Portugal in Parts: The White City

I am first to admit that I didn’t know much of Portugal before traveling there. I knew the language was brutal, they have yummy port, one of their emblems is a colorful rooster (and also the logo of Nando’s, two completely unrelated matters), and that one of my bucket list experiences hailed from there.

Like many European countries, Portugal has quite a checkered past. The thing that shocked me so much was they had a dictator until not too long ago. Naturally, this peaked my interest in what Portugal had to endure to go from being a slave to many to experiencing modern dictatorship and yet also be one of the founding members of NATO. This country deserved some investigating. 

I’ll make this story brief because it can be quite confusing, especially seeing as there were so many rulers in play. Many believe Lisbon was founded 400 years before the Roman era. First, there were the Celts setting up shop in Portugal and getting comfortable, and once Romanization occurred, the Romans invaded and made Portugal their home for an impressive 600 years. Then came the Germans, the Moors, the Christians who ultimately became Portugal, the Spanish, the Portuguese again, the French, and then the Portuguese once more.

It can be quite mind-boggling and I’m sure I missed a few rulers somewhere along the road, but this wasn’t the end of Portugal’s reputation with tight-gripped leaders. Enter Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Who sounds like a Harry Potter character and who also had come to power as Prime Minister in 1932. He was solely in charge of both executive and legislative functions, controlling the local administration, police, and patronage.  Simply put: he was a dictator. For nearly forty years, Salazar was the man of the house, so to say, of Portuguese government and politics. His successor was Marcelo Caetano until a military coup overthrew the government that resulted in him resigning. Finally, the reign of pompous egos with control-issues was over and on January 1st, 1986 Portugal joined the EU and that’s what helped it become the country we know today.

One thing is for sure; this country has a long and colorful history with many compelling stories to tell. One such a story is that of the cherished Rooster of Barcelos.

This was no ordinary rooster. For one thing, it was dead. But this didn’t stop it from creating many miracles, including saving a man’s neck – quite literally.

A very upset resident from the town of Barcelos was robbed one evening just as a foreign visitor, on his way to complete his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, happened to pass through town. The locals accused him of the crime and without giving any regard to his pleas of innocence he was sentenced to hang. The angry villagers did, however, grant him a last wish of speaking to the magistrate who sentenced him. The judge, who was too busy wining and dining guests at his home, agreed to see the poor foreigner there. Instead of pleading for his life, the foreigner pointed to the main course, a roasted cock and said that his innocence is as certain as it is certain that the rooster rotating on the spit will crow when they hang him.

The judge found this proclamation just as absurd as you are now and vowed that the sentence stays intact. A short while later, the foreigner was hanged and the crispy rooster stood up from the serving plate and crowed just like the condemned foreigner predicted. This shocked the guests as you can imagine and sent the guilt-ridden judge racing to the gallows. Luckily he found the foreigner still breathing thanks to a faulty rope. The man was released and sent off to continue his pilgrimage. He returned many years later and sculpted a stone crucifix to the Lord of the Rooster as a memorial.

Now, isn't that quite a lovely story?I will never look at KFC the same way again. On to the present. Our first stop in Portugal was its capital, Lisbon.

 "The White City"

Lisbon is the only European capital with sunsets that overlook an ocean. I find that a wonderful title to boast with. Another trophy she can brag about is her age. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, and the second oldest in Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London, Paris as well as Rome by centuries.

However, age is always accompanied by sagging and wrinkles and that, unfortunately, is visible throughout the city. It saddened me to see the run-down state of homes and many abandoned buildings. This city displays her wear and tears on her sleeves. She looked tired, run-over and in dire need of a holiday.

