me two lessons – to keep track of my things better, and to keep a stash of money, copy of my passport, and a spare credit card in my carry-on, just in case I lose everything else again.
To celebrate the wallet’s return, I treated myself to a nice dinner. With a recommendation from the front desk and an address written down on a scrap of paper, I set out to walk to the restaurant in the dwindling day’s light.
I sat in discrete window that looked out over the city and took it all in with a few glasses of beautiful local wines, bacalhau and the restaurant’s specialty crème Brule for dessert. I got in an argument in French with my Portuguese cab driver on the ride back to the hotel. The wine had made me feel boisterous and uninhibited enough to let the French words flow from me. We were sharing a good laugh by the time the rusty compact car rolled up the narrow street in front of the hotel.
I loved Lisbon. It is crazy, winding streets, with small shops and cafes and colorfully tiled buildings that you don’t expect to see around the next corner. It was a little chaotic and covered in graffiti and it felt gritty and real.
Traveling up the coast, I found Porto to have a vibrant party-spot atmosphere. All the big port wine distilleries along the river offer tastings and the sightseeing-slash-tasting boats go up and down the river through the center of the city. Red tiled roofs and whitewashed walls wrap narrow streets lined with balconies and a rainbow of clothes hanging out to dry on each level.
Photography. Page 68: Lovely Lisboa in the sunset. Previous Page Top: Porto in the sunshine reveals red-tiled roofs and colorful buildings. Previous Page Bottom: Narrow, cobblestone city streets riddle Lisbon. Above: It would be easy to get lost in Porto’s backstreets. Below: Traditional tiled walls on my hotel and graffiti throughout the city speaks volumes.
May 2017 - Feature Destination
70 - SEVENSEAS