A Day Organised

Thomas had been in the Algarve for four days. He was staying in a rented villa with his son, who'd just turned twenty, while his wife was in Lisbon for work. He'd enjoyed the first few days, pool, golf, the obvious things, but his son was restless and he wanted to give him something worth remembering.

A contact suggested he get in touch with me.

We spoke briefly the evening before. He was interested in history and photography, not particularly excited about beaches for the sake of beaches. I suggested we go inland and west. Silves in the morning for the castle, lunch somewhere local, then down to the coast at Arrifana in the afternoon for the cliffs and the light.

The castle at Silves was the right call. He was genuinely absorbed, the scale of it, the age of the walls, the views across the orange groves from the battlements. Thomas said afterwards he hadn't seen him put his phone away for that long since they'd arrived. We had lunch in the town, unhurried, and then drove west through the hills.

Arrifana in the late afternoon does something to most people who haven't seen it. The bay opens up as you come down the road from the village above, the cliffs catching the light differently at that hour, the Atlantic going dark blue beyond the bay. He took photographs for a long time without saying much.

We drove back as the sun went down. Thomas sent me a message the next morning. His son had asked if they could come back.