PORTUGAL, A RETROSPECTIVE // OCTOBER 2018
- TRAVEL DIARY -
Portugal is a postcard. A postcard you can touch, step inside, drink, taste, hold, sip, consume. Dark wood and ambient air. Free flow of wine and miles of olives growing. Old world and modern day. Sunrise, sunset.
Switching from the hand counting seconds on the spinning clock to the hand counting hours, the pace is different in Portugal. Your beat shits to match the rhythm as soon as you arrive, or rather, immerse. Time moves slowly, but not in a tiresome or boring way. There, I was caught up in the details, lost and found in the flow, impressed by the tender, familial, hospitality.
A casual but serious appreciation for unobtrusive beauty flows freely in Portugal. I think it is just that— the people living more in line with their humanity and in celebration of their nature which makes the country so overwhelmingly special. The priorities are right, and it impacts you. You note the hard work, the romance of small details, and taking time for beauty alongside a pace that allows you to absorb it all.
An old man tends the roadside grove, where we drive an uphill and winding old street through clouds and mist. We listen, and turn, and find the road leads us where we’ve aimed to go. I was offered medicine in the orchard, on arrival, a strong drink for a raspy throat and gnawed heart. A welcome home.
Ripeness. The earth. The water. And the sea.
Alongside the river, take port, take port, to remember how to slow and appreciate the time. To remember…
