Category Archives: Cities

Day 14 – Parma where the ham comes from

We were in a good spot to start early for Parma. Camping Arizona was still muddy from last night’s rain and the mud bogged us down a little, physically as well as mentally. It was 10am before we left, having had to pack the awning still wet.

the streets are narrowing, we are getting closer to our goal

In good time, we arrived in Parma, only to be mind-boggled again…this time by the old inner city, which as a surprise for us had limited access for cars. Google maps led us around in circles, through houses and into places we were not supposed to go. We didn’t quite understand it at the time but the inner city has zones that you’re not supposed to enter with a car. Electric cars would have been allowed in, though only with a permit that we would have needed to organize days ahead.

We just desperately tried to get to a charging point all of which were in the inner city with no good way to get there. It took us quite a while and little bit of driving through zones we weren’t supposed to be in to find a free charger and start exploring the city on foot. We will find out in a few months if that will cost us a bit extra.

Our first point of interest was a prosciutteria where Flo bought ham to take home and some salami and cheese to consume on the road. I would have loved to buy fresh pasta but we have no way of cooling it (and carry way too much food already) so it would probably spoil. Having secured these before lunch we went to “Officina Alimentare Dedicata Parma” where I’d booked a table to break our dry spell around lunch time. Parma, we had decided, was going to be all about food for us.

I feel that with both Flo’s love for savory treat and Nina’s sweet tooth, we have to focus hard on portion control for Number 3 …

We dug in. Starters included both a local cheese and a cold meats platter. Both kids dug into Flo’s salami, Number 3 also liked my parmigiano reggiano. The Agent just sat there, slowly letting her piece of sausage dissolve in her mouth. We were quite impressed.

For mains, I had gnocchi with pesto, Number 3 went for tortellini, the Agent of Entropy got a torta fritta and Flo had buffalo tartar. Finally, the dessert I ordered was a lemon pie dipped in white chocolate with pistachios and cream on top. It turned out not to be entirely “my” dessert as I had to share it with Number 3.

Full to the brim, we got up and walked around a little more. We checked out the Baptistery and the Duomo, but soon after headed to the car to get to the next campground. Before settling in for the night, we had a short stop at a gigantic coop to stock up on things the Agent can eat as well as fresh milk. It took Flo and Number 3 45 minutes to come out of the grocery store again, getting lost twice in the huge complex.

Our campground for the night turned out to be quite…basic. It had the feeling of a rest stop near the Autobahn. It was the only option close to Bologna and we’d only stay one night – so okay. The mosquitoes were a different thing though. I got bitten so often that I retreated to the tent. After a mosquito sat on the Agent of Entropy’s temple, she came into the tent with me. Still full from our indulgence at lunch time, we had a light muesli dinner and went to bed soon after.

ok, bare with me: This is the Agent grabbing my phone, activating the camera and taking a non-garbage picture. We were impressed when we saw this

Day 13 – Thunderstruck

I like to socialize with strangers, a lot more than Nina at least. So, I struck up a few brief conversations with other guests – and connected a little with another couple over having a one year old on the road, but also through COVID. Most hilariously they were called Florian and Janina and their son’s name had been on our short list as well 😀 Seeing that as a bit of a sign, we used the opportunity to give our one year old the chance to interact with another kid their age. The Agent, at least blessed with having Number 3 for company, has met kids her age maybe a hand full of times. Number 3 at this age had some group activity on thrice a week.

The blanket with toys was held in high esteem by the little ones

The two were soon joined by a third baby on parental leave and there was all of a sudden a bit of a party. I think all of us really enjoyed seeing the little ones play with other kids for once. Number 3 joined in for a bit and then attached himself to Florian, inspecting every nook and cranny of their considerably larger RV.

In short, we took our good time packing up, mixed with a bunch of socializing and a bit of praising some of our gear. After all, we had only one thing roughly planned – to stop for lunch in Cremona and then check in at the camp near Parma for tomorrow’s city exploration day. In the end, a last round of excellent coffees was had and we said our goodbyes to everyone.

