Lisbon Postscript

Two things fascinate me about Lisbon, the pavements and the bridge. All the pavements, and I mean ALL, are covered in small mis-shaped beige lumps of marble. There must be a law that only permits this sort of paving. (like the law that requires UK Utilities to always make good excavations with tarmac) My theory is that the King of Portugal once imported a shipload of this marble for his palace floor. When the Queen said ‘I’m not having beige again’ he came up with a decree that got rid of the marble and also made him a few escudos.

The bridge sings. I don’t mean folk songs or even heavy metal (sorry) but it hums really loudly. It’s to do with the vibration of the traffic and the resonance frequency of the bridge. I guess you could make it play a tune by altering the vibration a bit. A symphony written specially for the bridge could start with trucks and buses and have delicate middle passages of smart cars and bicycles.

Just past the bridge is the Statue of the Explorers which honours the famous navigators that roamed the world when Portugal was a major seafaring power. Each navigator had a charter from the King which, loosely translated, commanded them to – ‘Sail forth and find a new way to the east. Claim any new lands you find for the King of Portugal but give Lanzarote a miss if you want to keep your ears. For ballast on the way back would bring me some more of those small mis-shaped beige lumps of marble’

Dave 5th Jan 2009
PS
Whilst were establishing that Monday is a bad day for culture in Lisbon (see Janet’s Blog) I saw and failed to photograph a brilliant bit of graffiti. An almost bilingual Portuguese vandal had spray painted a wall with ‘Resistance is Fertile’