The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-12-21
LISBON, THE ROYAL CITY
ITS BEA UTY OF SITUA4YON AMONG
THE CITIES OFEUROPE.
n Pleasure-Loving Place - Historic
Land mNrks--ItII- Top Views,
Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.]

Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.l
Lisbon, Portugal, Dec. 9.-The travel
er whose first impression of the Portu.
guese capital Is gained from a view of
us struggling and shabby back doors
coming down through the country by
ran, as we did-makes a tremendous
mistake, which nothing can rectify but
special trip to the ocean and return
by the rivers route. Approached in
the orthodox way from the Atlantic.
nine miles up the Tagus, Lees -bo-ah as
known to its citizens ranks third in
beauty of situation among all the cities
OF Europe-Naples first and CONSTANT
nople second The high rocky banks of
the deep but narrow channel are lined
on both sides with antiquated forts and
lighthouses from San Brugo and San
Jullen, al opposite ends of the bar
across the rivers mouth, to the mighty
rover OF Belem, nine miles above,
winch since the fifteenth century has
stood guard over the royal city On
either hand are gay resorts and bathing
places-Cacares, Ociras, Abanada, the
Coney Island Atlantic City and Point
Comfort of Portugal; royal palaces and
villas of the nobility, surrounded by
trees and gardens; fishermen's hamlets
and fashionable suburbs and beyond
all, the handicapped granite range of
the Cintra mountains On the north
bank nine miles above the ocean and
just where the river broadens into
magnificent lake, the old city-whose
earliest name was Ulyssippo. said to
save been founded by Ulysses of the
Golden Fleece-the Felicitas Julia of
the ancient Romans--the Oshbuna Of
the Moslems-the Lisbon of to-day
rambles over more hills than Rome sat
upon, rising abruptly from the waters
edge In the form of an amphitheater.
Faced by quays and backed by lofty
mountains, 1t stretches along stream
four or five miles, and struggles back
ward, or rather upward an equal dis
lance, scattered among fields and gar
dens in the rear. The lake, or bay, or
estuary, as you may choose to call the
broadening of the river, is crowded
with the ships of all nations, among a
multitude of native craft:-for Portu-
gal, with population approximating
forty-four hundred thousand, has still
no can commerce, though in the even
ing Of her days. How shall one de-
scribe the bewildering variety of
churches and converts and castles
Moorish, Castilian, Italian, Roman,
Flemish and mongrel styles of akch-
tecture-the brilliant hues of house
walls reds, blues. green's puppies and
yellows, a riot of color in African Mo-
In oil I,,
the spirit of the place. There is the
great castle of Sac Jorge, on it's rocky
height in the oldest part of the old old
city, which still retains its early Moor
sh name of ALBANIA. There is the i'm
mense, many-towered royal abode |
Ajuda, on another hilltop beyond Be |
em, intended for the most splendid pail |
ace in Europe, but unfinished for lack |
If money, though begun generations
ago. Among a dozen other residences !
If capriciOus monarchs is the Necessi- |
,ades, an imposing structure in which
he meetings of the Cortz are held
And then the multitude of churches
he great gray cathedral on the green
slope of Castle Hill; the Church of Mar
yrs, erected on the spot where Alfonso
!. mounted the city walls and rescued il
rom the Moors; the antique Church do
Coracmo do Jesus, on the "Hill of the
STAR" the handsome churches of Santa
Ingracia and San Rogue; scores of
massive converts and monasteries that
,rown the hills like medieval fortress
IS, as in truth they were in times loug
vast; and dominating all, the great,
quare, triple-batt lemented sentrv-tow-
II of Belem.
You are landed in front of one of the
argest and handsomest parks in Por-
ugal--the Praca do Commerce., which
S open to the river on the south, and
urrounded on the other three sides by
pacious arcades, behind which are
government offices and the custom
ouse. In the center of the square
lands fine bronze statue of King
'oao L., and at the middle of the north
ide an imposing trlumphal arch
marks the beginning of the cty's
rincipal street. Nearly a century and
half ago lin 1888, Lisbon was bene- ,
tied by an appalling calamity-an
arthquake that shook down two
birds of the city and buried sixty
thousand people beneath the ruins "A
leasing in terrible guise, like the great
which resulted in the
ulding Of a new Chicago. The por-
on that escaped the earthquake re-
leans as in the dawn of history, with
ark, narrow and tortuous alleys. whose
caves and crumbling bal
,nies almost touch overhead; but the
section has wide, straight
streets, lighted by gas and !,
ned with manystoried buildings. :
hough the population of Lisbon Is
tile less than two hundred and fifty :
every house seems literally !.
warming with inmates; and you mar
Ell at the size of Portuguese families, )
ntil you learn that each tall building =
divided into flats for the accommoda- 9
on of several families. While the pa
iarchal system prevails, as in many
arts of Europe-the sons and daugh- :,
RS of successive generations marry =,
g and remaining under the paternal :
of. the Portuguese nabob is rich in -
ed who spreads his Lares and Penates .
yer more than one suite Of apartments y
the same floor .
Passing under the triumphal arch and :
= the wide street, you come to another "
lndsome square--the Praco do Dom y
,dro primero. In earlier days the pal :.
a of the Inquisition stood here, and =
ose gloomy prisons from which hun =
ede Of previously tortured wretches y
In fAs n,,n "