We walk a lot when we visit cities, and on this Lisbon day we had walked to and then through portions of Alfama. This neighborhood is full of very old streets and buildings. It is built on a hill rising above the water, so many of those lanes are quite steep. Overall it was a slow and mostly quiet walk… until we emerged on this busy street!
Continue reading Trolleys and Tuk Tuk
I know. Laundry hanging above urban homes in foreign cities is more than a bit of a cliche. I’ll try to minimize it, but sometimes I cannot resist. Here it is really more about the wild range of colors in the photograph, from that laundry to the colorful overhead streamers above the lane, and the contrast with the other less-colorful surroundings.
Continue reading Alfama Laundry
This is another photograph from our stroll through Lisbon’s Alfama district — the oldest part of the city, and a place of narrow, twisting walkways and steep hills. It is also an area with a history of poverty. Here a window is open to reveal plants growing in pots.
I have a theory about a difference between dwellings in places like this and in American suburbia. In the US, where people may have front yards, a few trees, and possibly a single-family dwelling, they use that front space to present themselves — decorating, maintaining, and designing it with appearance in mind. In places like Alfama, the opportunities to do this area far more limited — and my notion is that perhaps more attention is spent on the interior space and that front exterior is often left as is.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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A while ago I shared a near-portrait of one of the Lisbon neighborhood ginginha vendors. This photograph takes in a larger perspective on one of the actual neighborhoods, this time in Alfama. Ginginha is reputedly the “national drink” of various parts of Portugal. (Yeah, I know, to some extent that may be tourism talk.) It is a sweet cherry liqueur served by the shot at sidewalk stands.
The stands are all over the place. The first one we encountered was at a stairway near the railway station in Lisbon. Another more famous one is nearby, not far from Rossio Square. But the most fascinating ones are those set up in the doorways and windows of peoples’ homes. Here a woman sells the drink from her doorway, and a passerby pauses to chat for a while.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)
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