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Aah thats the morning I arrive as well...(after 30 hours flying)...Hence the reason I checked into those solplay hotel/apartments that Luis recommended...for three nights (at that reduced price)...seems it will be a bit quieter than the centre of town?... A bit of luxury to deal with the jet lag, nice views, and a kitchenette to get my own food in when I want to, also a lovely looking pool to deal with the heat when Im not looking around the district.....I typed in "Alges Portugal" as theres one in Brazil as well, which found it....So we are leaving town on the same day. Though I'm intending to first go North to Porto and region for a few days, then at some point head east through Spain and France to see friends in Italy (Florence) and will fly out of Rome on the 7th August.....So like you....the dream trip huh!?... ...
And yes there is a train and a road that appears to run right along the side of the river there, and then further North to cassias and the other seaside villages .....it will be great wont it!.....Apparently its only 10 to 15 minutes on the train back in the other direction to the city....Intending on walking a lot too...this office has kept me inside a lot lately!...

So Dear Leonard Cohen has brought us there for the concert experience we'll never forget...but Im sure we will find the depth of the culture of the place,the people, the history, the food,...will all combine to make it a wonderful time

How exciting it all is. I just found out that we will not have much time in Spain at all as we have to be back on the Tuesday following the concert for hubby's conference in Tomar, which starts on Wednesday till Sunday. So I guess my hope to visit Avila will not happen. We are headed to Ciudad Real ( Don Quixote, here we come) I will have to look for ways to entertain myself. Does anyone have suggestions about things to see in Tomar and its environs. The conference hotel looks great online --the hoteldostemplarios. I may just want to relax there, but then again. No matter--I am thrilled to have such a great opportunity.

Hi Theresa,
If you're staying in Tomar you should visit the castle and, inside it, the Templar's Convent of Christ, which architecture and sculptures (namely the famous Window) made it being classified as World Heritage by Unesco.
It is a fine place to stay and relax...
Cheers,

This is slightly off the topic...but tell me St Theresa..do you ever see much of Jennifer Warnes performing in Canada??...She's been a favourite of mine for years especially since she put out famous blue raincoat....I see she had a new album last year and I wondered if she ever tours much over there??...

Hi Luis and New Zealander--
Thanks for the info Luis re Tomar. It sounds delightful.
New Zealander--I have not heard much about Jennifer Warnes but thanks for asking the question as I learned when I looked online that she will be here in concert in September. I went to her website and was rather taken with this story.

December 27, 2007
A wonderful story from a long time fan, Peter Banfield:
Canis lupus occidentalis is commonly known as the timber wolf. It is a subspecies of Canis lupus (the grey wolf) and is the largest member of the wolf family. This particular timber wolf ranges Jasper National Park, Canada's largest and most northerly rocky mountain park. He is a fully-grown adult male and a very handsome guy.

It is 0003 (three minutes past midnight) Thursday, December 27. The night is clear and moonlit. The location: Half a mile south of the Jasper town site on the Colombia Ice fields Parkway (little-traveled at this time of year).
Earlier that day I had purchased Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat", one of my all-time favorites since it first appeared 20 years ago. On leaving Jasper, I popped it into my car's CD player. A few minutes later I was listening to "Bird On A Wire" with lots of volume. Saw something standing in the middle of the road, right on the centerline. As I came closer it turned and walked casually to the side of the road. This is where I am saying to myself, "holy ****, it's a wolf!" He stops on top of the berm paralleling the road (the one the snowplows leave); I draw even with him and stop. He turns his head and we look at each other (he's about 30 feet away). I power down the driver's side window for a better look and things start to happen.
He watches (listens?) for a few seconds, lowers his head, gives three or four barks, then lifts his head and launches into a classic wolf howl. I am sitting there astonished as it sinks in that we are in the last minute or so of "Bird On A Wire", at which point Jennifer is humming and the sax is heard distinctly. After 20 or 30 seconds, the track ends--and the wolf stops his howl. I am not making this up. We look at each other in silence for another 20 or 30 seconds, and I think: ".......this is too perfect......I'm going to head on my way before another car appears or something else happens to diminish this moment......". So I did.
And there it is. I thought Jennifer would appreciate hearing of this particular midnight choir. By the way, I think we can safely assume that this wolf would also be a Leonard Cohen fan. Think about it: both Canadian, both male, and both known as singers of songs addressed to the female of the species.
With appreciation for all those years of wonderful music,
Peter Banfield

