Phil Merrell

Well, the day started out pretty normal. We were walking around the city visiting places when the power went out around 11 AM. At first we just noticed it was darker in most of the places we were going to see. By mid afternoon, rumors were flying that it was a cyberattack, that Russia was attacking Europe, that the entirety of Europe was down, that the military had been called up… But with the power out, there was no news coming in. We stopped talking pictures, turned our phones off to save battery, and tallied up our resources.

There were basically two ways the Portuguese people were reacting. They either lined up at local shops to stock up on food, or they lined up at the bars to drink. I am ashamed to admit that we stood in the wrong line and bought canned tuna, saltines, and oranges (what was left) to tide us through the apocalypse. Having safeguarded our future, we then got in the correct lines and had a limited menu dinner out (what they were still serving) with some pretty good wine. Then we continued walking around the old town, visiting monuments and parks, and did our normal stuff until dark. At our hotel they gave us candles to light our room. Shortly after we got to bed, the power came back on. So we’re now taking orders for the finest quality imported canned tuna. Let me know how many cans you want! Seriously though, it did make us consider what we would do if a historical event overtook us in a foreign country.En savoir plus