Happy New Year! (Belatedly To Be Sure…)

OK, this may be a bit overdue, but I wanted to share a unique aspect of Portugal that my wife Alex and I discovered when we were there for New Years – “fado” music!

Lisbon is a beautiful city, yet as with all of Portugal, they loved a style of music that can, on the face of it, seem very depressing!

As described on wikipedia:

“Fado is a musical symbol of Portuguese culture and tradition. This melancholic genre, which translates to “fate” in Latin, reveals the passion in the Portuguese disposition, and evokes a despairing belief in a futile destiny filled with pining and hopelessness.”

As I said, not the most upbeat of messages!

On New Years Eve, we made reservations at Cafe Luso, up this hauntingly melancholic street…it’s famous for live fado music.

Once we arrived, we were treated to a multi-course dinner: but of course the reason all were there was for the fado!

We had a female singer first, then a male…the entire show lasted more than an hour, with very moody lighting to match the music…

It was hauntingly beautiful – here’s a clip to prove my point:

While fado music is melancholic, it’s also beautiful and we had a wonderful night immersing ourselves in their culture.

It was followed by a walk home to our hotel in time to see the fireworks over the Tagus river:

We were surprised by just how much we loved Lisbon – a “working class” city that has many unique places to visit – like Sao Jorge Castle!

This sits at the top of Lisbon, overlooking the entire city – here’s a look at Lisbon below:

If you click on my story, you will see more of the castle interior and also meet the peacocks who live there!

There was much to see in Lisbon, and with only 6 days there, we were just beginning to explore this truly amazing city:

The mosaic tiles that line all of the central streets are beautiful – you can get mesmerized by them – take a look:

Oh, and did I say anything about the food?

We ate at the city’s most famous crustacean restaurant – where they serve a steak sandwich for dessert!

Click here to see more of this amazing meal!

This city was breathtaking – and the countryside is as well…and so clear – from the Moorish castle, you could actually see Lisbon’s famous “25 de Abril” bridge that crosses the Tagus river…

We crossed that bridge and ate at an amazing restaurant that was literally ON the water:

Dig in with us as we eat the incredible food at Ponto Final!

Click here for pics and videos!

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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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