John, John,
Myriam, Myriam,
Geraldine, Hazel, Marie.
Took great care of their Leader,
E-very Wed-Nes-Dee.
John, John,
Myriam, Myriam,
Said to the Leader
With glee,
"You must never go down,
To the Street Art in Town,
Without first consulting We"
And so it came to pass that the aforementioned five, met with their Leader Paul at ten in the forenoon at the Cafe do Bairro in Lagos, in eager anticipation of an unparalleled tour of the wonders of Lagos.
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| Start at Cafe do Bairro. L-R: Paul, Hazel, Myriam, John and seated Geraldine and Maria. |
Rogue Paparazzi trying to hide behind a chair to snap the WAG Celebs
This was the second time I had run this tour, so some photos of the art will be similar, but hopefully this time by a better photographer, as John H had his trusty Sony and his artistic eye.
The previous event can be found HERE which will save me posting any of my photos again.
Worth having a look at the track here, to get an idea of the scale of Lagos, the walk was about 10km. Start point is marked at Cafe do Bairro above and to the right of the centre of the photo
This time there were twice as many participants, so if the trend continues it may have to be a ticket only event, as with the increased number of interested viewers our pace was considerably slowed. Twice we were passed by two old ladies carrying shopping baskets, and once by a fat old man on a mobility scooter! In future, I may have to build in some extra time to account for Hazel's frequent forays into the undergrowth to liberate plastic bottle caps from redundant bottles to add to her impressive curated collection.
We actually got going a shade before 1030, having lingered over coffee at Cafe de Bairro. It was a fairly brisk morning by Algarve standards, around 11C.
Straight to one of the more dramatic pieces on the Avenida.
Just as we arrived, a scruffy German camper pulled up and parked in front of the artist's signature before letting his new puppy out for a dump, but the photographer skilfully managed to excise that. The artist is Aryz, and the painting was done in 2014 as part of the Labaratorio de Actividades Criativas initiative entitled ARTURb IN MY WALL and was quite controversial at the time as many locals disliked the subject matter. .
Slouching past the Marina.
From here we headed for the Woodman painting, expressing perfectly a philosophy of life in the Algarve.
Again we took to the rural part of the walk near Continente at the top of Avenida da Fonte Coberta, and unfortunately the convenient tunnel was flooded so we carried on and passed Restaurante Vai e Remos to reach the vertical bus.
This photo was the result of...........
.........this effort by Snapper John.
Some time passed, Myriam tried to blag a calendar from an Electrical shop, but as it was only 28th December they hadn't arrived yet. The ladies made friends with a bewildered alsatian who had seen his chance to see the world when his owner had left the gate open. Spikey, as we learnt his name was, safely returned to a castigation from the lady owner. The pace was unhurried and we entered a playground where there was a chance to exercise other parts of the body.
On, on and on back towards the centre. Down to the first underpass where we couldn't resist re-enacting the picture.
The other side of the road was the very notable piece exhorting passers by to disentangle themselves from the trammels of everyday life..........
and 'leave your shit behind'!
This was done in 2014 by a visiting Portuguese artist Mario Belem.
Further on an inspirational man, Lord Baden-Powell adorns the Scout Troop HQ.
Straight after this the second underpass was again adorned on both sides......
A 2014 piece by Pipsqueak was here!!!
A better shot than last time as the regular cars were not parked in front . By Daan Bottlek in 2016, a variation on (Maria) Newton's Cradle.
I for one was getting rather peckish by this stage, but attempts to hurry the group fell on deaf ears. We hit the most heavily painted area in Rua Lancelote de Freitas, and necessary photography was not the only reason for slow progress as Hazel and Maria found many places to windowshop.
A form of Gordian Knot by Mar, a Portuguese and a collaboration of some exotic tile designs by Add Fuel with interspaced representations of Picasso by Eime, also Portuguese, all from 2013
A fantasy painting of eagles, greyhounds, speedboats and sharks from the fevered imagination of Draw, a Portuguese, Onur and Wes21, both Swiss.
A wonderful depiction of a crouching woman looking at a fish near the Cultural centre by Bezt, a Polish Artist.
Here I saw my opportunity and diverted to Cafe Odeon, beloved of backpackers and a long time holding the No. 1 spot for cafes in Lagos in Trip Advisor. Luckily by about 1315 hrs, which it already was, we managed to secure a tight table of 6 seats for an All Day breakfast.
This is what being a WAG is all about. The Eggs Benedicts were produced, along with two Odeon Breakfasts and two Vegetarian breakfasts, Myriam got her camomile tea John had a glass of wine (red goes with bacon and eggs, apparently) and Paul and Maria had their essential coffee.
Eggs were attacked before I remembered to take the pic! And all this for less than €5 per head including a decent tip.
Rejuvenated we pressed on with some more to see before we made it back to Cafe do Bairro,
A bar entrance in Central Lagos
A Guard Dog near the Benfica Footbal Club meeting bar
Appropriately on the side wall of a Strip Club.
and time for a last drag as we headed uphill to the City walls.
Right next to GNR HQ
a heartfelt sentiment, probably directed at Tourists from the Lacobrigensas.
For the record, here are the stats as culled from my Garmin GPS.
“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
The group proved themselves to be art lovers: spent nearly two hours standing in front of the murals!!
ReplyDeleteThe brunch at the Odeon and the slice of rich fruit cake from Hazel filled me so much that my dinner was only some boiled sweet peas!
An interesting walk which covers all the significant pieces of street art in Lagos(until next year).
ReplyDeleteThe breakfasts look very healthy, not!
A most erudite blog - poetry and informed commentary - to cap an excellent if unusual walk. Clearly PaulaDev has a potential career as an up-market tour guide.
ReplyDelete