(photograph © Kiwidutch)
This isn’t meant to be a funny post, just a cute and reminiscent one…
One of the BEST things about rural Portugal is that things haven’t changed much… we round another corner into a small village deep in the hills and we are almost out the other side when we discover that there’s a traffic jam.
Not a Dutch style traffic jam, with cars, but a New Zealand style one… i.e. SHEEP blocking the road.
For me it’s a direct reminder of the same situation Himself and I found ourselves in 15 years ago on our Portuguese honeymoon.
Back then it was a different village of course, closer to the Douro Valley, but still, it was us taking in the joys of tiny roads around northern Portugal and waiting patently for shepards and their flocks. I love that rural life goes on today as it did then, the same as one hundred years ago and hopefully for a hundred more.
We smiled and let the lady know that we were in no rush, she smiled and waved back, clearly appreciating that. The flock trotted along quickly and it took only a few minutes for them to rush past our stationary car.
As the last of the flock of sheep disappeared around the corner of a little alley off the road between two houses close by, the lady waved a last time and we moved on…
