Lisbon, August '22

...my first stop in Europe before continuing on to Paris to start my MBA.

          I was ready to get back after spending seven weeks stateside following my exit from the Army. I was looking forward to starting the next phase of my life, entirely on my own terms for the first time in nearly a decade. Even though it was my first time in Portugal, stepping out of Humberto Delgado Airport and into the cool, salty air, felt like coming home again. After dropping my bags I took a short walk around the city before returning to my hostel for a welcome drink at the rooftop bar.

          I was traveling alone, but I didn’t stay that way for long. 

The bar was empty when I arrived but it quickly filled with a diverse and eclectic mix of people. There were students from Finland, Austria, and Israel, entrepreneurs from England, The Netherlands, and Spain, digital nomads from the U.S., Canada, and Denmark and, at the center of it all – a friendly and energetic young bartender from Turkey.

          With few exceptions we all began the night as strangers, but by the next afternoon we were indistinguishable from a group of lifelong friends. Over the next few days, we became indistinguishable from family.

          We spent our mornings lounging together by the pool, in scattered groups of three and four, slowly recovering from the previous night out in Baixa Chiado, Bairro Alto or Cais do Sodre while waiting for an uber across the Ponte 25 de Abril to Praia do Rei to soak up the sun before doing it all over again.

          Exhausted from my flight but not wanting to miss an opportunity to forge new connections, I decided on an espresso martini. “Feel free to go off script and make it your way”, I told the bartender. His eyes lit up at the chance to create his own interpretation of a classic cocktail and create he did – passionately combining espresso, vodka, coffee liqueur, and Disaronno into what is still the best cocktail I’ve ever had.

          I couldn’t help but show off my newfound friend’s talents over the next few nights, and he thoroughly impressed the group with a variety of creations – some of which featured Ginja, a sour cherry liqueur seldom found outside of Portugal, and seldom missing from my own personal collection.