In Lisbon, in the square that everyone knows as Rossio, in the heart of the city, there is a tavern, which keeps the memory of a time when this square was full of cafes and taverns, one of the favorite meeting points of the Portugueses.
It’s the Tendinha, which since 1840 continues to represent one of the landmarks of Lisbon and beyond, for those who want to take a break and eat something while drinking a cold beer or a glass of wine.
And when we say Tendinha, we say Alfredo.
His image and Tendinha’s are closely linked.
Alfredo, alfacinha doc (a nice way of saying authentic Lisbon), has been working in this place for over twenty years. He saw time pass, places and tastes change, many customers, each with their own history, and he is present in this place, which he perfectly knows, since 1998.
I am sure that anyone who has been to Lisbon has been to Tendinha at least once. And you will certainly remember Alfredo.
Many hours of his day are dedicated to work and no doubt this can be tiring, even if Alfredo always finds a way to give space to his interests, such as visiting new places, as well as photography and dancing, a passion discovered 20 years ago. His personality is certainly versatile, and a friendliness that make him a real point of reference in this place. Alfredo says that a writer also mentioned the Tendinha in one of his books and, obviously, he didn’t forget to mention it too.
And if you want to know the history of Tendinha, there is no better person.
Alfredo tells us that Tendinha had only three owners in its long history: the first family was from Viseu and remained the owner of the place until 1974, passing this place from father to son, then the last heir, who dedicated himself to other things, decided to sell the tavern. And 12 years ago the current owner bought it and became the third official owner.
But ten Tendinha, despite the passing of the years, hasn’t changed much. The only major change occurred in 1974 and then it remained almost completely the same.
In its original appearance, it had an upper floor where the ginjinha (traditional cherry liqueur) was produced, which was later sold on the lower floor where the tavern existed and still exists.
The Tendinha was never a tavern where people came just to drink, but it also always sold sandwiches and snacks (traditional croquettes based on cod or meat or shrimp, etc.).
When Tendinha was founded it was in 1840, although recently a newspaper article reports its inauguration as early as 1818. Lisbon was very different from what it seems today, the city limits were not far from Rossio and, where today stands the elegant Avenida of Liberdade, were gardens.
People did not eat at home, among other things in many houses there was no kitchen, as charcoal in wooden houses would have been the immediate cause of the fire. For a long time eating in taverns or in the so-called “casa de pasto” (old taverns) was a common habit and this also explains the low cost, in the old taverns, even today. Eating out wasn’t a luxury, it was a necessity. And in the past, says Alfredo, people came here to heat or cook food and in exchange they bought wine.
Over time, people’s tastes have also changed and certain “recipes” no longer exist. Alfredo tells us, for example, that until a few years ago, sandwiches with cod croquettes and quince paste were bought at Tendinha, or ham with meat or cod croquettes were combined in the same sandwich. Today the offer is more modern and better suited to current tastes.
But the menu was not Tendinha’s only big change. Ten years ago, in a tavern managed by a man and frequented by men, a woman arrived: Margarida.
It seems strange to us to think that only ten years ago a woman could have had difficulty in being welcomed, but the Tendinha has always been a place out of time and has always been a very conservative place, where regular customers went for a drink and, drinking a bier or a glass of wine, they talked to Alfredo, man to man.
When Margarida started working at the tavern, she tells us, sometimes they told her that they were waiting for Alfredo to be available, to ask him directly.
Margarida had to face many difficulties to integrate in this environment, but she doesn’t lack character and that’s why today there is no Tendinha without Alfredo, but neither without Margarida.
It takes her a while to start, but when she start to tell, she opens up a truly irresistible memory box. And here we find that many clients, witnessing the irresistible fights between the both, often think they are married and Margarida confesses to us that when she started working there, to defend herself against unwanted suitors or to assert her presence in the tavern, she and Alfredo actually pretended to be married.
Today they really look like an old couple: they mess with each other, tease each other, joke. And when doing that, they create a truly unique work environment, made up of a lot of work, but also a lot of laughs.
Among the episodes she tells us, she also tells us that at the beginning of her presence there in the tavern, many customers, used to having a typical “bar” conversation and comments not appropriate to the presence of a lady, for example about the animatographer of Rossio, now dedicated to peepshows, began to invent a code, to talk about planes and boings so as not to be understood by Margarida, or so they thought. Sometimes she went to the kitchen to make them more comfortable.
But there are also poetic memories, like mister César who wrote poems on the napkins that Margarida still keeps in a box. Once, a group of Angolan poets gathered inside the tavern and spent the night not consuming, but reciting poetry for hours and hours, creating a moment that Margarida remembers as truly magical.
