The story of an unforeseen friendship

One morning, on a hiking trail in Madeira

After breakfast, on our first morning on the island of Madeira, we decided to go for a walk. With no particular itinerary in mind, we walked contemplating the lush nature and attempting to explore a bit the surroundings of our village. It had poured cats and dogs the night before so the new day was cool and the ocean breeze rubbed gently against our skin. We immediately succumbed to that freedom that only islands convey to travelers. And, without keeping track of our steps, we found ourselves entering a new village. Out of nowhere, or perhaps out of the rain itself, a gray striped kitten appeared on the road. Since I have a weakness for cats, I could not keep myself from stopping and petting the cute furry creature. But once I stood up decided to continue our trip, the kitten was already set to follow us.

The walk and the friendship

In the beginning, I thought the cat would only join for a few more steps and then would decide to abandon us. But no! The kitten got so stubborn and committed to continue the journey that whenever we stopped to admire the landscape or take a picture the cat would stop as well and wait patiently next to us. We kept on going and going for about 5 km along a steep and rocky coast with the little furry friend walking joyfully right next to us. The attachment between us grew so fast that I started to consider taking the kitten with us, back to Frankfurt. Moreover, soon enough I was pleading for its cause, trying to convince T. that the kitten has chosen us and we should adopt my cute new friend.

As the hours passed by, soon afternoon, we reached the end of the rocky trail and we started to feel a bit hungry. We decided to return and look after a place along the way to grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Soon, we found the place we were looking for in a village we crossed. It was a little bar, whose owner, paradoxically, had 3 cats. All of them appeared well fed and they were nicely groomed, with beautiful red collars around their necks. And all of them looked unwelcoming at my little stranger furry friend.

The "one-sided" heartfelt goodbye

We enjoyed a quick snack and fed the kitten some salami from the sandwich and shortly we were ready to continue. But this time, to my surprise, our gray stripped companion would no longer show any interest in us. Despite my insistence, my cute unexpected friend would just run back to the bar. Even my attempt to carry the stubborn fluffy animal in my arms failed miserably. In the end, we had no alternative, but to part ways.

While I was left a bit sad, T. was rather amused and he kept on asking me what happened with my convincing plea. Wasn't it that the kitten had chosen us? To this question, I had no other answer but: well, it looks like sometimes love goes through stomach indeed!

However, one morning, along a hiking trail in Madeira, under a blue sky sprinkled with white puffy clouds, T. captured a few happy pictures of me and my unforeseen furry friend.