In the five kilometers from central Lisbon to north Marvila, austerity takes over. The area’s blocky social buildings may have sweeping views of the Tagus river, but there are no pristine green spaces, tidy cobblestone streets, or quaint colorful buildings. Compared with the rest of Lisbon’s bustling energy and trendy lojas, half of Marvila’s ground floor shops are empty, rolling metal shutters drawn shut. There aren’t enough visitors to warrant doing business. There aren’t even basic conveniences like a market, laundromat, or pharmacy.
Great story. Shout out to libraries! I’ve just started using my local library and it is a fantastic service. They have a huge catalog of books, DVDs, video games and even a streaming service where you can rent digital films. On request they move books from other affiliated libraries to my local one for pick up. In the age of endless subscription services it feels like I’m cheating the system to get all this for free!
