Lisbon - the good, bad and ugly

Lisbon is one of my favorite cities. But I wanted everyone to know that it can look like every other big city. In a spirit of full disclosure, here are some views of Lisbon that you will also see as a tourist.

Afonso de Albuquerque

Two soldiers in ceremonial uniforms stand guard in front of the Portuguese presidential palace in Lisbon. It was named after the first viceroy of India, Afonso de Albuquerque.

Portuguese maritime history

Inaugurated in 1960, the 180 foot hight "Monument to the Discoveries" celebrates 500 years of Portuguese maritime expansion. Located in Belém, a district of Lisbon on the bank of the River Tagus, it is designed in the shape of a caravel. It features Henry the Navigator at the prow and 32 other Portuguese maritime personas.

Ponte 25 de Abril

Completed in 1966, Ponte 25 de Abril or "25th of April Bridge" is an elegant suspension bridge over the Tagus River that connects the city of Lisbon to Almada.
While it resembles San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Ponte 25 de Abril was built by the American Bridge Company, the one that constructed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Wikipedia says, "Upon completion the bridge had the longest suspended span (1,012m) and the longest main span in Continental Europe, the world's longest continuous truss, and the world's deepest bridge foundation. It was the fifth largest suspension bridge in the world, the largest outside the USA. Today it is the 20th largest suspension bridge in the world."
Originally called Salazar Bridge, in 1974, the bridge was renamed following a coup, the "Carnation Revolution of April 1974" that ended decades of repressive and authoritarian rule under President António de Oliveira Salazar.

Arrival in Lisbon

Smooth flying on Royal Air Maroc from Marrakech -- with a transfer in Casablanca -- and we arrived this afternoon in Lisbon.
So we unpacked our stuff at our hotel, which is across the street from the Campo Pequeno bullfight square and shopping center, and headed out to explore. That's right, a shopping mall built below and around a traditional bull-fighting ring. It's a great arrangement-- keeping the functionality and facade of the old-school bull-fighting ring while adding a modern shopping mall.
Trying to make our weak dollar go further against a strong Euro (it's now at 1.46 or so), we wandered down to the "food court" and checked out the scene. We scored a delicious hamburger at H3 for a reasonable price. Check the link for more details; they make one very tasty burger. Later we took the metro down to old Lisbon, and I took some pictures with my iPhone camera. See the collage above. On the last day in Africa I dropped my Canon SD 1000 and it's not working anymore.

Berber carpet

Scott and I set out on a field trip with Achmed, our Moroccan friend. He's a Berber that we happened to meet in our first class compartment on the "Marrakesh Express" from Casablanca. An accountant for the Moroccan National railroad who lives in Marrakesh, Achmed took an interest in us and things developed from there.... We have bulit a wonderful friendship. He speaks good English, has a dog, drinks wine and laughs at my jokes so it's not exactly your typical Muslim that we've befriended.
So we got up early this morning, our new friend joined us, and we hired a car and driver to go to the weekly "Berber market" about 30 miles out of town. The main market day for this community, it is a Berber-only affair and we were the only over-sized white-tourists (indeed Scott was wearing a Hawaii print shirt) in the big market day crowd of 2-3 thousand seller and buyers. That was a total scene, including a special "donkey/burro parking lot" where you leave your beast of burden with an attendant while you shop.
I'll do my best to describe the traditional Berber market in more detail later, including how Scott and I escaped an encounter with a gang of 5 pickpockets. Scott has the best photos and descriptions and I'll link to them when he finally posts 'em to net. (I have a collage of some of the Berber market sights and scenes posted below).
Later, we drove up into the foothills of the High Atlas mountains and visited a traditional Berber home and have lunch with a view toward the 12,000 foot peaks, the highest in North Africa. On the way, we stopped at a artisan coop and I made my first-ever major carpet purchase. The photo (above) is my friendly Berber carpet salesman and some of his inventory.

Atlas mountains

After the market, we traveled through the foothills of the High Atlas mountains in search of lunch and Burber carpet.

traditional Berber house

Scott and I visted an old Berber house with mill for grinding flower (center top photo). The mill stone and water-wheel has been in operation for 5 generations, according to our host.