Not only has she experienced the battery of the years, but Lisbon also has the worst luck I’ve ever come across. During one very unfortunate morning on All Saint’s Day in 1755, Mother Nature quite literally rocked the city’s world. A beast of an earthquake measured at a bone-chilling 9 on the Richter scale ripped through her shiny buildings and lush gardens. Right after the earthquake, turbulent fires broke out and raged throughout the city, setting fire to everything that wasn’t already bulldozed. To make matters even more ludicrous, a tsunami was formed by the earthquake and pummeled the city, leaving it totaled. A third of the population of Lisbon died that day. A THIRD.

This sounds like some trigger-happy Hollywood director’s fantasy. Michael Bay’s wet dream. It comes across too much like an action movie plot. One where a series of ridiculous events follow each other so rapidly, even die-hard fans would be like, “Woah, that’s a bit too unrealistic”.

Because it was such an extreme occurrence of utmost catastrophe, I simply have to elaborate a bit more on what that woeful city endured on November 1st, almost three centuries ago. Bear with me, it'll make you incredibly thankful for saving the money you would have paid to see Geostorm in the cinemas because this is basically much much worse and it actually happened!

It only took ten minutes for three ravishing tremors to tear through Lisbon. The second quake was so mighty it toppled buildings like they were made of cheese. Monstrous crevices of up to 4,5 meters (15 feet) ripped through the center of Lisbon. This quake was so severe people felt it in towns in Algeria and Morocco!

To make matters even worse, many Lisboans were out and about on that day praying and attending church services. When the earthquake rolled in the cathedrals collapsed and took everyone with them. Within minutes fires surged through the city like a bat out of hell. Two-thirds of Lisbon was removed from the face of the earth that day. The unquenchable fire blazed for five days straight. 

Again, within minutes after the earthquake and fire, many local fled to the waterfront, hoping to be safe from the fire and capsizing buildings. Some even boarded ships and rowed out to sea. Little did they know that no part of the city was safe from the wrath of Mother Nature and about 40 minutes after the earthquake, a colossal tsunami submerged the harbor and downtown.The horror of the situation didn’t even end there. Two more waves followed the first and took whoever was left with them to the bottom of the sea.  

Like I mentioned earlier, a whopping third of the population died that day during the earthquake and tens of thousands of Portuguese who survived the quake were killed by the tsunami. The tsunami was accountable for about 70,000 deaths in Portugal, Spain, and Morocco combined.

Eighty-five percent of Lisbon's buildings were destroyed that day. Eighty-five percent! The few buildings that survived the quake more or less unscathed, were then taken down by the merciless fire.

I mean, what an outrageously horrifying ordeal to endure. And yet, Lisbon picked herself up and dusted the rubble off and remained a thriving city until today. That tenacity moved me so much I was more than willing to overlook the abandoned or decrepit building here and there.

I’m not going to mention all the sights Lisbon has to offer, that’s what TripAdvisor is for. However, I will mention the stunning Belém tower that straddles the Tagus river that unfolds into the Atlantic ocean.

Many great Portuguese explorers en route to some of their greatest discoveries departed from Belem in Lisbon. My favorite is the voyage in 1497 from Portugal to India by Vasco da Gama. It’s my favorite because during this expedition da Gama's crew landed in South Africa. The expedition started when the Sao Gabriel left in Lisbon on 8 July 1497. Three months later they reached St Helena Bay and started quite the action-pack adventure in Southern Africa including da Gama getting skewered in the thigh by an angry local. 

Even though she’s not the most handsome city I’ve ever seen, Lisbon still seems to coax enough locals and tourists to remain one of the most visited cities in Europe. Even though she is the capital, she retains a certain laissez-faires atmosphere, which keeps the locals humming to her sultry slow beat. 

One of the churches that burned down during the 1755 catastrophe

Our tour guide

My new favorite bakery

Pastei de nata in the foreground: sugarcoated bliss.
Think creamy custard scooped in a golden crust and sprinkled with cinnamon

Here's an example what joy these little heavenly tarts bring

Next up we visit the house of my dreams and also one of my bucket list experiences, as well as fantasy castle perched on a hill surrounded by lush gardens. We also go to a spot that inspired J.K. Rowling to create the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.