Returns

Wow, I have not posted in quite some time! Apologies to all my loyal, presumably disappointed, and NUMEROUS fans! During the past two months, I spent a few more days in Sintra, two weeks in Lisbon, a week in Cascais, a month in Porto, and yet another week in Lisbon. I was lucky enough to receive visits from both my parents as well as three dear friends, and am now back in Porto.

On my last day in Sintra, I joined my host (Isabel) and her two dogs (Mel and Mondego) for a lovely little hike at a little lake nearby. It’s a private property but the landowners leave it accessible for public usage, which I think is really generous and unusual, at least in the U.S.

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For my last night, Isabel made me a delicious Ayurvedic meal, complete with a carob pomegranate cake. An Ayurvedic method that really resonates with me is using every type of flavor in a singular meal. The meal Isabel made us (chayote stew) was simultaneously spicy, sweet, bitter, salty, etc, and I felt completely satisfied afterwards. I don’t know about you, but I often crave a different type of food (or at least flavor) after I eat. It makes a lot of sense to me that if you incorporate a wide variety of flavors into one meal, you won’t feel the need for dessert after dinner or something salty after eating sweets. That doesn’t mean that adding a cake to the mix is ever a bad thing, though…especially not when it has carob in it…some of you may remember my outspoken despair when the WinCo bulk section, without warning, halted their carob chip sales…

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I stayed at the same hostel as my last time in Lisbon, called Home Lisbon Hostel. It is an incredible place, beautifully decorated with warm lighting, jewel tones and the owner’s family photos. His mom, “Mamma,” makes a delicious, traditional Portuguese, three-course meal for everybody five nights a week. Sometimes his dog, Nicolau, even comes to dinner!

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One highlight during this Lisbon chapter was going to the vegan market in Sintra! It was essentially a farmer’s market but included lots of vegan merchandise (for instance, a shirt that said “Soy Division” atop a Joy Division album cover) and alternative meats/cheeses. I am not currently vegan, but would love to eventually head in that direction, so it was really neat to see so many passionate animal lovers. That being said, some of the rhetoric made me a bit uncomfortable, such as a Black Lives Matter shirt replaced with “Animal Lives Matter” or comparisons made between the meat industry and the Holocaust. It made me think a lot about the (subordinate) value I instinctively place on nonhuman animal lives and my own perception of the hierarchy of living beings. What are your thoughts?

Another memorable Lisbon moment for me was the temporary exhibit at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. It was primarily a collection of photographs and quotes, which I myself am passionate about collecting and documenting. I had been feeling a bit artistically uninspired, but this exhibit made me feel at home, excited, and like: “Wow, I want to do this and I think I maybe could.”

The next day, feeling rejuvenated and inspired, I went out and took some photos, trying really hard not to care if anybody but me likes them:

After these two weeks at Home Lisbon Hostel, I stayed in Cascais (a coastal city 40 minutes by train from Lisbon) for a week with a friend’s EXTREMELY generous aunt and uncle (thank you Ali, Sara and Christoph!). I got to watch their adorable golden retrievers and indulge in some much-needed alone time after living in a busy hostel for four out of the previous five weeks.

Near their home is an incredible walking path that weaves through farms with wildflowers, vegetables growing, sheep, chickens, goats, dogs, ducks, silly scarecrows and scary scarecrows.

Next, my parents came to visit me and celebrate my mom’s birthday! It was so much fun getting to show them around Lisbon a bit, and it was the first time in four years that I have been with my mom on her birthday!

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PORTO TIME! Porto is a stunning city about three hours north of Lisbon. I got there by bus, and experienced love at first sight upon arriving. I feel so at home in Porto and could definitely picture myself living here one day. I stayed in an AirBnb apartment for a month; staying for so long gave me a 55 percent discount. My parents stayed with me for the first week and my friends stayed with me for the last week, so it ended up being quite affordable, especially considering its central location.

My parents and I met up with some old friends from my elementary school for drinks and a stunning sunset!

We also rented a car and went to the Douro Valley for some wine-tasting with a view!

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On the way back to Porto, we stopped in a charming town called Guimarães:

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I went alone to a club called Plano B to see this epic band (Orquestra Bamba Social) performing for Carnaval. I made friends with some really nice people (one of them is my birthday twin!) and danced the night away! 😉 It is definitely scary introducing myself to new people in a country where the main language is not English, because I am afraid it will be awkward if they don’t speak English, and even if they do, I don’t want to burden them or interrupt the group dynamic by making them switch from Portuguese. However, sometimes it really pays off — these people were so kind and welcoming, and I had a fantastic time!

Here are some photos I took from my apartment balcony:

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Some more Porto photos:

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Right about now is when three of my beloved friends from Washington arrived! <3 However, I am going to do a separate post about their visit because this post is already soooo long. No amount of photographs, videos, and/or the right words can accurately capture the experience I’ve been having, so I am going to give up trying to say everything and instead just end with a small scene from my journal, from a park in Lisbon, from a sunny January day:

A man slowly trails a tri-color dachshund. The dog subtly bends, and the man immediately begins unraveling the roll of plastic bags he’s carrying. He’s known the dachshund—Sebastian—for over 16.5 years, I later learn. He knows the signs, the signals and the warnings. There is something so funny about this adult man being at the mercy of the 17-year-old speckled dachshund. 

In the corner of the park, there is a small terrier with an amputated front leg. It extends backwards and seems like it has just met the rest of his body. 

There are friends, it appears, who gather regularly at this park. They order coffee I don’t know the name of, wear leather pants, call each other “Sexy Lady” and all have small dogs. 

There is a man with cigarettes and coffee, like the Otis Redding song, and a sandwich and a brown coat.