Goodbye, Lisboa...

Dream job: travel to new cities, get to know the layout, the food, the best graffiti – then take newly arrived travelers to the places you have found. That’s how I spent my last day, with Emina as my test traveler.

Emina is 27 and has been to 47 countries, so considering the age/country ratio, she definitely wins (31 for me). But we share the "go-with-whatever" style of walking around a place - my favorite thing to do in life.

We walked Alfama – which was really fun with her since she is a photographer (she gasped around every corner), took the tram (we did end up in no-man’s land and had to frantically find a cab to make it to our IPAV lunch in time), had a glass of wine at the Magical Circus Bar, then did the touristy Fado Dinner (Portuguese guitar/singing) thing to end the day. We both knew it would be touristy, knew we would get ripped off, did it anyway. And, as usual, we both regretted the attempt to draw meaning from a touristy rip-off gig. However, we were treated to a fabulous, skeletal Fado singer who was so thin we could not figure out where her gigantic voice came from. At the same time, we both leaned in over our roasted cod dinners and said, “I wonder what her story is…”

The highlight of the day was hearing more of Emina’s story over Circus wine – the bar overlooks the city and is a beautiful place, just as Carolina had promised. She is currently working on her master’s thesis – a 120-page paper – through a Peace and Conflict Studies program.

Oh, and I forgot to mention this yesterday: Her part of the conference was called "Transforming Society Through Your Voice"; mine was "Transforming Lives Through Personal Storytelling." Some kind of 27 year-old, huh? So, in my new dream job, I would ike to show people around cities who have fascinating life stories and who are undergoing transformative experiences. And I would always like to hear the stories while drinking wine overlooking the city from a circus. This week has definitely expanded my awareness and made me appreciate all of the efforts to bring peace around the world - all of the people who are committed enough to randomly search the internet with the words "personal storytelling" to see what they can find - to see who they might find as partners in this endeavor to fly to their little corner of the world for a week of sharing.

Oh, and part of that sharing included a goodbye lunch (as if they hadn’t already done enough) and gift bags filled with Port wine, Fado CD’s and Portuguese sardines. Seasoned traveler that I am, I didn't know you couldn't bring wine as a carry-on. They confiscated it- in the nicest way possible. But, damn. Considering this is the only thing that has gone wrong all week, I guess it’s OK.

I've been meaning to add this all week: If someone asked, "What two American cities does Lisbon remind you of?" I would have to answer 1. San Francisco and 2. New Orleans. NOLA because it sits next to a large river, too (and something about the energy) and SF because they have a copy of the Golden Gate bridge, the tram/steep hills and some of the architecture.

Thanks so much for reading, for your comments, and for sharing in the fun of this week with me. It was a great, great one, and I now have a new favorite European city to visit, partially because now it includes life-long friends. What a deal. 

I will leave you with my new favorite subject to photograph in my new favorite city that is a European San Fran/NOLA mix - graffiti: