Lisbon, from heads to tales

The glamorous attractions of Lisbon tend to hide away the real life inside them. Sometimes, living the boulevards and having a glimpse on the narrow streets, parallel with the wide boulevard is like watching a reality show, taking place in a studio with no recording cameras. The two sides of a story are best shown by chance and by having luck as your guide. This is a short glimpse of such a reality show.

The road to “Liberdade”

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

Marcques de Pombal simply stays there on his bed-plate, close to the city centre, facing the Rio Taja, just like a sailor on top of his Galley’s mast, looking for land after a long journey. It is the most impressive monument in the area, perfect to play the role of block-start for any itinerary in Lisbon.

Heads, towards the Avenida da Liberdade, living Marcques behind. The Avenida is heading towards the Atlantic, dammed up by old palm and chestnut trees. It is one of the main arteries that link the rest of Lisbon to its heart, the Baixa.

The tourists seem to mind nothing but their cameras while some policemen are solving a traffic jam caused by a small accident near the Eduardo the 7th Park. A day as any other; around, the city minds its own business. You are one of many.

Further into the “Liberdade”. Next to a bank, some businessmen seem to have forgotten about the green light and keep on doing their math out loud. They are not foreigners but also speak words few understand. Here and there, strangers kindly take the pictures of foreign lovers, when asked to. The tired rest their feet lying on the benches. Pigeons do the same thing, sitting on the heads of some famous writers long passed away.

Poor “Alegria”

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

When Liberdade meets Alegria, it’s tales. Left. Here, the boulevards’ glamour disappears swiftly, while the traffic noise dissolves into ragged walls covered more by drying clothes than plaster. It may seem uncanny but Lisbon’s flavour does not disappear. Here begins the middle-class life, protected from the tourists that invade the city, just like a swarm of clicking insects, taking photos one after another.

Here, instead of photo-cameras, people walk with groceries bags in their hands, while backpacks are only worn by the little-ones returning back from school. Luis and his family are standing in front of their house, enjoying lunch, in the space left free by a car that parted from the sidewalk provisory parking lot. They’re having fish.

“We stay like this when we are all at home. This is fish. It is good”, Luis says, while his wife laughs loudly of her husbands’ attempt to speak a foreign language. The “sight” of English seems to attract some other people and pairs of eyes to appear in the windows like some portrait exhibition framed by an unconventional artist.

Ripples and Clicks

Heads, Tales, Tales, Heads. The Miradouro de S. Pedro de Alcantara appears. Here, autumn feels at home, amongst the continental trees undressing their leaves. The city seems to belong to the tourists again. Clicks everywhere, sometimes rookie flashes. Sitting on a bench, in a part of the Miradouro where ripple of the fountain water replaces the clicks, Simon writes his lessons.

He is from London, and came to Lisbon a few years ago, as a teacher. “I never thought I’d stay here. But the city got to me. It will be a hard decision to make, the one of returning home. I am here for two years and already start feeling at home”, says the 27 year-old English teacher, looking towards the Baixa, which seems so silent from above.

Downtown Lisbon

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

Heads, Tales, Heads, doesn’t matter. The grilled like streets of the Baixa always take you to the same place after a while. Although confusing it’s quite impossible to get lost. Tourists swarming everywhere, terraces, cafés and bars packed up with people, eager to have a taste of the Portuguese Alenquer, Bucelas or Porto wine, and why not, Sagres Beer or Sangria. All these, on the fade sound of Fado music, sang out through the speakers set up on a classical car on the Rua da Prata. Genuine Portuguese music bringing smiles of satisfaction on hundreds of lips talking God knows how many other languages.

Gracias or Obrigado, Lisbon

Slightly Heads and then high above, in the café on top of Santa Justa Tower, Leonardo sings his part. Wearing a warm coloured T-shirt, with the guitar in one hand and a soft, rather feminine voice, he brings smiles and buoyancy between the couples or the tourists enjoying their afternoons on top of downtown Lisbon. He sings about love, in it’s own language, spoken both here and back home, in Brazil. Although most of the people there don’t understand his words, everybody seems to get the idea. And this makes Leonardo happy. “Beautiful voice”, said in more than one language is being said while going down the iron stairs of Santa Justa. Then, it’s tales again, for the last time: the Rossio Square. This lively, broad square makes up the lungs of Baixa. Many choose it as a starting point of an itinerary guided by chance on the streets of Lisbon.

Adrian M. Popa

An unconventional initiation?

“It’s so big you can’t fit it in your mouth! – It’s so small you can’t see it!”. Boys and girls shout at each other across the street in quiet, residential Lisbon during the “praxes” or initiation ceremony for the first year students at Escola Superior de Communicacao Social (ESCS). The new students, or “caloiros”, are led by senior students in chants, some full of blatant sexual innuendo and crass competitiveness.

