Market, music and a dig

out early as the cleaner was due - how wonderful to have a cleaner. She comes to the apartment twice a week and thought it best to stay out of her way.

A downhill walk towards the river (Lisbon has 7 hills, you are either walking up or down) and the market selling fresh food on one side with other half made up of tiny food outlets. We first came across this when watching Rick Stein on his 'long weekend away' series when visiting Lisbon. It's well worth a visit and made up of small kitchens serving different styles of food with the centre set out with tables and chairs, all very tasteful, An example would be sushi from one tiny kitchen, or hamburgers, or chicken dishes, pizza and so on. We didn't feel like eating and will return at lunch time on another day.

We then looked for the Fado museum - Portuguese folk music. A colleague mentioned it and pleased she did, I doubt we would have picked up the information otherwise. When walking away from the museum we passed this dig, it looked interesting and a number of men are working here but no information boards. When looking on the internet there is a lot of info about Roman finds under the city.

From the internet Fado music:
“Lisbon, for centuries her ships sailed around the globe and brought to the European shores the first news of many unknown cultures in Africa, Asia and the Americas. In each returning ship there also came songs that spoke of the dangers of the voyage and of the fascination for the new worlds explored, full of exotic tunes and rhythms, but songs that also told of loneliness, homesickness and the fragility of mankind against the fury of the elements and the unpredictable nature of human faith. In the 1820s and 30s a new song was thus born in Lisbon, which was to become the very mirror of the multicultural identity of the city and of its people. It was called Fado, the same word that means fate in the Portuguese language.”