Weekend in Portugal-3: Finally in Lisboa

It took very little time for this beautiful city to win me over. We started off the day in Belem, which has the Hieronymites Monastery, where the great Vasco Da Gama is buried. The church, like most in Europe, is more a tourist attraction than a place of worship.. Nearby is the Fort of Belem. It was from here that the brave voyagers and adventurers set sail to conquer the world and change the course of world history.

Da Gama set sail from here to Kerala, where I trace my roots. Say what you want about the Portuguese colonisation of some parts of India, I think they did a good job and enriched Indian culture. They gave us even more diversity and created a beautiful composite culture of the Indian Catholics, many of whom live in Bombay. Bandra is a result of Portuguese colonisation of India.

We drove to the beautiful city centre of Lisboa as the Portuguese call their capital. There are definitely many similarities between the capital of this great nation and San Francisco. Both cities are hilly and have a nice tram system (although in San Fran, they are wrongly referred to as cable cars). One of the to-do things in Lisbon is to hang off a tram for a free ride. It's important to get off at a red light and climb back on when the signal changes.

There is so much history in the city. So many buildings are worthy of being photographed. I can't help but note the calm in the capital city. Lunch was at a pastaleria, again a very genuine Portuguese experience. A beef-stake sandwich with Super Bock!

As we walked up and down the hills of the beautiful city, I soaked in on the history and culture of Portugal. I became a fan of the legendary Portuguese singer Amalia Rodrigues. This was August in Lisbon, a summer say when temperatures were about 15 degrees cooler than they were in Siena. Lisbon has the most ideal climate in the world. Heck, if I lived there, I would be in the best shape of my life.

As the afternoon wore on, we had some sweets and walked through more historical areas. We also went to the church, where the Lisbon Massacre of 1506 took place. That was Portugal's worst anti-Jewish progrom and there is a memorial outside the church that calls for tolerance. Lisbon now is proudly the city of tolerance. The church still has a very negative vibe.


The day in Lisbon was capped off with baby sardines and a Super Bock in a very traditional Portuguese tavern.

I also got my first glimpse of the gorgeous town of Sintra.

Weekend in Portugal- 2: Expectations and Reality

Being almost completely ignorant about Portugal, I kind of expected to see a bit of Spain, a touch of Brazil and Goa in the country. I expected to see a bunch of very loud people, with a great sense of national pride. After all, their country ruled much of the world in the past.

The reality kind of hit me hard. The Portuguese are a warm and friendly lot. The service culture is wonderful. The smile is very genuine. But the country is quiet... very quiet. Maybe going from loud Italy to quiet Portugal gave me a bit of a cultural shock.

Lisbon and the surrounding areas were more beautiful than I could have ever imagined them to be.  The first port of call was the municipality of Cascais. Full of red-tiled roofs and antiquated avenues with beautiful homes and a marina, this is one of the most beautiful places I saw in all my travels in the European summer.

There was such a purity in the azure blue waters and a gentle Atlantic Ocean breeze put me at ease. Again, I was struck by the whole quasi-silence of the area. This is where the wealthy of the country had palatial homes. I didn't exactly stand out as a foreigner in this country, where I was more or less the average height and my skin and hair colour didn't put me aside. The Portuguese genuinely love when you make an attempt to speak their language.

My wonderful hosts cooked a feast and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner in my first night in Lisbon. There was a lot to see and taste in the next two days.

Weekend in Portugal-1

When it comes to sheer exoticism, few places can captivate the Indian mind as much as Portugal. The westernmost country in continental Europe had a huge impact on Indian history ruling certain parts of India for centuries, but we know so little about Portugal and the Portuguese.

I couldn't contain my excitement when I took a TAP Portugal Airlines flight from Bologna to Lisbon. The aircraft had a fair share of Portuguese people, who were friendly and wanted to know if was Goan. The low-flying plane flew over the coast of Italy and then crossed France and a completely barren Spain before reaching the beautiful country of Portugal.

While landing in Lisbon, it's impossible not to miss the city's beautiful suspension bridge that looks very similar to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. As I was to discover over the next 3 days, there were many similarities between the Californian city and the capital of Portugal.

Sunday Morning in Zurich

It was a perfect Sunday morning when the city's fountains quenched our thirst and we sat at a nice cafe in the Old Town overlooking the river and the Gross Munster. Zurich had been kind to us. I sat with my wise vegan Polish friend, who after spending a few years in Italy, reminded me that the best part of Italy besides the people were the great pizzas, wine and gelatos.

Thank you Paani! You are an inspiration!

