In Portugal I harnessed the sun in the palm of my hand…

…while I dream of desserts from my last hour in Marrakech:

We awake from these dreams, while we wait for the sun while overlooking Lisboa, the city of 7 hills:

We also notice the low-lying clouds of Portugal…

…and the Cristo Rei arising above, facing Lisboa.

And then the Sun came:

The rest of Lisbon at sunrise (these views are courtesy of our overnight stay at Lisbon’s TheHOUSE, which is probably the best and most personable boutique B&B’s I have ever stayed at out of over 40 countries I’ve been to)

 

For the rest of the day we decided to take the “Tram 28″ of Lisbon, which is an old vintage tram that conveniently takes you to all the main historic neighborhoods of Lisbon starting from the city center and up through the narrow maze of streets towards St. George Castle. The whole ride costs about 2.85 euros and takes around 30-45min depending on traffic (i.e. parked cars blocking your way).

I highly recommend that you read up on what you’re about to see BEFORE you get on the tram. Because I was so unprepared (hey we only had 12 hours here!), I didn’t know which neighborhoods where a big deal until looking them up afterwards. I would have gotten a lot more out of that 45min tram ride if I had known what was outside my window.

Well, at least it was pretty.

By the time we got off the tram, Go was having a horrible coughing fit. I whipped out a flashlight and looked down her throat, putting my feeble 2nd-year-med-student skills to the test. Determining inflammation and possible infection, we ended up heading to the local pharmacy to grab some antibiotics, which despite our not having foreign health insurance on hand, cost a measely 7 euros for something that worked pretty fast:

We then ended our trip with a few more obligatory sightseeing at the last minute and headed back to the airport.

And unceremoniously, we accepted the inevitable fact that the trip was about to end. And here I am, back in NYC, not sure what to make of the last 11 days.

- At time of posting in New York City, Central Park, it was 21.2 °F -

Humidity: 39% | Wind Speed: 7km/hr | Cloud Cover: n/a