11 moon time - mini bag

Ana and Maria met by chance at a café near Rossio. they were both traveling solo, ordered coffee at the same counter, and laughed when they realized they were trying to pronounce “pastel de nata” at the exact same time — both struggling equally. they started talking, discovered their feet were equally sore from walking too much, and decided to explore the rest of the city together, with a casual: “well, since we’re here…” that’s how an unspoken pact began: to walk without a plan, to get lost on purpose, and to follow every good smell floating out of windows. they wandered through Alfama debating who would be the better fado singer (neither), climbed up to the Miradouro da Graça with a bag of cherries and ate them all while laughing at tourists posing with trams, and took photos in front of Jerónimos Monastery pretending to be influencers — just to send to their mums. Lisbon set the scene, but the real show was in the non-stop conversation, the shared jokes, the stories of life told between sips of white wine by the river. they didn’t always know the name of the street they were on, but they knew that day would stay with them forever. as the sun slowly set, they sat on the steps near the Tejo River with plastic cups from a corner shop and toasted the moment. they laughed at the lack of glamour — and it was perfect. once upon a time was made for us, Ana said, raising her cup. and in that moment, neither of them doubted it: some friendships don’t need a long backstory. all they need is two plane tickets, one shared coffee, and a beautiful city where things just start to make sense.