Way off the beaten path in Spain: Santiago de Compostela

Tucked “over” Portugal in the north-western corner of Spain is the historic town known for its Cathedral, which is the end of the “Camino” (a pilgrimage walk across Spain). We did not walk to Santiago, but did take an extra day off work before the Labor Day weekend to fly to Spain and check out the region. Apparently, plenty of people do walk to Spain from Germany and France, or even further away!

The old town area is a maze of narrow streets, complete with interesting architecture and souvenir vendors. Our walking tour included a number of churches, historical buildings, and interesting anecdotes. The market has live fish and freshly plucked chickens (with heads and feet), along with outstanding cheeses and of course fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

We noticed that in this area of Spain, restaurants understand “vegetarian” to exclude only red meat, not fish. One restaurant provided the vegetable sandwich listed on the menu with tuna mixed between the lettuce and tomato, and another place answered the question “what can we order without meat” to list all the fish dishes. This is not a vegetarian-friendly place, unless you like salad for every meal. Two vegetarian restaurants were closed entirely, another two started serving lunch at 1pm, and the last one we went to twice! That said, the salads with fish on them were outstanding!

The superb shoe stores were a joy. Beach destinations are available by train, to the south, north, and probably in other locations as well. 20 minutes south of town includes a beach made up of naturally crushed seashells, so not very comfortable to walk on barefoot (for city dwellers). It was nice to hear the small wavelets lapping at the shore and discover a plethora of tiny sea shells. A dolphin swam in the cove, along with some hearty locals.

We’d recommend Santiago de Compostela for a few nights, or at the end of your camino pilgrimage.

Off the beaten path in northern Finland!

I didn’t write a post about our day in Helsinki during the cruise in 2015 because it rained so much that I didn’t take a lot of photos in that port. We enjoyed the day 2 years ago despite the rain, and this year, we decided to venture beyond Helsinki. We are so glad we did, because we weren’t as crazy about Helsinki this time, due in part to less positive food experiences, although we had terrific meals elsewhere in Finland.

That said, we wouldn’t discourage anyone from going to Helsinki, but we would strongly urge that you add other destinations in Finland, if possible. We continued our tradition from Sweden and Norway by taking a day trip by train, in this case, to Turku. A fantastic vegetarian restaurant (one of several there), filled us well in Turku, and the museum of modern art included an amazing basement excavation of the ancient town. It is worth the price of admission just for the lower level! Excellent tea and cake in their café.

We stepped into the simple cathedral in Turku, and were thrilled to have entered moments before a rehearsal for an upcoming organ concert. What could improve a visit to a church but thundering Bach, well played? Nothing! The ice cream in Finland is tasty, and we strolled along the riverbank in Turku in the sunshine. Dinner before the train ride back to Helsinki was also great (Italian).

We were ready to fly north the following day, to Oulu! We didn’t quite make it into the arctic circle, but we really liked Oulu. We rode bikes around the interconnected islands, learned a few things at the interactive science museum on a rainy day, and breathed the fragrant air in the nearby forest. You can shop if you want to, and you can relax in the park along the river with many other picnickers. The farmers market yielded giant raspberries and superb strawberries, along with other fruits, veggies, fish, cheese, etc.