A Town Harry Potter Would Love

Somewhere, in the hills of central Portugal, there is a town where students walk to class in full length black capes, the fabric brushing the cobblestoned streets

A town with a confection of architecture

Where a chapel has been converted into a coffee shop

And a confessional into a bathroom

From a distance, the university town of Coimbra looks like it has been pulled from the pages of a fairytale

A town where students sing in the streets

Past an old woman selling boiled fava beans

With touches all around 

that remind one 

of Hogwarts

The Goddesses of Fado

An archaeologist unearths the divine feminine, one archetype at a time...

After a day of wine tasting

riding the trolleys

and entering Lisbon's favorite spot 

to sample their legendary ports

it was time to experience another famous entertainment in Lisbon.....

the Fado.

The word Fado means fate. This haunting, unforgettable style of singing was born in Portugal and is known around the world; and while men do perform the Fado, it is sung mostly by women. As in many cultures, there is a word in Portuguese that doesn't translate into English. Saudade can be understood as homesickness, or nostalgia. The bittersweet longing that comes through in this genre of urban folk music results in songs about unrequited love. 

In the early 1800s a woman named Maria Severa was in love with a noble, the Count de Vimioso. When their forbidden affair came to an end, Maria roamed the streets and bars of the Barrio Alto, strumming her guitarra and singing her sorrows. Her style of belting out songs in cries and moans became a popular tradition that morphed into the Fado.

Some of the most famous Fado singers since Maria have been Amalia Rodrigues 

 Maria Teresa de Noronha

 and Mariza

One evening we wandered through a doorway in the Barrio Alto neighborhood of Lisbon. There, over a meal of grilled shrimp and a bottle of cold Vinho Verde in the shadows of a cavern-like room, 

 

we were transported by the sorrowful melodies and heartbreaking emotions of this mesmerizing genre. 

That evening, as I listened to these women's powerful, extraordinary voices, I knew they were channeling something otherworldly, 

and I was hearing the voice of the Goddess coming through.....

clear, strong and unforgettable.

He Sells Seafood Down by the Seashore

"Turn around!" my husband called out. We were driving along the coast outside Lisbon, looking for a place to eat - as we rounded a bend he spotted a restaurant along the road.

Lunch in Portugal - in fact almost every meal - is about the seafood. Fish, like a seabass we selected from the tray...

...shrimp...

and a delicacy I haven't seen often......barnacles.

Plump, juicy little critters harvested just offshore

"Just crack the shell right here," our waiter shows us, "and pull them out with your teeth." A little strange at first, but they grow on you. We finished the whole plate.

But my favorite part of all 

is the garlic and olive oil sauce 

(my daughter agrees)

 as well as this view

followed by an almond torte

and entertainment provided by the sea.

Queen of the Castle

An archaeologist unearths the divine feminine, one archetype at a time...

That's what I felt like as I toured the Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal. In all my fairy tale dreams, this one is pure Disney World.

Lord Byron was inspired to write about Sintra's beauty

"Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes
In variegated maze of mount and glen.
Ah me! what hand can pencil guide, or pen,
To follow half on which the eye dilates
Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken
Than those whereof such things the bard relates,
Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium's gates?"

The moon goddess Cynthia was worshipped at this site during the Roman period, which may be the root of the name Sintra.

After an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages at the site, a chapel was built on the hill above town. 

A monastery was constructed on the site in the 15th century which was damaged in the massive earthquake of 1755. King Ferdinand II was so entranced by the ruins of the area that he ordered the construction of a royal palace on the site. Commissioned in the 19th century by a German architect in the Romantic era style, it incorporates a vast array of styles, including Islamic and Medieval elements

resulting in the fairy-tale collection of turrets, spires and crenelated walls that dominate the landscape.

You enter through a doorway topped by a fantastic creature - a newt - symbolizing the creation of the world.

The details are exquisite

The views stretch out in every direction. Queen Amelia, wife of Carlos the I, the last king of Portugal, dedicated her efforts to developing the massive grounds that surround the castle, 500 acres knows as the Parque de Pena.

In 1889 the property was purchased by the Portuguese state when the monarchy ended and the royals fled to Brazil. After the revolution of 1910 the castle was transformed into a museum.  

Legend has it that Queen Amalia spent her last night at the castle before being sent into exile. I imagined in the remaining hours of her reign she looked out over the forests and grounds below, taking in her last views of the gardens she so lovingly tended to.