SHALL I CALL IT QUEEN OR PRINCESS OF THE SEAS?

Portugal is world renowned for its fish dishes, namely cod and sardines. Though cod is probably considered to be our national dish, sardines are one of those foods that are part and parcel of Portuguese identity.

Either sardines are charcoal grilled or tinned they taste good.

If you come to Lisbon you will also see stores selling nothing else but rows of colourfully wrapped canned sardines.

Every world business class passenger on TAP,  the leading Portuguese airline, is presented with a tin like the one you see in the centre picture.
You frequently bump into shops whose windows display multicoloured non-edible sardines: key holders,  cushions, decoration item, advertisement at the entrance of souvenir shops and even headgear. They make good souvenirs from Portugal to take back home.

Seen at a bakery

Today, let me focus on sardines in tins.

Following a dream of many, many years, a cannery has opened a cheerful friendly store in Lisbon downtown. Unique in several ways. It has become a must step into, even among youngsters who are attracted by the interior decoration of the store as well as the cool tins (one tin is sold at €7.0). You can buy tins with a specific year on it. Each tin contains a historic fact from that year. I assume the sardines themselves were more recent… 

~~ Thanks for stopping by ~~

~~ May you have a wonderful rest of the week ~~

EPHEMERAL LIFETIME...

Two autodidacts spend their days making colourful sculptures out of pebbles and rocks they find at a river's edge, whenever the tide is low. Passers-by, either they are tourists or not, aren't indifferent to the 'balanced sculptures'. They stop to see, understand and take photos of the open-air artworks. 

The pieces of art consist of stones balanced on top of each other. This is a skill that takes patience, a gentle touch and a kinesthetic understanding of weight and balance.

   Their lifetime is very ephemeral... As the high tide comes in, they are wrapped around with water and they are gone with it...

~~ Thanks for stopping by ~~

~~ Have a great weekend ~~

A VIBRANT PARADE IN LISBON

This year, Lisbon is the Ibero-American Capital of Culture and, within the scope of such a status,  an Iberian Mask Parade was held yesterday. Many groups and hundreds of participants took part in it: mask wearers, revellers and 'caretos' roamed freely through a Park, celebrating several Iberian and Latin-American traditions.

~~Thanks for stopping by ~~

~~ May you have a nice day ~~

THE OLD LIFT

One of the first (and most beautiful) lifts in Europe was installed in 1888 in a store that is now a Benetton shop. It’s in Lisbon's main shopping district and the lift, which is over a century old, is now out of service. However, it can be seen on the top floor.

 

The open doors reveal an Art Nouveau-style interior, with mirrors framed in gilt with floral motifs. The velvet-upholstered stools were for the ladies, who sat during the short journey.

~~ THANKS FOR STOPPING BY ~~

~~HAVE A NICE DAY ~~

THE SURPRISING HERMÈS WINDOWS

Chiado district is Lisbon's traditional shopping area that mixes old and modern commercial establishments. Whenever I walk there I don´t miss Hermès windows. It happened on last Saturday, too. Before reaching the store, I always keep thinking: what will they be this time? 

The incredible world of insects, basically...

Interesting was also a sandal mould made of plaster of Paris, on display together with a variety of tools related to footwear industry... 

... in stark contrast with the delicate bone china cup exhibited in between two apparently heavy - most probably not - pieces of stone (?).

I left Chiado feeling delighted by the windows of Hermès...

~~ Thanks for stopping by ~~

~~ Have a wonderful week ~~