20 Things I learned about Lisbon and Portugal

1. SIZE. Our excellent, and very cultured, guide, Margarita, described Portugal as a “skinny” country. It is 130 miles from East to West and 500 miles from North to South. It is smaller than Andalucia (Spain). From Lisbon to Badajoz (Spain) in car takes two hours.

2. LOCATION. During the Medieval Ages “everyone wanted a piece of Lisbon”, according to our guide, “because of its location.” It was the city on the edge of Europe, closest to the Atlantic. “Now it’s not so important because we have different systems” and by that, I think she meant, globalization.

3. SOCCER. Lisbon has three soccer teams and they are always at war with one another.

4. MULTILINGUALISM. In general, the Portuguese speak more languages than their neighbors, the Spanish. One explanation is that Portugal is the only country in the European Union that does not dub its television and movies. Another hypothesis was that, historically, many Spaniards would cross the border to shop in Portugal because it was cheaper and because they have high quality products like cotton and ceramics. In order to do business with the Spanish, and others, they learned their language.

5. CERAMIC BUILDINGS. Ceramic tiled facades are one of the city’s most distinguishing characteristics.

6. TAGUS RIVER. The river that runs through Lisbon is the Tagus, which is the longest in the Iberian Peninsula; the source of this river is in Spain. During the Medieval Ages it was called “The Little Mediterranean”. After the 1755 tsunami that followed the great earthquake that killed thousands and destroyed the city, the river decreased in width by half.

7. CATHOLICISM. Before the great earthquake of 1755 there were 1,100 churches in Lisbon.

8. CATHEDRALS are built like fortresses. In times of war, and other violence, people found refuge in these spaces. They would lock the doors and remain inside until it was safe to exit. The word cathedral derives from a Latin word that means “the seat of the cardinal” because this is where the cardinal “stayed”.

9. LISBON’S CATHEDRAL. It took several centuries to build the Church of Santa Maria Maior, which explains why several architectural styles are represented including Gothic (high ceilings) and Baroque (altars covered in 24k gold).

10. ST. ANTHONY of Padua (Italy) was actually born and baptized in Lisbon. His parish was in the cathedral described above which is also where he was baptized. It was built in the 12th century on top of a mosque (which was built on top of a Roman city).

11. IBERIAN PIPE ORGANS are instruments that are only found in Spain and Portugal. The feature that distinguishes them is that they are made of vertical and horizontal pipes.

12. COMMUNITY WEDDING. Even though St. Vincent is the patron saint of Lisbon, there is a special devotion to St. Anthony. On the eve of St. Anthony (June 12) social workers select 16 poor couples from Lisbon. The city treats them to a communal wedding with all expenses paid. The 16 couples are married in the castle of St. George on top of one of the highest hilltops of the city. Each couple is allowed to invited two-dozen guests, and a big party is organized with food, music and dancing. Wealthy patrons of the city give the couples washing machines and other wedding gifts.

13. LEGENDS. Our guide joked, “There are 365 legends in Portugal and one more every four years.” I will share two of that we learned during our tour of Lisbon.

14. On the eve of St. Anthony (June 12) single girls roast an ARTICHOKE and leave it on their windowsill overnight. If the artichoke blooms the next morning, that is, if it turns purple, then it means that you will get married within the next year.

15. The ROOSTER. A young pilgrim was traveling from Santiago to Portugal. He was tired and hungry from traveling and stopped at a family inn. The maid fell in love with him but he was a spiritual man, and still very absorbed in his experience in St. James, and didn’t pay much attention to her. So, she decided to punish him. She took the owner’s silverware and placed it inside his bag while he was sleeping. When the owner woke up the next day and noticed his silver was missing, the maid told him the pilgrim had taken it. When the silver was found in his bag they took him to the judge who was in the middle of a party. While they waited, the pilgrim prayed for an inspiration. He asked God to send him a sign. It came to him, so he said to the judge, “I am innocent. To prove it, I tell you that this rooster that has been cooked is going to come back to life,” and the rooster resurrected and crowed “cucurooroo.” They followed the rooster to the church and from that point on the rooster is considered as a symbol of good luck. The root of this legend comes from the fact that in the 18th century artisans made many clay animals (there are many clay quarries in the north of the country). The rooster has always been very popular for the artisans and customers because it has more color than other animals (dogs, cats, horses, etc.)

16. JACARANDA TREES from Brazil were in full bloom all over the city.

17. FADO. Amália Rodrigues was a famous Fado singer form Lisbon. Her home has been converted into a museum.

18. MURALISM. I was surprised to see so many murals and graffiti all over Lisbon. There’s a difference between the two. Murals beautify while graffiti defaces. Also, murals require permission from either the state or private entity and are oftentimes done in collaboration with those groups, while graffiti is done without it and in protest of rules.

19. PARLIAMENT. Even though Portugal is such a small country (12 million people; 2 million people in Lisbon), their Parliament is huge: 252 deputies. The building is at the turn of the twentieth century and it is neoclassical in style.

20. GOLDEN GATE LOOK-A-LIKE. April 25 is the name of the bridge that looks like the Golden Gate (built by the same architects and almost exactly the same size; the bridge in Lisbon is two feet shorter than the one in San Francisco). This date marks the day of the revolution in Lisbon that Portugal went from a dictatorship (Salazar) to democracy.