Dull day

A dull day, no energy - still fatigued from yesterday's exertions (5k run, 18k bike ride). 

But I did go for a fast-walk with Fred this morning. Most of the passage I listened to was about a 4th of July speech given at a Women's Abolition Society meeting in Rochester (where the Douglasses lived), which Blight calls "one of the greatest speeches in American history." It apparently lasted a long time. 

More about his conversion to political abolitionism and the increasingly political tone of his newspaper, now called Frederick Douglass' Paper, after The Northern Star merged with Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party organ. Also much talk about his open advocacy of violence against "slave catchers." 

The truly abhorrent Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed slave owners to hunt down run-away slaves in northern non-slave states and actually required northern-state officials to help them, enraged abolitionists everywhere. It helped push Douglass towards the idea of armed resistance by blacks.

Douglass's relationship with John Brown, another Gerrit Smith ally, and his ambivalence about the ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry (1859), must be coming up soon. It was Douglass's depiction in The Good Lord Bird mini-series about Brown and Harpers Ferry that got me interested in this in the first place.

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My only other remotely "useful" activity today, other than making our dinner, was working on more of my winter 2016 pictures. I finished with Cádiz and moved on to Portugal.

Cádiz: old cathedral

We drove from Cádiz to the Algarve in Portugal, where we found a fabulous hotel deal. I can't remember the details but it was under $100 Canadian and, I think because it was off-season, they made it all-inclusive, with quite decent meals in a nice dining room thrown in. I had another go at this shot of a Pepto-Bismol-pink beach house we passed on a walk to the sea.

And then it was on to Lisbon where we had booked a flat in a neighbourhood called Graça, on one of the hills surrounding the city centre. This is a view of Lisbon's castle, on one of the other hills, from our apartment window.

This mural honouring women poets, painted by Mariana Dias Coutinho, was at the bottom of our street. I photographed it many times. This one, from our first full day in the city, I for some reason rejected at the time. I'm not sure which of the poetesses is shown here.

While the Lutes were with us, we hit the tourist trail hard. This tram is a No. 28, shot in Alfama near one of the several miradouros (viewpoints) overlooking the city. The tram is very popular with tourists because it follows a circular route around the city, going by or near many attractions. 

These buskers, shot just below the castle, are part of Ferro Gaita, a band originally from Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony in Africa. They actually have a fairly respectable discography, but must have been between gigs this day. If you want to hear what they sound like, follow this link.

On one of the days the Lutes were there, we took a train to Sintra in the hills north of the city. I can't remember exactly where the first one was taken. The second is one of a gazillion I shot at the bizarre Palace of Pena at the top of the hill above Sintra - to which we walked about 3k uphill. This is one I probably rejected because the sky is blown out. The palace was built for the then royal family, apparently a bunch much given to extravagance who craved the privacy this mountain aerie could give them. They also evidently liked weird, garish architecture.