The Spanish word for "Retirement" is "Jubilacion"

A man came up to me today and said the Spanish word for “Retirement” is “Jubilacion”. I think that is great!

This was our first full day in Lisbon (Lisboa in Portuguese). This is a fabulous city. It is like San Francisco but even cuter. In the 1700’s it was completely destroyed by an earthquake, followed by a fire then a tsunami. It has been rebuilt and has loads of charm.

We have a fantastic guide and she is full of life and energy. She clearly loves her job and Portugal and revels in telling stories of the glory that once was this country. It only has recently emerged from its dictatorship and is hard hit by the worlds economic crisis. The spirit here is strong, and they are getting ready to celebrate the biggest day of their year, in 2 days. We can hardly wait. They will party all night for the St. Anthony their patron Saint!

We love the transportation, an amazing Vertical Elevator, Funiculars, quaint streetcars; cobble stone streets, hills, and bars and drinking everywhere. Many of the buildings have red tile roofs and colorful tile walls. It is really a beautiful city.

We visited many of the different quarters of the city and have a general feeling for Lisboa (as they say in Portuguese).

Although we saw much, the highlight for Cathy and me was going to hear Fado, the music of Portugal tonight. This music is sung in clubs without a microphone by a singer accompanied by 3 musicians playing Portuguese guitars. We went to have dinner at Fado club not knowing exactly what to expect. I was worried we were heading to a tourist trap. The manager of our hotel assured us it wasn’t and he goes there. The food was great and the music was wonderful. Four different singers sang, one who was a man. I didn’t know that men sang Fado. The music is often described as melancholy or sad, but it really isn’t. It is music of the longing of the heart. Even though we couldn’t understand the words, it made no difference. We understood. We were prepared to leave after the first singer (we didn’t know there were others to perform). The manager said he wouldn’t let us leave, we needed to stay and enjoy. We did! I suspect we will go to a different Fado club tomorrow night.