Friday, September 3

Today we spend most of the day at the mouth of the river Douro where it pours into the Atlantic.

We find two walkways out into the sea at the end of Avenida de D. Carlos 1. One leads to a small lighthouse. The other leads to an older, taller, and now closed, lighthouse along a much longer path.

We walk down the longer path and stop halfway down to photograph the smaller structure. We watch the waves rolling in from far out to sea and running along the length of the wall towards the small sandy beach closeted between the two walkways.

At the end of the longer path we look out into the Atlantic and watch a mixture of boats. Two yachts pass us heading to sea while large cargo ships sail across the horizon.

I will remember feeling oddly irritated by the words of Yoko Ono as I look out across the ocean and take some pictures. We will sit there for a long time smelling the distinct smell of the ocean and listening to the waves.