We’ll never forget our visit to this city museum of Lisbon. Memorable is the huge model of pre-earthquake Lisbon and extensive archaeological exhibits of Roman excavations. Unfortunately, all of the exhibits are described only in Portuguese and the female receptionist and male guard my husband questioned about one of the Roman exhibits did not understand English, or my Spanish either. This museum is filled with paintings, old prints, and skillfully mounted exhibits on Lisbon’s history; the thorough care with which everything is displayed cries out be enhanced by brochures and/or descriptions in other languages to make its wealth of information more accessible to visitors.
Despite this linguistic barrier, we enjoyed touring this museum not only for its careful exhibits, but also for the faded, neo-classical beauty of the Palacio Pimenta, where it is housed. The Palacio needs paint, polish, and repair of its lovely 18th-century façade. But in many rooms are glorious azulejos appropriate to the room’s original use. Dom Joao the Fifth used this palacio as a summer retreat when he couldn’t get away further from Lisbon to his Sintra Palacio Nacional. Campo Grande, the large field, was the "boonies" during his day, a rural area on the northwestern fringe of the city of Lisbon. As the photo shows, the entrance leads to a large courtyard where one could dismount from a horse or carriage and then extends further into the gardens.
These unexpectedly lovely gardens show signs of some maintenance, but have the potential to become glorious again. The darkened marine fountain with a mermaid statuary was the initial focus of our attention as we strolled through this charming oasis of old Lisbon. Abruptly, the air rang with frantic but commanding shouts from a woman who emerged from a gallery on the edge of the gardens. She was objecting to the way a truck driver was backing into the gallery’s driveway.
I tried to look elsewhere as my hubby proceeded to take photos of the interchange between this lady and the truck driver. When she became aware of my husband she began to alternately glare in his direction and in that of the beleaguered truck driver, who was backing up and going forward in a series of maneuvers meant to alleviate her anxieties we surmised. My husband was a good distance away from her unlike the driver who finally satisfied her with his parking after about 10 minutes of such back and forth moves. Abashed at my husband’s photographing her, I also was trying to suppress laughing at this whole scene of female command by the Madeline Albright look-alike before me. Goodness knows that if I’d laughed out loud as I’d wanted to, she probably would have turned her forceful glare on me!