The first time I went to Portugal, my friend and I went to this little restaurant that was just perfect. The owner (who was also the cook) and I shared the same last name, and we got talking about it. This restaurant was such a great find, I can’t recommend it enough!

The thing is – I know this place was tucked away in a little alleyway in the centre of Oporto… and that’s really all I remember about it. Unhelpful, I know.

One of the reasons why I started this blog was so that I had a place to store all the information about my trips: where I went, the name of that local dish, how to find the neighbourhood with all the bars. Often, that’s a simple task. I take my notebook with me and make sure to write down the names of places so I don’t forget it later.

But sometimes, it just doesn’t work like this. There will always be places which are forever lost, maybe because I was too busy having fun to take notes, maybe because the name of the place didn’t return any results on Google afterwards.

It seems like the best places appear just when you need them; then vanish as soon as you’re gone. I remember the square in Venice with the kids riding bikes; the cool bar in Belgrade which had the best crowd; the little club in Lisbon with good live music.

And I’m sure along the way I’ll stumble upon many more amazing places like these… that I’ll never be able to find again.