A Week Without a Map

Ben Carter had spent six months planning his trip to Lisbon. He had a list of forty places to visit, a map on his phone with every restaurant marked, and a timetable for each day. At the top of the list, in capital letters, he had written: PASTÉIS DE BELÉM. Everyone said that the custard tarts at that famous old shop were the best in the world.

On his first morning, however, his phone slipped out of his hand and fell into the bathtub. The screen went black and never came back on.

Ben sat on the bed and stared at the dead phone. No map, no list, no timetable. For a moment he thought about staying in the hotel all day, but that seemed even worse, so he went out with a paper map from the front desk.

Lisbon is a city of steep hills, and the paper map didn't show them. After an hour, Ben was hot, tired and completely lost somewhere in the narrow streets of Alfama, the oldest part of the city. He sat down on a bench next to an old man who was feeding the pigeons.

"Excuse me," Ben said slowly. "Do you speak English? I'm trying to get to Belém, to the famous pastry shop."

The old man looked at him for a long moment. "Belém is far from here," he said in good English. "And the line there is an hour long. Why would you wait an hour for a tart?" He stood up. "Come with me. My daughter makes better ones, and her shop is five minutes away."

Ben wasn't sure. His list said Belém, not the old man's daughter. But his feet hurt, so he followed. The man, whose name was Joaquim, led him down a long staircase to a tiny shop with blue tiles on the walls and only three tables. A woman with flour on her arms put two warm tarts in front of them.

Ben took one bite and closed his eyes. The pastry was crispy, the custard was soft and sweet, and there was cinnamon on top. "Okay," he said. "You were right."

Joaquim laughed. "I'm always right. Just don't ask my wife."

For the rest of the week, Ben kept the paper map in his pocket and asked people for directions instead. A taxi driver took him to a viewpoint that wasn't in any guidebook. A student showed him a bookshop full of old maps of the city. And every morning, he started the day with a tart at Joaquim's daughter's shop.

On his last day, he finally took the tram to Belém. He looked at the long line outside the famous shop, thought about it for a minute, and got back on the tram.

When he got home, he bought a new phone. But the first thing he did with it was write a list for his next trip. It had only one line: "Get lost."