In the morning at the end of January, we wake up in a realm of mist: the cascading landscape unfolds from level to level and when we leave, a dense white mantle remains, resting over the valley; silence is absolute. As a parenthesis in the world. What we did not distinguish on departure, we had admired on arrival, the gaze converging on the Douro river, advancing as if dancing between the steep slopes that multiply on the horizon like matryoshka misaligned. On one side, São João da Pesqueira, on the other, Alijó, the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Douro – we are nestled on a hillside in Ervedosa do Douro, in a family home, with doors open to anyone who wants (and can) to pause the everyday.
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