The Great Regatta

Chapter Five

They came ashore and met Avery, seething with anger. Justin bowed to Lord Avery with a smile, and the Helga's crew passed by.

They went by the straight, steep streets of the Bairro Alto, 'the Upper District', to the Cidade Baixa, 'the Lower City', with its grid of streets broken by spacious squares, and from the busy Rossio Square by the wide, gently sloping Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon's main promenade, to the Commerce Square, the heart of Lisbon, with the broad marble stair mounting from the water, the official entrance to Lisbon, green-and-white 18^th century buildings on the three landward sides of the square, the bronze statue of the King Joseph I on horseback in the middle of the square.

'Beautiful!' Justin sighed.

'Yes, Lisbon is a glorious city,' Blaise said.

Then they went further east, to the Alfama, the oldest part of the city. Its streets were narrow and winding, and its houses were decidedly Moorish-looking. A noble castle was overlooking the entire place.

'This is the Castle of Saint George.' Blaise explained. 'It is named after the patron saint of England, in honor of an alliance made in 1386.'

'I didn't know that,' Justin said, looking at the castle with a new attention.

The nearer they were to the castle, they noticed something was happening. People were dancing in the streets, wearing imaginative costumes, and jumping over bonfires.

'What's this all about?' Justin asked.

'The same thing as in La Coruna,' Blaise said, shrugging his shoulders. 'The Midsummer Day celebrations.'

'I see.' Justin nodded.

'I feel at home here,' Blaise said.

'So do I,' Justin and Trevor said at once.

The three wizards strolled along the little streets of Alfama. Then Blaise saw a little quaint café with a sign that depicted a unicorn foal with its golden coat, looking out of some bushes, its enormous eyes winking timidly. The inscription on the sign said, The Shy Unicorn.

'Look how cute!' Blaise exclaimed.

'Yes.' Justin and Trevor smiled.

'Let's come in,' Blaise said.

'Right,' Justin and Trevor said. They crossed the street and entered the café.

There were little round wooden tables and chairs inside, a dim, and a singer with a strange lute-like guitar played a melodious, penetrating song in Portuguese. Blaise, Justin and Trevor took a table, and Blaise ordered a cup of cappuccino and a croissant.

'What a beautiful song!' Justin said. 'Even though I can't understand Portuguese.'

'Yes,' Blaise said. 'It is a kind of music called fado, meaning the Fate. It is sung only in Alfama and Bairro Alto. I think I can understand a little, my native language is Italian after all.'

They listened to the music.

'A barca da minha vida

Anda perdida no mar

Ficou para sempre cativa

Nas ondas do teu olhar

Quando eu morrer a cantar

Na minha capa velhinha

Irei ao ceu ter contigo

Nas asas duma andorinha.'

'The boat of my life is lost in the sea, she is forever captured by the waves of your eyes,' Blaise translated. 'I long to sing I shall follow you, in my old cloak as I am.'

'Beautiful,' Justin sighed again.

'Yes,' Blaise said. 'Fado is called the Portuguese Blues. Though it's older than the Blues, of course.'

He shouted in Italian to the singer:

'Grazie mille, signore! Bello!'

'Por favor, senhor,' the singer bowed.

'Qual e il Suo nome?' Blaise asked.

'Bernardo Arnauth,' the singer said.

'Si lo ricordero,' Blaise said.

Arnauth bowed again and smiled, and began a new song.

'Queres saber, amor, porque te quero,

pergunta a um velho marinheiro

se uma aventura em cada cais

lhe faz perder um rumo verdadeiro

Pergunta ao mar eternamente azul

a razao de ser da sua cor,

as vezes verde as vezes cinza....

mas e o ceu o seu primeiro amor.'

'There's a lot of sea in the songs,' Justin said.

'Well, the Portuguese are a seafaring nation, as well as the English,' Blaise said. 'Remember Magellan, da Gama...'

'Oh, right,' Justin said.

'And we won't get lost in the sea, will we?' Trevor asked anxiously. Justin laughed:

'Trevor, it's impossible to get lost in the Mediterranean Sea in our time!'

'We can straggle a bit, though,' Blaise said with a twinkle in his eyes. 'But Justin shall find the right course again, won't you Justin?'

'Sure,' Justin said.

'See? That's Hufflepuff for you, reliable and solid,' Blaise said. 'We're really very lucky to have a captain like Justin, Trevor.'

'Very good,' Trevor said, reassured.

'I say, you got to have some bacalhau,' Blaise said enthusiastically.

'Some what?' Justin asked.

'It's a Portuguese dish,' Blaise said. 'Dried cod, mixed with mashed potatoes, milk and garlic, sprinkled with grated cheese and baked. It's served on toasts with young wine.'