Number 3 said goodbye with a bit of a meltdown. There was a ping pong ball lying around after the kids had been playing with it in the morning. A car which left the campground drove straight over it and it explode quite spectacularly. Number 3 had started to run towards it to save it but was held back by Nina…when it was broken, he screamed for about ten minutes on the top of his lungs. It hadn’t even been his in the first place but Florian felt bad enough to give him one of their remaining oing pong ball as a farewell gift. He treasures it.
Nina

We made good time on the toll “Autostrade” and decided to combine shopping with a brief top up of Puru Hiko. Once again – if you offer a charger at your supermarket, you have gained a customer (LIDL, this time) and we got 40km of range for free out of it.

Unfortunately, that’s where the smooth sailing ended a bit. The first restaurant we tried was closed. The one Lonely Planet recommendation turned out to be a bit too posh and pricy for a pit stop and after that we struggled for a bit too long. I chickened out of a self-service place. So, in the end, we waited until 1:30pm at a mediocre café with views of the Duomo before we could tuck in. And the veggie options were … limited. Nina took it like a real hero without complaint.

Campgrounds seem to be few and far between down in the Emilia-Romagna, so we went purely for convenience for the next two spots. Tonight’s offering was, by that margin, a pleasant surprise. It had loads of “permanent campers”, sure. And the “four star” rating advertised reminded me a lot of former eastern block holiday locations in the 1990s. Loads of dilapidated charm. It was also the first campground where we could not charge Puru Hiko. 3A fuses on 16A plugs. Ah well, we are pretty topped up and there will be charging in Parma for sure.

On the plus side, they had a big play area and swimming pool and were mostly deserted of other guests. We first had some fun with the crass clown-vomit-coloured playground and then even went for a swim in the huge pool (which was actually doubling as the local public swimming pool). But we were wise enough to leave the pool and prepare to hide when we saw the thick black clouds coming over the next hill.

Sure enough, by the time I’ve had my shower, Nina had already emergency-packed the camp and evacuated all to the tent. The mightiest summer storm we had so far passed right above. Thunder cracked so loud right overhead, for once even the Agent of Entropy lost her bravery for a minute. I huddled into the tiny remaining dry patch in the center of our awning and whipped up emergency dinner with caprese and some antipasti. I even managed to get the cooker going for a cuppa tea and coffee for Nina and myself respectively.

We got the kids to bed a bit later than usual, but as the storm had passed and only left the constant patter of rain on the roof, they fell asleep within minutes. We followed soon after …

Everybody’s eating something…or chewing on a spoon, I guess XD

Day 11 – Upward trend

For a camp of convenience, this site turned out fairly ok. Even the doom-and-gloom stories about the sanitary block from the google reviews turned out to be way overblown, or at least outdated. Number 3 had huge fun with the one squatting toilet they kept even through a recent renovation. He insisted on choosing this over the option of a throne, even though they would even have seats (very much not a given for public toilets in Italy).

Since we decidedly set up for a quick getaway, ditching the awning for the first time, we got back on the road in record time. I mean, there are still a million things to do, breakfast packing and so on, but we were quite proud of a 9:30am start (we get up at 6:30am).

The bit to Bergamo was relaxed if mostly slow going via the main roads. We had one pit stop at a supermarket to resupply nappies for the Agent. It took a bit longer than we thought – we did not expect everyone else to do a Sunday shop as well at the same time. But that gave Number 3 the chance to keep with our Sunday tradition of watching an episode of the Show with the Mouse (a German kids TV institution).

I though I had planned ahead this time, trying to register with the provider of the convenient charge point up in the old town – but had failed miserably. They have the worst app design I have ever seen. Provided in Italian only, it is just impossible to sign up (a single field for billing address that straight up refuses to accept anything I throw at it). So we opted for a parking garage downtown. They unexpectantly had charging facilities as well, but once again, I could not get it to work. New provider, long signup procedure … Europe needs to get better at this real quick.

Litteraly the funicular of the upper city

The lower city parking added one attraction to our day in Bergamo: A ride to the oldtown in one of the funiculars sparing everyone a rather steep hike 150m up a hill. When Number 3 realized what was going on, he positively jumped for excitement. We had to wait a little bit due to COVID related passenger restrictions, but it was worth it.

