A SWEET LITTLE TOWN BY THE SEA

I step out of the car into the warm sunshine.  Golden sand stretches for a hundred yards to the azure blue sea.  Waves rush to the shore in frothy white exuberance before spending themselves on the gilded sand.  The sand sparkles with millions of grains of pyrite in the late afternoon sun.  

 Fishwives on stools preside over baskets of sun dried fish dressed in traditional garb of horizontal striped knee socks beneath multi petty coated skirts, with white blouses topped by heavy wool sweaters and crowned by babushkas to protect their dried apple faces from the harsh Mediterranean sun.  Behind large nets on wooden frames filled with crucified fish dry in the warm breeze.

Dried fish anyone?

I turn to gaze at pastel buildings across from the esplanade.  Passersby of every shape, size, description and nationality provide a moving river of color against the backdrop of colonial architecture.  Shopkeepers smile at the passing crowd.  No pressure here.  Let the wares speak for themselves.  The smell of fresh seafood, roasting fish and meat, and the occasional smell of some exotic perfume drifts on the sea breeze.  Sidewalk cafes are full of tourists and locals alike drinking beer, coffee and the ever present vinho branca. 

The sound of workers hammering, drilling and sawing provides a backdrop of white noise broken by the occasional crash of a load into the dumpster; new replacing old at a feverish pace.

Yet somehow there is an essence that is one hundred percent laid-back-beach town.  The sights, sounds and smells  a mélange of near perfection. 

A rare old deux chevaux

We have just landed on the west coast of Portugal in the town of Nazare.  Once a sleepy little fishing village, it now makes its living catering to the tourists of Europe and beyond.  Despite that, it has retained its sweetness and its culture of living off the bounty of the sea.  Locals intermingle with tourists in a fully integrated society that has become so rare in a tourist destination.  The people are unfailingly polite, welcoming and friendly.  

I meditate on a surf and turf skewer

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Aside from being a tourist destination, Nazare has laid claim to possessing some of the largest waves ever surfed.  A few years ago,  Garrett McNamara surfed a nearly 100 tall foot wave off of the point of Nazare beach.  Hard to imagine on a day like today with the one foot swell, but Nazare has a system of intersecting underwater canyons that, when conditions are right, produce some of the largest waves ever observed. (Check out Garrett's big ride at :   www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlrqyHIE4wc   It is totally insane! 

Lighthouse on Nazare point. (Site of the big wave)

It is late afternoon now, and I beckon Deb back to the car and we soon find a sweet little hotel on the strand complete with balcony overlooking the beach and waves.  We grab a few beers from the downstairs bar and sit on our balcony relaxing after the day’s drive and watch the sun sink into the ocean. 

 

I run downstairs to book for two nights which becomes five.  We can’t tear ourselves away from this sweet little town by the sea.