Last night I tried a couple of times to record a video post showing myself and the almost full moon as I talked about how much I enjoyed Olhao. Never really captured what I wanted to say or the look I was going for. So here goes as I try and put it into words. My espresso at my left hand.
Olhao is mostly a working seaport with some gorgeous beaches attached. And yes, there is a row of restaurants that stretches on for more than a kilometer. But really it is nobody first choice for a waterfront holiday. I mean there is the intense swamp/fish smell that comes from the fish processing plant every couple of days when the wind blows into town. Also, there are the coffee shops/bars filled with grizzled old men sipping Superbock beer, lingering for hours at a table set out in the middle of a sidewalk. And even the new condos have issues notably the stucco siding falling off into the street and onto the sidewalk below. And there are the ruined buildings.
But…
I have lived in seaside towns before and the fish smell it kind of comes with the salt air and the sea view. The old men are just that old men, strange only because I am a stranger in this town a place which has existed with grizzled old men for many, many centuries. While it might be easy to view my photos of old houses as disaster porn, the key thing is that they are old and they are still in use. This place has cycles of life, cycles of use and reuse older than the nation from whence I have come.
And…
The pace of this town is a pace I like. Morning is filled with activity. Then comes a long lunch. Then real life slows for a time only to awaken again in late afternoon and continuing on until 10 PM or so.
Olhao is working class. I come from blue collar beginnings so the humble side of this town is not a shock or a deterrent. Olhao is on the water and I spent the most formative years of my life at the edge of the ocean. Ohlao has a good spirit of life and at this stage in my life I appreciate that life-force.
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