Of course, there is also someone who has already had a lot of drinks or who comes to drink after going through many bars and then Alfredo has his way of avoiding serving more: “Do you have a membership card? Not? Sorry, I cannot serve to you more alcohol ”
La Tendinha is a unique place of its kind and everything guarantees that the old environment is preserved: the place, the menu and even the glasses that the new owner carefully guards for being part of the history of this place.
It is obvious that over time Tendinha’s clientele has changed. Before, one tourist arrived a week and now there are more tourists than locals. Before, they went to Tendinha because it was a reference, now they stop because in the heart of Lisbon it’s still a cheap restaurant.
But whatever the reason, you will certainly be fascinated with the place and, above all, with the atmosphere that one breathes here.
Tendinha is a place full of history.
One of the few places that can be proud of having a fado that was dedicated to it (Velha Tendinha).
And it is precisely the verse of this famous fado that is now clearly marked on the entrance to the tavern and on the aprons of those who work there: “Old Tavern in this Modern Lisbon”.
Alfredo and Margarida continue to make this place unique, happy, facing the hard work with a smile and a joke, which cannot fail to engage those present.
And they both love being in contact with people and the fact that working in this place allows them to connect with different people and cultures every day.
Those who pass by Tendinha leave a dedication, a thought in Alfredo’s notebook that now has more than one notebook, testimony of the passage of those who, even for a few hours, were part of the history of this place.
After all, says Margarida, the charm of this place is just going in alone and talking to someone, because just like in the old taverns of the past, between a sandwich and a glass of wine, you start talking to strangers who, before the glass ends, they are no longer unknown.
And when someone tries to interfere in this tradition by asking “Is there Wi-Fi?”, they answer “No, there’s talk” .
Because the Tendinha is not just a tavern, but a place for meetings, stories and lots of laughs
In the old quarter of Alfama, in rua do Salvador 83, you come across a small shop / atelier of a truly unique artist: Alberto. And guarding his shop, lying right under the door, is his cat Gordon.
Born in Angola in 1969, Alberto has lived in Lisbon for more than thirty years. He has lived in different neighborhoods, but for about 15 years Alfama has become his home.
When he arrived in this neighborhood and on this street almost nobody wanted to live there, he was part of the less well-kept, more abandoned Lisbon. But Alberto immediately showed his fighting spirit, also involving the other inhabitants of the area to participate, taking care of the cleaning and care of this street themselves. A few years later, the area was re-evaluated. But Alberto would have made yet another great little discovery: an ancient plaque, hidden by electric cables, which would later turn out to be a road sign from antiquity, the oldest in the city.
And it is precisely here that Alberto welcomes us into his world, into his atelier where he creates and sells his works. When we enter, we are immediately struck by the vintage atmosphere that reigns in the store. Everywhere, objects decorated with ancient magazines bring us back to the past: screens, paintings, mirrors, objects of all kinds. But above all suitcases: ancient suitcases of all shapes and sizes, to which Alberto has given new life.
And then I sit down and listen to him while he tells me how it started.
He was very young when his family sent him to Portugal, and the Carmo and Chiado will be his first home. Alberto begins to work in different fields, but his desire was to be able to use manual skills. The artistic spirit has always been part of him, after all in his family from the paternal side of him were artists, musicians, poets. Alberto has always had art in his genes.
His great dream had always been one day to make this passion for manual art his work. And be able to live on his art.
16/17 years ago a serious accident changes everythings, seriously injuring the fingers of one hand. But Alberto does not give up and begins to work at the Feira da Ladra, the famous flea market in Lisbon. And it is there that he finds himself projected into a world of ancient objects, and two things strike his attention: period magazines and old suitcases.
The suitcase: an object that today we link to travel and holidays, but which for Alberto is an important memory of his life. When he was still a child, in the middle of the civil war in his country, he had to move often, escape. And then the suitcase was the guardian of important things, it was the house that you carried with you.
From one place to another, with the life enclosed in a suitcase.
And so the suitcase for Alberto is the memory of this past, a past that he does not necessarily want to tell, not because he wants to forget it, but because he says that he is not one of those artists who feel the need to make public their own personal hell in order to be understood and appreciated.
What Alberto lived in his childhood years was certainly not easy, but it is not what he wants to remember. Alberto considers himself a lucky person and it is always with a smile that he wants to look at life, looking for the beautiful things he has to offer us.
And then this object linked to a memory of the past, the suitcase, is transformed and finds new life through period magazines.
Alberto thus begins to make collages of vintage images and with these he begins to decorate old suitcases and, in the very place that had inspired him, the Ladra fair, he begins to sell them.
