Best Day Ever in Lisboa.

My feet have a mind of their own. It's true. My head tells them to go in one direction and almost immediately they go in the other. Sometimes this causes me to trip over my own feet (well. often.) and other times I find myself on the loveliest of adventures. Today was absolutely the latter.

I set off today looking to fill the day with endless numbers of gallery visits. I hopped off the train at Cais do Sodre, made a right and took a walk over to Padaria Canecas, said to be one of the better padarias (bakeries) in the city. One empada de camarao (shrimp filled breading), pastel de nata (dreamy baked goodie), and cafezinho later, I fully agreed. And instead of heading up to Rua do Alecrim, I took the side door and continued right, somewhere along the lines of heading to Alfama.

I stopped in at several artesanato stores and even found a shop which sold those little wind up music boxes (featuring national national favorite Lula Pena) packaged with sardines, anchovies and tuna of your choice. I was even able to find a tavern I tried dragging Erica to the other night, with the help of a little sunshine. I made my way up. And up. And up some more till I came upon a man sitting on a bench playing guitar and singing fado. A German who fell in love with Portugal and never left. He played me two fados. One from Portugal. One that he considered Brasilian fado. I continued up and found myself in the village surrounded Castelo de Sao Jorge and walked around a bit.

On my way down I wanted to stop in at the Escola de Artes Decoratives (School of Decorative Arts) though couldn't quite get my bearings on which side of the hill I had come down on. I asked a passerby to point me in the direction and he was sweet enough to not only walk me to the school but it turned out he was a ceramics artist and he filled me in on the ins and outs of art in Lisboa. "You see where the trolley turns left, follow the path, make a right then a quick left, stop by when you're done." So I did.

As usual I had quasi forgotten the directions and happened to turn down a street where I walked by an open door and saw Tiago working out some fresh clay on a potter's wheel. His studio was fantastic, door open to quiet cobblestone street, it was raw and inspiring and filled with all types of work. Completed works. Works in progress. And sketches and color swatches for future ideas. He was super sweet to show me around his studio a bit and pass on oodles of information on craft shows and people I should get in contact with in order to sell artwork at local fairs.

I then headed down to Alfama which I had wanted to revisit since my last time there. Found a little sitting nook with two chairs and a table overlooking the neighborhood. It looked like the perfect spot to sit and paint. Or write. Or just sit. I came across the tiniest of pups crying on a stoop. He caught my eye enough to want to stop and take a photo and within 5 seconds of doing so, he turned into a furry demon! Jumping off his stoop and heading straight for me with teeth made of vicious fury. I ran of course. "Calma! Calma!" I spent the next hour or so walking around Alfama, laughing to myself whenever I thought of that little brown furball who both won my heart and terrified me in seconds. On my way out I walked by a man, perhaps in his 60s and said "Boa tarde" (good afternoon) to him, something I do without thinking twice. And two minutes later I found he had turned around and come after me to say thank you. For what I had no clue. He then said to me "It's so nice to have someone be so simpatica and just say hello. We need more of that in this country. Actually in the world." It was then I made friends with Domingo Suares. And my heart smiled.

I set off to find a wall of graffiti I had seen the other night when Erica and I were galavanting about. Found it. And it was even more fantastical in the light of day. I snapped a couple of images and headed into Baixa. Wandered a bit and decided to look for what I had heard was the best hot cocoa in the area, at a place called Rojoo. And it was. Amazing. A bit of heaven in a cup.

And after a long day of doing everything BUT visiting a gallery, I stumbled on one that I had planned to check out. Perfection. Met an awesome girl who worked in the gallery who filled me in on the gallery and art scene in Lisboa. She had a similar reaction. Great art. Not much money. Especially with the crisis. She gave me several recommendations on spaces to check out and people to get in touch with. I ended the day with a belly full of hot cocoa, and a heart full of smiles...