Egg Tarts & Luck.

Lisbon!

I was pretty excited to see Lisbon again. As I said in my previous post, I had been to Portugal's capital two years earlier with my Mum. It was the first European city I had ever been to and so it sort of has this feeling about it...it's hard to explain...but it's weird revisiting a place that is so far away from your original home. There are so many countries, cities, towns, and regions in this world to visit, and so, the likelihood of seeing a place twice, for me at least, is probably slim. But here I was, exactly two years later, touring around Lisboa!

I found Lisbon very refreshing and a great city to visit. It's not enormous like some of the other European mammoths we've seen; I think Lisboa's population is around 550 000. The region is warm, for us at least. It was about 17 degrees when we were there...mid-November...can't complain! And, I found Lisbon to be quite clean and the people extremely friendly....go visit! OHhh, and they are soccer freaks...crazy...it's quite excellent. Another neat thing about Lisbon is that because it is a very hilly city, there are actually street trams (called elevadores) that run up and down major hills around the city. You can ride up them if you like, or walk up the steep hills.

We stayed at Equity Point hostel (http://www.equity-point.com/en/hostels-lisboa/equity-point-lisboa/equity-point-lisboa-hostel.html)...also a very nice hostel! We were on a roll! The staff were very welcoming, it is a relatively new hostel so it's big and clean, and it is right near the city centre area of Baixa/Chiado. 

Rossio Square

Can you see what's in the background, over my right shoulder? That's right, a dead body. I didn't mention this in my blog because I thought I'd show you guys!

We didn't allocate that much time to Lisboa. We spent the majority of our Portugal time relaxing in Lagos, and so we only spent 2 nights/1.5 days in Lisbon. We arrived in the early afternoon of November 14th and decided to walk around and get a feel for the city the first evening. The Baixa district is Lisbon's downtown area and characterized by a grid pattern of streets, large, public squares, and pedestrian friendly areas. As with most other European centres, the streets were littered with pastry shops and cafes. The Portuguese are known for their egg tart pastries...sSooOOoooOO delicious...try an egg tart with uma meia de leite (coffee with milk) and you will not be disappointed! 

The second day (and the only full day) we spent in Lisbon started out with another free walking tour. Our tour guide, Sarah, took the group through the historic Alfama district, which is Lisbon's oldest district with medieval alley ways and stunning view points. It is located on the slope between the Castle of Lisbon and the Tejo River. In the 8th century, after the Roman conquest and the barbarian rule in the early part of the millennium, Lisbon was taken over by Muslims, mainly Berbers and Arabs from North Africa and the Middle East; known as the Moors. Muslim influence is still seen throughout Lisbon today, especially in the Alfama district. As well, many words in Portuguese have roots in Arabic. Interesting, no?

Overlooking Lisbon. A pigeon dropped a load on my hand at this viewpoint here...no joke! I'm a magnet for that kind of crap!

The kool streets of Lisboa

J-Sak and I, yah know, just smiling over Lisbon.

We met an English guy, Michael, on the tour. At the beginning of the tour everyone was to introduce themselves and say what they do for a living. Michael informed the group that he was from London and a student studying economics. Later on, J-Sak and I discovered that, at the ripe-old age of 21, Micheal had actually dropped out of university to became a professional poker player. And now, he was traveling around Europe, with no set course or plan, just seeing where life will take him. I think he is still on the road today, though I am not exactly sure where he is...

That evening, there was a BIG soccer game going on in Lisbon. Portugal was playing Bosnia-Herzegovina in a Euro 2012 qualifier game. It worked out great as Jeni, Michael and I all are soccer fans and decided to hit up a pub and watch the game together. The game ended up being great! Portugal won 6-2 with some amazing goals. 


I ended up having quite an interesting conversation with Michael-the-Poker-Player while watching the soccer game. He was telling me about a book he had recently read called Fooled by Randomness written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. As the prologue in the book highlights, Taleb writes about how he believes luck is disguised and often perceived as nonluck, or skills. Also, how randomness is often understood by people as the opposite: nonrandom. In general, the book discusses how the idea of luck is constantly manipulated. For example, the expression "lucky fool" often describes an individual who encounters a greater proportion of luck but attributes his/her success to some other specific reason such as intellect, skills, etc. The real life example Michael gave me was, think about a poker player (of course) and if a poker player does well, his success is attributed to the fact that he is a talented poker player who understands strategy, numbers and psychology to a high degree. Taleb would argue that the poker player's success does not come from a superior skill set, but rather, him understanding luck and randomness. Taleb explains that luck is simply luck...and luck is random. Anyways, that's a very general explanation of the book...and also what I got from what Michael was saying. I have not read the book but would like to check it out. It is not often that you meet someone who really dives into the idea of luck. Most people that I have conversations like this with, disregard most aspects of luck and believe that "everything happens for a reason" and everything is in conjunction with something else. It is interesting what different ideas come about with different people you meet. It makes sense that Michael would be interested in understanding the idea of luck - he is a pro poker player, after all. It was pretty fascinating to have this conversation and hear a different view point. Maybe I was just lucky...