Men Among the Ruins Tour--Portugal

Wednesday, November 9: After several months of planning and calculating, November 9 finally arrived and it was time to board our respective planes for the overseas flights to our first European destination; the lovely little medieval city of Sintra, Portugal. Robert and I flew separately, he from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania while I departed from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Thursday, November 10: Our concert was scheduled for Saturday, November 12, so arriving in Portugal on November 10 gave us a few days to rest and attempt to alleviate the inevitable “jet-lag” and to allow us to see the beauty of the area. Greeted at the Lisbon airport by two of our charming hosts Rui and Michael, I felt again as I have in the past when meeting several people in Europe, that we were like family who’d known each other all our lives.

Upon arriving in Sintra, since I had slept several hours during my flight, I decided to take a walking tour of the beautiful estate of Quinta da Regaleira that afternoon. I had savored the idea of visiting this beautiful estate from the time I had received a descriptive brochure from another of our fine hosts, Mauricio, several months earlier. I was certainly not disappointed as the climb up this winding estate revealed another glorious structure around every turn. [The first two photographs are of the winding Sintra street on the way to the estate]

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Friday, November 11: On the following day we were guided by friends Pedro and Sara through many of the sites of nearby Lisbon. What struck me most about Sintra and Lisbon was the preponderance of mosaic-type square stone walks and streets. In several open areas of Lisbon, designs were developed using stones of different colors (usually black on white). The following beautiful photographs were taken by Sara Lucas.

This was also the evening that Andrew King and his fellow performers would arrive. I had communicated with Andrew on the internet while working on the graphics for our Terra Fria release but this was the first time we would be meeting him and his group in person (although we had previously met John Murphy in Chicago in, yes, December, 2003). It was quite a pleasure to meet and work with these great people.

Our hosts brought us all to an excellent restaurant near the ocean where we had delicious meals accompanied by the marvelous port wines for which Portugal is known. Great food and company followed by a stroll outside in the midst of balmy breezes listening to and watching the phosphorescent waves under a partly cloudy moonlit sky. It was definitely something close to paradise.

Saturday, November 12: The day of the concert arrived. Though we had been fortunate to have great weather from the time of our arrival, as luck would have it, this day was cold and wet. Rather uneventful, it was spent relaxing before going to the hall for the sound check of the two groups. During most of Andrew King’s great performance (of which I would liked to have seen more) Robert and I were interviewed by a Lisbon radio station. The gentleman interviewing us spoke impeccable English and truly understood our music. It was one of the best live interviews we've had.

Then it came our time to perform. The cold, wet weather and the cold temperature of the hall didn’t dampen the spirits of the audience (most of them had to continue wearing their coats throughout the evening). Fortunately, for the performers, the stage lights provided enough heat so that after a few minutes on stage, the temperature became rather comfortable. However, it was interesting and strange to see steam rising from the microphone at momentary intervals while we sang!

[The next two concert photos were taken by Stalker Vitki]

Nicholas, John Murphy, Robert and Andrew King performing "Anthem to Freedom"

(The following photos taken on the evening of November 12 are by Sara Lucas)