Lisbon – The Good , the Bad and the Ugly
The Good
Its a bit dodgy having obsessions at my age . If I said that Lisbon appears to cater for my every need you would have every reason to be suspicious – except that in the case of this old saddo I am of course referring to my fascination with 18th Century sailing ships and the comparative anatomy of fishing boats around the world in the last days of sail. Unusual I know but there must be others like me – in fact I saw a few of them in the wonderful Lisbon Maritime museum – each one ,like me, in tranports of delight like a kid let loose in a sweetie shop. Whats more you are encouraged to take photographs, so I snapped gaily away , all the while smiling to myself about future hours that I could spend analysing rigging details and hull shapes.
The Bad.
My new camera lost all my photos!
The Ugly
Lynda had her purse snatched. Someone created a rumpus in a tram whilst an accomplice dipped her bag before she zipped it up. Christ I hate being taken for a mug.
Envoie
High on a hill above the heaving tourist mass is an old Moorish castle big enough to swallow the hordes without adding to our irritation.In a shady courtyard was a man playing a classical guitar in a way that could have been designed to dissipate our anger , and against all odds we had an enjoyable end to the day wandering though the labrynthine streets of the old city.And did I mention the hot cinamon dusted custard tarts?.
It was a reminder that we are very priveliged to do our travelling by sea , and a ( costly) wake up call that there are crooks everywhere preying on tourists – perhaps it will even turn out to be a cheap lesson in the long run. But I think we will cut short our visit to Lisbon and go to sea .
My alarm is set early for a flying visit to the Museum and Tor de Belem – with my old camera – some things are too good to be missed