May, 2023
It was mid May when my two sisters and I had the great opportunity to travel to Lisbon for vacations. This was the first time we traveled overseas since we were teenagers, so it was a very special trip for me to enjoy time together, bond and have sister time for he duration of the trip.
We arrived at the airport safely and super excited to explore Lisbon. The adventure started when we planned to meet at the airport upon arrival becase we flew separately. I didn’t realize how busy the Lisbon airport is- super crowded and busy. I decided to stay near the exit and wait for them hoping to catch them after picking up ther lauggage and my plan worked. After about an hour waiting, I saw Mary and Sally and wave at them, they saw me and we hugged and were so happy to see each other.
We went to our hotel HF Fenix Lisbon and in the evening, we treated ourselves to a special dinner to experience the traditional Fado music at the restaurant A Severa in Bairro Alto. This is a highly respected fado house since 1955 and is still run by the family. The original owners, Maria Jose and Julio Barros Evangelista, named their restaurant after Maria Several, a 19th century gypsy singer who was one of the most famous fadistas of her time. A Severa has a rustic and intimate atmosphere; it has a beautiful wall with azulejos pnaels with Lisbon scenes and dark wood furnishings. The menu is a signature of the best of Portuguese cuisine – everything was meticulously prepared and delicious. This was the first time we had experienced Fado tradition, the music is a blend of love, yearning and melancholy. First, we made our selection of food and started enjoying our meal, then the signing is performed with no microphone at intervals under dimmed lighting. When the music starts everyone is quiet to enjoy the singer and the beautiful guitar starts playing. I have never seen this before, and it makes completely sense, this way everyone’s attention is on the music, the singer, and it creates a unique ambience worth every moment. The singer’s voices and body movements are performed with a lot of passion, feelings and intensity. This was truly a wonderful experience.
T
he following day, we drove from Lisbon to Sevilla, Spain on a rental car. It was a great adventure driving myself for the first time in Portugal and Spain- I felt the responsibility to drive safely with precious cargo onboard- no pressure I told myself! The entire drive took us a little over five hours with stops to eat and rest. The drive was relatively easy with almost no traffic and very safe. The roads are well maintained and we enjoyed beautiful scenery of endless grasslands, farmlands and passed by some industrial areas and cute little towns. Endless pastures of cattle grazing like cows, bulls and goats. There are also miles and miles of orange crops and olive trees. We passed a few small towns, but for the most part it was only us on the road. Two important things happened during the drive that I didn’t expect, first the GPS stopped working once we crossed the border in Spain and we didn’t take the precaution to write down the route so we decided to keep driving and see what happened. Luckily, we got GPS signal again and noticed we were on the correct road. Second, driving the roundabouts was a bit confusing to me – most of the time it wasn’t clear to know where to exit, but my sister helped me navigate. We arrived around dusk to our Airbnb house with no issues and I felt so relieved when I parked the car.
This house had floral designs everywhere. The entire home had an Arabian decor with floral patterns tapestries, colorful walls and sofas and floral arrangements. It was interesting and appreciated that our hosts put great effort to make the house look unique. We were now able to relax to start our new adventures in Sevilla- one of my favorite cities.
See Spain, Seville for a continuation of this trip.