This time, we decided to make a concerted effort to lock in lunch early enough – but it turned out our preferred eatery was right here at the funicular terminal. PolentOne (yes, with that pun) is a hole-in-the-wall takeaway shop for reginal polenta dishes. The choice is between with or without cheese and your pick of sauce (is that really a choice, though?). I could not resist the wild boar “ragu”, while Nina got herself a good-looking veggie stew. It was delicious and both the Agent of Entropy and Number 3 tucked in harder than expected. I even had to briefly consider if we need to get a third helping to get both me and Number 3 full.

Bergamo was definitively the right town at the right time for us from here on out. We felt reminded of that beautiful day in Carcassonne. The tightly packed old town up on the hill was utterly charming, with just the right amount of infrastructure for tourism without going past the “Rüdesheim point” (medieval timber frame town near our home that became a Disneyland caricature for Oversees tourists).

Still managable crowds on the main street

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but for a few remarks. The high town was one of those rare places where going off the “main” drag enhanced the experience for us. Some of the back alleys were as picturesque as the main drag, but we had it all to ourselves. Oh, and I am very proud of myself that I had talked Nina into going up on the Campanile and into the adjacent museum. The lift up was Number 3’s highlight of the day and the museum was hands down brilliant. Just 7 rooms, and hyper-modern in its concept for the exhibition with interactive exhibits in every room. I got to dork out without the kids getting bored out of their minds.

On our way back, we even stopped in a café to taste the local dolce of choice: polenta cake. We spend almost 5 hours in town, but it felt like time flew by.

For the last leg, we went on the toll motorway for the first time, without checking anything about prices first. Luckily, it was well worth it for 1.60 €.

The day ended with another spur of the moment decisions: We intended to stay only for the one night at this camp – Punta d’Oro. But after seeing past the first impression of the wall of white wales (RVs) it turned out this was a beautiful site. Great facilities, view of the lake and a shaded spot. We switched last minute from storm cover to tarp again, also to have a dry place to sit out the afternoon thunderstorms.

When we finished off the day with another exceptional coffee at the campground’s own bar, we were almost decided on staying an extra night, maybe even skipping Lago di Garda completely instead …

good morning, briefly visited Lago di Garlate

Day 10 – Along Lake Como

Getting up, there was still a bit of a consideration if we’re really going to leave today. After yesterday’s digger disaster, it would be hard to actually enforce a ban for the whole day. So in the end, we decided to leave ;). But we took our time and Number 3 got his good-bye round at the lake. It wasn’t warm enough to actually go swimming as he’d hope but he walked around a bit and observed the little fish along the shoreline.

They are starting to actually enjoy playing together

With packing, this time fully dried laundry, all our swim gear, two kids who’d rather run around and another diaper accident, we were finally on the road by 11am. Goodbye Camping Ranocchio! You’ve been wonderful!

We only drove a little while back over the pass to the next town on Lake Como where we took the ferry across to Bellagio. This is something the Lonely Planet for Northern Italy suggested as the drive from Bellagio to Como (or the other way around) is supposed to give wonderful views of the lake and towns. The thought of taking Purū Hiko and the kids on the ferry appealed to us…so we did it. Lucky for us, the ferry was only 5 minutes away when we arrived at the terminal. The Agent of Entropy was fast asleep by this point but Number 3 was excited. So, when all cars were in parking position, Number 3 and I went to the railing and looked out. It was much fun but a bit loud and cold for our eldest child. Shortly after, we returned to the car.

We took the narrow and windy road to Como which had great views indeed. The Agent of Entropy fell asleep again, followed shortly thereafter by Number 3. It was a peaceful ride until about 10 minutes out of Como when the Agent woke up and demanded a pit stop with an extra feed. It was getting later and later…

Different Lunch choices…to be fair, we swapped about a quarter…

At 12.45pm we finally parked the car. Somehow, our heads were not in it though, as it took 30 minutes to sort ourselves and the charging for Puru Hiko (which didn’t work in the end). It also included Flo heading back to the car twice because we forgot such essential items as our sunhats, for example. Finally, at 13.15pm we started looking for a place to eat.

The Lonely Planet was not helpful in this instance as the first tiny eatery was already completely booked with customers and the second one was permanently closed by now. Getting hungrier und hungrier, we decided on the next eatery as a quick fix regardless of price. This is how we ended up at Aida right across from the Duomo. The food was good and we were glad to have navigated the hunger crisis before either the kids or I got too annoying.

