Too Many Accents, Too Little Time: Things I Learned on my Mini Break in Portugal: 2. Lisbon will remind you of so many other places.

2. Lisbon will remind you of so many other places.

Before departing for Lisbon, I asked as many people as I could for stories of past trips, recommendations, etc. One of my friends told me that Lisbon will remind me of places I have been, all over the world. And now I completely understand what she meant.

I had so many deja-vu moments on this trip, I cannot even begin to describe them all. Lisbon is a gorgeous city, and (at least in February!) is not overly touristy, which is really nice. Walking around, we would suddenly feel like we were in another city. There was the Jesus statue from Rio, the miniature Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco (mind you, I have never seen either of these monuments but was shocked by the similarities from pictures), the walk along the coast which took me back to the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, the hills of Bairro Alto with their curving confusion like in Genoa, Italy, a rainbow row like in Charleston (I'm finding a lot of these lately), the monastery in Belem which reminded me of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Around every corner, I was transported to another time and place. Even the mosaic roads (my favorite part of the city) at times reminded me of the start of the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz.

And with every memory, suddenly people who I had explored the other places with arose in my mind. It was so calming to reflect on different times in my life, what was important to me then, what seemed like my biggest obstacles, and how things have changed-- all in a beautiful seaside city, where the sound of waves surrounded you. Lisbon is great, and so many of you were there, with me, in memory.