight off the Moors, and the pamphlet we picked up showed us the variety of locations within. However, it didn’t seem like there was a barracks of sorts, so without knowing more exactly, I’d assume that the soldiers were in tents somewhere in the significant premise. From there, we strolled up to see what the view was from the top of the ramparts, and I was able to see across the river and to the nearby locales in the Lisbon metropolitan area.

By now it was nearing lunchtime, so dancing around the crowds that had formed at that time, we made a quick pitstop for pastries at a nearby confectionary. Given how there was seemingly no wrong choice, we ordered four different ones to get our dosage of sugar. I took the time to check to see what the lunch options would be, and it turns out that most places weren’t open until noon, so that gave us plenty of time to leisurely walk back close to our AirBnB. However, on the way down, fate intervened: we passed by a restaurant specializing in French fries. We were going to skip this, but both the packed little place as well as the mouthwatering smell hooked us in, and we were rewarded for this decision! The store, Potato Project, offered nine types of sauces, but we went with a basic mayonnaise. You wouldn’t expect a meal consisting solely of fries to be the best, but it was a revelatory moment! Seriously, these fries kept us full until dinner!

Moving on, we visited yet another recommendation from Logan: Igreja de São Roque. Unlike the majority of churches in the country, this one was a Jesuit one with a claim to fame: gold. We were told in advance that plenty of the gold the Portuguese Empire took from Brazil made its way to here, and it was evident that yes, some of those riches were used in the construction. We had an awesome volunteer guide with us, and she was able to point out at what stages the gold was added. Of course, what remained was gilt, but it wasn’t hard to imagine how opulent it was in its day. Another thing we noticed and was pointed out to us was how there were two pulpits: the church was used by both the Jesuits and the Catholics, so there was a chance for a kind of dual sermons for those who wanted to experience different things. On top of that, the mural painted on the ceiling was also unique, in that it was painted in the Mannerist style as well as depicting Biblical events. Going back to what I said about the opulence, some of the chapels did reflect who was donating to the church. A few of them were your basic, plain memorial to a saint, and our guide explained their backstories. As you moved further counterclockwise you saw the influence the ultrarich families had with the design; it definitely was a reflection of the “pay more to increase your chances of going to Heaven” mindset back then. All in all, I will say that compared to some other churches I’ve been in, it was refreshing to have a relatively plain place of worship to visit.

Once finished, we still had plenty of time to decide what to do next. Coming into this trip, I had wanted to tour the soccer stadium of Sporting CP but it was off limits due to their busy schedule. We then tried to see if we could book a tour of their rivals, who incidentally played in the country’s biggest stadium, Benfica. It might have been me having a snafu with understanding their schedule, but for whatever reason, we ended up not being able to go. It’s a shame as I’d have loved to have gone to either, but our consolation was stopping by the oldest operating bookstore in the world, Livraria Bernard. Established in 1732, it’s been in the same location through thick and thin, which would include the calamitous earthquake that hit the city the same century. Logan, yet again, had told us the previous day that there’s a bookstore in Italy that claims to be the oldest one, so the distinction is that Lisbon’s is the “oldest operating” one whereas the latter is the “oldest continually operating” one. That doesn’t take away from how exciting it was to actually visit it, so even if it’s maybe not as comprehensive like Barnes and Noble is back home, it was something I can say I’ve done! Plus, when I bought a book from there (and how could I not?), the assistant stamped it to undeniably state that I’d been by. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a piece of orange cake, which was the perfect way to take a breather from all the knowledge of the afternoon. There, we booked the final event of the night: a fado show.

And how couldn’t we? Fado is a genre of music that is so unique to Portugal that in 2011 it was added to UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Nobody can translate it into English perfectly, but the gist of it is that it represents a longing and/or sadness. That’s not to say it can’t be something more optimistic, but it got its roots in the singing of the sailors’ mothers and wives who justifiably weren’t happy about the prospects of either never seeing their loved ones return or having to wait years to see them again. All of this is to say, we knew we’d have to see a show in Lisbon, and yet again we were going off of a recommendation from Logan. As we were tired, we booked the later show for the night in order to have some time to come back and decompress to be in the right mindset. We didn’t actually put two and together that the venue was a literal two-minute walk down the street from where we were staying until we looked up it, but that meant we weren’t in any sort of rush. Hosted by the excellent Lisboa em Fado, the venue itself was small to the point where from the street it looked like one of those shopping mall displays you see. Thankfully, there was enough space inside albeit it was limited to about thirty or so people, but that only added to the coziness of it all. Better yet, we were handed either a glass of wine or orange juice, which was the perfect refreshment for the night! Mind you, the show was only for about an hour, but as a former performer I understand that length is just right. Before we began, a quick little video played in order to inform everybody of what fado was and just how important it is to the Portuguese psyche. It played a few more times in the intervals to enable the two singers (male and female) and the two guitarists to catch their breath, but as everybody was enraptured by what was on screen, that wasn’t an issue. So, how was the performance? Fantastic! The singers introduced us to what they’d be singing about, and even if I wasn’t able to catch all the words, the raw emotion carried through. There was an even 50-50 split regarding the sadder tones versus the more optimistic ones, so I definitely can say I got the full fado experience. We also learned about the Portuguese guitar and how it having twelve steel strings gave it its unique sound, so when combined with the regular acoustic guitar they combine to form a truly phenomenal and backbone to the lyrics being sung. Even if music isn’t your thing, I would absolutely say you’d need to get to a performance!