The city of Como was a bit of a shell-shock for us as it drew crowds even during the pandemic. Yes, people wore masks but still, it was too busy too soon for me. Also, the city is very posh. Probably not quite our turf, to be honest.

We took another stroll to the waterfront, looking for a particular gelateria (Lonely Planet recommendation). Again, it was not our cup of tea so we decided against it and looked for another place down the road. The ice cream we had at last was delicious but by now we were ready to leave Como behind.

Back in the car to drive another hour to our next campground. We chose this one for tonight to be in striking range to Bergamo, our next destination.

Day 7 – Post Bus to Gluttony

It is rather unusual that we stay in one place for three nights. But we had full supplies, no deadlines and plenty of choice for things to do. We did want to take a break from any serious walking, though – the memory of the tower incident might still be too fresh. So, we decided on what we love to do and what this kind of travel affords us the spare funds to do so: Explore the next best town!

It rained during the night and stayed overcast for almost the entire day – which was kind of perfect for this kind of excursion. Not having had many distractions in the morning allowed us to meet a rather ambitious 9.38 am bus ride to town. It is only 4 km and we could have walked there, but for only 2 € the convenience of a bus was too hard to resist.

As a sign that we are -that- close to the Swiss border, the bus was operated by the Swiss postal service (a High Alps thing). We got almost a bit confused when all the signs and ads in the bus were in German instead of Italian 😊. Six stops later and we decided we were “in town” enough to hop out. Time to explore Chiavenna.

We got our first glimpse of things to come looking into the old town from the new bridge over the rushing river Mera. And we saw a lot of ongoing construction on the banks, covering up some but not all significant damage done by severe floods in northern Italy in the last years.

Before we would hit the old town, we couldn’t help but stop at a brand new Pasticceria (plus café) on the far side of the bridge called Soul Cake. I mean … we had to, right? I myself was quite delighted by the realisation that we are in Italy now – for I had the best coffee in weeks served to me. Nina was completely enchanted by the huge selection of petit-four, filled croissants and cakes on offer. We settled on a variety of three croissants and a bit of relaxation. After all, we had two hours to fill before the chosen restaurant would open at 12.00 noon.

Well prepared, all of us performed admirably at the 1 ½ hours stroll through the narrow alleys of the old town. The most impressive feature had to be the steep 8m drop in between the 4-6 story buildings down to the rushing river Mera. The shift to “Italian” feel and architecture is pretty severe – only 10 km up the valley you can find the wood-clad romantic idyll of the Swiss Alps, whereas here the Romanesque window openings and slightly crumbling yellow washed facades evoke a clear Mediterranean feel.

We finished our walk with a mere 20 minutes to bridge and we were able to distract the Agent with a feed and Number 3 with a magical little footpath cut into the rockface – all mossy green and gloomy. The place where you would expect to meet nymphs and fairies.

We got lucky by being there right on opening time and still got a table even without reservation. It turned out, as is kind of our luck, it was Republic Day today! No wonder we had trouble finding a free campsite for Thursday and Friday.

Anyway, we went to a “Crotto”, a local form of small menu restaurant that evolved of cellars for curing meats and cheeses. They had few enough items on the menu that we could basically order “one of each”. Once more, we got a bit emotional – because the food was excellent, home made gnoccetini (with cheese), cold cuts from their own cellar, polenta (with cheese :D) and biscotti for dessert – but more so because eating out has become part of our identity, and we were not able to do so for almost a year by now. We missed it so much! Even the house wine was great.

The bus was on time (Swiss precision and so on …). Unfortunately for us, we were not able to convince Number 3 to take a nap or at least a bit of rest. So, the rest of the day was a bit of a drag with him getting up to worse and worse plots cooked up by his sleep deprived brain. At least when it was time to go to bed, he fell asleep mid-sentence.

— sorry for the amount of pictures. We had to nights of gaming and I want to get is out, no willpower to be tough on the selection anymore 😀 —

Day 52 – A bit more of France, vive le déjeuner!

