First day out and about. Enjoying the view from the castle, and a cold caneca of sagres.
Caneca ~= a pint.
Imperial ~= a half pint.
Sagres is one of the popular lagers here, beaten only by Super Bock.
The castle courtyard. I really enjoyed walking around here. I've never been to Larnach's castle, but I imagine it's not as good as this. This was, by all appearances, a functional castle used for actual protection and battle.
Stairs, cobblestones and tiles. It's like this all over Lisbon.
Another nice pic of me at the castle with the city below. It was nice travelling with Alex for a couple of days because I had someone to take photos of me.
One of the contemporary galleries by the river. The mist was surreal, like a Stephen King movie. Couldn't see the other side at all.`
One of the exhibitions inside. Hundreds of unstretched canvases with abstract compositions. I didn't like it at first, but sitting with it for a while I came around. Can't imagine how much they spent on paint.
Another exhibition. Dark inside with a light smoke machine. Projectors cast white lines onto plinths and screens - had the effect of creating 3D forms in the smoke. Fun to walk through, fun to think about the effect of light on a space.
Bean, Lamego, garlic and tomato noodles. Very proud of my simple meals here, it's been so nice to eat my own cooked food. Hostel had a fantastic kitchen. Big benches, 2 stovetops of 4 elements each, a full oven, good wooden spoons. It only lacked bowls, and the knives were rubbish. Also someone was stealing people's cooking oil. I lost one bottle by accidently leaving it out, have since been keeping it very hidden. It's definitely worth having a small bottle of good olive oil, it elevates even the simplest of ingredients.
Fantastic show by Tarta Relena They played at St George church in Lisbon. I've been a fan of them for a while, it was a real treat to find by surprise that they were playing.
I made friends with an australian couple that my friend India connected me with. They invited me to this football game. Benfica vs Boavista, a Benfica home game. The game began with an eagle flying around the stadium. It was really surreal.
The view from Parque Eduardo VII. It's near the hostel I was staying at in Saldanha. Highest point in Lisbon, awesome view and very peaceful. I ruined the peace by doing a 30minute drum practice session. I haven't been practicing as much as I'd like to, but have found moments now and then to keep it up.
This sculpture is by a famous colombian artist, Fernando Botero. All of his figures are round like this, I really like it.
Cool hidden bar I went to. It was empty when I was there, save the bartender and her dog. It smelt weird and it was freezing. Very DIY.
Looking towards the street from the stairs that lead to the bar. No signage, dingy looking and run down. I had to ask an old lady on the stairs if I was at the right place. "Você sabe onde é Cosmos?"
This is a Francinha, a classic dish in Porto (where I am now). Steak, ham and sausage in white bread with cheese, egg, and a sauce on top. It's really big and honestly I thought it was pretty gross. Maybe I just had a bad one? Will try again, but maybe not for a while.
The age of buildings here is cool and strange. It feels like being in Dunedin's city centre but all the time.
My first succesful crochet rectangle. Next I'm going to make a little coin bag, then probably a bigger bag, until I work my way up to a large tote bag that I can use for groceries.
My grin inside one of the statues in the large garden at the Serralves contemporary art gallery. The gallery was great too, they had a new exhibition by Francis Alÿs. He's the artist that pushed a block of ice around Mexico City until it melted, titled: Sometimes making something leads to nothing. Another good one is the Lada Kopeika Project where he drives from Belgium to St Petersburg with his brother and, upon arrival, crashes the car into a tree. This new exhibition was footage of childrens games across the world, projected on large hanging screens across a few galleries and all playing at the same time.
Here's another piece from the garden: Sky Mirror by Anish Kapoor. You might know his sculpture in Gibbs Farm, NZ
Me between some pumpkins.
Me and my friend from the hostel descended a stair case we found on the way back to the hostel that lead right down to the river. I took this nice selfie. It's funny following little paths when you're new in a city. Sometimes you find exciting and amazing new things. Sometimes you find the river.
I can't believe the size of these Olives at the market. I didn't buy any, but I may come back and by some later.
Having a kip in the gallery. Art is tiring and so is walking.
Today I got my knives sharpened for 3 euros at the market in town. Tomorrow I check out of the hostel and I'm thinking of heading to Alveiro for the night. My plan is to try to get my taxnumber ahead of my appointment on the 12th. Being a small town the municipal finance office ought to be quieter and I might be able to just walk in and get it. If I can get it early that means I can cancel my appointment in Setúbal and come back to Porto on the 11th. I've been offered a volunteer position at this hostel. In exchange for 25 hours a week I get a private room in a nice apartment a few metres down the road. This suits me well, I could do it for 2-4 weeks while I do some intensive portuguese study. Instead of group classes I'm thinking of finding a private teacher for 1 on 1 classes, as I think this will be a better price and I'll get more out of it, given the level I'm at already.
I hope you've enjoyed this update! I don't like the hastle of trying to place and format images in an email so I thought this would be better. Let me know what you think. Will organize a call soon - it's a 13 hour difference here. Can do evening, but will have to be about 7:00pm your time because I don't want to wake up earlier than 6:00am.
