Lisbon #2

Thanks to the time zone difference and my body's refusal to believe that it was dark outside and the middle of the night, l was wide awake at 3.30 am. I pottered around for a few hours, working out how the coffee machine and the lights operate, the woke up Anne and we went for a walk up the hill to the Gardens then back past the Convent of Sao Pedro de Alcantara, before winding through the Barrio Alto with it's maze of tiny cobbled streets. Lots of bars and lots of empty drink containers and bottles. Party town.  It was rubbish collection morning and we had to squeeze past as the huge rubbish truck and gang of guys came noisesomely past. Rubbish wise the street looked about 85 percent better where they had been.

After breakfast we headed down to Rossio. Lisbon we have found to be a city of surprises, most of them nice ones so far. Without a lot of expectation we visited the church of St James, Sao Domingo, to pay our respects. Walking through the door, expecting just another church, the interior is like nothing I have ever seen. Opened in 1241, the church was damaged in each of the earthquakes in 1531 and 1755, then gutted by fire in 1959 . The restoration has replaced the roof with what looks like pink granite, left completely unadorned, while the walls are blackened chipped stone.  Extraordinarily beautiful and impressive.

Another thing we have noticed about Lisbon is how terrible the available maps are. Every corner seems to have bewildered looking tourists earnestly consulting maps or guide books. Anne's theory is that this is designed the provide some comic relief to the beleaguered locals as compensation for being in undated by hordes of tourists.

Whatever, we joined the ranks of the confused and the lost as we blundered around trying to find the Fado museum. Fado is a unique Portuguese style of music which they are very serious about here.  There are Fado bars everywhere and some of the singers are national heros. Fascinating museum, and almost empty as most people couldn't find it.

After a hot stump back through dusty building works we discovered the Museum of Beer on the Praca Comercio, and sampled some of it's reviving exhibits along with lunch, then threaded our way back home for a jet lag induced nap. And that was about it for us for the day.

Today's pic is a wall of the convent facing a grungy graffitied. Laneway in Barrio Alto, with its 1752 tile work just out there unprotected. It would be in a glass case in a gallery surrounded by security guards in Australia.