The Iberian Jet Set (Part 5): Alfama and the Routes of Difference Conference

- November 24-25, 2016, Thursday to Friday.

- After exploring downtown Lisbon and the historic district of Belem in Part 4 (click here), I had to gear up in a slightly more formal attire to attend the Routes of Difference conference at the Catholic University of Portugal (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa.) The academic conference entitled "Routes of Difference" is centered on the theme of migration and diaspora. This is a theme that I am very acquainted with, and so I submitted a paper, got accepted, and given the chance to present.

- Unlike most of the other destinations I had, the university is located north of the downtown area, near the Jardim Zoologico (Lisbon Zoo) metro station or the Larenjaires metro station.

The Marques de Pombal statue near my place, with the metro station being named after him,

Time to be academic.

Conference poster.

Yay this is me.

My conference abstract (you can get the gist of my paper presentation from this abstract.)

Certificate.

Organizers of the conference, with keynote speaker Prof. Terence Wright from the University of Ulster (left.)

- Right after day 1 of the conference, I had the opportunity to explore one of Lisbon's more challenging districts to the east of the downtown - Alfama. Alfama is the oldest district of Lisbon, and like most old districts and cities in the Iberian Peninsula, it is located on top of a hill. For Filipinos or those who have visited various part of the Philippines, walking around Alfama feels like walking around Baguio or Sagada because of its sloping and winding streets. It can feel a bit like San Francisco, but the streets of California's San Francisco were wider, and San Francisco looks a lot more modern than Alfama. The challenge, however, was the tiled streets that made going uphill quite difficult - good thing it wasn't a rainy day. There are trams though (the vintage-looking Tram 28, can be caught from various stops of the Baixa/downtown area) that help people go up and down the steep hills of Alfama. However, if you're pressed for time like me, walking still proves to be a better (though physically demanding) option.

- The hills going up Alfama are gradual, so walking from one place to another seemed fine to me. My first stop was Igrejo do Santo Antonio, or the Church of St. Anthony. The church was built some time in the 15th century, but was rebuilt several times. The last rebuilding of the tower was after the 1755 earthquake, and until today this church stands. Also, the church was built on top of St. Anthony's house, particularly the room where he was born in in 1195.

Some metro stations in Lisbon can have these nice images. This tiled one in particular is a celebration of the Age of Exploration.

Igreja da Madalena, one of the first landmarks going up the hill to the Alfama district.

Igreja da Madalena.

Igreja de Santo Antonio.

The remains of St. Justine of Padua (at least if I understand the write-up clearly, this is her actual remains.)

Main altar.

Room where St. Anthony was born.

- Going further uphill, just behind the Church of St. Anthony, is the Se de Lisboa, or the Lisbon Cathedral. This is the oldest building of Lisbon, being built originally in 1147, with multiple renovations throughout the years. The renovations also gave rise to the church's apparent multiple architectural styles.

Lisbon Cathedral.

The church was quite dim.

Church organ.

Cloisters.

Epitaph.

Archaeological site in the middle of the church!!

- The thought of going up and up the hills became more daunting after I saw how steep some of the roads could be, so I took the tram from the tram stop behind the Lisbon Cathedral and rode up to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, which is one of Alfama's viewpoints to behold the houses and churches that line up the hills overlooking the mighty Tagus River. If you change the houses from red-white to blue-white, and add a few windmills here and there, it would look like Greece's Santoniri (click here to compare)

Portugal can't get enough of its tiles.

Close-up of the mosaic.

Trams going here and there.

The streets were so narrow.

The domed building at the left side is the National Pantheon.

Red and white.

- From the viewpoint, I walked to the Museu de Artes Decorativas. The museum was actually the old 17th-century Palace of Azurara, and centuries later, a rich banker and art collector named Ricardo Espirito Santo bought the property and converted it to a museum.

Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora from the plaza.

Sao Vicente de Fora from the plaza and the church of Sao Vicente at the back.

Inside the Decorative Arts Museum.

Old music room.

17th-century sitting room.

- After visiting the museum I had to walk uphill to visit one of the most spectacular tourist spots of Lisbon - the Castelo de Sao Jorge or the St. George Castle. This Moorish castle (i.e. during the Islamic period of the Iberian Peninsula around the 700s to the 1400s) was the seat of Portuguese power for a good 400 years until the Portuguese siege of Lisbon in the 1300s. It was then when the seat of power was transferred to the Ribeira Palace (now the location of the Rua Augusta Arch; check Part 4 here to see.) The most interesting part of the castle was the archaeological site that can only be accessed by a free guided tour at designated times of the day. The archaeological site contains archaeological finds from three different eras: early settlements during the Iron Age, remnants of old houses from the Moorish Era, and remnants of a castle from the 15th Century. All these three finds are located in a small square within the castle grounds. This area was supposed to be made into a car park, and as they were digging, all these great discoveries were found; they later decided to stop the car-park plan and just convert not only into a tourist attraction, but also an area for archaeologists to study more about Portugal's past.

At the entrance going up the castle.

The moorish castle.

View of Lisbon from one of the watchtowers.

Portuguese flag.

Archaeological site; this one in particular is the site of the old 15th-century castle. 

Peacock are you lost?

St. George.

- I was happy to see that I had some daylight time left for the afternoon, and I decided to visit Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora. It looked easy to reach from the map, but maps don't really dictate the uphill-downhill feature of Alfama, which made going to the church a confusing task. I should've taken the tram, but one thing funny about the tram stops is that it doesn't stop at where you expect it to stop. For example, the tram says it will stop at "tourist spot A," the actual tram stop is somewhere near tourist spot A, but not directly in front/beside/around that tourist spot. In the end, I was able to come across a nice old lady who was walking uphill and she accompanied me to somewhere near the church because we were going almost the same way after all. Thankfully my Portuguese was decent so she was able to tell me in detail how to go to the church (and thankfully I understood everything she said.)

