Alfama Evening

One of my favorite memories of our trip to Portugal with my parents in 2002 was our visit to the Castelo de São Jorge, which overlooks Lisbon from the hilltop of the Alfama. I was excited to share it with Alice.

We decided to time our visit this time to culminate with sunset. We took a bus up the hill and spent an hour exploring what is left of the castle.

It was largely destroyed by the massive earthquake that (together with the ensuring fires and tsunami) flattened the lower sections of the town in 1755. But the views are still great.

The Praça do Comercio, where we started our morning tour, as seen from above.

Another notable feature of the castle is that it is home to an ostentation of peacocks.

There are at least a dozen peacocks in this photo.

The sky was so hazy that we could look right at the sun, but it made for a very different and memorable sunset.

Once the sun was down, we made our way through the maze of streets, dodging antique trams, to the Velha Taberna.

We ordered a bunch of small plates, of which my favorite was the shrimp in garlic sauce with plenty of bread to soak it up.

But, as good as the food was, the whole point of the evening was the fado.

Even knowing little about the genre, we were very impressed and stayed for all three sets. Alice was really enchanted by the music. Possibly our favorite of the night was “Ser Fadista,” a song about what it means to be a fado singer, ending with the declaration that to be a fadista is, simply and profoundly, to be Portuguese.

What a marvelous conclusion to our first full day in Portugal!