That time I rode a scooter in Lisbon
If we were to give an award to the day so far that plans didn’t go as we’d thought, today would be the winner.
Miguel, our tuk tuk driver from the day before, had mentioned his love of surfing and was heading to a nearby beach called Carcavelos. Kezia thought this was a great opportunity to learn how to surf, and Sarah and I were down for a beach day.
To get there, we had decided to rent scooters and this was an idea we had been thinking of for a few days. We headed to the rental place whose friendly owner set us up with our helmets and scooters, gave us the debrief on them, and let us on our way. At no point did I ever start to second guess my choice, we hopped on, Sarah as my passenger, twisted a few knobs, and literally within five seconds hit a taxi. Taking out his mirror, the scooter turned on its side and I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Even looking back, it was all a blur and happened so quickly. I rushed inside the rental shop to grab the owner, and the taxi driver was incredibly nice. He popped the mirror back in place as if this wasn’t the first time, and the owner of the shop only charged me my initial 35 euros. Physically, I walked away with just a little bruised knee, mentally, I had learned my lesson that trying something such as riding a scooter in a foreign country, with cobble stone-filled roads, and a passenger was not a bright idea.
All of us decided that scooters weren’t going to get us to where we wanted to be, so we hopped on the train towards the beach. We could feel the surfer vibes in Carcavelos, with the beaches filled with a younger crowd. Sarah began to feel under the weather, and I’m hoping the incident from earlier that morning didn’t have anything to do with it. We tried to connect with Miguel, but had just missed him at the beach, so we just soaked up some rays and headed back to the hostel. Kezia and I then checked off a Lisbon must-do and we headed to a nearby town called Belem, famous for a tower, but more importantly, their pastries. We headed to the pastry shop quite a bit later in the day, but could tell that this place would be bumpin’ throughout the day, and for good reason. Pastes de Belem are custard-filled tarts, and compared to ones we had tried before, these ones by far are the best. Served warm, they’re the perfect mix of custard and flaky pastry, topped with cinnamon and icing sugar. Portugal, you know how to do you pastries. Props.
We then walked to the Belem Tower and as it got darker, headed back to our hostel that was having a BBQ. We grabbed our food and sat at a table with the three Lu’s from Australia, (Lucy, Lucy, and Louis) who will be making more appearances in the next few days. A great conversation starter was “I hit a taxi while driving a scooter today” and from then on, the night was full of sangria, serenading, and salsa. Even though the entertainment was probably unintentional, Adam, the DJ, was a character, whose improv dance moves and lip syncing had us all in stitches. I may have joined him in a few duets, including Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and my personal favourite of Outkast’s “Hey Ya”. Luckily, a rough morning ended in great laughs and good vibes.
