Freguesia de São Jose

Freguesia is the equivalent of "parish", also used to signify a local council, or ward (this is gleaned not from formal education but from observation - so there is a margin of error here). The Freguesia de São Jose is located north of the Baixa and east of the Avenida de Liberdade. They have these great old buildings as well as a public viewpoint underneath them, which faces west. Here's a few quick pictures.

Mrs. Nojo and I have our eye on this guy for our next Lisbon accomodations.

There's a little terrace cafe where you can enjoy a snack and various beverages.

In the distance you can barely make out the tallest landmarks of the Baixa - the Elevador Santa Justa and the top of the entrance arch of the Praça do Comercio.

Finally, near this area is one of the odder monuments you will see in Lisboa. At the southern end of the Campo dos Martires da Patria is this statue dedicated to a certain Dr. Sousa Martins. From what I've been able to find out (which is scant) he became famous around the turn of the century for being able to cure people who had supposedly uncurable conditions. Basically, it sounds like he was ascribed certain quasi-spiritual powers that went beyond mere medicine. Now, I don't know much more than that about him, and he had a short period of activity before dying himself. However, there were enough admirers of his that they pooled their money to erect this monument.

You may notice what appears to be a a mess of stones surrounding the base of this monument. Those are in fact, tributes to the Doctor from the relatives of those he's helped. Many of them are quite modern. It seems that, even now, there are those who believe that Dr. Sousa Martins is still helping cure people posthumously. I guess they communicate with him through prayer? There is also a box, visible to the left in above picture, where you can leave lit candles. So I don't really know how it's supposed to work, but needless to say, the pile of testemonials left at the base speak powerfully about the effect that belief in this man's power still has.

Finally, one of my favorite things about this monument is its location - it's directly across the street from the main entrance to the Lisbon Medical School. I wonder how the eminent professors of medical science feel about the daily reminder of this tradition, which essentially amounts to faith healing?