food – passporttopossibilitycom

We decided to take it easy on our final day in Lisboa.

After seven weeks of traveling, sightseeing, walking, trains, planes, taxis, and more cobblestones than I ever need to see again, no one was in a hurry. We let Kiya sleep until 11:00 and enjoyed a slow morning at the apartment.

Once everyone was awake and ready, we headed out to revisit a few shops we’d discovered a couple of days earlier. There were several things that had intrigued us, and this was our last chance to go back and get them.

I had one particular mission.

I wanted to find a little cloth Portuguese rooster keychain. They are so cute and colorful, and every time I see one, it reminds me of Heihei, the crazy chicken from the movie Moana.

The Rooster of Barcelos is everywhere in Portugal. According to legend, a man wrongly accused of a crime declared that a roasted rooster would crow to prove his innocence—and it did. The colorful rooster eventually became a Portuguese symbol of good luck, honesty, justice, and faith. Today you can find versions of him on just about everything.

And speaking of finding something on everything…

Sardines.

Lisboa loves its sardines.

You can find sardine shirts, jewelry, bags, artwork, souvenirs, and, of course, actual sardines packaged in some of the most beautiful tins I’ve ever seen.

We returned to a sardine shop we’d visited earlier in our stay. When we left the first time, I had told the woman working there that we’d be back.

As soon as I walked through the door, she recognized me.

“You did come back!”

I did!

I bought a pair of sardine earrings, and I couldn’t resist bringing home one of the beautifully designed tins. The artwork is so colorful and detailed that the tin itself feels like a souvenir.

From there, we wandered through several more shops and eventually made our way onto one of the busier boulevards.

Suddenly there were people everywhere.

It honestly felt like a cruise ship had pulled into port and unloaded every passenger at once. After several days of relatively easy wandering, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by crowds.

We escaped down a little side street and accidentally stumbled upon an open-air market.

Those unexpected finds have been some of my favorite parts of this trip.

One vendor was selling handmade aluminum jewelry, and naturally we had to stop. We ended up buying rings, earrings, and a necklace.

As you already know, Kiya has fallen in love with her fabulous orange, diamond-studded sunglasses. Mom had been searching for an eyeglass strap for her, and today she finally found one.

Even better—it matched Kiya’s sunglasses.

Perfect.

There was also one food stop we knew we had to repeat.

Earlier in our stay we’d discovered a café serving a delicious fruit bowl in orange juice and honey. It had been so good that we made a point of going back.

It was just as yummy the second time.

Then we had another important repeat destination—the Time Out Market.

There was really only one reason we needed to go back.

Those pork al pastor tacos.

We’d been thinking about them since we ate there the first time, so we ordered another round.

Yep.

Just as yummy the second time too.

After lunch, we slowly wandered back toward the apartment. There was no need to squeeze in another attraction or race across the city. We had seen so much of Lisboa over the past several days, and it felt good to simply enjoy one final walk through the streets.

Then came the familiar ritual we’ve repeated over and over during this trip.

Packing.

Once again, we spread everything out and began figuring out how to fit our clothes, souvenirs, scarves, earrings, artwork, and all the other little treasures we’ve collected into our suitcases.

This time, though, something was different.

When I packed for this seven-week adventure, one of my biggest worries was making sure we had enough of Kiya’s prescription formula, medications, pull-ups, wipes, and medical supplies. Running out of something she needed while we were traveling through Europe wasn’t an option, so I intentionally overpacked.

And I definitely overpacked the formula and pull-ups.

Some of those will be staying behind in Lisboa. I’m going to contact the apartment manager and see if they can be donated to a care center or another organization that can put them to good use rather than throwing them away.

Looking at what remains, though, I feel pretty good about my planning.

I packed almost exactly the right amount of medication and wipes for seven weeks of travel. Considering how much thought, calculating, weighing, and worrying went into those medical bags before we ever left Montana, that’s a pretty satisfying feeling.

Tomorrow morning our ride will arrive at 8:00 a.m. to take us to the airport.

We’ll fly from Lisboa back to Dublin, bringing us full circle to the city where our European adventure began seven weeks ago.

The suitcases are a little more battered.

They’re definitely filled with more souvenirs.

We’re a lot more tired.

