A little tour in Lisbon 2/2

Hello again! Welcome to round number two! Are you ready for what's next? First of all, I want you to meet my new canine friend. His name is Pan. Pan is my friend's dog. Isn't Pan adorable? He's all eyes and tiny nose for my friend, he goes like - Where are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? But when he discovered that I liked him he had no problems asking for petting every minute he could! In the second photo, he's ready to show me his belly once again! Come on, come on, I want more! Too cute!

Oops! It looks like I missed these photos in my first post. It was taken over Saturday's dinner. After a very nice roasted chicken with fries and pinked wine, we indulged ourselves in some more Birthday cake!!! Calories alert!! Calories alert!

The next morning the sky was cloudy but the sun was showing. We visited a Christmas market in Alvalade and then we found this Cabine de Leitura at Praça de Londres - check Cabine de Leitura Facebook page. This isn't an original idea. It was inspired by an example from Britain. Some villagers decided to create a book exchange in a phone booth. Somerset’s Westbury-sub-Mendip residents purchased the phone box from British Telecom for £1.00 and converted it into a library by donating a collection of approximately 100 books. Phone boxes are in the process of becoming extinct now that everyone has a mobile phone so this is a great idea. And what about that red arrow on the trunk of the tree - Árvore dos Desejos?

The arrow is pointing to a tree where people can write cards and leave them hanging on the branches. It's a Wishing Tree. People can write what they want for themselves, for the neighborhood, to Lisbon, to Portugal, to the world on a card the organization provides. It's one of many activities to celebrate Christmas and animate this neighborhood.

After lunch, we went to Lisbon Factory. By now there were three of us. A friend of my friend joined us, a familiar face from college. Lx Factory is located bellow Lisbon's bridge, in Alcântara. What's the story here? In 1846 a threads and fabric company called Companhia de Fiação e Tecidos Lisbonense sets in Alcântara. This 23.000 m2 industrial site was one of the most important manufacturing complexes in Lisbon’s history. Now, this set of old factory buildings is a nest for small businesses like restaurants and coffee shops and maybe start-up projects in creative areas such as fashion, publicity, communication, design, architecture, or music. We visited a few galleries and stores. On Sunday afternoons there's also a small vintage market street where you can find all kinds of different stuff, mostly crafts, but also upcycled and second-hand clothes, some artistic work, food, and plants, it seems to attract numerous visitors to Alcântara. To my surprise, I found lots of graffiti around the place. I am fond of street art so I enjoyed the visit very much. I took photos of it, of course!

Mário Belém e Hugo Makarov

"Muro do Desassossego"

Based on one of Fernando Pessoa's well-known works. Inspired by an excerpt of the text. A faceless crowd walks aimlessly in the woods, towards a cliff. "The analogy with the political and economic situation that Portugal is living was too tempting us not to do anything inspired in it.", words of the authors.

 Bordallo - this guy makes 3D graffiti

I don't know the author of this one.

The Rainbow Guardian - Mar

Street art Projecto+-  de Miguel Januário 

I don't know the author of this one.

Painting and wall decoration inside a gallery called Studioteambox.

Good illustration work from Raquel Costa inspired by the fears and fantasies of childhood in this exhibition.

This is the poster of the exhibition we visited at this gallery.

 This tree has balls. It's Christmas!

Many of you may remember that Porto's my favorite Portuguese city. But maybe there's something you don't know: I was born in Lisbon. Will I ever be a Lisbon lover?

This is Ler Devagar, it's clearly a bookstore. But there's more to it than just books, books, books. It has a cool industrial vibe. Ler Devagar stocks lots of books across two floors of space. But there's also an art gallery, and tables for book readings and lectures. And you can have a cup of coffee...or tea. The bookstore keeps a busy schedule of cultural activities like concerts, book launches, and art exhibitions. There was an exhibition going on on the top floor where the guy was playing the accordion- Pietro, Objectos cinemáticos.

That afternoon writer Gonçalo M. Tavares was about to launch his new romance called Uma Menina Está Perdida no Seu Século à Procura do Pai. (Can you spot him in one of the photos?) What a big title for a book, Miguel! I can't believe he beat my record with just one word! I have a published short story called Pode um ovo estragado devolver a paz a um homem perdido? I know some of you can't read Portuguese. But never mind. You can count words. Long book titles are silly. I can do it - and say it - thing because I am not a professional writer. And one more thing: he said it all in the title - the girl is lost in her century looking for her father. Period. At least I made a question in my title! So, who will sell more books, Miguel? (I am LOL at this precise moment...it's late and I drank a lot of wine because is Christmas!)

Sardines! It's an infestation! They took over Lisbon. If no measures are taken soon they will be more famous than Barcelos Rooster! And yes, I was a victim of souvenir merchandise. I bought three chocolate sardines in a cardboard box! A little gift for my nephew. Auntie prefers to eat the real roasted ones!

And this was it! By the end of the day, my friend left me at the bus station. I made a good journey back home. The bus was full but people were quiet. Maybe they were as tired as me! Tired but happy! It was a nice little tour. Don't you agree?