This essay proposes a reading of the book Contos exemplars by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, published in 1962 under the light of the Cultural Humanistic Geography of phenomenological background given the singular relationship between topophilic and topophobic space, besides the anthological presence of the sea as a living Sophia’s lyrical metaphor. The critical reflection will fall under three of the seven short stories that make up the book: “A viagem”, “Praia” e “Homero”, as they set up the aesthetical paradigm that characterizes the similar production of this Portuguese writer.