There is this image that keeps coming back to me. Holding hands, walking by the shore, feeling the waves crashing at our feet. All around us the excitement of children playing, swimming, building sand castles. Further on, the shouts of the ice cream seller mixed with those of the pastry ladies, all dressed in white. How I loved those summer morning walks with my father! We would go as far as the rocks would let us. On the way, he would look at the tide and predict how it would evolve during the day. One month by the beach, every year, same spot.
I wish I could show you those pictures and at the same time that you could feel the scent of the algae and the salty sea. There was a picture of me and my father holding hands looking tanned and happy. I don’t have it anymore but my mind keeps it safe nevertheless.
Maybe this is why I love the sea so much. My sea feeds my emotions, inspires me, renews my being. This sea.
It is easy to understand how hard it is when the distance doesn’t allow me to reconnect and now even more, during these crazy times we are living with Covid 19. Not being able to travel back to my roots is hard. So when I’m away, or living in other parts of the world, I look for other flowing inspirations. And there have been quite a few. The flow helps my thoughts to travel further, to fly free, to be bold and adventurous.
My body may not be able to go far now but my mind …
I think about the other shores that have helped me along the way and gave me solace.
The shores of Mexico where I lived for 4 years and my daughter was born, is one of them. It is something special to remember the golden colours of the Pacific Ocean in Acapulco when the sun goes to sleep.
As well as the shores of Havana, when you walk in El Malecon for the first time where the Gulf of Mexico joins the Atlantic Ocean.
I will always remember the shores of the Caspian Sea that surprise for the energy and fun atmosphere that made me want to join in.
And the colours of the beaches in Hormuz in the Persian Gulf that painted my thoughts in vivid memories.
What to say when you see the Gulf of Venice for the first time in the northwestern end of the Adriatic Sea? You want to follow the flow and get lost in its canals.
It is impossible not to think about my father again and how he would have liked to discover all these different seas. He never got to travel like he had dreamt of. How many walks we could have had, how many tides we could have witnessed.
Now I live in Vienna and here there is no sea, no ocean that visits these river shores. Being the second longest river in Europe, the Danube flows through 10 cities, crossing different borders in central and Eastern Europe, finally emptying into the Black Sea. I walk along its shores often, sometimes with a book or my notebooks, seeking inspiration. They say green is the colour of tranquility, good luck, health and jealousy. I like to think Danube’s rich green colour is all of that. Yes, even the jealousy part because its waters end up in the sea.
That is where I want to flow to, back to my sea …
4 Comments
Very touching and so true. Your words and beautiful pictures flow like the sea. The sea has always inspired me to transcend my own shores. There is a smell of tides in my walks with dad when you were not yet born that brings me back to that summer house in Areia branca (white sands). Even then he already played with the tides to walk with us to different enclaves among the rocks. There is an undeniable fact: in the love he had for the sea he brought us into its fold too ❤️
Thank you Luisa for your beautiful words. I totally agree and I’m grateful that we can carry on his love for the sea and passed it on to the next generation.
So true. Our own children also love the sea. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a house by the sea? 😁
It would be great!😀