WOW!!...what a story...so bird on a wire stopped the wolf in its tracks!...If you get a chance to listen she's just put out a wonderful 20th Anniversary version of that Famous Blue Raincoat CD...and its been digitally remastered...(And inside it there is a lovely little book with some of Leonard's Artwork on the cover and he has scrawled a title "Jenny Sings Lenny"), then there are pictures (and letters) inside of them both touring on a bus probably 20 years ago when they made that cd together....Its just lovely, quite magical really.. .My opinion is that for me she is the only woman I know who sings his songs with any sort of magic....and he obviously agreed to be involved with her making it as well....Their "Joan of Arc " together still brings tears to my eyes 20 years later.....(Now Now settle down!)....And she's performing again in September in Canada??.!!!...(well now how can I somehow get lost and divert myself across there for two months after my Europe trip??.)..that one will be an impossibility..but never mind....if you get to go perhaps you can come back here and tell us about it.

Its the weekend here and Ive been once more looking at Lisbon on the web and realising as Luis said that three days to see Lisbon is actually almost an impossibility!!...never mind I know that I want to get to the mouth of the river and up the coast a bit and see Casias,Carcavelos and Sintra....but also the centre of the old part of the city too....I read about these big escalators!! that take you up hills!!..and of course the trams....I think that jet lag will just have to take a back seat!....and then there are these bikes you can hire down by the waterfront and go over those bridges.....

You are staying quite a way inland I see, but Im sure we can find ourselves on the day...

The first snow came in early here the last few days!..brrrr.. But there is this shining light in July leading North...see you there!..

New Zealander

http://www.jenniferwarnes.com/fbr20-gallery/index.html

This site has some amazing pics of Jennifer Warnes and Leonard as well as info on the 20th anniversary edition. I am sure there must be a link somewhere on this site. But I had not yet stumbled across it.

Aaah.thanks for that St Theresa, there are many more pictures in there than are in the "little book"....Ive thought that about Jennifer's web site before, always very personal and inclusive of her friends and family, and the team she works with..There are some more nice pictures of her and Leonard in there as well that I have not seen.

Like you Ive seen no reference to this anywhere else on here, but I guess this is Leonards site... And some who come here possibly think it is not so good that others sing his songs?....Interested though to read an interview on the Spanish concert thread about how he clearly feels (ok)? about others singing his songs.....

Hi Newzealander,
There are many members of this forum (not least myself) who have a great admiration for Jennifer Warnes, as a solo performer,a great interpreter of Leonard's songs and as a backing vocalist on some of Leonard's studio and live performances.
(She toured with him in 1972 and 1979).
In interview Leonard referred to Jennifer as a 'true friend' who,in the face of adversity from record companies,managed to release her 'Famous Blue Raincoat' album,which played no small part in rekindling interest in Leonard's work and career in the late 80s.
If you use the search function at the top of any forum page and enter Jennifer's
name, you will see how often she features on this site.
BTW Have you heard her magical album 'The Well'? Terrific.
Dave

Hi Davido,
Yes I thought it was her voice on a few of his songs..(Dance me to the end of Love) in particular, but recently I saw that done beautifully on youtube (that live version on his The Essential Leonard Cohen Album with the violins) and it appeared to be another woman, I think that was the 1993 concert. Yes I have "The Well" and the other one before that "The Hunter"...also an amazing album!..her voice has such a wonderful range, and its so warm and full of life! ....it would become my dream to die for if they announced Jennifer as Leonard's support act, but dreams dont always come true do they. I see that there is another album out recently also (November 2007) called "Jennifer". I priced it the other day in town and it was $45 NZ as an import. Its even quite expensive on Amazon.com so I decided to wait till after my trip to Europe and see what I may find over there....??....(There's just one thing about her 20th Anniversary Album that I felt a bit sad about..the digital remastering of the original was great, but then in the bonus track of Joan of Arc Live...she's singing on her own.. : I guess I had been so used to them both singing it together so beautifully that I thought it sounded like.."just half of a whole"....)

