I am grateful to have ever had this period of time to call this place "home". We only spent all of 2 weeks in Lisbon, Portugal. In that time we'd get to know the few winding streets that took us to where we wanted to go (sometimes where we didn't mean to go), a few hidden gems of our neighbourhood, a few art galleries and the world famous bakery, Pastéis de Balém.
Upon initial arrival, we had no guiding knowledge of the areas surrounding us, not to mention feeling woefully agitated trying to hurl around all of our belongings as they strained our shoulders. Portugal being the furthest south we'd go in the entirety of our trip, even in the off season, our jackets were far from necessary. We felt hopelessly lost, over heated, and exhausted, but some some reassuring words from a police officer offered some comfort, he informed us that you could spend your entire life in that neighbourhood, and you'd still find streets you'd never seen before. This bit of information helped us feel justified in hailing a cab up the hill to the apartment we'd be renting for the 2 weeks.
The area we stayed in was called Alfama, the oldest district in all of Lisbon. It goes back as far as the 15th century, and we had the pleasure of calling it our home for 2 short weeks. Alfama was unlike anything we'd seen before, surely one of the most unique areas we'd seen in our entire European trip. The roads were constantly changing from narrow to wide, sidewalks would appear and disappear, they were an impossible labyrinth and entangled in one another just so, you'd end up finding something you weren't looking for, a serendipity of sorts. I've read that Alfama was described as a medieval maze, and that it was. But if it weren't for getting lost half the time, we wouldn't have made the memories we cherish now, like finding a small fado restaurant, somewhere in the depths of Alfama.
Lamps were precariously placed through out this small, hole in the wall, type restaurant. Pictures of jazz legends hung on the walls in no particular order or style, the lighting was dim and soft, and we were the only customers. There were a handful of songs being played that night, classics, deep cuts, songs i'd never heard before. Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E was playing at one point as well, these songs surrounded this experience, it made for a surreal evening. We drank port wine and ate a bread/cheese platter. At one point I took a short video just scanning the restaurant, and Louis Prima's Buona Sera was playing. Thinking back, it's an untainted memory. Giddy as the piano is fluttery. Jovial as the vocals are exciting. These were moments I saw in the movies. I felt like, for an evening, my life had it's own soundtrack, a part of a movie I didn't have to be envious of, because it was my own.