Those were different times, at the time there was not too much space for authors, artists. An original idea of him, but which initially clashes with many prejudices, on the idea itself and on who had this idea.
But as we have already understood, Alberto does not give up easily and therefore continues on his path and begins to enjoy some success, at first more among foreigners than among Portuguese.
An episode will make him realize that he is on the right path: one day, an 8/9 year old girl is completely fascinated by one of Alberto’s suitcases and she begins to ask her parents to have it. If her mother responds with indecision, her father decides to please her daughter who reacts with a joy and happiness that Alberto can hardly describe. He remembers that moment perfectly, that little girl’s happiness, how she hugged her briefcase, how she was grateful to her parents. Alberto had understood that if a work of his had been able to make that child so happy, then that was precisely his path.
And remembering it he is still moved. And he confesses to us, that when he has a few moments of despair, even today, it is precisely that little girl that he thinks of.
The turning point came when the then owner of the famous shop A vida Portuguesa, which Alberto already knew, opens her first shop of this famous brand and asks Alberto to be able to sell his suitcases. Alberto also accepts because Catarina immediately shows great confidence in his work, offering to buy his works and then sell them in her shop. And there, the great turning point. Alberto’s suitcases begin to have enormous success and his work becomes more and more known. And Alberto understands that it is precisely this, being an artist, that he is destined.
Alberto’s life has not always been simple, various health problems in recent years have put him to the test, but he is a true warrior and has always come out of it. And it is also for this reason that the main purpose of his art is to give a smile.
Alberto makes it very clear that using sad episodes from his story in his art does not interest him. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to send a message. The images he chooses for the creation of his collages are never casual, but aimed at launching a message linked to today’s society, or to represent aspects of current life and of the people around us. But the message is for a few. Many stop at the beauty of the decoration. And for Alberto is fine. Whether you understand the message or just appreciate the beauty of the work, the important thing is for Alberto to give the positive message, observe Alberto’s work and smile, feel happy with his work in his hands.
This is what Alberto wants. He defines himself as an esthete, appreciates beauty and seeks beauty, in all its forms, in everything and every situation in his life. For him it is the most important thing. He says that life is a box full of surprises. He makes me think of Tom Hanks in the famous role of Forrest Gump when he says that life is a box of chocolates and you never know what happens to you.
After all, Alberto’s philosophy of life is precisely this: open the box and be surprised.
Sometimes there are moments of difficulty, also because in order to earn our place in society we end up belonging to a group, a category, and this sometimes also means learning to compromise. But Alberto shows patience for the most complicated situations and continues to emphasize how lucky he feels to be able to live with the job he loves and why in the end he got his place.
Alberto loves the contact with people and you can also see it from the comings and goings of people who pass, even just for a greeting, from his atelier.
Today his house is in Alfama, but he has toured almost all of Lisboa and knows it well. As he tells us, he went from hill to hill, from Chiado, when he arrived, in the most refined and least popular Lisbon, to Alfama, the most popular neighborhood in all of Lisbon. A neighborhood that Alberto remembers as very lively, with many people on the street. And even now that Lisbon is changing, modernizing, becoming more and more cosmopolitan, with many people passing by, Alberto sees the positive aspect of this change which, according to him, is giving new life to the city.
But in this modern and cosmopolitan Lisbon, his atelier remains a place almost out of time. Today Alberto devotes himself mostly to panels, small paintings. And when he can’t concentrate, he goes out, takes a walk, remains silent to contemplate and then comes back and begins to create.
Today we can only buy his works in his atelier but many people, especially Portuguese, ask Alberto to create tailor-made works.
Before leaving, I have one last question for Alberto: why the rose in the chest?
Alberto tells me that about 15 years ago he was fighting against a sickness he didn’t talk to anyone about. His colleagues in the Feira da Ladra had obviously noticed the physical change, but no one dared to ask. One day, a man who did not get along with Alberto at all, the one who had less well received him, approached him and asked Alberto how he was. And he had given him a flower to put on his chest, as a symbol of hope, of life, of trust. And since then Alberto has always carried a flower in his chest, because even today, when the sickness is over, that gesture should not be forgotten.
An unexpected gesture, a hand held out by those who did not expect, a message of hope that Alberto wants to keep remembering. Because, as he says, life surprises you when you least expect it.
The story we tell you today is that of Will, a great musician, an extraordinary person, who for years, “um dia de cada vez” has entered in my life and Alex’s.
Alex returning from work and I walking through the streets of Lisbon with my tourists, we have been surprised and enchanted many times by Will’s unique music.
Willfredo, to be precise. “But for everyone I’m Will,” he tells me as soon as we start talking.
