Celebrating Lisbon’s Sweet, Sad Soul

These notes are being written between sets in a fado club in Bairro Alto. Fado, part aria, part torch song, is impassioned music. I don’t speak Portuguese, so I cannot tell you exactly the subject of the songs tonight at Adega do Ribatejo, but it must be something significant because no one could sing so passionately about inconsequential matters.

The host this evening, dressed in a conservative business suit and looking like your Uncle Steve the plumbing supplies salesman, greets the audience, then tilts back his head and becomes a Portuguese Pavarotti. When he is finished, the cook takes off her apron, wipes her hands, takes center stage and begins singing.

Fado is performed in a big, open-throated way that frees the singer’s soul. Like Lisbon, it surprises in richness and intensity.

Lisbon’s history tugs at the heart like the song of a lover, alternately thrilling and full of despair. Portugal, a country about the size of Michigan, shares the Iberian Peninsula with Spain, although at times it has been like sharing a bus seat with a sumo wrestler. That may be why, 500 years ago, the country turned its attention toward the Atlantic, which laps at its western coast.

Despite its diminutive size, Portugal defied the maelstroms and monsters of the nautical charts and laid claim to far-flung lands and riches in Africa (Angola and Mozambique), Asia (the East Indies and Macau) and America (Brazil).

Many of the country’s voyages of exploration originated in Lisbon (if you picture the map of Portugal as an aristocratic head in left-facing profile, Lisbon is on the nose, about a third of the way up the face) and began with a sail down the Tagus River.

Portugal grew wealthy but was confronted with the demands of administering a colonial empire, the changing whims of royalty and the variable political winds of Europe--and some plain bad luck.

On Nov. 1, 1755, the city was shaken by an earthquake that wrecked most of its public buildings and churches and killed 60,000 people. Brazil gained independence in 1822. Portugal lost its remaining colonies in the late 20th century and suffered a military coup in 1974.

Recently, however, the country’s prospects have brightened. It was admitted to the European Union in 1986, and it helped launch the euro. Its economy is improving. Its 4% unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Europe, and tourism is growing.

My wife, Janice, and I briefly visited Lisbon a year ago and agreed that this capital city of a half-million deserved more time, so we returned for a week with our son Paul this year.

Enjoying the city involved climbing a lot of hills. In such situations elsewhere, I’ve asked, tongue in cheek, where the elevator is. But in Lisbon there really is one. In fact, there are four.

Our hotel was Residencial Insulana, a cozy place that occupies three of the upper floors of a commercial building in the Baixa retail district. When we wanted to move from the Baixa to the alleys and night life of the Bairro Alto neighborhood 100 feet above, we took one of those four elevadors.

The Baixa district is at river level, but it is bracketed by hills on the east and west. Eastward across the Baixa, looking back at Santa Justa from the top of Sao Jorge Hill, is the Castelo, a 9th century Moorish fortress. It shares its hill with Lisbon’s Se cathedral and the alleyways of the ancient Alfama neighborhood. Behind us to the west and south were Bairro Alto and Chiado, also hilltop neighborhoods, not as old as the Alfama but rich in small bookstores, inexpensive restaurants and galleries.

We began at the 12th century Se, just slightly uphill from the Baixa on Rua da Conceicao. Lisbon’s cathedral (technically, the Cathedral of Santa Maria) is impressively cavernous, but its most interesting attractions are its treasury and cloisters. The treasury holds a gold and ruby monstrance from 1748, decorated with more than 4,000 stones. During our visit, the cloisters of the Se appeared to be undergoing major repair and archeological research, with displaced statuary and architectural ornaments stashed wherever they might fit around the edges of a huge excavation.

Next stop on the onward and upward tour was the Miradouro de Santa Luzia. Lisbon has several miradouros, or plazas positioned to afford striking views. From Santa Luzia’s, we got a CinemaScope vista of the Tagus and incoming maritime traffic and of the tiled rooftops of the Alfama. And we could rest.

Then up to the Museum of Decorative Arts, a 17th century mansion that displays the 17th and 18th century furniture and tableware typical of aristocratic households. Although the location is not designated a miradouro, the views from the museum grounds also are grand. And we could rest.

