Mea still had plenty of room in her notebook and far too many arrows in her plans. Between stops, Portugal kept offering her benches, railings and tables for one. At first she thought of them as breaks. Then she began to notice that these were often her favourite parts of the journey.
An imagined story with Mea Zen, inspired by original Travel2City photographs. Alcobaça, Tomar, the Douro Valley and Porto form a montage of separate stops. The evening light in Porto is an artistic reinterpretation of a daytime photograph.
In the cloister courtyard, Mea sat down merely to adjust her bag strap. That was her explanation, anyway. Beyond the arcades stood small trees, and shadows moved slowly across the paths. Her notebook stayed closed on her lap. After a while, she realised the strap had been perfectly comfortable for some time. She still didn't get up. “A technical stop,” she whispered with a smile. It was a remarkably thorough technical stop.
In Tomar, the stone staircase greeted her with a persuasive gesture: this way. Mea looked up, then down at her boots. They offered no comment on the proposal. She put a hand on her hip and gave herself another moment below, where she could see the wall, the tower and the whole generous invitation. “I'll be along,” she told the steps. She half closed her notebook. This time, nobody had to pretend that a view only counted after a climb.
Above the Douro Valley, Mea laid her notebook on a low stone wall. The slopes ahead were covered in curves. She followed one, lost it, and found another. Her eyes couldn't trace them in the tidy order she preferred for lists. A breeze lifted the end of her scarf. She pinned it under an elbow and smiled at her attempt to keep at least one thing in line. Then she let her gaze wander. The notebook raised no objection. It was closed, after all.
In Porto, she found a little table with a view of the tall tower. Evening in her story softened into blue, and lights came on by the windows. Mea finished her coffee, set the cup on its saucer, and tied the notebook with a ribbon. She could still turn into another street. She could still find another view. Instead, she rested her chin on her hand. “Nowhere else today.” She said it with the satisfaction of someone who had just discovered a place missing from the map.
“Nowhere else today.”
From notebook to book
The Map with No Last Page
The world of Travel2City continues between the covers of a book. Discover The Map with No Last Page and more illustrated journeys.