'Sounds good,' Justin said. 'I'll give it a try.'

'Excellent,' Blaise said and ordered three bacalhaus and three young wines for himself, Justin and Trevor.

Both Justin and Trevor liked the dish very much.

'I get to see the world with you, Blaise,' Trevor said. 'I'm such a stay-at-home!'

'I am glad to hear it was a good idea, Trevor,' Blaise said.

The next morning they put to sea. They were well ahead of Avery, skirted the low coasts of Portugal and southern Spain and entered the Strait of Gibraltar. The Rock appeared in distance on the port.

'Well, Trevor, the Mediterranean Sea,' Blaise said.

'I've never entered the Mediterranean Sea on a ship,' Trevor said. 'I usually Floo.'

'Well, there is a first time for everything,' Blaise said.

They doubled the Rock of Gibraltar and moved away from the mountainous shore of the eastern Spain, bent on crossing the bay to Marseilles. But suddenly the ship slowed down.

'Dash it all!' Justin said.

'The crystal is malfunctioning?' Blaise asked.

'Yes,' Justin said. 'And we can't pass Avery under sail alone. Blaise, mind the wheel, and I shall consult the charts and calculate what the nearest port is.'

'Sure Justin,' Blaise said and replaced Justin at the wheel.

'Oh dear me,' Trevor said.

Some time later Justin returned and said:

'It seems we should go for Barcelona. Let's hope that the breakage is not a major one.'

'But we ought to send an owl to the Marseilles Yacht Club to inform them we're not out of the race, just fell behind.' Blaise remarked.

'Agrippa will carry the letter,' Trevor said instantly. 'He's very astute.'

'You are too, Trevor,' Blaise said.

Justin went to his cabin to write the letter. As he emerged, Trevor went to his cabin and returned with the screech owl. Justin tied the letter to Agrippa's leg.

'We rely on you, Agrippa,' Trevor said. The owl squawked and flew off.

'I'll take the wheel now, Blaise, thank you,' Justin said.

'Not at all Justin,' Blaise said and retired.

'Avery will be chuffed this time,' Justin said sourly.

'But one lap isn't all race,' Blaise said. 'And Barcelona is a wonderful city. It has these fantastic gardens designed by Antonio Gaudi himself. He was a very talented Muggle architect.'

'Oh right,' Justin said.

So they headed for Barcelona.

'It will take some time,' the man in the docks of the Barcelona Yacht Club said to Justin.

'I shall pay you double so that you repair it as soon as possible,' Justin said.

'Very good, sir.'

'Meanwhile I shall show you Barcelona,' Blaise said.

The Barcelona Yacht Club was not so far from the center of the city as in other places. The Port was the Old Town. So Blaise went to show his friends the old Roman walls encircling the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral, the church of San Pablo del Campo, built in 10^th century, reconstructed in 1120, with a Romanesque façade of 13^th century, the Baroque church of Nuestra Senora de Belen, the Gothic church of Santa Maria del Mar. Then they went to the suburbs to see the Guell Park. Trevor looked with approval at the strange sculptures in the park:

'You are sure the architect of this wonderful park wasn't a wizard?'

'Who knows,' Blaise shrugged his shoulders.

'It's weird, but I like it,' Justin said.

And of course Blaise couldn't resist looking in the Pharmacia des Reis, the old pharmacy that was already around in the medieval times and was the royal purveyor. Blaise and Trevor both stuck to the showcases of the shop and bought a lot of herbs. Justin rolled his eyes.

As the night was nearing, they found a nice little inn called La Paloma where they stayed for the night.

The next morning Justin, accompanied with Trevor and Blaise, entered the dock anxiously.

'It's all right, sir!' the mechanic said proudly.

'Oh, very well,' Justin said. 'Then we'll embark.'

He paid to the mechanic generously, and the water was pumped into the dock basin, where Helga stood, the water was pumped out of the caisson that prevented the sea water coming into the dock, the caisson floated, and Helga left the dock. Justin, Blaise and Trevor came on board.

'Glad you're well again, old girl,' Justin said. 'The crystal is the heart of a ship.'

Helga headed for Marseilles in full sail.

As they entered the office of the Secretary of the Marseilles Wizard Yacht Club, they saw Agrippa sitting on the Secretary's desk. Agrippa chirped.

'Agrippa!' Trevor said.

'That's his name?' the Secretary smiled. 'A very smart owl. He got here long before the yachts. Milord Avery seemed very disappointed when he heard that you were not out of the race.'

'Serves him right,' Justin said. 'He won't get rid of us so easily!'

'Yeah,' Blaise said.

'We shall give him a fight,' Trevor added

'Yaow!' Macavity said. Agrippa squawked belligerently.