Time Out Lisbon

The most westerly I have been was Lisbon in Portugal. I went to Portuguese to do a pilgrimage to Fatima. In May 1917, the children were tending a small flock of sheep in Cova da Iria, within the parish of Fátima, in the council of Vila Nova de Ourém. Around mid-day, after saying the rosary as was their custom, they set about building a small construction out of loose stones on the spot where there now is the Basilica. Suddenly, they saw a brilliant light and above a small holm-oak tree (where the Chapel of the Apparitions now is) appeared a «Lady more brilliant than the Sun». The Lady told the three shepherds that much prayer was required and invited them to return to Cova da Iria at the same time on the 13th of each of the five following months.

Lisbon is a hilly city. I remember riding a train to climb a hilly part of of the city. We stayed in a nice place nearby the city center. We did explore the city even to find a region where we found many Chinese.  We did have a noodle lunch on one of the restaurant there. Our favorite place to have meals was a place called Time Out Lisbon.

When we visited Belém Tower, a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers, I pondered what were those explorers thinking before embarking to the unknown. I am sure that without these explorers the world would still be eventually explored (by the other nations) but for sure they did put their marks in the history. 

When the tour that was supposed to take us to Fatima failed to pick us up we decided to take a bus there. Fatima is a mere hour and half (127 km) from Lisbon. The bus stops in the vicinity of the pilgrimage site. When we arrived there we joined a mass, apparently the participants came from Brazil ( I recall seeing Brazilian flags among them). They speak Portuguese so I am sure they had no problem conversing with local even though I understand that they speak different style of Portuguese. Portugal colonized Brazil, while the rest of Latin America were mostly colonized by the Spanish. When we were there the place was rather quite but I could imagine that in May this would be packed by pligrim. I remember when I bought the T-shirt I love Fatima thinking what would people in my country would think seeing me wearing it. Fatima used to be a common name for females in Indonesia. 

Apart from T shirt and other touristic stuff I also bought a fado guitar, the Portuguese guitar,  a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses of two strings. I remember buying extra set of strings too. I haven't figured out how to play it. It doesn't matter. I treat it as a souvenir from a country where Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born (and yes you would find his T shirt anywhere tourista roam)