...in no particular order…
Carlos Relvas exhibition at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. Relvas, of whom I had never heard, was a pretty remarkable man. He was a wealthy farmer in the Ribatejo province of Portugal, a good sportsman, rider, and bullfighter (this is done on horseback in Portugal). Around 1870, he became interested in photography, built himself an amazing, whimsically Gothic-looking studio in his home town of Golega, near Santarem, (here's a picture of it - it's been restored, and is opening as a museum) and turned himself into Portugal’s most famous pioneer photographer. There are portraits, including one of himself pulling a face, with his hair all frizzed out, and another of a fashionable young woman giggling behind her hand, that stand out from the usual formal portraits of the time. There are landscapes, including a wonderfully evocative view of the Tagus in flood with sunlight coming through a group of trees; studies of rural life in the Ribatejo; harbour scenes, including a set documenting a new lifeboat, which I’ve only now learned that Relvas himself invented. Most strikingly, there are close-up profile studies of animals – horses, sheep, dogs – which have a really contemporary feel to them. Sadly, I’ve been unable to find any of his work to show you – there was a catalogue, but it was too bulky and expensive to bring back.
The sea-dragons in the Lisbon aquarium. They’re like sea-horses that have sprouted dozens of frond-like appendages to help them hide amongst the marine plants of their natural habitat. I remember there being only one last time. Now there are half-a-dozen or so, and two different species, of these fantastic animals. They really deserve better names than “Leafy” and “Weedy”. This is the haute couture of the undersea world, and thus apparelled, they float somewhere on the edge of belief, almost too exotic-looking for the mind to grasp, gorgeous and alien at the same time.
The fino and manzanilla sherry in any bar in Seville, although two bars I might mention are El Rinconcillo (which might be translated as “the little place on the corner”), founded in 1670 near the church of Santa Catalina, and Casa Morales, just down the street from the cathedral. Chilled. Everyday. Perfect.
The way the waiters in most bars in Seville keep tabs on what you’ve had by chalking it up on the bar counter in front of you.
The cinema in Tavira, on the Algarve, where I went to see “Pirates of the Caribbean”, along with every kid in Tavira. It’s the only cinema in town, so everybody goes there, and it has the most comfortable seats of any cinema I’ve ever been in, bright red plush leatherette affairs. It felt like something out of “Cinema Paradiso”, though probably I’m romanticizing there. Just a nice, community atmosphere to it. Given Portugal’s nautical obsessions, a pretty appropriate film to go and see, too. I like a good piece of hokum as well as anybody.
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