Blog #2

Portugal

Visiting Lisbon, Portugal was splendid! It is also called Lisboa. On my tour around a historical part of the city, the tour guide said that Lisboa rhymed with Pessoa both literally and figuratively. I had the opportunity to learn about important people like Fernando Pessoa, who was a prolific writer, and a Fado singer named Maria Severa. We learned how popular and important Fado music is to the Portuguese people. Especially in the neighborhood called Alfama. From what I understood, the tour guide said that the music became popular during a big change in Lisboa. The change happened when there was an earthquake that destroyed the higher class, religious, and traditional neighborhood. The earthquake did nothing to the “sinful” neighborhood; therefore there was a lot of animosity towards the people in the lower class neighborhood and God. I also was able to see the castle in which the tour guide said the Moores hid safely from the Christians...until they were promised safe evacuation by the Christians. However, the Christians decided to kill them anyway after the castle was opened. I like how Portugal has a lot of common history with Spain including the different cultures that inhabited the two countries. However, I noticed that almost all of the people that I talked to in Portugal could speak either English or Spanish as well as their native Portuguese language. Therefore, it was very easy for me to get around Lisbon. If someone didn’t understand a word I said in English, I could say that word in Spanish and they would understand completely what I had said. It really brings to life what my professor mentioned in class about Spanglish becoming another language. It reminds me of when the Iberos and Celtas of Spain mixed and were called Celtiberos. The language of Lisbon, Portugal is mixed with English, Spanish, Portuguese and I wonder if it will have a name in the future. It was easy to find the fun spots in Lisboa! Places like malls, aquariums, clubs, and tattoo shops were some of the fun spots that some of the people in our group experienced. The plaza by the ocean was so beautiful, too. The architecture next to the small beach was such an amazing sight. I felt in awe at creation with my feet in the sand and in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean’s crystal blue water from across the world!