Images from Zurich

You can some classics from Zurich here

"The epicentre of financial evil"

I admit, I expected to see incredibly large head-offices of Swiss banks in Zurich. I was actually shocked to see some rather modest buildings hosting the nerve-centres of the largest Swiss banks! The world's wealth is obviously in electronic format and could be easily hidden away in small buildings (note the irony here)

I was also surprised with the laid-back nature of Zurich. I know I was there on a weekend so that explains the lack of suits but the citizens of the city aren't so much into dressing rich and showing off. There is a modesty about Zurichers (I am not sure that's the proper term)

Lake Zurich on a summer afternoon is like Malibu Beach. I never thought I'd see Swiss people sun-bathing, not in Switzerland anyway. I thought they all go to Italy :)

The Beautiful Swiss Miss

It was a rainy Sunday morning in Zurich and most residents of the city chose to stay indoors. As we were walking uphill past a university, I saw a beautiful girl walking  downhill. Umbrella in hand, she walked gracefully down the hill and when she made eye contact with my friend and I, she smiled at both of us and we crossed paths.

This 'Swiss Miss' for me represented the wonderful country that hosted me for a weekend. Beautiful, pleasant and friendly. It is quite normal to smile at strangers in this cultured city.

Bratwurst, illuminated buildings and a shower

Friday nights are party time in Zurich and the old town is a great place to grab a drink. Since I loved the sausages in Vienna in March, I made sure I got my fair share of bratwurst in Zurich. I didn't see a big difference between the young people in Vienna and Zurich. The youth of Zurich spoke High German and not the Swiss version and partied much like their counterparts in the Austrian capital.

The wonderful churches of the old town are illuminated at night and the riverside is a romantic place to spend a summer night. I managed to get a great view from a hill on the other side of the river the next night but was too drenched by a sudden downpour to enjoy it as much as I would have otherwise.

But walking completely drenched on a cool night for almost half an hour and up a steep hill to my friend's house, was a wonderful experience I won't forget. I was tired then and worried about passport getting wet but now I look back at that as fabulous night.

Red Lights in Zurich?

As I walked through the old town to find my hotel, I crossed the Niederdorf Street, one of the most beautiful streets in the area. I was taken aback as I walked in to the lane (where my unnamed hotel was). The prostitutes were armed with a list of languages, when Hindi failed, they assumed I am Brazilian and so switched to Portuguese and then tried English and German! Surely, such polyglots could find a better job in one of the world's richest countries!

Most people, myself included, ignored these women, but there was an Italian casanova who was enamoured by the fact that a woman wanted "amore" with him. Surely, the man in his late-40s understood that they were prostitutes!

From what I heard during my stay in Zurich, none of the polyglot prostitutes are Swiss. They're allegedly all from Eastern Europe and Albania.

Zurich-bound

When I took a Swiss Air flight from Florence to Zurich, the 'James Bond' Music was playing in my head. I was heading off to the city of spies and black money. This is where the illegitimately rich stashed away their fortunes. Switzerland long ago stopped being the country of chocolates and Heidi for me. If the country represented anything for me, it was the great Roger Federer.

As the plane flew over the Alps, a niggling thought went through my mind...Was the country in the Schengen zone? It was after all, NOT a member of the European Union. There were no controls in Florence so I figured I should be alright or in the worst-case get deported back to Italy. There were, of course, no checks in Zurich and something about the city immediately appealed to me.

My Austrian friends warned about the "mean Swiss" but once again, people were super nice to me when I asked for directions in German. Friday evening was peaceful in the city. As I crossed the bridge into the right side of the river, I saw the beautiful churches of the old town or altstadt: St Peter's and the Fraumunster.

I could breathe the pristine Swiss air in Zurich.

My Tuscan Home

As I warmed up my body and headed up Via Trento, the fountain by Siena's Fort got closer and closer and I was ready for my evening run on top of the Fortress, where Siena's fitness-conscious citizens run every day. A gentle breeze from the distant purple mountains and the warmth of the Tuscan sun powered me as I took a round of the Fort.

As I saw the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo and heard some popular music from a nearby gathering, I realised that I was in love. In love with the pretty and charming town of Siena. A culturally-rich place with centuries of history and beautiful medieval buildings. A hilly town with gelaterias in every corner...

How else could I start with day, besides reading the Corriere Della Sera with a cornetto, cappuccino and a glass of orange juice? With conversations on all sorts of topics with the same patrons who were at the bar every single morning at the same time?

The fresh morning under a splendid blue Tuscan sky. My beloved Siena, you have won me over! I belong to you and proudly call you my home in Italy.