Fado and Food in Lisbon.
Fado is a music gendre which began about 1820 and is centered around Lisbon. It could be described as a Portugese version of the blues or a poetry reading set to music. When combined with food, some of the sadness is drowned out by the clinking of the plates and forks.
Our tour bus approached the city limits from the north about 4:30. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the largest city with a population recorded in 2015 at 506,892. When the suburbs are included, the population is closer to three million or 27% of the country’s population. A couple of trivia points, it is the only European capital city on the Atlantic coast. It is also the westernmost part of continental Europe at the Cabo da Roca area in the municipality of Sintra.
A quick check into the hotel and back out to the bus to experience a Fado restaurant. I snapped a few quick pictures from the bus and noticed a reporter recording an interview on the street corner near the hotel.
We had an early reservation for 7:30 PM. Most restaurants do not open before 7:00 and get busy after 9:00 P.M.
The room was not well lit so the pictures were grainy. The performance was on the stage behind the waiter. It was difficult to see them, and once I was seated, there was no room to get up for a better view. I was able to record an audio sample of the performers.
We were ushered out at 9:30 to make room for the next performance. As we walked back to meet the bus, we noticed there are many Fado restaurants and the city of Lisbon is alive at night.
– Where do you want to go today? –
