Now that I’ve been travelling through nature for about two weeks, I’m venturing back into the city. And Lisboa is close to Setubal, just across the Tagus River (Tejo).
I book into the city campsite for 4 days. It is located high up in the Monsanto district in the middle of a pine forest surrounded on two sides by motorways.
I start my exploratory tours from there on my E-bike. This is anything but easy in a city like Lisbon. The city of 7 hills has no cycling culture whatsoever. There are no cycle paths, just three-lane roundabouts every 500 metres. If a cycle path does appear, it is on the wrong side of the road or it ends after 350 metres in nirvana. And the narrow lanes of the tram tracks also require a certain amount of attention.
Finally, there’s the rain, which I encounter again and again over the four days.
I visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, the “New Living in Lisbon” exhibition in the Belem Congress and Cultural Centre and the MAAT.
The power station section of the MAAT is also about my own past, as AEG power station installations can be seen here. A company that also accompanied my professional beginnings.
I was particularly interested in the “New Living” exhibition, as this interests me personally and the idea of cooperatives for residential purposes is also being rediscovered in Portugal.
5.12.2023 Lisboa | REH
