."By day Lisbon has a naive theatrical quality that enchants and captivates, but by night it is a fairy-tale city, descending over lighted terraces to the sea, like a woman in festive garments going down to meet her dark lover." ? Erich Maria Remarque, The Night in Lisbon In some small way, this city and I have shared a bit of history and so, what better way to see how both of us have weathered the intervening years than by taking the night train to Lisbon. Arriving by train, anywhere, early in the morning gives a visitor an opportunity to observe the city and its commuters as they wake. Stazione Santa Apalonia, the city's oldest station, funnels the morning rush-hour through its imposing front doors and onto the street -actually, 'the morning rush hour' is a bit of a euphemism really as Lisbon seems to enjoy a good lie-in most days. A five-minute taxi ride will bring you to Bairro Alfama, the oldest district of Lisbon whose name comes from the Arabic, Al-hamma, meaning "hot fountains" or "baths." This part of the 'old city' is made up of a series of winding, cobbled 'travesas' or laneways making their way through pastel coloured houses that rise to no more than five floors. At street level, an endless array of restaurants, bakeries, small supermarkets, wine shops and countless bars line the narrow spaces all of whom seem to offer similar produce or the promise of an evening of 'Fado ' (traditional Portuguese music) These older areas of the city are undergoing a massive transformation with ageing apartments being snapped up by entrepreneurial developers, gentrified and then and turned into 'modern' suites. A thriving Air B&B market caters to the ever-growing tourist numbers, much to the consternation of many of the locals, who feel that this form of alternative tourist accommodation is devouring the culture of the districts. In amongst the masses of graffiti that seems to cover many of Lisbon's buildings are scrawled messages that read, "Fuck Air B&B or "tourists go home." As one bar owner ruefully remarked, "Look, Air B&B is good for business but soon we will be so overrun with tourists that they will outnumber the old families and then, what we will end up with is tourists looking at other tourists."Portugal and particularly the capital Lisbon was, until just three hundred years ago was one of the mightiest empires on earth. Its colonial tentacles stretched across three continents, its ships bringing home untold riches beyond their wildest dreams. Lisbon is a place that has endured more than its fair share of disasters, both natural and man-made. From Imperial riches to fire, plague, a devastating earthquake, a tsunami, revolution, coups, a royal assassination, abolition of the monarchy and, for a few decades a period of savage dictatorship
