To mark a double celebration, we took a few days off in Lisbon, a city of beauty and charm which I’ll try and convey in snapshots rather than words. Click on any picture to enlarge it. Our hotel was not far from the great Praça do Marquês Pombal, above. I didn’t discover who the Marquess of Pombal was till I could look him up in Wikipedia. He was as important to Portugal as his monument implies. His bronze effigy gazes in perpetuity on the city whose rebuilding he supervised after the earthquake of 1755. Two noble presences, each with an impressive mane—Pombal and his attendant lion— gaze over the horizon to a Portugal he helped free from the influence of Jesuits and their Inquisition. I suppose this castle survived the earthquake, but confess we made no study of history whilst there, and never stepped into a museum. There was too much to admire by just wandering around the streets. For example the Santa Justa Lift (1902), Lisbon’s riposte to the Eiffel Tower. K had originally sug...