- The monastery was originally built in the 1100s, but reconstructions in the 1500s led to the monastery to appear as it is seen today. The most significant part of the monastery is the room dedicated to the Braganza Pantheon; tombs of the Braganza dynasty can be found here. Apart from that, a vast collection of religious paraphernalia can be found here. The church and monastery do hide a lot of treasures and is a must-visit place in Alfama, even though it's quite far from all the other places mentioned above.

Igreja Sao Vicente de Fora.

Inside the church. However, what's behind and above the church is a lot more interesting!!

You can climb the tower with a fantastic view of Alfama.

Tomb with many saints inside.

Monastery courtyard.

One of the halls at the back.

Catherine of Braganza.

Mausoleum for the Braganza Pantheon. Was too chicken to go inside because I was the only person in that area.

I told you. Empty halls. (And yes, there were still tiles everywhere.)

- Behind the Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora is the National Pantheon (Panteao Nacional,) also called the Santa Engracia Church. This 17th church was converted to a giant mausoleum in 1916 (finished in the 1960s) for the Portuguese royalty, presidents, and other respected Portuguese. Cenotaphs of other famous Portuguese are also found here. For example, a cenotaph for Luis de Camoes can be found inside the National Pantheon, but he was buried inside the church in the Jeronimos Monastery (click here to see.)

- I was too late because just as I arrived, the national pantheon just closed for the day. It was around 5pm and the sun was about to set. However, looking at the great domed structure from the outside was enough for me (better than not seeing it at all right?)

National Pantheon.

- While preparing myself to do a brisk walk downhill, hoping that I wouldn't get lost like how I got lost going to the farther areas of Alfama (i.e. the Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora and the National Pantheon,) I chanced upon a tram stop, which as expected, was not too close to the landmark of the tram stop's name. I rode on the "nostalgic" tram 28 all the way to the downtown. Thank goodness I was able to sit down during the trip downhill since the tram was quite spaceous when I rode on it, and became crowded one stop later. My legs were also begging me to rest since walking up and down the sloped and TILED roads the whole afternoon was a challenge. It was a scenic ride downhill by the way, and that was my added "reward" for surviving Alfama.

Tram 28. It's the old-style tram.

- I realized that I had gotten tired of Portuguese food for two reasons. One, Portuguese food is amazing and flavorful, but I soon realized that they all tasted the same after having Portuguese food a little too often. Two, Portuguese food can be too rich or too oily because there are many dishes that are either fried or grilled. (Of course, it is not to say that I would never like to eat or try Portuguese food again. I would definitely like to try more different kinds of Protuguese food in the future, perhaps if I had the opportunity to travel to other regions of Portugal where there are more varieties of Portuguese food.) For a change, and to go back to my "Asian roots," I found this cheap Japanese buffet restaurant within the downtown near Rua Augusta. The food was great and I had all the sushi and sashimi that I wanted. (Yay.)

- On the way home, I had an immediate post-dinner snack, because I suddenly remembered a frend recommending me to try the cod fish cake (pastel de bacalhau) in the downtown area, as well as a cup of ginjinha (read as "zhin-zhinya,") which is a kind of alcoholic drink made with sour cherries or "ginja berries." A small shot cup of ginjinjha is quite cheap, around 1 euro or two; there is a smal ginjinja bar beside Praca dos Restauradores.

Pastel de Bacalhau. The crust is bread like (sort of like the crust of toasted pandesal) and the filling is like a coarser tuna filling with a lighter taste, plus cheese. Oh, and the building I saw the day before with plenty of lights was the store selling the pastel de bacalhau.

The ginjinha tasted like a sweeter fruit wine, and the sour cherries added a good crunch to the drink.

- I had a good rest that night, which was also a good preparation for my big day, which was the second day of my Routes of Difference conference at the Catholic University of Lisbon. My session was actually the first session after lunch, and my paper was an analysis of how India's Bollywood films portray non-resident Indians (NRIs). There was a time when India produced a lot of films with this theme because India wanted to tap on its overseas communities for investments. I was happy to know that I was able to intruge my mainly European audience, and because I also felt that the conference was quite euro-centric (for obvious reasons,) it was nice to add a bit of Asianness to it. I was told that not a lot of people had immediate reactions to my paper because they spent most of the time during and right after my paper absorbing and (over)loading themselves with information. Well, talking about India can be overwhelming for people who have little to no background about this colorful country. Most questions and comments came to me personally during the tea/coffee break after my session.

Day two selfie. Yes homies, I'm the selfie king. I took selfies even before selfie was a word, and before selfie sticks were a thing. (Haha.)

Proudly wearing my red kurta, my Nehru coat, and my Indian necklace.

Trying not to show my crazy side.

I am always happy to share my studies to the world.

- After the conference, I celebrated once more with unlimited sushi and sashimi at the same Japanese restaurant as I did the night before. I did some last minute shopping from the downtown since I was planning a day trip outside Lisbon on my last full day in Portugal, and so I might not have enough time or energy to do some last minute shopping after I come back to Lisbon. Next stop, Sintra!! (Please don't forget to read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here, Part 8 here, Part 9 here, Part 10 here, and Part 11 here!!)

Saw this along Rua Augusta.

Castelo de Sao Jorge from Rossio Square.