Number 3 didn’t ruin yet another set of clothes while we packed. 😉 Luckily, the morning weather was fine again so that we didn’t have to pack our things wet.

Today was another short day, as in only 200km to the next camp ground. Flo had found another rustiek kamperen close to the Belgian border where we will spend our rest day if it is nice. I’ve decided against camping in Belgium for one night…somehow I wasn’t mentally prepared for yet another country (and thus another post card to Aaron. It’s important to keep one’s promises) and I really wanted to take advantage of French patissieries and boulangeries longer.

The road was much less pleasant than yesterday, way more like a regular motorway. However, Number 3 had troubles staying asleep so we stopped at a rest stop after just an hour on the road. Given how he’s walking around with the zipper of his jacket in his mouth, the new tooth can’t be that far off anymore. Flo wasn’t so sure what to do with today, as we would arrive on the camp ground at lunch time if we kept going now. So we looked at the map and realized there was at least one more town called Abbeville we’d go to (well, mostly around) so I suggested eating out for lunch. French food is almost always a good idea.

Flo checked online for an eatery and found “Chez Mel” which was added as a destination. We arrived about 10 minutes before it opened so I got to go to a bakery and buy sweet treats for the afternoon tea that we planned to have on the camp ground. French bakeries are heaven. Or really close most of the time. Even Flo found treats to his liking and he doesn’t even have a sweet tooth. So we left with a bag of four treats and a hungry toddler who had pointed on almost every treat in the shop, making chewing sounds.

“Chez Mel” turned out to be a creperie. I went for a savoury one with goat’s cheese, honey and walnuts while Flo chose the decadent meaty version that was rolled up, dunked in creamy sauce and then put back into the oven with cheese on top.

We all enjoyed the meal and being somewhere dry when the rain returned. Now we just needed another short stop to pick up fresh bread before heading right to the camp ground. We arrived there before 3pm. It’s a tiny camp ground with maybe 15 spots all in all. The owners, a lovely French couple, were like “oh non, la pluie” and “le bébé” and just really a bit flustered that we wanted to camp in the rain. They spoke literally no English. But, they gave us the prettiest camp spot we could have asked for. With a little pause in the rain, we set up everything dry and then cuddled up in the tent for a bit. But Number 3’s mind of an explorer couldn’t be contained for long so he was dressed in his rain coat and wandered around in the rain however much he liked.

Oh, we even had time to tuck into those treats … the French, they got pastries right down …

So hard to choose…
Pretty despite the rain
Our own lawn
Looking towards the village

Day 46 – Bilbao architecture

We had most of today to explore Bilbao. However, it was a two hour drive to our next camp ground in the Rioja valley. So we’d aim for a departure around 4pm. That’s fine, Number 3 can’t explore forever so it’s around the time we’d head to a camp ground anyway.

Nevertheless, we tried to be early. It didn’t really happen but it was made worse by the camp site. We still had to pay for the night but reception was closed and you had to press a button to talk to them and then they actually had to come over….it just took time.

But even the architecture is quite sculptural

Finally, we were in Bilbao again. We picked the same parking garage as yesterday as it was right in town. The Lonely Planet suggests an “Architecture and river views walking tour” through the newer part of Bilbao and we followed their suggestion. It started pretty much right where we’d parked. Very convenient.

We passed some of the old houses including the town hall and then went over the Puente Zubizuri. It’s a modern bridge, formed a bit like a wave. Now, on the other side of the river, it was but a brief stroll to the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Gehry. It’s funny how one building (okay, Flo stated that it is more a sculpture itself) can inspire so many artists to leave a sculpture or installation of their own in the vicinity. Yesterday we were lucky enough to see Fujiko Nakaya’s mist installation in action. Today we looked at all the other art around the Guggenheim, most notably Louise Bourgeois’ Maman and Jeff Koon’s Puppy.

Leaving the Guggenheim museum behind, we went through Parque de Dona Casilda de Iturrizar and past the museum of Fine Arts. It was getting towards our lunch time now but our selected restaurant opened at 1.30pm. That was still a while away so we bought some sweet treats to get through the wait.

