5 de Outubro - o Dia da Implantação da República

In my ignorance I completely forgot about the 5th of October. It was just another Sunday, sunny day (thanx God), almost beach day and very quiet like all the Lisbon days. I wanted to eat pasteis de Belém and as my wish had to be granted, we passed by Jerónimos, the Presidency building and so on-it was soooo crowded and didn't have a place to park. In the end we managed to find a remote place and we headed for the cakes. Seeing so many people at Palácio de Belém, innocently asked if we can visit it-the answer was yes. So we entered, stayed in line, visited the beautiful gardens, entered the palace and ....here comes the question - me, asking with a very shy voice "faz favor, hoje é um dia especial?" -excuse me, today is a special day? the answer was-sim, o 5 de Outubro!!! and I went ooooohhhh yes, o 5 de Outubro - my history knowledge ran in front of my eyes in a few seconds and realized that yes, the 5th of October was indeed a special day and it was the day of the Republic-the day in which Portugal ended the monarchy in 1910.









This time it was celebrated with a lovely sunset, a lot of people, the presence of the President with his wife. Thanx to all these, I got to discover this lovely band called Deolinda http://www.myspace.com/deolindalisboa u can look for them on youtube as well - they are lovely - vivid, happy songs with terrific lyrics and a singer who loves performing (Ana Bacalhau) - ain't that sweet? :-))

São Bento

"They" say that you should be careful with what you wish for, as it may become true. I was in search for the green fairy-and desperately wanted to see her.

Never thought though that it can be transformed and appear on Rua São Bento - there was more than one, and not quite green but I think my wish came true :-) how easy :-)) it was. I missed the "festa" last year, not knowing exactly what that was but this time I got the taste of it-art galleries opened until midnight, opera singers performing in the street, yellow roses and yes, delicious, fancy, lovely food and champagne, wine and sangria. What a style! Enjoy my fairies. There is also an Internet site about the event so in case you have a high curiosity of finding out what else happened there, you can take a look here http://ruadesaobento.blogspot.com/

By night

On my way home from taking pictures for a friend who recently opened a nice Portuguese shop, I got my camera and took pictures close to Avenida da Liberdade and in Jardim da Estrela.

Linen

These pictures were not taken only in Lisbon, but seeing sheets, linen, garments at the balconies is pretty typical for Lisbon.

Sunset at the Castle

A festa de Santo António-12-13 de Junho

Santo António de Padova or de Lisboa is celebrated on the 13th of June-the day of his death-he was born in Lisbon and died in Padova. In Lisbon, the feast is extremely beautiful - it starts with a very long parade on Avenida da Liberdade, on the 12th of June- and ends (well, at least for me it ended then :-) in Alfama. People eat sardines, drink bear, sing, dance and enjoy themselves in the streets of Lisbon. In 2006 I was in Padova and accidently got to visit the church where his relics are and now enjoyed every single second of this beautiful feast in Lisbon. I read about a lot of interesting "rituals" that people use to practice on this day but I will let you discover them yourselves on the Internet. And then......he is also the patron saint of marriages :-) (but not of Lisbon)