Finally we reached the huge Castelo Sao Jorge, which is the fulfillment of the fantasies of every kid who has built a fort out of snow or a castle out of sofa cushions. There’s not much of an interior to see, but we could scramble up the walls and march from tower to tower along their tops. Below us, where 12th century Crusaders brandished swords as they tried to capture the castle from the Moors who built it, tourists now brandished telephoto lenses, memorializing the views back across the Baixa or toward the palms, steeples and rooftops of the venerable Graca and Alfama districts. Peacocks shared the courtyards and park below with playful modern sculptures--for example, bronze people with a book, question mark or dinner fork as heads.

It may have been the fork that made me think of lunch, and that’s how we found a gastronomic tie-in to Portuguese history. We had many fine Portuguese meals in Lisbon, but the Goan cuisine at the nearby Arco do Castelo combines Portuguese and South Indian influences. (Portugal’s age of exploration extended to China and the Indian subcontinent, and it held properties there for centuries. It lost its colony of Goa to India only in 1961.) We found Arco’s chickpea fritters and chicken curries similar to Indian versions with a nice coconut milk foundation.

While more sensible people enjoyed the traditional Portuguese siesta, we spent our afternoon exploring. As we progressed east, we stopped first at Nossa Senhora da Graca, whose miradouro permits an aerial view of the busy squares north of the Baixa.

The Alfama, our next destination, is among the oldest neighborhoods in Lisbon because it is one of the few quarters to have survived the earthquake and subsequent fires and tidal waves of 1755. Streets twist up and down the hillside, winding around themselves. Maps become merely speculative. Some streets aren’t really streets at all, just steep stairways and clearly not designed for automobiles. That hasn’t stopped drivers from bringing cars to the Alfama and parking them wherever they almost fit.

We navigated toward the setting sun, climbing up, then down. We ate a hearty dinner that night--satisfying Alentejano cuisine from the Portuguese heartland at a Bairro Alto restaurant--that we figured we had walked off in advance.

In contrast to the Alfama’s alleys, the streets of the Bairro Alto and Chiado districts seem almost like Iowa in their orderliness. Although superimposed on a rolling hilltop, the street grid is neatly rectangular. Internet cafes, tiny restaurants and fado clubs make the two adjoining neighborhoods an ideal evening entertainment venue.

If you plan to hear fado, know that fado clubs are like dinner theaters: You must eat the meal to hear the music.

The Church of Sao Roque is a Bairro Alto highlight. Sao Roque, or St. Roch, was an early 14th century French nobleman who renounced riches to serve the poor. He often is pictured accompanied by a dog, which, according to legend, once saved the saint from starvation by smuggling bread from its master’s table. The main attraction of the church, however, is an elaborately decorated side chapel dedicated to John the Baptist, featuring mosaics so carefully shaded that they look at first like oil paintings.

In the Bairro Alto we made one of our best discoveries, the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, or Port Wine Institute. Although run by a government agency, this converted 1747 mansion is a pleasant lounge where one may taste dozens of ports, many for less than what a comparable quantity of beer would cost at home. We sampled 10-year-old tawny ports for about $2.25 a glass, then returned the next night and graduated to 20-year-old tawnies for $4.

Although port is the wine most associated with Portugal and the local reds are lovely, our favorite discoveries were the greens.

Vinho verde, or “green” wine, is not really green; it’s merely young. It has a nice natural spritz to it, and it goes well with seafood at a Bairro Alto taberna or with rotisserie chicken in Baixa’s Rei dos Frangos (literally “King of the Chickens”). A bottle of typical vinho verde might cost as little as $5.

One can get so spoiled in Lisbon.

For example, the subway system is simple even if you don’t understand Portuguese. It’s easy to figure out the coin-operated ticket dispensers, and the fare schedule is uncomplicated. The cars are clean. The system is limited, however, and does not reach many neighborhoods (like the Alfama). But mass transportation above ground is plentiful and takes many forms: commuter trains, buses, sleek new trams that bend in the middle to slither around corners, neighborhood trolleys that are only about 20 feet long so they can negotiate the tight turns of the Alfama.

The trolleys are so cute that they almost make me forget our only negative experience: My wallet was stolen. Guidebooks recommend Tram No. 28 as a charming way to ride through the old neighborhoods and to the Saturday flea market, or Feira da Ladra. So Janice and I boarded the crowded tram on Saturday morning, heading for the market.

The sheer artistry of the pickpockets would have been laudable had I not been the victim. Janice and I were separated in the crowd. Someone brushed my camera, and the lens cap fell to the floor. As Janice and I searched for it, two middle-aged men kept jostling me as they disagreed over which of them should take the empty seat next to me. Then they were gone, and so was my wallet.