Will is Swiss, but he has known Lisbon for about 40 years. Two marriages behind him, with two Portuguese women, two children, a 26-year-old girl and a 28-year-old boy, both abroad, and a girlfriend from Dakar who has been repatriated some time ago, leaving him here “suspended”, as he himself says .
Will’s life is an extraordinary life, difficult but courageous. And today it is up to us to try to tell you about it.
Will has a degree in anthropology, was an academic, translator, taught German, French and English to future interpreters at ISLA (Lisbon Institute of Languages and Administration, ed) for more than 10 years, but Will is above all a musician, a classical guitarist.
Will, is Willfredo Mergner, or Fredo Mergner as he is best known. Guitarist of the famous “Resistência” band of the 90s.
For those who have not had the opportunity to listen to it, I invite you to do so, for example in “A sombra da figueira”
A successful guitarist, a sensitive artist, a musician of great value, capable of ranging from Fado, to Jazz, to classical music.
But today is Will, who greets me saying “I don’t speak Italian, but I can speak with this” and starts playing “O sole mio” leaving me speechless. “It’s the Lisbon sun. It’s fado, ”he says.
There is confusion around him, people chat, laugh, drink. And they listen distractedly, without understanding the luck they have at that moment.
We are in Largo do Carmo, in Lisbon. It is getting evening. At the kiosk in the square there are many people sitting for a drink.
And among them, sitting on an improvised stool, embracing his guitar, there is him: Will.
Will has been playing on the street for a few years. Before he was often found in his favorite stage, the viewpoint at Largo Das Portas do Sol, then on the stairs of Calçada do Duque and now in Largo do Carmo.
Will has always had his audience, he tells us. The squares had become his concert halls. And there were always those who stopped to listen to him.
And in the meantime he continued to compose music: fado, jazz, sonatas.
It doesn’t matter why Will started playing on the street, that’s not the part of the story we want to tell.
But his love for music, for his guitar.
I ask him when he started playing and he explains to me that to play the guitar you have to be more adult, for the evolution of the hands, around 14 years old. But that he has practically always played. Music has accompanied him all his life.
And when I ask him if he plays other instruments, he says “No! No one who loves an instrument with all their heart can play another with the same intensity ”.
Because for Will it is like that. The guitar is his woman, his love, his life partner.
It is only on her that his hands can slide, it is only from her chest that the right harmony can come out to tell his soul.
Playing another instrument would be like betraying her. And Will can’t, because he loves her too much.
And we see this love, we feel it. Will never leaves his guitar, he holds it in his arms, like a lover the woman he loves.
And as he hugs her her gaze is lost.
The guitar that Will plays today is not the one he used in his concerts years ago, that was stolen. This one was given to him some time ago. But Will loves her the same way.
He can’t do without it, because playing is his life, his way of expressing himself. It is through music that Will talks about himself.
Better than he can’t do with words. Because in music there is his soul.
The pandemic has certainly made his life more complicated, added other hardships. And, today more than yesterday, playing helps him survive.
But Will is forced to do it in a more crowded place, because the pandemic has certainly limited the usual public that has always followed him.
And this just doesn’t suit him.
He says he feels tired, because playing like this doesn’t allow him to indulge in music. He could strum something modern and loud and earn a little more and with less effort, he tells me. But he doesn’t want to.
Quality music first and foremost. Good music must be respected. And it’s quality music that Will wants to play.
Will wants to abandon himself to the music, to let his soul express itself among the vibrating notes that come out of his guitar. “And this tires, it wears out,” he says. Because in this way you give yourself without filters, without limits, without discounts. You give yourself, and you do it completely. And playing like this is for few. And for few it is also to listen in respectful silence.
And it is this silence that is missing between the noises of glasses and the laughter of distracted people. And this for Will is the greatest pain. More than all the difficulties that life has put him and still puts before him, he suffers from the noise, from the fact of not being able to play in silence, of not being able to give himself completely as he would like.
But Will does not give up, he is already thinking about new projects. He already has an opera ready, a guitar concert that he has been working on for a while and that he hopes to see published.
Will works there with a fellow guitarist and the pandemic has suspended their meetings. But he is ready to start again, because he still has a lot to tell us.
And the difficulties have not extinguished the flame of his creativity at all.
We move away from the confusion a little. Let’s go and sit on the stairs of the Carmo church. And then Will plays for us, just for us, in silence as he likes it.
In a moment his eyes close, his hands begin to slide on his guitar, and the music of “Canção do mar” begins to spread on this warm summer evening.
Will plays hugging his guitar, squeezes it tightly as the chords follow each other fast. His eyes are closed, his mind is elsewhere, with his music, among those notes that have a whole life to tell.