It’s Friday and It’s a Beautiful Morning (4)

Freedom is one of the joys of my retirement. Even without three little birds pitched by my doorstep I woke up this morning with the rising sun, the promise of a glorious Friday, and with nothing on my calendar. As usual, I began the day with a cup of tea. Then I sat down at my laptop to check the score of the previous night’s Maryland men’s basketball game at Rutgers and learned that the Terps had lost rather decisively – their second consecutive loss in conference play. Next up was a check of the weather forecast and the upcoming weekend looked like an impending washout with substantial rain predicted for both Saturday and Sunday. Now it became a question of how to best take advantage of today’s prolonged sunshine.

I thought to choose between one of two incompatible (in the sense that I could do one but likely wouldn’t have time to do the other) options. One choice would be to plot a combination of walking and public transit that would take me to the Panorâmico de Monsanto that Lonely Planet describes as a “graffiti-and art-plastered building that was once an exclusive high-society restaurant in the late 1960s” (true) and a place that Atlas Obscura calls “truly magical.”

[Photo of Panorâmico de Monsanto from Wikimedia Commons by Rui Ornelas under CC 2.0].

And with views like this

[Panoramic photo of Lisboa from Wikimedia Commons by Rui Ornelas under CC 2.0].

also true.

On foot this would be a long and probably tiring walk. Although it was a manageable distance of 6.5 – 7 km, it also involved a nearly 300 meter ascent. The transit combination of the blue line Metro to the 770 bus seemed reasonably uncomplicated but, if I made every connection on time, it was optimally an hour on the transit options followed by a 1,500 meter walk that I’d have to navigate in reverse to return.

The alternative was to go to one of two art galleries in search of something to carry home. I like to bring home a painting or two from my travels and I had nothing from my spring trip to Portugal (though I did manage two pieces from Prague). Since my visit with Ana to Jardim da Estrela hadn’t exposed us to any painters working in the park, I had two somewhat out of the way art galleries as possible alternatives – one that I’d discovered from my own research and one recommended by Ana.

Curiously, the two were essentially equidistant and also about the same distance as the Panorâmico. The crucial difference was that the route to Ana’s suggestion – the Underdogs Gallery – was mostly along the river and was likely as flat a six km walk as one can find in Lisbon. While it was uphill to The Art Zone, the climb to the neighborhood of Alvalade was about a third of what was necessary to reach the Panorâmico.

As I was trying to plot the day, when I searched the Underdogs Gallery, Google indicated that it was closed thus eliminating it as a possibility. I should have gone to their website because the gallery is closed Sunday and Monday but should have been open Friday. Nevertheless, I struck it from my list and, after due consideration, decided I’d walk – somewhat ironically as it turned out – to the Art Zone.

The above screen shot taken from Google Maps shows the route I’d take to the Art Zone. If you enlarge the map, you’ll see the Underdogs Gallery near the top right and, while you can’t see the Panorâmico, it’s in the middle of the cluster of small roads just north of the A5 highway as it crosses the Parque Florestal de Monsanto. However, this isn’t the factor that makes the walk ironic. If you look just to the left of the Art Zone, you’ll see a pink area surrounded by a single arced road. That’s the location of the Blue Wall that Ana and I took a long, mildly disappointing trip to visit yesterday. Had I paid attention to its neighborhood – Alvalade – I would have connected it to the Metro Ana and I rode back to take us to the Estufa Fria.

No coins in the fountain.

If you’ve read these posts very carefully and you have an excellent memory you might have noticed that I no longer use the term street art but have replaced it with wall art, outdoor art, or some equivalent term. The reason for this arose on my long walk through Praça Martim Moniz, up the Avenida Almirante Reis, and then along some less major thoroughfares. It was on one of these that I came upon some literal street art.

A bit farther along, I passed the Alameda Metro station and this enormous structure.

(This picture is a cropped version of the one I actually took.)

After texting Ana, later in the day I learned that this is the Fonte Luminosa or Lighted Fountain. Sources differ regarding when construction on the fountain began but I’d say it was around 1940. Although the Second World War was raging across Europe, the situation in Portugal was relatively calm and the city of Lisbon was, in fact, growing. The fountain was built as part of that expansion into the area called Avenidas Novas (New Avenues). It was completed in 1948 but eventually the cost of maintenance led the city to abandon it early in the 21st century.

Featuring Triton on horseback and four mermaids, it was fortunately deemed too beautiful to remain in an abandoned rundown state and it was restored in 2012. However, it still operates under some cost containment constraints. There are two water shows daily – one from 12:00 to 15:00 and one from 18:00 to 21:00. There’s also a nightly light show (hence the name) that begins 15 minutes after sunset. Unfortunately, I saw neither.

I’ve gotta have art.

Organic Maps got me to the right street but the entrances were unnumbered so, after walking past the unassuming door, I identified the Art Zone on my second pass but when I tried the handle the door was locked. As I was about to walk away, a young Russian woman opened the door. She seemed surprised that I told her I was interested in possibly purchasing a painting. There wasn’t much on display and some of it was too big for me to carry home. However, determined to come away with something, and uncertain whether Saturday’s weather would keep me from going to the Underdogs Gallery, I spotted a small painting that was far from spectacular but, because I had a moment of pareidolia looking at it, intrigued me just enough to purchase.

Indian food in Lisbon.

A quick internet search for Indian food in Lisbon will generate a list of at least 20 restaurants. At first blush this might seem odd but you have to keep in mind that the Indian coastal area of Goa was a Portuguese colony called Estado da Índia from 1510 when it was conquered by Afonso de Albuquerque until the Portuguese ceded sovereignty in 1961 some 14 years after India gained its independence. Additionally, most of the immigrant population in Lisbon comes from the Middle East and South Asia and, like all immigrants, they carry with them the culinary traditions of their original homelands. Thus, you can find excellent Indian cuisine in Lisbon.

This night, I went to a hard to find and quite small restaurant near the Praça da Figueira called Caxemira that was an easy walk from the flat. Relatively close and an easy walk was important because I’d trod more than 13 km through the day and was a bit weary. The meal was fine and inexpensive. I had mango pickles, something with prawns, and I didn’t note whether I had beer or some other beverage. As it turned out, I’d choose Indian once again before I left and that second meal would prove to be my preferred one of the two.

I have a mere handful of pictures from this day and you can see them here.