336 hours in Lisbon

Illuminated by streetlights, the rain looks like glass. It has not stopped for 24 hours and the neighbors are calling out for Poochie, who they fear has been swept out to sea. He is a street dog, however, and will eventually show up. Instead of joining their search, I will sit by a space heater, watch the new Paul Giamatti movie and write about Baixa (bye-EESH-uh), the name given to downtown ― that flat rectangular area that extends from Rossio down to the river.  Its reconstruction after the earthquake and tsunami was guided by Prime Minister Marques de Pombal, a cold, forward-looking technocrat (as much as that description can apply to an 18th century politician) who ordered that the dead be buried, the living be taken care of and the city be reconstructed. In the short time I have been here his impact on modern Lisbon becomes more clear. By comparison, the king he served, Jose I, looks like an empty suit. The 1755 earthquake also caused tsunamis in Morocco and western Ireland, b...

With the Tagus almost lapping at its feet, the Praca do Comercio instantly registers as one of Europe's most memorable squares, anchored by an equestrian statue of Jose the First and surrounded by a number of government ministries. It was here that King Carlos and his heir to the throne were assassinated in 1908. The dictator Salazar stood on this spot in 1960 and called for troops to go to Angola "in force." It was also the site of massive demonstrations after the military takeover in 1974 that led to democratic reforms. Some Lisboetas still call it Palace Square, its name before the earthquake when the Ribeira Palace was still standing. On a triumphal arch that took nearly 120 years to build, figures representing the Tagus and Douro rivers recline on either side. Leading off the square are several streets, most notably the pedestrianized Rua Augusta.   Figueira Square lies a few blocks to the north. A busy market here was demolished in 1949 to loud protests, and the spa...

In a tiny Lisbon apartment on a rainy evening the author pours a beer and sits on a bed with an Acer Chromebook CB311 on a blue stool in front of him. He plugs in a card reader and scans the photos he took that day, jotting down their file numbers. He offers no insight, only reportage. Church bells ring. Once he decides on the day's photographs, he describes them. When he returns home across the ocean, he will read the entries, experience a degree of nostalgia, pick himself up off the mat and plan another trip.

  The white limestone of Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora stands out against Lisbon's red rooftops and can be seen from all over the city. Once the Moors were defeated, it was built on the site where Flemish and German crusaders had pitched their camp. "Fora" means "outside," meaning it bravely stood outside the city walls after the reconquest. Like just about every structure in Lisbon, it has been pulled down and rebuilt. Its Late Renaissance facade is imposing but harmonious ― identical twin bell towers, three arched entryways topped by niches holding Saints Sebastian, Augustus and Vincent (who's doing a crazy dance here).  An impressive Baroque canopy floats above the altar. The Thieves' Market, or Feira da Ladra , is out back. It has been held every Tuesday and Saturday for the last 140 years, but its origins go back to the 14th century. In the 1755 earthquake, more than 400 people were buried under a Franciscan monastery on this spot.  I didn't see...

I turn down a shot of liquor at 10 a.m. but get lost anyway.  

A gargoyle hidden from street view shrieks from the north tower of Lisbon's Cathedral, which dominates the tram line's ascent into Alfama, forming a wedge between two streets. Crennelations on the facade make it appear more fortress than church. Its first stone dates to 1147, when Christians retook the city from the Moors. Excavations tend to confirm it was the site of a mosque. During the civil war of 1383-85, the populace, mistrustful of the bishop, whom they suspected of siding with the Castilians, decided to put their doubts to rest by throwing him out a window of the northern tower. According to Fernao Lopes, a chronicler of the time, his body was devoured by wild dogs. Sexpartite rib vaulting like this is an ancient miracle. Could it be replicated today? I think we all doubt it. Lancet windows shaped like collar stays, thermometers, wherever your imagination leads you. Chapels radiate from the ambulatory. Some exquisite Gothic architecture here.  Resting comfortably atop ...

These fellas are playing cards in the Principe Real Garden, a great place to chill near the Botanical Garden, with lots of wooden benches, huge cypress and ficus trees, and a kiosk where you can get coffee or beer. They were keeping score on a piece of cardboard. I asked what game what they were playing (in retrospect I think I said "What does game is?") They said "Copas."  This threw me, so I looked up the word on my phone and it means "cups" in Portuguese. It took several minutes to realize that what they're doing is using a French-suited deck like we all use in the English-speaking world (clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds), but applying the terms that the Spanish use for their card suits (batons, swords, cups and coins). So in their minds, a heart is a "cup," a diamond is a "coin" and so on. In other words, they are playing Hearts. In the U.S. we make a similar mismatched association without thinking about it. Here's how a S...

Because it abuts a life-threatening cliff, you'll have to walk about half a mile down to Martim Moniz to get a decent picture of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Graca. Nothing remains of the medieval structure that dated to 1271. The church was rebuilt in the 1500s and then got pretty beat up in the 1755 quake and had to be restored again. It was founded by Augustinian hermits and turned into barracks for awhile. There's a single nave and some interesting azulejos leading into the sacristy.  The Baroque facade, right, and old vestibule stand at right angles. The detached belfry is a little unusual in this part of the world. I like the choice; it's easier to see and photograph. A mammoth monastery that can house 1,500 people is out of view. Most of the people here ignore the church and instead focus on a terrace that overlooks the city ― one of Lisbon's dozen or so miradouros . There is a cafe and large shade tree. Street musicians politely take turns, and you can hear th...

I have always disliked the Big 2 Portuguese beers (Sagres and Super Bock) but here's what I have learned. You have to retain their temperature and CO2 before a cloying malt character sets in. You accomplish that by 1) never ordering a Super Bock and 2) asking for a " fino"  (just 25 centileters or 8.4 ounces) of an aggressively carbonated Sagres in the middle of the day and downing it in three swallows. In that scenario, it's kind of the best thing God has created.

Of all the European dictators of the first half of the 20th century, only Francisco Franco of Spain held on to absolute power longer (39 years) than Portugal's Antonio Salazar (32 years). Stalin clocks in at 25 years, Mussolini at 21, Hitler a mere 12.  What strikes me about Salazar's reign isn't its brutality ― that's a job requirement ― or even that it harnessed a vast propaganda machine that wrenched all the levers of society ― in the family, at school, at work and play. It's that he's the only one who did it while wearing a suit and tie. These are the things one thinks about lying in bed after a visit to the Aljube prison in Lisbon, which opened to the public as a museum in 2015. It was here that thousands were brought to be interrogated and tortured on the suspicion of opposing the big guy, whose bankrupt political philosophy manifested itself by spending 40 percent of the national budget on the armed forces while keeping his subjects poor and illiterate (p...