April 10, 2024 – Redmond WA
You know when you hear a word for the first time and then you now seem to notice all the time?
This is starting to happen as we prepare for our trip to Portugal/Spain. We are starting to hear about Portugal in all sorts of places that we would never have looked before. We have started to learn the history of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal/Spain), tried to learn some phrases, (“Disculpe o senhor, fala inglês? – excuse me sir, do you speak English? – I think we will beg for mercy and use Google translate) and Siri has gotten a few books from the library.
“The Portuguese: A Modern History” by Barry Hatton is a long-time Portugal correspondent who has adopted the country as his own. “Since the Age of discovery … in the 15th century .. where Portugal created globalization and shaped the modern world… to being the wealthiest country in the world in the 16th century.. Portugal has mostly been riding at anchor” or as he quotes former Prime Minister Barroso in 2002, “Portugal is in danger of becoming irrelevant.” This is despite it still being one of the most diverse places in a small space (similar in size to Maine), it is on the Mediterranean with an Atlantic coast feel. One of the places we will visit just across the way in Northwest Spain is literally called “The End of the Earth” or – Finisterre or Fisterre, “Fini” (End) + “Terra” (Earth) which is where the Romans and many others thought they were when they ran out of land and hit the Atlantic Ocean in Galicia, the area which is now Northern Portugal and the Northwestern tip of Spain.
With all this background swirling in our heads, it should not have been surprising to see an article this past weekend in the New York Times on Saturday, April 6, 2024 celebrating a key art form of Portugal: Azulejos.
How Those Colorful Azulejo Tiles Are Made
Barely hearing about them before, except in a now popular board game, Azul, I seem to be hearing about it all the time. We will be on the lookout for these Azulejos along the way as we visit monasteries, convents, and even in the Lisbon subways where we will complete our trip.
Azulejos -just a reminder to me to be more open to what has always been there.
Siri and David Adventures 