The other night at dinner, friends and I were talking about our favorite restaurants and the first one that popped into my head was a tiny place in Lisbon. Tucked away on a little street in the maze of Barrio Alto, the restaurant held about 7 tables, the gigantic chef came out to sit at our table in between courses, and the food was divine. Just thinking about this funny, wonderful little hole-in-the-wall place, I was instantly transported back to the graceful, historically gritty and romantic beauty that is Portugal. My head is still filled with images of my trip there last fall, so I thought I’d post some drawings. It is a place that stole my heart!
copyright 2009 Sara Dilliplane
near the Praça dos Restauradores
people, cafes, and trams in Barrio Alto
Portugal is rough around the edges, a little dirty, with some buildings so old they seem to ache with age. It also has some of the most breathtaking light and spectrum of color I have ever seen … and you can see the effect of this beauty in the Portuguese peoples’ faces. Their skin seem to radiate; they take in light and bounce it back out onto you. This energy balances the antiquity, keeping Lisbon fresh and alive, somewhere in between old and new.
Just after drawing this monastery (the Jerónimos monastery in Belém), I was freezing as the sun set and the wind picked up. We went to the famous Casa Pastéis de Belém to drink espresso and eat the pastry originally created by the monks from Jerónimos. The cakes were so fresh, still hot from the oven, and created from a recipe over a hundred years old. I can still taste it!
I just love these drawings! Amazing stuff!
beautiful drawings
stunning.
Sara, the drawings are beautiful! I want to go! Portugal feels like an incredible city lost in the hoopla of the major touristic countries of western europe. Beautiful, unusual and overlooked.