Lazy Letter: Very sweet sweets
It was only a day trip. We decided to visit there because we were curious, and that there’s not much to do in our small town. It is nearby, it could be the closest city. We took the nine o’clock bus, we checked the bus schedule once we got there just to make sure we won’t miss the last bus on the way back; The last bus was at five. I’d pinned some places on my map that I believed we could visit, I was ready for an adventure. For some reason, I thought these spots would be further away from one another as I was checking them on the map. But, the reality looked way different. The castle and the church were only about one hundred steps away from each other. The park was too small, so we couldn’t see the point in visiting. And a tour around downtown was about five hundred steps, I don’t know, I forgot to check my stepcounter.
We had coffee in a very small cafe. We visited the second church of the list, and decided to have a shot of coffee. This country is all about churches, I guess, isn’t it?! The cafe was small, and they didn’t serve much; only coffee and sad looking snacks. We sat outside, facing the warm late-autumn sun. The trees were still green. A car passed by in front of us, a bald man was behind the wheel. He said something, he had a big smile on his face. He turned the car around, the woman sitting next to him was fastening her seatbelt. She laughed out loud to what the man just told her, and covered half of her face with a palm of her hand. Was she shy, I wondered, maybe it was their first date. Was the handsome man trying to impress this cute woman?! They drove away before I could investigate my thoughts more. I sipped the bitter coffee.
It’s a town, not really a city. It can be the town of nothing. Nothing’s happening there. The view is beautiful from the top of the castle, and the people are nice as always. Such as the man working in the church who tried to give us information about the history of the space, even though we don’t speak the same language, he kept talking to us. Or the waiter who brought us a big bottle of wine because he misunderstood our order. Or the lady in the cafe who taught me how to say “one of these” as I was ordering myself a traditional custard pie. I eat sweets from time to time, especially when I’m visiting a new area. I should take advantage of every possible chance to get to know my surroundings better, and enjoy the ride the most. And, well, I have to say that the sweets are just too sweet here. How much sugar do they put in a pie?! Maybe their sugar is sweeter!
I was sitting by the window on our way back. I was looking out the horizon, my eyes were looking for the ocean, for the sea, or some type of body of water. As if my eyes define aesthetic in the glow of the waves, or my ears crave for the sound of it. If this town had a sea, I kept on thinking, a river or a lake, it wouldn’t be this boring. I wasn’t bored, it was all fun, I was just thinking.
6.Nov.17 – Beja, Portugal