Not home, not yet. A stopover in Lisbon has landed us in the same neighborhood and same hotel that we stayed in two years ago on our first big post-Covid trip. The whole world seemed lit up again when we were here in June of 2022. 

I thought the energy and bustle was springing from all that pent-up travel desire. But the energy and bustle are still here. From the moment we stepped out of the Baixa-Chiado Metro stop to  rousing street music, I felt the pulse of this city, the light and magic of it. 

We dove right in, strolling through Bairro Alto and Baixa, ogling pastry in bakery windows, finding not one but two lovely viewpoints over the city, and crowding onto the Number 28 trolley for our ride “home.”

It’s fun to explore a new destination, but there’s a special satisfaction in returning to the already-visited places, the ones we love enough to see again.