Are We in Paradise Yet?
I think I’ve delayed writing this last post on my trip to Lisbon because it’ll quite decidedly place the period on the sentence that was the most amazing few days I could’ve hoped for. The most magical part of traveling is experiencing the geography and culture of a place far different from that of your own home. In the attempt to capture this magic, we rented a really fancy car (for extra aesthetic) and drove up the Portuguese coast along the ocean. Big happenings.
Away from the bustle and tourism of Lisbon life, we drove into the suburbs and the countryside. From Cascais (a wonderful word to try to pronounce) to Sintra, and random other stops along the way we had the opportunity to really see Portugal, at least as far as our eight-hour rental period would allow us to.
A for sure highlight was visiting Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of Europe. It’s a stunning perch on the side of a cliff that offered views of the ocean I’ve seen my whole life but from a completely new viewpoint. Standing there felt a bit more existential than it probably should have, but it was interesting to imagine that I was looking out towards America instead of from it or to consider how many had faced the Atlantic from its eastern side in the hopes of journeying across it.
After my too-deep pondering, we hopped back in the car and drove to a very small beach town that had the most amazing restaurant literally built onto the side of a cliff. This place was beautiful and fresh – the type of establishment that’ll present you with a whole fish before cooking it to make sure you’re satisfied with the catch of the day that they literally caught themselves that day. Just smile and nod like you know what to look for in an eatable fish. This may have been the best food we had on the entire trip, as we left too full and overly in love with the humble lifestyle of the Portuguese fisherman. Over-romanticizing was a mega theme of our day travels.
On our way back to Lisbon we drove through Sintra and noted from far away the most famous, multi-colored Pena Palace. “Too touristy,” we thought, as we drove past. We considered ourselves graduated from the title of “tourist” – our Portuguese driving tour had solidified that. I’d say that the most amazing part of this trip was literally just the driving and observing from my passenger window. Seeing how and where people are truly living is always so fascinating and I loved the chance to do so outside of Lisbon’s high rises. But, once back in the city center, we took the chance to drive through the other side of the city that was still totally foreign to us – more business, more government, more history, still incredibly beautiful.
Our trip to Lisbon was a dream and a half. Having the opportunity to step out of one’s own bubble is worthwhile, but having the chance to do that across an entire ocean in one of the world’s oldest cities and up and down the surrounding countryside proved to be a true blessing.