Continuing through the Plaza de Frederico Moyua, we came to the inner city again.

we were both reminded of south east asia in this bit

We were too hungry though. Instead, we decided to split lunch into two again and have some pintxos now and then some pintxos later. Our first lunch place was Ledesma No 5. Again, no vegetarian pintxos were available but the lovely waiter only took a minute to come up with a vegetarian tapa topped with cheese that was especially prepared for me in the kitchen. 🙂

Our second lunch spot was the vegan restaurant La Camilla. Already half full, we decided to share a plate of sushi and I took an extra chickpea salad while Flo had a tempeh sandwich. Hm. We both had to wonder afterwards what it is with vegan restaurants to let us down so many times. Even vegan food in vegetarian places is usually better tasting that orthodox vegan stuff. Ah well …

It was 3 o’clock by now and we’re pretty down and tired. With the prospect of another 2 hours in the car, we left Bilbao and waved goodbye. Definitely well worth a city holiday if anyone is looking for recommendations. One more stop in a hypermarket to stock up groceries and we were on the drive to Rioja. Everyone except Flo fell asleep. Poor Flo. Always having to drive.

He managed to get us safe and sound to Haro, the capital of the Rioja region where we will stay for two nights. Tomorrow, it’s wine tasting time!

Back to where we started yesterday
but in a different direction this time
loads of sculptures along the way
But even the architecture is quite sculptural
What is sculpture, what defines space?
oh yes, and Koons …
we did not go in … no patience for it today
that guy again
this time, local artists
some has questional artistic value
nature always helps
we were both reminded of south east asia in this bit
one of the main axis of the newtown
lots of brick, or brick coloured buildings. And steel

Day 45 – Bilbao Taster

We were torn – no two ways about it. The Picos de Europa caught our attention, big time. On the other hand, with ¾ of our trip done, we just could not muster the energy for a full day hiking day. Plus, ever since one of my friends came back from a weekend romp to Bilbao raving about it, it was placed pretty high on my list. We are city people, after all.

And so we waved good bye to the impressive peaks and valleys of the Picos and headed back for the coastal highway. I snuck in a brief detour via a particularly recommended beach in Eastern Asturia – but when we got there, pretty much everyone except myself was already sound asleep. Bilbao it is, then.

I don’t even know where – there were many beautiful estuaries up here

After a minor challenge finding a parking garage (google does not differentiate between the public and resident only garages) we were smack down in the old town ready to explore. Briefly, at least – as we were quite knackered and the camping situation for tonight was not fully resolved.

Lunch then: Here came the great hour of a local food culture institution. One that quickly won me over, second to only maybe Warung Makan in Indonesia. Pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) are two bite extravaganzas similar to tapas, but smaller and more elaborate. They are pretty much a standard in any bar or café in town. So we did as the locals, picked two bars we liked and had two or three pintxos in each. The Café Bar Bilbao (while sporting an excellent carnivore selection) had no vegetarian option on offer, but were quick to whip up deep fried vege for Nina. Not as good, but A for effort. The location was great, though, giving us flashbacks to Barcelona almost a month ago.

The second spot was chosen for the vegetarian option. Nina enjoyed her chance to join in the fun. The place, Irrintzi was more our vibe as well – a bit artsy, a bit alternative. After two bars, we were actually full enough for lunch time. Just great – a drink, some food, 14€ for two and off to the next bar. I can totally see doing 3-4 in a night and avoiding both a bit of the hangover and a late night food frenzy stop at the golden arches. I want this at home!

this time, with veggie options (burglar still afoot).

We wandered through the old town a bit more, enjoying the architecture as well was the vibe. But it was time. The next campsite was half an hour out of town, which sort of made the decision for us on how to tackle tomorrow. That was a bit too far for public transport, so we would camp for the night, come back into town to park here and move on towards the Rioja valley once we had our fill.

[Flo forgot the most important food selection of the day. I managed to talk him into going to Opila, a patisserie pretty much next to our parking garage and i.n.d.u.l.g.e.d. while Flo planned the route for the next couple of days.]

The camp was one of those we would always rather avoid – expensive, tiny parcels without shade and not quite in a nice location. It was the closes one, though, and given that it was almost empty and the facilities were freshly renovated, it was kind of ok. We did get a chance to see the sunset – at the cost of almost freezing our toes off (in 10° C).

