Lisbon, Portugal

I have ended up trying to live in Portugal three times in my life. The first time was when I was in early 2012, in Coimbra. I had come here immediately after graduating from NYU, with the hopes of finding a place to base myself in a city I had no interest in. Then, I tried to live in Porto, the second biggest city of Portugal, but people made fun of the way I spoke Portuguese, and the pressure I felt after made it hard for me to want to live there longer. After two bad experiences, even I don’t know why I felt like returning to Portugal. I guess there is something about certain places which hold a charm that last in your mind. Even though my memories were stained in negativity, in the winter of 2016, I felt like going somewhere where I already spoke the language well enough, so that I could focus on rewriting we, of the forsaken world… Portuguese was one such language, and I had a good impression of Lisbon from my travels. I think I was lucky once more. After a few days, I was in love with the city.

Lisbon is Portugal’s capital, and yet it has a population of much less than a million. Lisbon might be one of the smaller European capitals, and yet despite that, it has the architectural diversity of a much bigger city. I often saw the most modern of skyscrapers tucked under districts of otherwise plain Portuguese suburbs. In the oldest of neighborhoods, one sees the effortless marriage betwen Roman history and Portuguese style. The in between of areas are either covered in graffity or decorated with azulejo tiles. I think the eyes of any traveler can find something to wander about while looking at Lisbon.