Prose

Narrative writings: essays, reviews, polemics, short stories, etc

February 12. Sintra.
Sintra. A wonderful, sunny day. Portugal has been a monarchy but the coward royals went off to Brazil during the Napoleontic invasions. In Sintra, you can visit one of their flamboyant castles. It's very beautiful as you can see on the pictures. The opulence of the crown was paid for by the poverty of the ...
February 11. To whom it may concern.
For writing perhaps you need loneliness. Loneliness for breakfast, loneliness for lunch and loneliness for dinner. But that will never be enough. You'll need to sleep with her, caress her cheeks, she'll have to be the muse in all of your dreams. And what is it you can write then? A really-real account of that ...
February 10. Pasteleria and abstractions.
There are very good Pasteleria's in Lisbon, and the coffee is very cheap. I can work fast without caring too much about quality, about what the reader might think. I can't put the bricks of words together when I know what the building must look like. I can't guarantee you the building isn't going to ...
February 8,9. Pombal built this city.
Marquise de Pombal is the Hausmann of Lisbon. The streets of Rossio are laid out like a chessboard, like Barcelona or Manhattan. That's Pombal's work. They have Pombal-style houses that are made of wood in order to make them earthquake-proof. In the 1755 earthquake the city was almost completely distroyed by the tsunami and the ...
February 7. Adamastor and the human condition.
In Lisbon don't miss the Miradoura Adamastor. Adamastor, a great Portuguese discoverer, an icon of the empire that has been. His statue looks out over the Tejo now, and there are always young people drinking and laughing in the square of the Miradoura. The sun heated up the scene, a drunk Scottish boy mooched about ...
February 6.

Consumption and religion. If you buy a cup of coffee or a Patéis de Lisboa, you just put your coins on the counter without any other emotion than the great taste of this combination. It's my reason (in fact, one of my reasons) to be here in Lisbon and write in the February sun. ...
February 5. At the Docks again.
I went to the docks again, wanted to find out if a crossing is possible in early February. Here's the result: no. The freighters have their European Union regulations with safety measures and every human being on board needs a certification for everything. It would take me months to do the necessary paperwork and besides, ...
February 4. City over the Rainbow.
Famous scene with Streetcar The next day, I turned into a tourist. Got up early, same breakfast, same women, same atmosphere. But I met Alicia, a little Chinese woman who was nice to talk to. With her and some other guys we walked up to the castle. If you're visiting Lisbon, you should walk up to the ...
February 3. At the Docks.
So I woke up in a hostelroom in the upper bed of a bunk bed, pretty girl below me, pretty girls in the other beds, pretty girls everywhere. Went to brush my teeth and have breakfast which two diligent women prepared for all the youngsters. What will they get paid, I thought. The scrambled eggs ...