North African savanna (video)

Come along for a car trip across the North African savanna between Marrakesh and Essaouira. It's late October and the start of the rainy season. On the way back, you can see wide-open African skies with beautful clouds and rain falling in the distance. Our journey took 7 hours but you can just watch the 2 minute audio/video slide show ... (Be sure to turn up your computer's sound before you click the link).

Essaouira - a Moroccan Atlantic port

Essaouira, a Moroccan Atlantic port, is a wonderful place with a touristy but distinctly laid-back feel. Originally called Mogador, the city was settled before the fifth century BC and has been an important center of commerce ever since. Today, the city is dominated by the remains of a historic Portuguese fort with its rows of gigantic canons that point out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Essaouira - tourists

Long after these canon have fallen silent, tourtists in Essaouira now crew these weapons. In this scene, in the lower left of the picture, there is a French boy sitting astride the gun. At his signal, his mother would make the sound of the canon firing. He would giggle with delight, look out toward the ocean and exclaim, "Encore!"

Essaouira - the fishermen and their boats

The fishermen of Essaouira return to the protection of the harbor with the morning's catch.

Cafe du Jimi Hendrix

Near Essaouira, Morocco, is the Village of Diabat where Jimi Hendrix stayed during his sojourn in Morocco during the summer of 1969. Scott and I sought out the location of "Cafe du Jimi Hendrix," where the singer was said to hang out with his friends.
After driving around a bit we found the tiny building, went inside. Not knowing what to expect, we sat down and ordered two Fantas and some Moroccan cookies.
All in all, there wasn't that much. We looked at some photos on the aging walls of the small café and I tried to imagine what it might have been like in 1969.
Indeed, what was once a remote location on a hill overlooking the Atlantic and the ruins of Portuguese fortifications was undergoing tremendous change. There is a new 18-hole golf course under construction across the street. The neighborhood is destined for extensive hotel and condo development and this likely will efface the remains of its counter-culture charm forever.
If you have an extra moment, read this unintentionally hilarious tale of "Greg's Moroccan Adventure" that I found on the Internet. In this episode, 23-year-old Greg, a writer and cannabis smoker, arrives in Essouira from Canada and immediately attempts to score some weed and get stoned.
Or watch this little video I made featuring the words and music of Jimi and the voice of Patti Smith.

Marrakesh - Djemaa el Fna

Near the ancient Mosque tower is Djemaa el Fna, the Main Square and marketplace in old Marrakesh. It is filled with a bewildering array of food, spices, activities, hustles and street entertainment.
One of the photos (below) is from the morning scene when the square is practically empty. By this evening it was wall-to-wall people (see photo above).
From a distance it's like the scene from the lyrics of the "Marrakesh Express" song (by Graham Nash, Siquomb, 1969):
"... Colored cottons hang in the air, charming cobras in the square, striped djellebas we can wear at home."
But unfortunately close-up the Djemaa el Fna can have a much harder edge. As with any, this marketplace has the potential to seek out the unsuspecting and turn seemingly benign practices distinctly ugly with a predatory feel. If you walk slowly and make eye contact you are likely to be approached ...  and it all has a bit of a shakedown feel to it.
(Scott has the time-lapse photos of the tourist shakedown in action …look for it in his posts. And ... later he willingly participated in a spectacular way. So look for those photos, too)
Walking among the fortune-tellers, belly-dancers and seated men playing music to their cobras, my attention was captured by the costumed Berbers.
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa and the largest number of Berbers is found in Morocco. They speak both Arabic and French due to French colonization. Indeed, we met a few Berbers in Tangier. My favorite was Momo, a tall, elegant man with an authoritative demeanor. He was our driver for a day as we toured the city. When asked about his name he explained that "momo" was the sound that cars make when they accelerate quickly from a complete stop.
So back in the square, a song-and-dance routine was performed for me by two colorfully dressed male Berber entertainers with tasseled hats. For a brief moment they played, sang and made the tassels on their hats rotate with circular motions of their heads. Then they turned on the charm with beautiful smiles and made their pitch for a few Dirham.
Next in my view were Berber water-sellers dressed in elaborate traditional costumes and colorful hats with old-school leather water-bags and brass cups. The sun is really hot here even in late October but I was not tempted to purchase a drink.

