« Intelligent agent modeling in economics | Main | Why not oppose TARP? »
Why haven't I been to Portugal yet?
Nick, a loyal MR reader, asks:
Well, Portugal is one place I've never visited - and I believe you've never been there; why is that? As a gormand & traveller it appears to have everything - influencing the world's cuisine (from Japan to Brazil & back) & with a beautiful, unique (if rather mournful) musical cannon... Is there a reason you've never been to Portugal?
The first reason is intertemporal substitution, namely that I often wait for people to pay me to go places. In general this factor leads small countries, especially with Romance languages, or in geographic corners, to be visited late. The small country has a bigger place in your mind's eye than it does on the conference and lecture circuit. The American Midwest ends up being overvisited, as does New Orleans, and Nova Scotia ends up being undervisited (I want very much to go there).
If you are invited to a lot of talks and conferences, your non-work travel should avoid centrally located hub cities and focus on poor corners, such as Albania and Yemen. You'll get to Paris and London anyway.
That said, I have an invitation to Portugal for this April and I will be going. Since I'm not sure I need to go twice, I am glad I waited.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 30, 2008 at 06:43 AM in Travels | Permalink
Comments
Have you been to Newfoundland, perchance?
Posted by: Andrew at Dec 30, 2008 7:44:27 AM
Have the fish, any fish. It's usually simply prepared in a butter sauce. (Wonderful fish seems to be an obsession in Portugal.)
April is a little early but do try to get to the beaches near Faro.
Posted by: Highgamma at Dec 30, 2008 8:37:18 AM
Don't forget to give details when you come. I suspect you have a loyal readership in Portugal and we would like to attend whichever even you're coming to. Also, if you're staying in Lisbon and need to be shown around, just write me an email.
Posted by: Rui Tavares at Dec 30, 2008 9:00:24 AM
Just watch out when they fire that cannon!
Posted by: Nomial at Dec 30, 2008 9:28:10 AM
I'm also in for beers and discussions about the Economy, in Lisbon :)
Posted by: Tiago Matias at Dec 30, 2008 9:28:53 AM
And if you're down near Faro for the beaches then I'm up for beer around here (err, well, close enough at least, in Messines). But it probably shouldn't be beer. Vinho Verde at lunchtime, a nice Dao or Douro in the evening.
Posted by: Tim Worstall at Dec 30, 2008 10:18:20 AM
I lived in Portugal for a year. Besides the southern beaches, I’d recommend seeing the Alfama for sure ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfama ) & if you have time, Óbidos, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93bidos,_Portugal ).
Posted by: Luke G. at Dec 30, 2008 10:27:35 AM
In visiting the Alfama (a redundancy as the "al" from "the" in Arabic),
the old part of Lisboa, go in the evening and find a joint were the fado
is being sung. This is the soul of Portugal, and this is the place to
really hear it live.
The classic Portuguese preparation for codfish would later become the
inspiration for vindaloo in India and tempura in Japan. One of the more
interesting aspects of Portugal is this shadow of its historical role as
the European nation that first entered the Indian Ocean and beyond the
Malacca Straits, disrupting established trade and power patterns, and
triggering a new wave of cultural exchange and influence. The remnants of
that venture are scattered all over Lisboa and some other parts of the country.
One of those is at the site of Prince Henry's school for navigators at Sagres,
at the southwestern tip of the Eurasian land mass, a spectacular location.
Oh, and the must-not-miss restaurant in Lisboa is Gambrinus. Get the bouillabaisse.
Also, of course, Portugal is the place to get really really good port. At some of
the hotels they still treat professors as royalty rather than third rate dirt bags,
and will give you free port, very very... :-).
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Dec 30, 2008 10:47:16 AM
Good answer - thanks!
Posted by: nick at Dec 30, 2008 11:20:34 AM
I highly recommend it. Lisbon is great. When I was backpacking after undergrad, I ended up spending a couple weeks in Lagos. Hostel there was only $8 a day with breakfast. It was also sunny and almost 70 degress when I was there in january.
Posted by: aaron at Dec 30, 2008 1:09:44 PM
I'm also a Portuguese occasional reader. Let us know where you're going to. If you're coming to Lisbon, I'd love to attend your event (if open, o/c).
Posted by: Vasco at Dec 30, 2008 1:12:41 PM
Check out Sintra, it's an hour light rail ride away from Portugal. The view from the Moorish Castle up there is one of the nicest I've seen.
Posted by: Scott at Dec 30, 2008 5:48:28 PM
Lisbon is one of europes thankfully under-visited places, like Vienna with a similar melancholy (in a very good way) flavour: catholic post-imperial, closer somehow to Voltaires musings on the earthquake than the blogosphere - and like Vienna best appreciated on one of its marvellous long tram rides. As well as the food, the music and the sheer beauty of that extraordinary language, it has great art collections: the Gulbenkian (now there was a capitalist) and the National Gallery with one of the greatest of Hieronymous Bosch's works in an often empty and rather spooked setting, and of course the original cafe making the straight from the oven original of those little custard tarts that stalely loiter in the worlds delis, the evocatively desolate site of some mid 1980's world fair; the mad monument to henry the navigator.....
Posted by: Richard at Dec 30, 2008 5:49:10 PM
...
... & with a beautiful, unique (if rather mournful) musical cannon...
Nomial: Just watch out when they fire that cannon!
It is all tunes ...it is all good..!! Nice catch, jumped out at me also.
...tom...
.
Posted by: ...tom... at Jan 1, 2009 12:22:01 PM
I did something similar last year, speaking at a conference of mathematicians interested in mathematics education at the Gulbenkian Foundation. My wife came along, and we spent about a week there, with a short side trip to give a talk at the university in Coimbra. It's a great city -- a more picturesque San Francisco. A great city for walking, with wonderful food (although they served bacalhau at every official dinner). I got a transit pass that covered the streetcars and made good use of it. A colleague gave me a novel set there, "A small death in Lisbon" by Robert Wilson that was primarily interesting because it managed to mention most of the places we went. The Gulbenkian Foundation museum is very nice, but I was most taken by the Ancient Art museum, which has a fascinating collection of art from Japan picturing the first Portugese arrivals.
The oddest part of the trip came after I gave my talk, which was the first keynote address of the conference. The other attendees one by one made short speeches. I furiously scribbled notes and tried to respond to as many as I could when there was a pause, but later learned that this is the custom and there's no expectation of a dialogue or any response. Your experience may vary, but this was new to me.
If you do go to Coimbra (a beautiful medieval university town), let me know. We met the university librarian, who was a fascinating guy and who gave us a really interesting tour of the campus. I'd be happy to try to put you in touch -- I think you'd find him interesting.
Posted by: Kevin Miller at Jan 1, 2009 3:12:36 PM
We went to Portugal last April. If you stay in Lisbon, see the Gulbenkian Museum, the Monastery of the Jeronimos, and the Lapa. Don't just pick a fado place at random--we did, and discovered that the music at that place came in ten minute sets, about once every 90 minutes. Near the Lapa is the Santa Ana tile (azulejos) factory--that's a mandatory stop--and the Monument to the Discoverers. Near the York House is the Laughing Cat, a tiny little restaurant with a genial host and the best food in the country.
If you get a chance to drive around the countryside, do so. Highway traffic is very light compared to the US and there are number of castles worth seeing. I particularly enjoyed Marvao (on the Spanish border) and the ruined Castle of the Moors (in Sintra).
Posted by: Laserlight at Jan 2, 2009 9:42:17 AM
Posted by: 家教 at Aug 16, 2009 11:38:29 PM
