One Way Ticket

Both travelers are ready to push on into what is anticipated to be a more foreign culture in Morocco. Exploring Lisbon has been more difficult from here in the Alfama district than other places we have stayed in Portugal. Information booths are closed and distances between places of interest are greater, thus the use of the transportation system is necessary, but complicated. Just buying bus tickets to Spain took most of a day as getting to the main bus terminal required using the subway and asking a young person for help to buy the tickets for the subway at the automatic ticket dispenser which was the only way to buy a ticket. Once at the bus station in a very modern District of the city, we hunted for an actual place and person to buy a ticket for long distance express bus travel. Nothing seems easy here. Maybe it is the off-season which is the problem, but we have blamed it on the cruise ship empire of tourism. This past week three such floating hotels have docked here at the Alfama District. We have five more days here and then an all night bus ride 10 PM to 10 AM which seems to make the transition out of Portugal very appropriate into the next phase of our journey.

Being a traveler puts a person into the role of observer. The traveler is not really participating in the flow of life happening all around him or her. Traveling during the off-season makes it somewhat possible to see this flow of real life. Where we have stayed in Portugal, up till now, we have felt like we were witnessing the real Portuguese life, especially as it flourished with Christmas related expressions. Here in Lisbon we have not experienced that flow. Here in our Alfama district we are caught in the created environment for tourism and since we are not in a hotel or youth hostel access to information has been very difficult.

Lisbon is where Fado originated. We visited the Fado museum at the bottom of the street on which we stay. We have gone to hear Fado four times. In each city, the presentation and interpretation of what Fado is has been slightly different. Yet these presentations have all been similar in that they included not only an explanation of Fado but getting the audience to sing along. They all have been events planned for tourists. To us it has not felt like we experienced the real thing. In my mind, I think of music and singing in a pub in Ireland, which seems to be spontaneous. In Ireland, it seems to be unplanned other than to just show up and sing and drink. Fado that we have experience did not seem that way. It seemed planned for tourists and somewhat unreal.