broken hearted

'It isn't enough for your heart to break because everybody's heart is broken now"

- Allen Ginsberg, Indian Journals, September 6th 1962. 

Picture credit: taken by me, graffiti by unknown artist, Lisbon  

Lisbon

Ok, not strictly relevant to the premise of the blog, but I went to Lisbon a couple of weeks ago and thought some people might be interested in seeing some pictures of my travels (or may be not?). So here are some highlights:-

sun setting over Lsibon, taken from Castelo de Sao Jorge

 We timed it just right we we vistited Castelo de Sao Jorge, the sun was setting and there was hardly anyone else there. The lights of the town were starting to turn on and it was peaceful and atmospheric. You can scramble all over the walls and battlement, with no regard to the health & safety restrictions that would be imposed in England. Lisbon is really hilly, and it can be a trek to get up to the castle, we got lost several times, but the view is worth it.

tiles on a residential building in Lisbon

bookshop in Alfama

The above bookshop is typical of the buildings in the region, many of them were covered in geometric tiles. Portugal has been hit hard by the recession, a lot of the buildings were dilapidated, but it gives the place a shabby charm.

There is also tons of graffiti in Lsibon, I liked the artistic or political art, I wan't keen at all on the tagging. People's homes and national monuments were tagged, and it made the buildings look careworn and abandoned.

street art in Lisbon 

Currently Reading

As I'm sure you are aware Game of Thrones is back on tv- YAY! So I am currently re-reading A Storm of Swords: 1.Steel and Snow, purely so I can annoy everyone around me by yelling, 'That didn't happen in the book!" at the tv.

Couldn't resist buying the box set, though they are so chunky the kindle version might have been a better  idea. 

Actually, the HBO adaptation, it pretty faithful to the original and if you're a fan of the show I strongly suggest you pick up a copy of George R R Martin's series. In the summer last year, I saw loads of people on the train reading the books, they obviously had withdrawal symptoms after then end of the last tv series and the start of this one.

I will do a proper review of A Song of Ice and Fire soon. I really want to talk about how many strong female characters this series has. It's fantastic to have such a range of women represented instead of just a token one, round of applause for George R R Martin!

I'm also reading some Lisbon guide books. I'm off on holiday in about a month, and at the moment we have no accommodation and no plan.

 Previously when I've been travelling I've always relied on Lonely Planet, as they have lots of budget options, however when I went to the library the other day they didn't have any copies. I quite the DK Eyewitness guides, they have lots of pictures which I find good inspiration. Also they include maps and walking routes, which will be really helpful as my sense of direction is appalling.

Lisbon, Eyewitness Travel, ISBN: 978-1-4053-2649-0