hello, algarve

the algarve // sparkling, magical, peaceful, heaven-on-earth

… i’m such a city girl at heart that it’s hard for me to fully admit to adding a non-city to the top of my “favorite places in the whole world” list. when traveling i find it difficult to fully relax, and cities tend to feed my “FOMO” gene (fear-of-missing-out). there’s always something to do, see, eat, experience. (although the long list of to-do’s and must-sees creates its own FOMO challenges … ).

but portugal’s southern coast changed everything. when walking through one of its darling little cities (lagos) i asked wen his view on walking away from everything in our real life and raising the girls in this perfect little hippie beach town. tan shoulders in loose sundresses as our daily ootd, hair perpetually, perfectly tousled by the salty ocean water and beach breezes. excursions on little boats through the grottos, hiking along the coastline, eating fresh seafood daily.

i’ve always been drawn to the ocean. wen and i have this random thing we do every time we’re at the coast where we both look towards the horizon and in unison say, it’s so vast. it IS so vast. the ocean reminds me how big and gorgeous and magical this world is, and how little yet significant we all are. on one of our last nights we found ourselves at cabo de sao vincent, which is this intimidatingly beautiful cliff at the furthest southwest corner of portgual. it literally feels like the end point of the world, and both figuratively and literally everything else seems to be so far away. the wind was blowing and it started getting chilly as the evening wore on – bitty and wen went back to the car, while piper and i sat on a rock at the top of the cliff, arms around each other, watching the sun say it’s farewell as it dipped beneath the horizon. it was one of those perfect moments that you wish you could bottle up.

already daydreaming of going back. of sitting cliff top and watching the ocean crashing into the coastline, of climbing down to the little pockets of sand tucked among the rock coastline, of watching the girls dancing in the waves. (lordy, v sentimental today!).

xo!