Porto Sunsets and Rainbows

Sometimes God winks...

I'm a sucker for sunsets. In fact, our Sunday evenings are usually filled with "Sunset Sundays" where we watch the sunset from a good view and think about what we are grateful for from that week. The practice really grounds you and makes you appreciate the small things in life. It also shows you how fast time flies when you realize that another week just passed and it's Sunset Sunday again.

Enter Porto, Portugal. A beautiful town in northern Portugal known for it's romantic riverwalk, myriad of bridges, and a world-class bookstore called the Livraria Lello. This post, though, focuses solely on one of the most magical sunsets of our lives and nothing else.

There's only one thing Ana craves more than crepes and that's Nutella. Luckily those two things go together and Portugal offers the smooth combination frequently. It had been a relatively cloudy day but we were out exploring on foot anyway. The sign with Nutella crepes calls to my girlfriend's senses from miles away. We entered one store with such a sign and were told we could sit on the second floor that had a terrace. Nobody else was around except for a mannequin in the corner. We sat on the humble, aging couch eating the delicious, creamy Nutella crepe when I see the sun hitting the wall on the other side of the room. I leap up and make it to the terrace only to see a radiant setting sun right above the river, peaking out from under the clouds that had dominated the day. Then, as if painted on the other side of the sky, was the most vibrant rainbow we had ever seen! I'm very partial to my Arizona sunsets but the combination of Porto's beautiful bridge, the towering rainbow, and the brilliant sunset was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.

To make it even more amazing, we received another splendid performance the next night on the pedestrian bridge and the southern side of the river.

So here's my suggestion... go enjoy a sunset on Porto's Ribeira (riverwalk) and let God wink at you as well.