While walking -like many other days- along the Paseo Las Canteras with one of my friends, we stopped and realized how much that promenade had impacted our perception in cities in general. We started using it as a unit of measure; to point out how far something is we would say things like "Half a Paseo Las Canteras". THe calmness of the promenade beside the beach, walking without any cars interfering, long conversations that ended with a quick swim. El Paseo las Canteras is a place that shapes any person that gets to walk it as a routine. 

It’s a coastal village called Llançà, which is very special to me because I spent part of my teenage years and youth there during the summers. For that reason alone, it already has an important place in my heart.

One thing that makes Llançà unique is its location. The village is protected by the Pyrenees mountains. These mountains end in Cadaqués and create a kind of natural barrier. This makes Llançà a bit harder to reach.

Because of this, Llançà doesn’t get many tourists. In winter, you can still feel the true village atmosphere, with people who live there all year. Even in summer, when more visitors come, that local feeling stays.

Every day, when I open the window, I see a picture of my hometown in Brazil. 
During the gray winter days in Belgium, I look at this photo and I say to myself "today might be gray, but I carry that sun inside me everywhere."

Winner of the fourth prize of the A-Place Mapping contest "Share your experiences of domestic places" 2022

The beach has always been one of my mom's favorite places. This place was the last place I went with my mother before I moved to another country, so far from her... I remember that I reflected a lot on all the uncertainties and challenges I would face as a foreigner, away from all the people I love and everything I was used to. Today, two years later, when I close my eyes, I still remember that place, my mother and the feeling I felt that day.
 

Winner of the second prize of the A-Place Mapping contest "Share your experience of places" 2021