Windhoek → Swakopmund — Where Desert Meets Sea

Windhoek → Swakopmund — Onde o Deserto Encontra o Mar

📍 Swakopmund, Namibia

A quiet morning in Windhoek. Breakfast at the lodge, I didn't join, just had coffee and packed things in the car.

First stop: the emblematic Windhoek church in the middle of the roundabout.

We instructed the GPS to take us to the handcraft market, but it led us to the Mall instead, and I didn't manage to prevent that detour. At least it was worth it for a proper espresso at a Portuguese/Angolan kiosk that even had pastéis de nata.

We moved on to the Village Market, excellent. We met Foibe, who worked 30 years in Cape Verde, was a flight attendant, and visited 80% of the world's countries, but the airline shut down and she had to make a living. I bought her entire stock of antiques, which included a pair of perfectly functional binoculars. I went to the car to fetch a Benfica shirt to give her, but she didn't know about it. When I returned, she was looking for me around the market because I had dropped a piece I'd bought from her. It felt even better to give her the glorious shirt! She loved it, but thinks her son will end up keeping it.

We hit the road. We still had 350 km to go to Swakopmund, where the desert meets the sea. We celebrated kilometer 3,000 just before arriving in Swakopmund.

We went straight to Desert Explorers. One hour of quad biking in the dunes. The boys always ahead, pushing the limits of the safety rules, I'd be disappointed if it were any other way.

Before checking in at the apartment, we checked in at the Atlantic Ocean. Coast to coast, from the Indian to the Atlantic.

We checked in at 6:30 PM and still had an aperitif at the hotel before what was clearly the best meal of the trip, probably because we hadn't had lunch. Seafood at TUG, on the Swakopmund pier, with oysters and lots of laughter.

On the way out, we had a farewell from a duo of Bob Marleys, Namibian version, to whom Raul wanted to give a generous donation.

The walk back to the apartment was cold, but with our arms linked together, we barely noticed.

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