There is the light, the landscapes, the food, the time and the sun. But, for Miguel Esteves Cardoso, there is one reason that overrides all others when it comes time to return to the South of the country: the water of the Algarve.
The writer and chronicler dedicated the text published in the June 20th edition of , a supplement to Público, to him. A declaration of love for the Algarve sea that begins, right away, with a reflection on life, memory and the things that were truly worth it.
“When God takes everything away from me”, writes Miguel Esteves Cardoso, I would like anyone looking for what gave him pleasure throughout his life to look through that chronicle. It is there, he explains, that he talks about something that “enough to make the distinction between life and death: the water of the Algarve”.
It’s not that you’re indifferent to the region’s other charms. The chronicler lists them: “the light of the Algarve”, “the people of the Algarve”, “the landscapes”, “the food”, “the weather”, “the house” and “the sun”. Still, it leaves no doubt about what truly attracts him.
“When I go to the Algarve, I go by the Algarve water”, he says.
A water that must be conquered
Miguel Esteves Cardoso builds the chronicle based on the contrast between the Algarve beaches and the Atlantic that follows much of the Portuguese coast. A sea that he admires, but to which he humorously points out two small defects: “it is cold and wants to kill us”.
It is precisely by comparison with this rougher ocean that the water in the Algarve takes on another dimension. It’s not tropical, it’s not always hot, but it doesn’t pretend to be either. For the columnist, its freshness is part of the experience.
“The water in which we bathe has to be alive. It has to vary. It has to surprise us”, he writes, arguing that the first contact must require some effort. “Seawater has to be an easy achievement. But it has to be an achievement.”
The author nevertheless recognizes the demands of the Portuguese, who travel kilometers to the Algarve and arrive with high expectations. It’s not enough for them to find a less violent sea: they also want it to be warm. Fortunately, he notes, it only takes about 22 degrees to feel like “heaven.”
Between Barlavento and Sotavento
“Leeward and Windward are the northern and southern hemispheres of another world,” he writes. A world that looks like ours, he adds, but that appears “perfected”.
This variety allows, according to the chronicler, to find the water that best corresponds to each person’s state of mind. “The water in the Algarve varies like our soul. If it doesn’t meet it, we just need to go a little further to the right or left”, he observes.
“The best water in the world”
Miguel Esteves Cardoso chooses three details that summarize what he loves most about the Algarve sea: the green of the water when you enter, the small waves on calmer days and the warm water currents that seem to lead bathers to an imaginary bathtub.
The promise never comes to fruition. Instead of the bathtub, the chronicler ends up lying next to the bank, with his body between the water and the sand, splashing like a child. And he concludes that few things taste so good.
“The water of the Algarve tastes a lot,” he writes at the end of the chronicle. “You know very well that it is the best water in the world. At least ours.”
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