Heavy clouds hang over the coast on this summer’s day, the air is clammy and tastes salty on the lips. In the distance, dimly visible in the haze, the white houses of Azenhas do Mar seem to cling to the rocks. On the way down to the beach you soon hear the roar of the crashing waves.
It’s like this: you love the sea. But also fear it. the currents. The whipping spray. The tremendous power that it can develop, especially here, on the Portuguese Atlantic coast not far from Lisbon. A little over a hundred kilometers to the north, in Nazaré, surfers ride towering waves in their quest for increasingly spectacular records; it’s enough to watch video sequences of it to get your heart racing.
What awaits us after a few meters downhill is spectacular in a different way: separated from the sea by a stone wall, a natural pool nestles in the coastal landscape below the village. The water shimmers blue-green, every now and then a wave crashes against the little wall, allowing fresh seawater to slosh into the pool. Curious looks down from the small café above: who glides effortlessly into the water as if they were in the Caribbean, who treads carefully and slowly in because: Oops, it’s cold! The eternally valid bathing wisdom will soon take effect: once you’re in, it’s ok. In this case, however, that is an insufficient description. Once inside, lying on your back, closing your eyes and hearing the sound of the sea, you’ll think you’ll never have a better feeling of weightlessness again.