Tangier - sunset

On our last evening in Tangier, I took some pictures of the sunset from the roof our hotel, La Tangerina. (The name tangerine comes, of course, from the port from which tangerines were shipped to Europe.)

the Cave of Hercules

The Cave of Hercules is located on Morocco’s Atlantic coast about 14 kms west of Tangier, and this is where it is said that the mythical figure Hercules rested after finishing his labors.
The mouth of the cave resembles a reverse silhouette of Africa, a fact that held extreme significance for our Moroccan guide.

Cape Spartel Lighthouse

Yesterday, we took a day trip out of Tangier by taxi. Our destination, about 13 miles away, was the Cape Spartel Lighthouse on the most northwestern point of Africa.
This is one of Africa's great lighthouses as it marks the southeastern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic Ocean and the western boundary of the Mediterranean Sea. The 80-foot-high lighthouse was built by Sultan Mohammed III in 1864. It was collectively maintained by Britain, France, Italy and Spain until Moroccan independence in 1956. It is still in operation today but has been allowed to fall into disrepair and suffers from general neglect and deferred maintenance. The lighthouse today remains an important navigation beacon and generates four white flashes every 20 seconds that are visible for a range of about 30 nautical miles.
We gain admittance to the tower and climbed up the spiral staircase with its old iron railings to the very top where the view was simply beautiful.

the old medina in Tangier

The old medina is one of the most fascinating parts of Tangier and you will immediately find yourself walking in narrow streets with intriguing but unfamiliar sights, smells and sounds. Here is an overview, looking north (uphill) from the roof a rather large store where we were looking at weapons, jewelry and carpets. Satellite TV is very popular here ... and I am still trying to understand how the old and the new are blended together.
On the first night of our arrival, Scott and I spent some time in a traditional Tangier street  cafe. We were waiting for the dinner hour to start and were simply passing time. The Colon cafe is a men-only alcohol-free establishment, where they serve very fine mint tea in the traditional style. As we sipped our tea, we observed that there were two large-screen plasma TVs on, each with its own constituency. In one corner was news and public affairs programming from Washington, DC on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network. In the other corner, also on a large-screen plasma TV, played the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) featuring an endlessly smirking  Brad Pitt and tightly-fitted Angelina Jolie engaged in serial portrayals of vicious but light-hearted violence. The movie had the full attention of a serious-looking older man who, for lack of better words to describe him, was dressed in a manner similar to that of Obi Wan Kenobi. He sat next to his friend, also an older man, who was wearing a red fez. They said not a word to each other during the entire time the movie was on.

shopping

Scott, on a shopping spree in in Tangier's media, pauses for a moment in the old quarter of Tangier. Ah and no, I won't tell you what he's the market for ... you'll have to ask him yourself.

stopping in Tangier

Tangier is an ancient port city of northern Morocco (pop. about 700,000). When you get of the boat at the maritime terminal you know that you have arrived in a completely different place. It's a multicultural modernizing country of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities, along with myriad other foreign immigrants. You can hear both the traditional call to prayer and global pop music blaring during the day.
Tangier is a mysterious and exciting place. Scott and I are staying in an old but elegant 10 room guest house overlooking the Atlantic. When we arrived, I could see Spain from the bedroom window about 15 miles across the blue water. There is a huge brass muzzle-loading canon, still in place atop the sea wall, 100 yards from our rooftop. It is currently being used to secure one end of a clothesline. I'll share some Tangier impressions and stories in a later post.
Tangier has attracted writers like  Burroughs, Kerouac and Tennessee Williams (and the Rolling Stones), who all lived in or visited Tangier during different periods of the 20th century, according to my Wikipedia sources. Tangier acquired the reputation of a spying and smuggling center in the 20th c. and Tangier makes an appearance in one of my favorite spy movies, The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). In the film, Jason Bourne, former CIA assassin and amnesiac, tracks a man through Tangier to uncover his real identity and then fights and kills Desh, an agent sent to eliminate him.