We are on the road right now, driving from south to north of Portugal, and the scenery I see now is what you see in the cover photo. Well, we passed that exact spot, and until I finish writing this post it will probably be different... Unless I am having some superpowers to put the thoughts from my mind into written form in a few seconds.
...Miss Time saying something like tick-tock, tick-tock...
No, I don't have that ability, and already some time passed since the first photo landscape. We stopped to rest and saw some beautiful cliffs (note to myself: no spoilers!!!) and continued our trip. In the meantime, we are listening to the radio and at the moment I have taken the first photo we have been singing along with the song Sweet Dreams. More good music came (and still is coming) mainly from the time we were young(er). Also, one Portuguese song that I haven't heard before but my friend who is travelling with us now said that it's fado.
I am a musician, so maybe it's not a thing a should brag about not knowing what fado is. But it's the truth, fado is the type of music I have heard for the first time just a few days ago while having lunch in one restaurant. We were in Lisbon, having an improvised walk in the city centre. Knowing from experience that restaurants in some European countries close in the early afternoon and don't open until the evening, we searched for a place to have lunch. Google maps - option to show restaurants: several small places in one narrow street. All full of people. Just in one of them, there was one free table, the waiter brought another one as we were five peeps.
It was also the first time I had lunch in that tiny space. Believe me, very very tiny, just tables with chairs around and full of people. We found ourselves in a very friendly ambience and the super nice waiter added a few jokes while explaining to us the type of food. We ordered also a bottle of wine to accompany the traditional Portuguese fish dishes and then I paid attention to the music. It was fado. My very first encounter with this musical genre.
I felt it like music that sings about passion, maybe some pain or fate, but I don't understand the language so I might be completely wrong. These songs are accompanied by guitar and give a melancholic, sentimental feeling. For knowing more about this genre I would need to do deeper research but sometimes we don't need to know a lot of technical details. It was just the experience that had to be lived and felt.
I usually don't do this, taking photos of the food we order, but somehow the phone camera captured the food. One of these plates was mine and the other one was consumed by @ewkaw!
I almost couldn't finish the plate as it was too much, a lot of food - these were big plates. And the wine was also good, making a perfect match to this whole different and special experience that we lived that day.
Having the first contact with fado, experiencing the traditional Portuguese music and cuisine, meeting dear people... I couldn't ask for more! (I could, as it was almost meeting @blackdaisyft too, but we didn't make it this time... too busy touristic schedule is to be blamed 😉).
Anyway, if you visit one day Lisbon and want to eat cod fish or other traditional Portuguese dishes, listen to fado and have a similar experience, I can just recommend doing it without thinking it twice.
P.S. You guess, the landscape from the beginning of the post is not the same anymore. Several hours passed since I started this post, and I am not on the road anymore. This was a day full of new, different adventures!
