Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-08
LISBON MAY LOOM LARGE
ON ATLANTIC AIR ROUTE
Portuguese Capital, in Same Latitude
as Washington, Has Charm Not
Generally Known.


impressive souvenir Commerce is to
be found further inland. along the Rua
do Quro, street of Gold" where the
banks are and the real buzz and bus
tie of the town are at their intensest
in the region of another square, the
Rossio, or Rolling Motion"-so nick
named, and thus officially denominated
on street car signs, from wiggly- wavy
pattern in black and white mosaic
which used to cover almost the entire
| area of the square.
| It was an effect which seafaring visi-
tors found particularly puzzling to the
| feet and eyes; most so on the way
home The Wiggles, alas! were sacri-
| feed not long ago in favor of more as
phalt for automobiles but the name
lives. despite the fact that this square,
with its attractive fountains and it's
National Theater as grand ending. Is
supposed to be in honor of a king gen.
tleman who occupies tall column in
the center, an altitude which at night
gives him an opportunity to be blinked
at by electric advertising signs.
At any rate, the Rossio is the center
Of CAB and sidewalk cluttering. It In
cludes newspaper row and magazine
dom. Also, the principal commercial
hotels, the most thronged cafes and,
just around the corner, the main rail-
road station. A few minutes beyond
this square another one. with an ODE
lisk. opens the way to Lisbons Champs
Elysees, called the Avenida de Liber-
dade, a really superb concourse with
three parallel driveways divided by
long islands" of flower beds, palms
and other trees. all as Partisan as pos
sible except the vegetation.
Some Buildings Skyscrapers.
Such is Low Town, with movie thea
tiers and Maxim's swanky night club
and what not. It Is the part Of Lisbon
which the Lisboners are most enthusi-
astic about. But a stranger, being less
interested in the joys of local politics,
somehow fails to catch the thrill, even
though American products in the shop
windows and American automobiles
everywhere look strangely familiar.
Even some of the building; in sight are
not unlike skyscrapers, due to their
being perched on the next block"
which happens to be about seven stories
above the level of the square. One as
cends to them by means of penny ele-
vators, sometimes located right in the
middle of the street-Lisbon being q
place of AL levels except the level"
once one gets outside Low Town.
The prize hill of all, the oldest in
habited one. has been community ever
since the Phoenicians nosed into the
Tagus and settled here some $500 years
ago. Later it was the principal seaport
own OF Roman Lusitania. And then,
after Visigothic interim, was Moorish,
Until captured by the Christians in the
'Welfth century as part Of the program
II the founding of Portugal
Today, despite the old brown cathe-
7ral on its shoulder and the white fort
IN its summit. which used to be Lisbon
Castle, the Hill of st. George still locks
is Moorish past to a fascinating de-
gree: too seasoned a nut for even the
earthquake to crack. But such is prog
ress, one may, for the sum of $50 rnilreis.
ascend through the labyrinth of its ruas
IN an electrico, or trolley car bearing
the makers name of j. G. Brill Co. of
Philadelphia; the conductor" (Which is
portuguese for "motorman," as distinct
from the aisle manager who sells YOU
the pink tickets or the inspector who
gets aboard to punch them), being as
sisted at extra tight corners by signal
men who bob up waving green discs re-
sembling pingpong rackets with elon-
gated handles, In token that the invisi-
BILE coast Is clear, which adds greatly
convention fiat wheel or cataleptic
brake is absent. Indeed, these unso-
phisticated Lisbon conductors just do
not seem to know what a trolley car
can sound like If allowed to.
More Modern Sections.
The other hills, bearing university
buildings botanical gardens, diplomatic
colonies or anything that happens to
have taken hold there, are modern, their
settlements dating mostly from the six
tenth century boom which resulted
from Vasco da Gama's clever looping
around the bottom of Africa to Calicut.
India, and thereby securing a virtual
monopoly OF the spice and gem trade
at us source. You cannot make 5000
per cent profit on a voyage without
starting SOMETHING in your home town.
Da Cana and his caravels are exult-
antly referred to architecturally in the
amazing Hieronymite monastery and
church at Be,em, the river front suburb
(noW part OF the city, from which he
set sail. Manuel the spice king, using
a percentage Of the profits which the
Indies brought into the royal pocket
book, has here evolved an original kind
d flortd Gothic. full of howsers, anchor
chains and every conceivable ship allu-
sion, and blending in suggestions of the
Orient, souvenirs of the Moors and the
new exuberance of Renaissance. Theo-
retically the melange Is as unorthodox
as the structure of these buildings is
daring, yet the 90-foot unsupported
transept vault of the church survived
the earthquake and criticism can do
nothing about the fact that Manuel
cloister, with its Indo- Florentine Gothic
shlprigging is an utter marvel. Ex-
element will have it's say!