Soon after arriving back at the hotel after group dinner on Sunday night, I started having chest tightness and my mind raced and wouldn’t stop. Not sure whether it was something I’d ate or all the exercise over the past couple of days, but falling asleep was a struggle. I slept for a couple hours, woke up at 5 and nothing had improved. I tried walking around the block a few times once the sun had come up, tried eating breakfast but I knew I needed to get looked at. 

Right before the start of the group’s walking tour, I grabbed the tour leader Mikael and told him I think I needed to go to the hospital. He quickly picked a private hospital with English speakers and offered to accompany me. I told him that wasn’t necessary, so he got me a cab. 20 scary minutes later, I arrived at Hospital Da Luz and found the “emergency room.”

I have to RAVE about the quality of the Portuguese hospital system. They processed me with ease, assigned me a number and I was able to follow my journey on a board which designated which rooms to go to. 

EKG, blood work and X-rays later, I was thrilled to be given an “all clear” by the excellent doctor assigned to me. The whole process took less than 3 hours and was less than the cost of an ER visit with insurance in the US. 

I took the metro back to my hotel and rested for the afternoon. Thankfully I felt a LOT better – well enough to join the group for a dinner with Fado, the traditional Portuguese songs of lament.

It was a great way to end a tough day. And I was ready to enjoy the rest of my Portuguese adventure 😊