We come full circle. What an intense whirlwind of fieldwork in the rainy sunny city of Lisboa. I didn’t manage to tick-off the top 10 or top 20 or even the top 5 of things to do, see and experience in Lisbon. Perhaps I might have ticked-off some of the bucket list items without even be aware that those are the ‘must be’ places for a tourist experiences. But what I did get to see, do and experience has been incredibly enriching both academically and personally. There is so much that I can be and indeed that I am thankful for. The ultimately sunny spells that managed to push through the rainy clouds were enjoyable however fleeting. I’m afraid I can’t help but become somewhat fixated on the rainy weather. It’s just that I had such high hopes of a sunny period of fieldwork and therefore take the rains as a personal affront. I mean it didn’t rain all day every day. But as they say, expectation is the root of all disappointments. Perhaps this just means I need to return to Lisbon again in order to fully experience continuous non-rainy days. Would it be as a normal tourists or would it be another fieldwork visit?

For all that this fieldwork has taught me and connected me into, I am thankful. I am grateful for the generosity of the Rui, Alcides, Djuzé and Naky who allowed me to participant observe their tour and gave me their precious time for an interview. I am thankful for the conversations with guests on all the tours I followed, the widened perspectives that comes from hearing the lived experiences of others and the beauty that comes from seeing the world through another’s eyes in another’s city in another’s country amidst the idiosyncrasies of how others live their lives. Talking of idiosyncrasies, why does the Pingo Doce supermarket shop I frequented on Rua Tomas Ribeiro provide single-use plastic gloves in order to get some bread pastries. I found it quite strange given ongoing global sustainability challenges. Why not provide a ‘permanent’ metal ‘picker’ or tongs or whatever it’s called which is more sustainable and can be used over and over again by those who want some pastry bread and croissants.

The 5 days-4 nights of fieldwork has fired up my thinking. I’ve gained essential insights into the transformative potential and the actual role that guided tours play in activating socio-cultural memories of a difficult past. Some questions have been answered but a bunch of new questions and lines of inquiries have opened up for further exploration. First, I need to spend time with the interview transcripts and the fieldwork reflections and observation notes that I wrote. For now it’s obrigado and see you again Lisboa.