We travelled back to the gardens of Estella as we had a thought to visit the English cemetery there.
unfortunately we had got up too late as it was closed (only open mornings )
so we had to postpone our visit yet again. However the gardens are lovely and we decided to lunch in the small cafe by the duckpond.
The staff are obviously quite trendy as when you give your order you are provided with a small box which vibrates alarmingly when your meal is ready.
The park itself was glorious, the sun had shown his face for the first time in a couple of days.
After lunch, Which was very good by the way, only fresh ingredients are used, we walked over the road and I managed to persuade Lynne to climb to the roof of the Basilica, This cost a few euros and has a very long spiral staircase, Lynne is understandably not keen on these are they are somewhat claustrophobic. I tried to distract her by pointing out the fossils in the steps.
As I had also been careless enough to have given Lynne my man-flu she was forced to rest just before the exit onto the roof of the great Basilica.
This is a very airy spot with great views around the local streets and further afield. The great dome of the Basilica stands at one end of the wide stone roof and a small door enables you to enter it and walk around the balcony high up above the alter.
Again this is a somewhat exposed position, The interior stills seems a bit grey and gloomy to my way of thinking but it is undoubtedly impressive.
There is a great view down to the front of the Basilica looking towards the gardens of Estrella and the tram stop.
We spent some time admiring the splendid views over Lisbon and it was a rare privilege to examine the beautiful stonework of the building, we were taken unaware (as usual ) by the bells tolling the quarter hours, they are proper bells not a recording and the sonic shock can certainly make you jump!
The dying afternoon sun turned the stone a lovely honey colour as we made our way down the endless spiral staircase to ground level. We caught our favourite tram to Martim Moniz, the 28.
We enjoyed the Christmas lights in Martim Moniz square as the light turned into evening and were intrigued by a large papier mache Chicken. Its a famous symbol in Portugal but I hadn't realised it was also a Christmas decoration. Art is very often beyond me. Its fun though.
It was time to visit an exhibition and Lynne decide that we would spend a day in Belem.
In Belem is the rather splendid Centro Cultural de Belem, a huge building which houses theatre and exhibition spaces. One of which house the Berado Collection Museum. Home of contemporary art, we had the pleasure of having a coffee on the terraced lawns overlooking the river but had not actually ventured into the museum. As it was free on Saturdays (and not restricted just to Portuguese nationals ) we took the bus to Belem.
If you have any interest in Art at all, this is a must see. If you have no interest at all in modern art its worth a visit for the building itself. As a purpose built exhibition space it is spectacular. Its not on a par with the Guggenheim in Bilbao but has a more eclectic and warmer feel. There are some large sculptures including a Henry Moore that are outside and can be viewed anytime for free, there are also some inside the exhibition.
Including a Cesna light aircraft in the main stairwell, the argument whether that actually constitutes art I will avoid for now! its certainly decorated elaborately and the more practical minded can spend a minute or two contemplating just how they got the thing in there!
There are a fair sprinkling of famous artists represented in the permanent collection, there are pieces by Picasso, below.
A rather quirky piece by Salvador Dali couldn't really be by anyone else.
I must admit that I have a bit of a hard time sometimes with a lot of modern art, but sometimes a piece will make me smile, I enjoy visual tricks.
The permanent collection is sorted into a sometimes bewildering number of categories, sometimes by Artist, Jeff Wall, Gabriel Orozco for example, more confusingly (for me) by school or group. Hence the Dadaists are grouped closely to the cubists and surrealists. There are categories of Informalism Post War Figuration, Kinetic and Op art. It all gets a bit overwhelming. handily the abundant literature available for free and individual explanations adjacent to each piece are bilingual, Portiguese and English. However even in my native language some of the pretentious tosh that passes for explanation brings a wry smile!
I am more at home with pop art.
There are a good sprinkling of Andy Warhol's and Roy Lichtenstein's, whether you consider them to be great art it is a fact they have become very well known.
Warhol's Campbell's soup can being a case in point.
Hidden just above the Brillo boxes below, is another piece by Warhol, the silk screened Judy Garland. One of a number of notable pieces.
It is an excellently curated and presented collection, later I put a small review on their Facebook page and they were kind enough to acknowledge and thank me. I had a minor criticism regarding the lack of seating for elderly sailors, it will take a good 3-4 hours to walk around the many rooms and see all the exhibits. So in future I may have a personal seat opposite my favourite works! or maybe not.
Outside are further works this one is the bathers by a French artist and below is an unmistakable Henry Moore.
we left the museum through the back door so to speak wanting to look at a strange piece of three dimensional graffiti which turned out to be a work by a local art collective.
There is art everywhere in Lisbon..........
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