Portugal

I got to spend most of the month of November in dreamy, dreamy Portugal. I’ve wanted to visit Portugal since my freshman year of college when I heard of a friend studying abroad in Lagos and saw pictures of the beaches and cliffs. I referred to it when plotting out my dream house for a project in an art class. The house was built around a lush courtyard with fruit trees and a vegetable garden. It had huge windows throughout bringing the outside in, filling the space with natural light and the roof was accessible via a spiral staircase so you could sunbathe or host dinner parties on top of it. I still want that house. Throughout college I would occasionally look in classified listings at apartments in Portugal in pink buildings with quirky layouts for half of what I was paying at the time.

In the past few years I’ve had a few friends who have gone and spoke really highly of it which prompted me to do some casual researching when my brain wanted to wander. I read about how Lisbon is one of the warmest, safest and most affordable places in Europe. I favorited pictures of the windy, cobblestone streets with views of the water and the street art throughout Mouraria, the tiles and textures of the buildings. I imagined a simpler life of walking to outdoor markets to pick up produce and cooking in an old building with a cross breeze traveling through the windows, maybe working as a florist at some small shop. Being surrounded by beauty, less cars, less technology, more time to sit and think without guilt or distraction.

I was given an offer mid-October by my dear friend and mentor to actually take the time off I needed to go and experience Portugal. The only way I could describe the thought of actually being able to go was “my brain is broken.” I literally couldn’t comprehend it. I decided to fly into Paris for 4 days and stay in Montmartre which I had only gotten to experience for about 45 minutes after a whirlwind 7 hours walking around Paris with my co-workers last year. I would then either train in to Lisbon stopping in Spain along the way, or fly directly to Lisbon where I had only 1 airbnb booked for the remainder of the month. I planned to make the trip simple so I could try to experience what it would be like to live there. I wanted to go grocery shopping in the local stores and cook meals, find a coffee shop and bar that I could sit and read and journal in. I made an attempt to learn a bit of Portuguese while I’d cook dinners at night. I didn’t get very far because I focused most of my efforts on trying to get the pronunciations right (hard) that I’d skim over what the meaning was. I instead invested more energy into refreshing my French from high school because I felt like I was actually making the slightest bit of progress.

PORTO

Almost immediately after I found out that I was going and booked my flight, I went on a work trip to Kansas. When I came back, I played a bit of catch up on projects from when we were out this summer and prepped things for while I’d be gone, so before I knew it it was only a week before I was going to leave. I had a moment at work where I pulled up some photos to get myself excited about it, but then started coming across all these other towns I wanted to go to - Óbidos, Sintra, Cascais, Marvão, Porto, Azeitão, Aveiro, Coimbra, Madeira. I peeked over my computer and got the attention of my coworker, Nathan telling him I think I’ve fucked up with my plan. I showed him pictures of the medieval streets of Porto and the bougainvillea-covered buildings of Óbidos and was like “I’m going to kick myself if I don’t go to these places, too!”

That night I obsessively scoured places and narrowed down my locations to Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra. I booked places in each spot and loosely figured out that I could hop a train from one to the other easily. I made a stupidly detailed document with all my ideas of things to do and all the important confirmation numbers and phone numbers and addresses I’d need. I made several google maps, one for each town, that had restaurants, shops, markets, book stores, cafes, bars, museums, view points pinned. I made playlists of songs that make me happy. I got together with my good friends Paige and Ji in the days before leaving who gave me tips and hugs and helped me pack.

My mom took me to the airport, probably more excited that I was. She insisted on buying me snacks and drinks and a magazine for the flight like the sweet mom that she is. As I was about to go through the security line, she pulled me aside and said “I’m not going to cry” as she looked upwards and started to take off the necklace she wears everyday that my sister made and put in on around my neck to keep me safe. I felt so much love from her, she is so good to me.

AVEIRO

Each town was so special, full of the kindest people who made my trip even better than I could have imagined. In Porto, I ate at a vegan restaurant with swings as chairs, walked into the old churches and meandered around the medieval streets along the waterfront. I explored Cedofeita and Rua de Miguel Bombarda and it’s shops and galleries, hit all the vintage clothing shops I could find, and made friends at a cafe where I was journaling.

In Aveiro, I stayed in an arts house that used to be an underground cinema that played banned films and artist’s works in progress that has been brought back to life. I attended an experimental short screening there (all in Portuguese) and sipped some moonshine the host offered. I biked the canals with their free bike share program and headed towards the coast and bought earrings and prints for family.

In Coimbra, I ogled the beautiful city streets filled with music and life, ate at in tiny restaurants and felt huge amounts of gratitude. On my second day I met my host, Lurian, who might just be one of the most likable people out there. He invited me out to a tattoo pop-up where we met folks and compared Italian, American, Brazilian and Portuguese culture. We then came back to his place and sipped wine and talked for hours about life and I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be in that moment. What an instant friend!

COIMBRA

Then in Lisbon I stayed in what is my new dream house with my host David (also the most likable person) and his 4 cuddly cats. He introduced me to his friends and let me attend a dinner where his friend, an award winning vegan chef, made us all a vegan version of a Brazilian classic dish. I ended up attempting to return the favor by cooking a Friendsgiving feast later that week. I ate at beautiful places around Lisbon, with views of the water and in secret places with no signage; and drank at beautiful bars - speakeasies and old brothel spaces filled with velvet chairs. My time felt full, but relaxed and surrounded by kind, inspired people.

I will visit again! Here are some photos from my trip. I took over 2,000, so this is only a small selection from it. I wanted to take pictures of everything - everything looked like art.

LISBON