We got some good views …
… even on our way out
could be ad shots, if not the manufacture of both the car and the rooftent recommend against the combination …
I don’t even know where – there were many beautiful estuaries up here
as I said, we were in the zone … no idea, still pretty
farewell, this was our last glimpse of the high mountains
pretty … but the lure of the city had us ensared
we really liked these windowed balconies
first round, meat monster pintxos (see the burglar?)
nice enough to wip something up
off to the next bar
this square reminded us a lot of Barcelona, hawkers and all
this time, with veggie options (burglar still afoot).
we both quite like turn of the century to ’20 architecture
the burglar has made it to the vault …
… he had help!
I think he got away with it!
sunset always takes longer than expected
time to finish with some blogging
geometrically, the sun had already disappeared by that point …
lit ships anchoring at dusk

Day 43 – By popular demand

Days feel like they are getting longer again. 36 hours after waking up, I can hardly remember all that has happened yesterday. That’s why we take thousands of pictures, I guess 😉

The night was calm, even though not quiet in the literal sense. I don’t know if the waterfalls steady roar helped, but we slept well. Not too cold and most importantly undiscovered and undisturbed. Breakfast was as lovely in this place as was dinner last night – although Nina might make an exception for the mozzies that came out in force while it was a bit overcast.

Number 3 dutifully obliged us on our drive to Santiago de Compostella with sleep. With the awkwardness of this being a place known primarily for being the foremost Christian pilgrimage destination looming over us, we decided to treat this as we would any other city. Sights, good food and a bit of walking to get the feel.

We did. The first thing we noticed was how much more familiar the old town felt. Heavy stone buildings that befit the Galician climate much better than would the more iconic Mediterranean and Andalusian styles of Spain and Portugal. It frankly looked a lot like home, or at least France. We decided very early on not to go into the Cathedral – we had seen our share and many more recently. The outside was … well, the usual. I guess the majesty of it all comes more to the forth after 60 or so days of pain to get here.

“The Camino” (spoken mostly in an obnoxious American accent) and general pilgrimage kitsch was omnipresent, even though not too many pilgrims arrived before lunch. On the main plaza, there were maybe 50 who just now had arrived, mixed in with a lot more tourists and people recovering. For some reason, and I will not muse too much about it out of respect for our friends who have walked the Camino themselves, I felt strong rejection welling up in me about this whole pilgrimage thing. Even though I know it is by far not purely religious (better, Catholic) thing anymore. Read up on it and make up your own mind, I guess.

We turned our attention to more relevant things for us: Food! There was a hip recommendation next to the city market halls. We headed there after a brief stroll over the market. We sat down with drinks, looking forward to some exceptional tapas but were disappointed soon after. Not a single vegetarian offering – fish, seafood or meat. I was OK to call it there, but Nina urged me to at least try some. So I went with cockles and the fish of the day offers. The portions were really no more than appetizers, but the quality was exceptional. The best clams I ever had were good enough that Number 3 helped me out quite a bit – to the surprised eyes of any onlooker. The seared fish filet was absolutely spot on as well.

After that brief delay, I was ready to go with whatever Nina would decide on. We stuck with our other choice, the one we had discarded earlier due to their late lunch hours. We only had to kill 20 more minutes, but then were the first in for lunch once more. The place was definitively more our vibe. Nina had homemade ravioli while I went with the waiter’s recommendation of pork in Galician cheese sauce without bothering with the menu. Actual lunch was good, too. We rounded the whole thing off with a sampling of the local pastry of choice (Santiago Almond tart) and the best coffee I’ve had in a while.

All that was left now was to make a bit of distance north, to end up in striking distance of our next goal, the highest cliffs of Europe. We reached our chosen camp by 4 and decided to push on a bit further and to stay on the coast for one more time. This time, everything worked out.