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

Nelson Chantre, a second year student at ESCS helps me to unravel this vibrant ritual, as the colourfully painted students dance and shout around us. The caloiros are separated into four teams and adorned with frivolous costumes – mafia, pirates, zombies or Mexicans – and spend a week battling it out in a celebration designed to welcome them to their new life as a university student.

For the senior students, who are also the organisers of the ceremony, the dress code is a much more serious matter. Whilst they fully participate in the celebrations they must also dress in a strict uniform – black trousers or skirt, a white shirt and specially tailored waistcoat and jacket. Most also wear the “capa”, a special cape which (occasionally lovingly decorated with badges) which they wear over their left shoulder. ‘Why the left shoulder?’ I hear you ask. “Because it is near my heart”, Nelson explains. For Nelson, this ceremony is not just about getting drunk and singing nursery rhymes – it is also a symbolic ceremony marking entry into a new system of rules, and a new way of life. “ The uniforms that we wear symbolise that we are all equal, but we must also teach the students to have respect for the rules, and respect for the school”.

One button, two buttons

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

The caleiros have a lot to learn, in this game of symbols and subtle signals. Scratching the surface, I discovered that if you are wearing your jacket, your “capa” must not be more than 10m from you. Also, one button undone on your waistcoat means you are single, two buttons undone and you are spoken for (certainly useful information).

Still, what is the point in all this ceremony? As the students begin dancing the ‘party train’ there is no doubt that they are having a good time and getting to know each other better (if perhaps a little too well), but why all the crazy costumes and shouting? “Integration” says Joana Goncalves, who is joined by her fellow Zombie and Pirate, “Without this ceremony we would feel like outsiders around each other” Francisco Inacio adds. Even Vanessa Duarte, a seemingly shy 18 year-old, admits, “the sexual songs make me feel normal with everyone – we are not embarrassed!”

Copyright Alexandra Mihale

The praxes ceremony certainly puts “Fresher’s Week” in the UK to shame – getting drunk and getting laid seem to be the two main purposes of our ‘ceremonies’. Yet in Portugal, the aim is rather to break down barriers between young people with diverse interests and backgrounds in a fun and sociable way. Whilst in Holland some universities have degrading ceremonies in order to initiate students into cliquey ‘fraternities’, in Portugal the point is to make everyone seem approachable. Comparing European culture is not a task I would like to assume, but whilst watching the colourful caloiros, I couldn’t help but feel like I had missed out on an important life milestone.

Tanyella Allison

Generation Hostel

How can you travel worldwide without a lot of money for hotels? The new generation has the answer: hostels!

Copyright Thomas Alboth

A night at a hostel is sometimes eight times cheaper than at a hotel. The average price in Europe is around 15 euro per day. The biggest difference between hotels and hostels is that at a hostel you rent just a bed, not a room. You often stay in rooms where there are 4, 8 or 12 bunk beds.

“I’ve been in the army for 2 years and now I have to chill out, so I’m travelling through Europe”, says Chen Winter (21) from Israel who next week will start her job as a librarian. She is actually staying in Scotland at the moment, where she is already in her seventh hostel. “I don’t have enough money for the Ritz, but I want to travel so I just have one option: a hostel”, she laughs.

Hostels offer more integration programmes than hotels. The Budget Backpackers hostel in Edinburgh, where Chen has spent 2 days, organises daily free city tours for their customers and social evenings at a traditional Scottish pub in the city centre.

Strangers

“The biggest problem with hostels is that it may happen that you have to share a room with strangers” – says Ilaria (21), a student from Toscana who stayed at hostels in Italy, Norway and Portugal. She had just one bad experience at a hostel she visited in Rome. “That was really horrible. I was in a room with Mexican boys who didn’t take a shower and they left their socks on the floor.” Ilaria usually chooses hostels when she wants to save money. “The quality differs from country to country and from hostel to hostel, but in general I was really happy with hostels.”

Be careful

Of course security can sometimes be a problem. Damiano, a 27-year-old PhD student from Bologna, has been staying at hostels for seven years. He has been in Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, US and in Portugal where he was a victim of theft. “Somebody has stolen my camera, digital recorder, glasses and electric shaver. When the police came, I was told to go to the police station but they said that there was nothing they could do about it..”

Life style

“Hostels are not just a means of shelter, they’re a life style”, says Ania (24), a student from Poland. She has stayed in many hostels throughout Europe and met a lot of open, friendly and “crazy” people who don’t worry about the hostel’s condition or size. Her favourite hostel is located in the Latvian capital of Riga. “I met a guy there who is only responsible for the atmosphere at the hostel. He is talking with everybody and making you feel like home.”

The most famous hostel portals

www.hostelsworld.com
www.hostelsbookers.com
www.hostels.com
www.hostelz.com

Marcin Antosiewicz