Thanks for your input Davido and a bit more information , I love these discussions that just add to our knowledge of the best thing around...music..

I'm back from the 4 day family weekend out in Costa da Caparica, next to Lisbon, Portugal. It was impossible for me to have a ride to the city and have a glance at a venue. The weather was fine so we just stayed at the beach, which was what the kids really wanted.
Anyhow, that's not what I've intented to comment on...
What happened to me is absolutely amazing: my brother in-law kindly agreed to stay with the kids for a couple of hours in the night before the mother's day so that my husband and I could go and have a drink at a piano bar with live music at the hotel. And you know what the piano man played among other typical standards? "Halleluyah"!!! I was so touched that I broke into tears, silly of me...
And there I am still waiting for the miracle (19th July) to come. I hope Leonard plays this one and "Take this Waltz" on that concert...

Hullo Magda,
I was just wondering about you, hoping you had not decided to now go to Spain for the concert??....Thats a lovely wee story ..almost like you thought you were having a preview of it all several months before!??....I was out this evening also it was my daughter's 27th birthday!!.(I am getting old)...she was saying to me that now I am coming to see the concert that she had been taking more interest in Leonard Cohen songs and that in fact suddenly she was listening and that they are beautiful!!....She is so pleased now that I am coming and we talked about my big adventure on the train after Portugal travelling through Spain (to Barcelona) then on through France and Italy to Florence, then to Venice and Rome....(Over several weeks though...)

And I am like you..I love both those songs and do hope he sings them....we will have to find each other to stand together as he sings them??....

NewZealander: I would strongly persuade you not to take train from Lisbon to Barcelona. It's just a loss of time. Take a bus to Madrid and then an express train to Barcelona. For the info check http://www.auto-res.net It's cheaper, more comfortable, especially if you pick up the express coach (seats are better than those of the plane business class) and not to mention that it is up to 3 hours quicker... Should you need any extra info regarding connections or whatever, send me a private message.
And yes, I would love to listen to the concert next to you, St. Theresa, Luis, Catwhiskers, BlueBird and Polarfox (I hope you got your tickets). My husband admits he's going only because it's so important to me so it will be great to get surrounded by more cohenites. I still think how we can meet there in Lisbon, though the fado late night show may be a little bit complicated as the LC concert is rather far away from the center and then we have to be back to our hotels. Well, if the weather permits we can meet earlier the day of the concert in Belem and then just have a walk (ride?) to the place.

HI again, I will be actually hanging around in Portugal for maybe a week. going North to Porto the day after the concert and then having a look around up there for a few days ....I will talk to you privately though about the best ways to travel as the Travel Agent over here is telling me to buying a Europass (I think it is) train ticket over here, for the four countries and the number of days and nights I will be intending to be on it. Apparently (she said) it is much cheaper for tourists than it is for the locals..there is a (NZ) website with all the prices on that I have been studying, I will send you the link....but it would be very good to talk to you privately about all that so that I can make some comparisons. So Im not absolutely certain that I will be travelling into Spain from Lisbon, it appears on the map that I can get across from about half way up the country??..who knows..maps sometimes look far easier than the reality eh.... ...Talk again soon, I think meeting in Belem is good....Ive been looking at a book with pictures of those custard pastries!...and the beautiful shop fronts....

I will serve any info any of you may need as far as my knowledge of the subject permits. Feel free to contact me privately via e-mail.
Re: interrail tickets they are good value, my husband visited Europe in his late teens that way. The problem is the actual connection in between the cities. The Lisbon - Madrid in particular is very slow and the train itself isn't any comfortable either. On the other hand, if you pick Ave (fast train) from Madrid to Barcelona is a pure delight. I have to inquire about the connection from Lisbon to Porto.
The Belem Pastry Shop is beautiful inside as well, the pity the interiors are rather tiny, may be complicated to arrange a meeting there, anyhow we may try. I will give them a call and ask whether they accept a reservation for a group of... well, say 20?
I am looking forward to read the set-lists of the concerts that start next week. I wonder if they vary much one night from another.
Well, high time for me to take Livia to sleep and have some time to relax with my favourite series (which happens to be House, MD).
Take good care, good night or good day...