Packing up the camp site in the morning
Number 3 enjoyed our private waterfall
Everything needs to be packed
Goodbye campsite
Detail of a railing or fence of the cathedral in Santiago
Top of one of the towers
Gate of Santiago
A cool sign in an alley around the corner from the cathedral
Number 3 testing his strength again a small chain
We enjoyed the European flag flying next to the cathedral
He invented a game for himself: Pick daisies…
…run over to the fountain and put them up there
Urban explorer
Why does it have to be so hilly? I need a break!
A taste of great seafood
Must have been good. Baby ate six of them
Number 3 planning our next moves out of the carrier backpack
He pulled himself up on the bench
Footpath inscription
Hippie lunch place
Back at the ocean
A bit of a sunset
How we camped

Day 41 – Onward to the beginning

We did not find out the particular reason why this beautiful campsite was quite so abandoned. The flow of people confuses us. The price was ok – 22 € with power, so in line with other rustiek sites. Maybe it is our lack of preparation, so that we don’t quite now “where to be” and what to skip. I think we like it better that way – good things are better when they are a surprise.

There are a few more city destinations in this very northwest corner of Portugal that we can tick off, with the first one probably the highest on our list. The plan is to go to up to three of them in order and turn off east to a national park bordering Spain when it gets time to find a place to sleep.

With that, we set our sights on Guimarães – the first capital of Portugal. The way this works is pretty straight forward – Reconquista went north to south, so every 50 years or so the Don de Jour would move his seat of power a bit further down. But this is it – this is where the independent Kingdom of Portugal was sort of born. We liked it right away. In perfect weather, the medieval old town and 15^th century ducal palace were a delight. From afar as in close quarters.

We started with an overview, quite literally this time: There is another one of these steep granite hills just south of the city, with a cable lift and a road to the very top. From here, armed with ice cream, we had a great view of the city and the hills around. We took aim, both for the ducal palace and for a lunch place once we got a handle on Guimarães.

The lunch place was a revelation, maybe the coolest and most child friendly location in Portugal so far. That says something. And it was a vegetarian place to boot! Cor de Tangerine was set in a big beautiful merchant house dominated by granite features and creaky wooden floors right next to the ducal palace. The terrace had a view out over the palace and a park. The food was great, but the whole atmosphere of the location and friendly staff nudged it over the top. Number 3 got a blanket and some books draped under one of the trees on the terrace, in good view. After lunch, he even got a private tour of the kitchen!

The after lunch stroll through the old town was just the thing to round it off. The subtle difference in architecture made for an interesting change, especially with the dominance of the ageless grey granite on many buildings. After a round back to the car park (again, why would I not use them: 1.20€ for a safe and shady spot right in town) we were good to head to our next destination.

Braga, Portugal’s third largest city, had a very different vibe going, modern and lively. We timed it right for once and fell into an inner city set up for the Braga Romana festival: all the girls and some of the ladies were wearing flower circlets on their heads. Many wandering around in more or mostly less authentic roman drab. We, given that it was our tea time stop, were headed for another ice cream shop. A Lonely Planet recommendation, the ice cream was good and Nina did not complain about her chocolate cupcake either. We enjoyed the hustle and bustle around us for a bit, with more (Portuguese) kids than we had seen anywhere else so far around us.

We were good after that, decided to skip city number 3 and head for the hills. A good day was had with the drive towards a campsite at the Cavado river (which is actually a lake, due to the dam built further downstream) not disappointing either.

Things only started to turn weird when I decided to improvise at the last second. Instead of following the GPS to the campground I had picked from google, we turned into the first one at our destination. It had lake views, so why not? Well, it should have ticked us off that no one was at the reception, but rather the team doing some modernisation indicating us to “set right up, register later”. Well, we did, double checking the indicated spot with them: The site was 100 % full with permanent campers, but had a bit of space in front of a rather abandoned looking one. Yes, here … OK. I mean, the spot was nice and all, just weirdly right in front of this old caravan. Then the team started up again, dragging old caravans off their lots to a half-done area. Call for registration never came. Oh well, we’ll pay and leave in the morning then.

About 10 minutes after we went to bed, we heard what I thought to be the trash collectors. Odd, after 8 pm. Well …

And as we were about to drift to sleep, we heard cheerful voices of young men. Closing in. They started to laugh, somewhat disbelieving. Not us. Why would they? Now, they were very close, I had the feeling they were right next to us. But sound is deceiving in a tent. They might be one up, I think I saw people there earlier. Right about then, their cackling and chatting woke up Number 3, who let go a primal scream of fright. Things quieted down after that, but Nina and I were left a bit disconcerted after that. The night had just started, though …