“You won’t make it,” the taxi driver kept telling me. But he had a solution: for $200 cash, he’d take me to Fátima instead.
I had just one day in Lisbon, and I wanted an overview of the city to help me decide what to explore further. So I had booked a tour.
The meeting place was a 10 minute cab ride from where I was, so 30 minutes before the tour I hopped into a cab and gave the driver directions. That’s when he announced I wasn’t going to make it. He then drove me all over the city for the next 30 minutes, repeating his offer to take me to Fátima every 5 minutes.
And of course I didn’t make it. When we finally arrived at the square 5 minutes too late, he said, “See, you didn’t make it. Now you have to go with me.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said not on your life. After paying €30 – which seemed highly inflated – I got out of the cab and looked around.
I had no clue where to go or what to do. I hadn’t properly researched Lisbon as I fully expected to have someone guide me.
Then I saw a tuk-tuk driver who, for some unknown reason, looked kind and safe to me. I approached him, told him I was traveling alone, and asked what he would charge for a tour. Because I was there out of season, he offered me a discounted rate.
So I climbed aboard, and my Plan B turned out to be one of the best tours I have ever taken.
What was supposed to be a two-to-three-hour tour turned into four hours as he drove me through every corner and every era of Lisbon’s history. He was incredibly knowledgeable and willing to answer my hundreds of questions. When we got to the site of the 1974 revolution, his passion made the history come to life, and I was brought to tears by the pride in his voice.
We talked politics and quality of life in his country and mine, history, architecture, food, and the effects of tourism on his city and around the world. We talked about his children and my children and grandchildren.
He took me to the place he swears has the best pastéis de nata in all of Portugal (Manteigaria), and I have to believe he was right. Those egg custard pastries were incredible, and I could easily have eaten six instead of the one I had.
Travel like this requires flexibility. Losing the money I’d paid for the original tour stung. But in the end, I experienced Lisbon through the eyes of someone who loves his city and his country and is eager to share it. I couldn’t have planned a better day.
If you are going to be in Lisbon, I’d highly recommend Domingos with Every Day is Sunday tours. Click the link below and use #EIS_30 for 30% off your tour. This isn’t an affiliate link and I don’t make money from it. I simply want others to have the fabulous experience I did.
