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Show 1 IS A CITY OF H-lLLSlfl f &, Sunny Capital of Portugal kI I fjU) I AS BJ 1 1 I (SPECIAL. CORRESPONDENCE) g Lisbon is a city all up and down hill. Tho seven hills of Rome nro nothing to It; it seoniu to bo built on about fifty, and to facilitate matters thero aro numbers of small cog-wheel cars continually ascending and do-r.condlng do-r.condlng from ono lovol to another apparently always full. Thero is also p vast system of open electric street cars for tho lovol places, called car-ros car-ros Americanos, built In Philadelphia. Tho chief opon spaco Is tho Prnco do Commerclo, n largo and handsome square, which is surrounded by public pub-lic buildings. Tho harbor Is ono of tho finest in iho world, and tho quays extend ex-tend between two and threo miles along tho bank of the river. Tho town Itself Is a placo of romoto antiquity. Its earliest namo was Ollslpo, by which It was known when It was tho capital of tho Lusitanians. It has been neld since then, in turn, by tho Romans, tho Goths, nnd tho Moors, but in 1117 Alphonso I. of Portugal wrested It from tho Infidel. Tho city suffered from n sovero earthquako In 1314, and was visited by a plague In 1318; the greatest disaster, however, how-ever, befell- It Nov. 1, 17G5, when In less than ten minutes tho greater part of tho city was made a heap of nilns, from 30,000 to 40,000 persons woio killed, and damage was dono to tho amount of noarly twenty millions sterling by one of the greatest earthquako earth-quako convulsions on record. Thero aro several other rather queer things In Portugal, but tho beds aro tho queerest. A wooden floor sometimes seems to yield, tho human form adapts Itself, fits in as It wore, more or less to the inequalities of a rock surface; but these beds are adamantine ad-amantine and when you wako up you feel as if you had pa'ssed tho night on a gridiron. Tho meals also nro peculiar. Ab In some parts of Spain, you aro supposed to have but two heavy ones, and nothing to begin the day upon'. Hero 'it Is tho almoco, breala'nst, from 9, to 12 o'clock, and jantar, dlniKjr, at ovenlng. What an uncouth and Arabic sound theso names havo!-' At both thoy servo Innumerable In-numerable courses, but at tho first no dessert or) fruit appears only a largo cup of black ' coffeo, and Just before this, as tho last Item -on tho bill of faro, tho waiter comes and asks you if you will havo eggs boiled or fried. Cintra Is tho placo In Portugal. It Is a beautiful spot, a favorite summer resort for Lisbon and other Portuguese Portu-guese pooplo, and even somowhat frequented fre-quented by tho English. Hero tho Queon Mother, Dona Maria Pia, has her summer residence. It Is a quaint old palace, bearing In parts traces of its original Moorish architecture, and l mk PR iiPPfPPM it i i ( ! Of Modern Build, in othors decorated in oxtravagant Kmanuol Btylo. Thero aro, and need to bo, no fireplaces, in tho palace, but tho celling of tho attractive and enormous kltcbon forms two glgantlo cones, with groat oponlnga for tho fumes and smoko to escape, and out- side tho tops of theso cones tow r up like factory chimneys, and aro vlslblo W far and wide. Ja. Batalha and Thomar, nnd porhaps ju two or threo other places In Portugal, fl would well deserve a visit, but wo had not tlmo for those. But beforo wo i leavo tho country I must not forgot ' L ono more thing which is almost B ill I 1 fit J ' ' 1 i 'iv: i I V wra I uiSfcrc BJ liiiiii!P3ii I Ancient Lisbon Church. fl queerer than tho bods that Is tho BJ money. Many amusing talcs arc told jfl of tho consternation of foreigners BJ when their bills aro presented to BJ them and thoy think that they aro HJ ruined. Indeed, it is rather appalling BJ after a stay of n few days, to find y that you nro indebted for tens of thou- a sands. But it is for thousands of BJ rcls, tho smallest clurrcnt coin in B Europe, nnd tho sums, after all, B amount to but a very reasonable num- g ber of francs. B It Is somewhat fatiguing business B rr-C? 3 I I The Avnelda Da Llberdale. -5""- to get back from Lisbon to Madrid, 1 especially If your ticket obliges you I to go by way of Badajoz, whero you I arrive at 7 o'clock in tho morning I and havo to wait until tho mlddlo of tho nftornoon. Thero Is nothing to seo here, but tho town Is historically Interesting, having sustained sovoral sieges and passed into tho possession of ono country nftor another, until m It was finally taken by tho French and given back to tho Spaniards by tho Duko of Wellington In 1812, while Nnnolcon was away In Russia. Un to this tlmo wo had had delightful summer weather, but It bogan to bo cold In Madrid, and at tho Escurlal we wore plunged into winter again. Tho Escurlal is tho only "scrougoy" - placo In Spain, but hero they lay a trap for you Into which you can hardly help falling. Tho two hotels send omnibuses to tho station, each provided with a guide, whom you can scarcely avoid employing, nlthough ho Is quito superfious, for tickets to all parts of tho Escurlal aro distributed gratis nnd each division Is presided over by Its own custodian. Thon, having hav-ing you at their mercy, thoy can ask you what prlco they pleaso for meals, and altogether tho visit to tho Escurlal Escu-rlal Is attended with somo voxatlon of spirit. The palaco Itself Is, as It had romainod In our recollection, dull and gloomy, and ovon tho "Pantheon of tho Kings," whero all tho rules of Spain aro burled In black sarcophagi, ono abovo another, was not particularly particu-larly Impressive. Tho Pantheon of tho Infantas, howovor, Is interesting and rather beautiful. It Is a series of whlto halls filled with snowy sarcophagi, sar-cophagi, numbers of thorn occupied, but many awaiting tholr futuro tenants. ten-ants. Ono wondors whether sovereigns sover-eigns onough will ovor sit on tho throne of Spain to furnish Infantas I for all theso marblo cofllns. Don John i of Austria v lies alone, ns If in state, J and ndmlrnbly chosen mottoes and j versos from tho Scriptures, engraved J upon tho sarcophagi, lend an added .. j dignity to theso resting places of tho j sona and daughters of kings. ' i I . |
