I would like to tell you about the place where you can the authentic real stuff that ordinary persons are selling on the street. The Lisbon Flea Market!
An open air market called Feira da Ladra (Flee Market). It takes place around the Church of São Vicente de Fora on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 6h00 till 13h00. Here you can find everything that is characteristic about the Portuguese culture in objects, which belonged once to someone, who made it a part of their life for a number of years and now they are almost giving it away.
I remember on one of my first trips I managed to grab a beautiful vintage 1940’s white linen hand braided table cloth that was custom made for the Henrique Family’s new dining room table. I got it from a middle aged woman, who went by the name of Maria Henrique who was selling a few pieces that had belonged to her grandmother. The hand sown H for the initial of the family’s last name approved for the authenticity of the item and I had no problem dishing out the incredible amount of…5 Euros.
It’s not just the object that you are taking home is the story that comes with it and that is what I really care about. Other interesting pieces that usually on sale are the original XVIII century handmade azulejos (blue tiles) that can make for a better attention piece in a room than some paintings.
You can also find people who are just trying to make it though the economic crisis and gather up all their items that can be converted into cash and just sprawl them out on the limestone, hopefully waiting for someone to pick up a bargain. This single mother, convinced her child to give up his fluffy kid toys, and she put them out for 1€ each. You could see the distraught face on the boy, being forced to come part with his “friends”, in order for mum to pay for the electrical bill. She tried to make it up to him by letting him have a chocolate milk and bread with our cheap version of nutella….
The man with the red overly washed turban is interpreting what seemed to be a mixture of Fado and hindi vocals accompanied only by arrhythmical stroke of the drum stick on a with a pair of cymbals. A somewhat modernized renaissance of the indian/goanese community/influence that Lisbon had, where Music from Goa mutated from its original origins.
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