Tram Tour

Our three hour tram tour turned into 6 hours. Tram 28 is a popular tourist attraction because it goes through most of the neighborhoods but it's also popular with residents who are supposed to be able to board before tourists. We met at a stop which typically has few people so we all got seats. Two stops later, the car was packed. The tram is small but the roads are too narrow to make bigger cars and they can't be much longer because of the curvy roads. 

Our guide, Carlos, was fantastic. He told us the history of everywhere we went. He sang Fado to us. He read poetry. He took us to the oldest bookstore in Portugal when he was walking home. We told him he could leave us in the bookstore but he wanted to show me all the Pessoa books and read more of his poetry to us. There are 70 statues of the author in the city. The poet they call Portugal's Shakespeare, though, is Luis Vaz de Camoes who I'm not familiar with.

There are seven hills in Lisbon and it seems we walked up and down all of them that the tram didn't. The popular overlooks were full of tourists. 

This sign from 1686 announced the toll coaches had to pay to cross into the neighborhood.

The fountain of St. Lucia who protects and cures your eyes. We got some of the water and wiped our eyes with it. Couldn't hurt.

The tiles are everywhere and are beautiful. Some houses are covered with them. The blue ones are Delft and the colorful decorative ones are Moorish. 

Fado, the Portuguese blues, was created around 1840s but had its heyday from the 1930s to 50s. Amalia Rodriguez is called the Queen of Fado. She grew up in poverty, selling fruit for a living until she became famous singing Fado. Her performances around the world, including in the US, spread its popularity. 

Amalia Rodriguez.  Carlos played some of her music for us, sang along and explained some of the words.  Most Fado has is sad, nostalgic or melancholic.