Day 52. Tuesday 29 April.

Having effectively lost a day yesterday, our bucket list was overflowing: so how to choose destinations in a city full of museums & galleries?

First destination – the LX factory cultural area and the Liraria der Devagar bookshop (collocated as it turned out) – the next challenge was how to get there. It turned out that the simplest way was the 728 bus from our local metro, Moscavide, to Alcantara Mar, about 11 Km. It was great because we had another overview ride, like a Big Red Bus, but without the commentary.

Duly arrived, ready for coffee – the LX Factory was once an old industrial textile complex, but now claims to be home to Lisbon’s trendiest restaurants, bars, and shops, located beneath the Ponte de 25 Abril Bridge. The bookshop is marvelously quirky, offering stacks of books, records and some artisanal items. We spent about two hours in the complex, just drifting, but T had two highlights: the jazz vinyls playing upstairs in the bookshop and a lady in one of the stores, discussing yesterday’s power outage – ‘the government is not telling us the true story’ – claims that the heat caused the problem just don’t stack up, as higher temperatures, in the 40s, are common, and it was nowhere near that.

Back on the bus, heading for the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado featuring Portuguese romantic, naturalist, modern and contemporary art, in the form of selected pieces from the leading art movements from the second half of the 19th century to the present day. A bit too much focus on old stuff for our liking (meant we missed the opportunity to go to current artists at Underdogs, another gallery) but it was beautifully quiet. Yes,T lost her man again but staff took pity, scanned security screens throughout building, made a phone call and identified that he was waiting at the entrance door, having lost his wife who was at the exit door around the corner. D was not agitated.

Back on the bus, heading for home and a well earned beer (that had to wait) because T noticed a sign pointing to the Fado Museum, (we’d lost the chance to do real fado in a late night cave), so we got off the bus at the next stop and made our way there. Good decision, as it was a terrific exhibition and well worth the last 90 minutes of the opening. Fado, as D was to learn, is rooted in the cultural identity of Lisbon and Portugal, from the 19th Century. The word “fado” translates to “fate” or “destiny” in English, and the poetry of the words and the music often reflects on the harsh realities of life, longing, and the human condition. T draws similarities with Irish ballads/culture/melancholy – very much part of her heritage.

So that was the end of our last full day in Lisbon.

Dinner. Potato Omelette Surprise – the surprise being that the six eggs D bought yesterday in his surge of power outage – panic- buying turned out to be hard boiled! Fortunately there were two fresh eggs still in the carton from a previous buy.