Travel stories from Portugal

Of all the places I've been in Europe, Lisbon is one of my favorite cities. It is just so distinctly European - the hills, the roads, the beautiful yellow trams, the buildings, the churches, the culture, the cuisine, the little old ladies who asked me not to take pictures of them. I wandered around for three days with absolutely no plan, making stupid tourist mistakes and getting into trouble.

On one particular evening after a long day of walking (20,000 steps and counting), I decided to take a taxi back to my hostel. I flagged a taxi on a not so busy street and it stopped abruptly to pick me up, followed by a little yellow tram slamming into its back. I froze, mouth gaping, but quickly came to my senses and fled the scene like a coward. I wanted to see what would happen, but knew it was just a matter of time before the taxi driver would be pointing at the silly American girl who caused the accident. I quickly went to the next street and flagged another taxi, this time carefully making sure there was no yellow tram directly behind it.