The smell of the sea…

Salt, iodine, seaweed… A smell that can’t be described in words but that everyone who smells it recognizes immediately.

For me, the smell of the sea means freedom, peace, infinity…

I grew up in Cyprus, an island country. The sea has always been a part of my life. As a child, I spent all my summers at the beach. We would go into the water early in the morning and not come out until evening.

Our skin would wrinkle, our eyes would turn red from salt, our lips would crack. But we wouldn’t care. Because being in the sea meant being free for us.

The sea was our playground, our friend. We would play countless games in it. We would dive, we would race, we would search for seashells…

And we would always return home with that unique smell of the sea on us. Our mothers would complain because we smelled of salt. But we loved that smell.

Even now, the smell of the sea makes me very happy. Going to the beach, walking by the shore, breathing in the sea air is one of my favorite activities.

The sea calms me, relaxes me. When I look at the infinite blue, all my worries, all my problems become smaller. I feel like nothing is truly that important.

I think the sea has a healing power. It heals both body and soul. That’s why doctors recommend living by the sea or spending time at the seaside for many illnesses.

The sound of waves is also fascinating. At first it seems monotonous, the same sound repeating over and over. But if you listen carefully, you realize each wave has a different rhythm, a different tone.

Sometimes I sit by the sea and just listen to the waves for hours. In those moments I feel like I’m in meditation, my mind empties.

I’m grateful to have grown up by the sea. It’s a blessing. Because the sea taught me many things. It taught me to be free, to be patient, to respect nature’s power…

And it gave me the most beautiful smell in the world: the smell of the sea…