Joana Schenker's west coast

Waking up in the Algarve, specifically in Sagres, is to wake up at the so-called ‘end of the world’, but, for me, it is waking up in the ‘centre of the world’, waking up at home.

Despite having a wandering soul and always being in search of the next adventure, waking up at home is something that gives me an unmatched feeling of calm and tranquillity. I don't feel like this anywhere else. It’s to be aligned with everything that surrounds me, nature, people, the rhythm of this village.

Sometimes it’s going ‘to take a peek at the sea’ in my pyjamas without a care in the world, it’s waving to all the people I see on the street at 8 am in the morning. It’s looking at the same rocks every morning and still being impressed by their grandeur and raw beauty. It’s being happy on the rare days when there is no wind! The Algarve is a special place, no Algarvian doubts that.

It is both sea and countryside, it is tradition and it is a mix of culture with significant foreign influence. The sea air, smell of rock roses and the pinkish white of almond trees in bloom, white houses with windows painted blue. Everyone knows how to speak English and the menus in restaurants are written in at least 3 languages. It is like a never-ending contradiction that lives in perfect harmony. Sweet and salty, in the perfect dose to make us become addicted.

Those who visit us feel this, as many who come to the ‘end’ of Portugal feel a pull that does not let them leave. That’s what happened to my parents 35 years ago when they decided to stop traveling the world and bought land in the village of Pedralva. I believe that their decision turned out to be the moment that shaped my entire future. I could have been born in Germany, who would I be today? I wouldn’t have been a professional bodyboarder that’s for sure. I wouldn’t have spent my days in the best office in the world, the beach. I feel like I won the lottery of fate.

Waking up in the Algarve is waking up to a routineless routine, all days are alike, but no day is the same as the last. Anyone who has dealings with the sea knows that it has no routine, it is constantly changing. To find the best wave, we have to be as fluid and spontaneous as the sea itself. We have to be patient and wait, we have to be resilient and not give up the search. Sometimes we have to accept the fact that we are too small to face it. But every once in a while, there are those days when all the conditions line up perfectly, and the sea rewards us with dream waves. Those days when nothing is more important than being there, days of pure happiness, that childlike happiness! It is the hope of finding those days that always make us wake up to a never-ending search.

To wake up in the Algarve is to be used to hear ‘you are so lucky’, ‘it is always sunny and warm here’ (although we all know that this is not always the case). You have to love it! I wouldn’t trade this life for anything, I wouldn’t change the place where I wake up for anything. See you on a beach tomorrow morning?