I can report that Lisbon police are polite and sympathetic, and that they helped us contact our credit card companies. They gave us advice that was echoed by our hotel’s concierge and other locals: You have to be careful on Tram 28; it’s notorious for pickpockets.

Did I mention that Feira da Ladra means “thieves’ market”?

We saw numerous museums--the tile museum, the Museu Gulbenkian and its huge, eclectic collection--and we finally came to the Casa do Fado e da Guitarra Portuguesa. This new museum on the river’s edge east of the Baixa tells the story of fado, with its lost love and missed chances. (“I want my coffin to be shaped in a splendid way,” one verse starts, “to be shaped like a heart, to be shaped like a guitar.”)

The museum probably is useful for people who already know something of the genre and its stars, but there are helpful basic exhibits explaining, in English and Portuguese, its history and the craft of guitar making. Fado singers usually are accompanied by two guitarists, one with a heart-shaped 12-string guitar, the other with a more conventional Spanish guitar.

Which brings me back to my fado club notes: As they wait to resume performing, the two guitarists are chatting with the club’s regular patrons. The host steps back to center stage. Once again the poignant Portuguese melodies resound, bouncing off the tiles, or azulejos, ringing the cooking pots in the kitchen.

And once again, I am transported.

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Guidebook: Lots to See in Lisbon

Getting there: From LAX, service to Lisbon is available on Swiss Air Lines, Continental, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France and any number of U.S. carriers to JFK, connecting with TAP-Air Portugal from New York to Lisbon. Fares begin at $1,134.

The Lisbon airport is northeast of the city, about a $10 taxi ride. Rail service between Lisbon and many other European cities is available at Lisbon’s Santa Apolonia station, which is not on the subway line but is only about a $4 cab ride from the center of the Baixa.

Telephones: To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 351 (country code for Portugal), 21 (the city code) and the local number.

Where to stay: Hotel Avenida Palace, 123 Rua 1 Dezembro (near Rossio rail station), 321-8100, fax 342-2884, www.hotel-avenida-palace.pt. Luxury hotel, built in 1892 but remodeled four years ago, is on a busy street, but windows are double glazed to reduce noise. Lots of marble. Doubles from $144, including buffet breakfast.

Albergaria Residencial Insulana, 52 Rua da Assuncao (Baixa), 342-3131, fax 342-8924, www.insulana.cjb.net.

Inexpensive but comfortable 32-room hotel is above bridal shop on quiet cross street. Handy to Bairro Alto elevators, metro station and other mass transit. Doubles typically about $50, including continental breakfast.

Pensao Globo, 37 Rua do Teixeira, telephone/fax 346-2279. Budget-conscious but comfortable hotel in Bairro Alto has some rooms with private bath. About $25.

Where to eat: Adega do Ribatejo, 23 Rua Diario de Noticias (Bairro Alto), 346-8343. Bairro Alto fado club feeds you well with large plates of fish or meat and entertains you well with several fado singers. About $36 per couple, less than other clubs in area.

Arco do Castelo, 25 Rua Chao da Feira, 887-6598. Goan cuisine near castle is similar to Indian; nice lunch for two about $29, including beer.

Cocheira Alentejana, 19 Travessa Poco da Cidade (Bairro Alto), 346-4868. Cuisine is from Alentejo, the farm region south of Lisbon. Hearty soups and seafood. Two can eat well, wine included, for about $28.

Rei dos Frangos (Bonjardim), 11 Travessa de Santo Antao (north Baixa), 342-4389. A personal favorite. Menu is extensive, but almost everyone orders the rotisserie chicken and fries. $18 for two, including vinho verde.

Restaurante Ali-a-Papa, 95 Rua da Atalaia (Bairro Alto), 347-4143. Moroccan cuisine in cozy setting. $30 per couple buys a hearty meal.

Instituto de Vinho do Porto,

45 Rua de Pedro de Alcantara (top of Elevador da Gloria, Bairro Alto), 347-5707. Port at a salon operated by the government agency charged with its promotion. Dozens of ports available by the glass.

For more Information: Portuguese National Tourist Office, 590 Fifth Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036; (800) 767-8842, fax (212) 764-6137, www.portugal.org. Also www.atl-turismolisboa.pt.

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Jerry V. Haines is a lawyer in Washington, D.C.