Saudade.... até logo Portugal

There is a Portuguese word SAUDADE which means longing, missing or yearning to or after something. In Finnish, which is my mother tongue, the word KAIHO means almost the same. These two are perfect words for the feeling I have today. On my last day here. Knowing that I'm leaving, not knowing when I'll return.  But at the same token having an underlying tone of hope, a solid knowledge that someday we will meet again. For without hope there is no 'saudade', without hope, there is only sadness of loosing something and never reaching it again. But trust me - I am coming back!!!

I have a friend who visited his ideal holiday location for the 30th time this year -the same island, the same hotel, the same floor.... I almost started to laugh and question his lack of adventure and was about to comment on how boring that sounded....  I didn't.
I realized that I have been going back to Portugal (read= Sintra) since 1988.....

I will always remember the first time I visited Sintra area. It was magic - just like going into a fairy tale!! I came from white, cold wintery Finland and arrived in green world  full of flowers, trees, friendly people (and  cold houses)! 30-years ago there were a lot less tourists, a lot more run down old houses, fewer hotels, fewer everything.... the houses were cold, even back then but the Sintra mountain, Pena  Palace,  the Moorish castle, they were there...
And they  have  held my heart ever since.