Twilight on the Douro

At about 8:30 PM (20:30) I am sitting at a small table watching the sunlight fade over the Douro River. I am in an Airbnb that I initially thought I would hate.  Yes, it looks like the pictures but I had mistakenly believed it had air conditioning when it in fact does not.  Luckily the temperatures for the next week to ten days are supposed to top out at 73 F.  The night lows are in the high 50s.  And the view…

 

Sitting on this balcony if I look to the west, I see the Dom Luis bridge.  If I look to the east I see two other bridges, one old and one new.   More importantly I see the flotilla of Douro Valley day trippers returning from 6 or 8 hours on the river absorbed in the scenery of the terraced vineyards, coupled with a lunch/wine tasting at a quinta that produces port.  It really is quite beautiful out here.  I am on a cliff and there are several roads below me.  I can’t see the road but I can hear what is going on down there. A street sweeper just went by, it goes by every night at this time. 

 

The oranges and reds from the sunset are fast fading and the sky above me, what I can see of it through large fully canopied trees is dusty but growing dark blue with the minute. The day is done and what have I done with it. I didn’t “accomplish” much today.  There was a strategic strike to get some items at a grocery story.  There was a trip through a cathedral and the cloisters attached to it. Great beauty was seen and savored. Coffee was had twice and a great deal of time was spent savoring those moments.  I have come to appreciate coffee culture, at least as it is practiced here.

 

Seagulls are screaming over the river.  A feral cat, and there are thousands of them here, walks by on a wall and then jumps onto a red tile roof. A friend asked me if I was relaxing.  The answer is not all the time, but when I hit moments like this one as I sit and watch the river flow, well, this is as relaxed as I ever get.