And we have seven weeks’ worth of incredible memories packed in with everything else.

Tomorrow, we begin the journey toward home.

We made sure to have our taxi arrive early the next morning because we were headed to one of the experiences I had been looking forward to the most—our Parisian macaron baking class.

It turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in Paris.

Our instructor, Lorenzo, was fantastic. Besides the three of us, there were two other women from the United States—Rita from Georgia and Erin from Minnesota. It was fun getting to know everyone while we baked together.

Lorenzo carefully walked us through every step of creating authentic French macarons. We started by choosing our colors. Mom chose a vibrant orange while I picked a beautiful teal. Once our batter was mixed to the proper consistency, it was time to pipe our circles onto the baking sheets.

Fortunately, everyone in our class had some baking experience, which made Lorenzo’s job a little easier.

Then came one of the most important steps—removing the air bubbles.

Lorenzo demonstrated how to gently tap the trays. I, on the other hand, simply picked up the baking sheet and gave it a good drop onto the counter. The look on Lorenzo’s face was priceless! I think I surprised not only him but also Rita and Erin, who were worried I had ruined all of our perfectly piped circles. Instead, Lorenzo laughed and assured everyone they looked just fine.

While the macarons baked, we used the leftover batter to get creative. Lorenzo showed us how to pipe hearts, flowers, and even Mickey Mouse shapes before turning us loose. I couldn’t resist experimenting and ended up making hearts, flowers, and even a yin-yang design. They turned out beautifully.

Next came my favorite part—choosing the filling.

I selected mango while Mom chose raspberry. We mixed our fillings, spooned them into piping bags, and spread them as thinly as possible before Lorenzo briefly placed them in the freezer to firm up. Once the shells had cooled, we carefully matched tops and bottoms before piping in the filling. We had to work quickly because the filling softened almost immediately. After sandwiching them together, Lorenzo returned them to the freezer for a few minutes so everything would set before packaging each person’s macarons into bags to take home.

We each walked away with fifteen beautiful homemade macarons.

Since we now had delicate desserts traveling with us, we decided to take a taxi back to our apartment to put them safely into the refrigerator.

Or so we thought.

Later that day we discovered neither the refrigerator nor the freezer at our VRBO was actually working. We could only laugh. Thankfully, the macarons survived long enough for us to enjoy them.

Before we left the class, Lorenzo shared several of his favorite shopping recommendations around Paris, one of which was CityPharma. If you’ve never heard of it, imagine one of the world’s busiest pharmacies packed with French skincare, cosmetics, and beauty products at prices far below what many people pay at home.

Busy, however, is an understatement.

The place was absolutely packed. Mom and Kiya quickly became overwhelmed by the crowds while I made my way through the aisles. I asked one of the employees for recommendations on a hydrating facial spray, a restorative night cream, and sunscreen. Then I happily wandered through the shelves picking up products that caught my attention. I can definitely see why people travel across Paris just to shop there.

After another quick shopping stop, we headed toward our afternoon canal cruise.

Unfortunately, I had misunderstood the confirmation email.

By the time we arrived, our boat had already left.

I was so disappointed. We had all been looking forward to relaxing on the water after such a busy morning, and I felt terrible knowing it was my mistake.

Rather than letting it ruin the day, we decided to simply wander the neighborhood until something caught our eye.

Before long we stumbled across an ice cream shop serving enormous sundaes.

Honestly, it was exactly what I needed.

Sometimes a little ice cream is the perfect cure for frustration.

After taking some time to regroup, we caught a taxi back to the apartment. I ran upstairs to drop off our shopping bags while Mom and Kiya waited outside.

That evening we wandered just down the street and found a wonderful little restaurant for dinner. Instead of ordering full meals, we shared a beautifully prepared meat and cheese board. Every cheese was different, and I made it my personal mission to sample every single one. It was absolutely delicious.

One thing that made me smile happened while I asked the server to box up our leftovers. Earlier in the trip I had watched the cook combine leftover food from several unfinished charcuterie boards into one container to create the next appetizer. Ever since then, I made a point of asking for our leftovers to be boxed before they ever left the table!

We ended the evening with full stomachs, homemade macarons waiting for us back at the apartment, and plans for another incredible museum the following day—the Musée d’Orsay.