Crickets and Cow Bells

One of the best things that can happen while travelling is to meet up again with people who you really like. So I nearly jumped for joy when Jes, a girl I hung out with in Lisbon, tapped me on my shoulder the other day and gave me a big hug. We've been marching around southern Portugal ever since.

While I'm quite happy to vegetate on a beach, Jes is far more adventurous. It's brilliant because it means I actually get to see something other than sand (which though glorious, does get a tad repetitive). Today we headed off in search of the village of Aljezur. According to Jes' highlights of Portugal book, it's a cute village in the hills with the intact ruins (?) of a moorish castle. Moorish castle? You just said the magic words! So with that we packed a picnic dinner and headed for the hills.

The bus out there was a little sketchy as it was super local and none of our fellow transportees spoke English. But through a frankenstein mess of Spanish and French we managed to get to where we needed to go. Aljezur! Adorable town with maybe 6 tourists, tops. White washed walls, rediculously tumultuous narrow cobblestone paths masquerading as streets, and millions of cats. This was my kind of village. The fact that it had a castle was just icing on the cake!

So we plunked our butts on the rubble ruins of one of the castle walls and looked out over a gorgeous misty valley filled with green farm fields and rolling hills topped with eucalyptus trees ("gum trees" for Jes). All the while cow bells twinkled and echoed across the valley. This is where we feasted on fabulously strong cheese, tomatoes and fresh bread, and assorted olives. Grapes and crisp apples for desert. And all the while I kept thinking, "I cannot believe I'm sitting on a castle wall in the middle of nowhere Portugal having a deliciously simple meal. This is just too awesome!" This is why I wanted to travel.

After the sun sunk below the hills we headed down into the wee village in search of a cafe to warm ourselves in. We found a nice enough place and were treated to warm chocolate. (We'd ordered hot chocolate, but they don't really get the concept here.) But the evening was lovely and so we drank our chocolatey drinks and played cards to kill the 2 hours before the bus ride home. Suddenly I noticed that all around was the sounds of crickets happily chirping their little hearts out. Marvellous I thought, can't get any better than this. But it did, because shortly after that the cows were lead in from the fields right beside our cafe. The night air was filled will the soft swishing of cow hooves on grass and the melodious chiming of cow bells like a hundred wind chimes sounding at once. Truly one of those wonderful things that happen because you're in the right place at the right time.

The evening was frosty, so Jes and I nearly froze in our shorts. But we kept our spirits up and even sung a rousing round of "Hail the Bus Driver". (This is what I credit for summoning the bus. It was only a scant 15 minutes late!) After a day like that, the ride home couldn't help but be viewed in a wonderous light. We had the bus almost entirely to ourselves. And gazing out the windows, shadowy forests were illuminated by the golden misty moon and skattering light from the bus headlights. The entire ride back we were serenaded by Jonny Cash on the radio. This day is definitely one to remember.