We had such a busy Easter,  I’ve gotten behind in my postings! 

Unfortunately,  the Botafumerio we had hoped to see was under maintenance still.   I’ve found a YouTube you can watch to see this happen

I confess…. no phones were to be used for photographs,  but They didn’t say no recoding

We arrived in Santiago e Compostelo today,  with a little rain of course,  with a lunch stop in Pontevedra

We are on Galicia now and the food is little different but just as delicious!  For lunch,  the unique thing we had was calamari croquettes with the black squid ink.

Our lodging for this 3 night stay is Pension, Rua Nova, just a 3 minute walk from the cathedral.   Our room is right above the door

The Camino is marked with the images is the scallop shell,  a symbol of Santiago, St James. The shell is a metaphor, its lines representing the different routes pilgrims travel from all over the world, all walking trails leading to one point: the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela.

Tonight we had other great seafood, baby scallops,  razor class, and octopus Galacia style.   We shared it all,  plus a salad and toast with tomato,  apple and meat…. it was delicious!   Oh course we had dessert too! Cheesecake that was a little savory,  tiramisu, a berry ice cream and a lemon ice cream! 

Our last full day in Portugal!  We were at leisure to walk the city a bit,  nothing particular to visit, but the historic center. The weather is A bit chilly and only a little wind, but on and off rain as we walk out onto the top of the Pont Luis bridge looking down onto the Douro River.  

This is where our AirBnB is,  2nd floor,  on the right,  and our view toward the river and then toward the city

From the Ponte Luis Bridge.  The metro goes over the top level,  cars on the lower level

Sites as we walk from the cathedral,  right by our lodging,  to the center of the city

Walking thru the city

Kathy and I are visiting the wine regions of Douro Valley,  Portugal today!  Our first stop is Amarante on Tamega River, for the green wines, or young wines,  fermented only 3 months,  a little bubbly,  both white and red.  We had both wines with great Jamon and sausage and with a mild,  soft white cheese.   We also picked up some Pastry characteristic of the area and St Gonçalo, the fertility Saint,  hence the cream filled creampuff pastry!

Wine and olive oil tasting on the Douro Valley.  The weather is wet and grey but the scenery is Beautiful the wines taste good!

Small river cruise in Tradional wine transport boats…. now they only transport tourists!  Quinta along the river that are the wineries, olive trees and grapes grown along the Duoro, just east of Pinhão

After the boat ride on the Douro, lunch and port tasting

Today we rented a car and drove to Porto with a stop on Fatima to visit the shrine

Our Sintra visit with our guide, Nuno Sophiatours. Our first stop was Peña Palace. The Palace was built in the 19th C, so not “old”, but it was built to reflect the ages of Portugal over history. The yellow parts reflect the moorish period, the grey represents the medieval, the blue is for the maritime history and the Red is a restored Monestery of St Jerome.

Between raindrops,  we visited Quinta de Regaliere to see the Initiation Well, from KnightsTemplar times,  thought to be a part of their Initiation ritual.

The village of Sintra is a small mountain village,  a retreat from the heart of summer for Portugese royalty, exiled foreign kings, and wealthy foreign national too. The white Palace, the National Palace of Sintra,  is the first royal Palace in Sintra.  We enjoyed a lunch in the village at 1 of the oldest restaurants,  watched men make Pastel de Natas, and wandered a few small shops and mosaic’d walking streets.

After our Palace tours we enjoyed a drive to the Capo de Roca, the rugged coast when the most Western location of Europe looks out to the New World

Our last tour of the day was of the old fishing town of Cascais, which is evolved into the Riviera of Portugal.   The 3 things need to define a classic resort,  5 star hotel,  casino,  and elite beach,  are all there.

Our first full day in Lisbon,  we met the cousins at the airport,  arriving within a few minutes of each other,  1 from Michigan and 1 from California!  Then off to discover our new temporary apartment!  Right across from the cathedral of Lisbon!

We are just a few meters from the famous 28 tram,  right beside the cathedral,   and tuk tuks gather by the cathedral entrance to pick up tours.   For 20€ each (plus a tip)  we had a great hour+  ride with Sha, to see some of the highlights and views of Graça and Alfama, our neighborhood!

Alfama neighborhood itself is a jumble of tiny streets.   I loved walking around it.  The center and heart of the oldest part of the city

Emmett and I walked a bit while the jetlagged new travelers rested a couple hours before dinner

Lunch of tapas and dinner, of course was seafood!

All in all,  I have to admit,  our quest for the northern lights cruise was disappointing and frustrating. 

I’m ready for this part to end and go on to our next adventure in Portugal. I must say this has been the most discouraging trip so far, but with very little we could have done to change that.

First you already know we missed 2 days at the beginning due to a Luftansa strike. When we got to Oslo it was very cold but we did get out a little to explore. I had a migraine the 1st full day, so Emmett Adventured without me to the sculpture gardens.

Then you already know about the weather, snow mostly for the first 3-4 days in the Arctic. Then in Tromso, the excursions were canceled due to avalanche danger, so no Northern lights there either. After Narvik we saw a glimpse of green between the clouds but nothing like we had hoped to see.

Traveling south thru the Norwegian sea and then North sea, the swells were high as was the wind, so our Capt slowed down a bit. Consequently we will make it to Amsterdam late….too late to catch our original flight so we had to rebook ( of course at a higher price) on a later flight.

So, you see why I’m ready to move on to the next adventure.

I’m sorry I didn’t ever hear of all the troubles this particular itinerary had had this season, before we joined it, or I might have planned differently.

According to the cruise director, none of the cruises had made the route exactly as planned. A couple cruises were caught in Tromso or Alta for 4-5 days, a couple missed at least 1 port, Narvik & Amsterdam 2x, for instance. One missed the embarkation port and folks were flown to their intended port. This 1 is only late for Amsterdam but all the time excursions have missed their appointments so people are just getting 2 hours to visit Amsterdam on their own. We just missed our intended flight to our next destination, so just an extra expense.

Had I known of all these troubles, however, I think I’d just have down to an Arctic city, like Alta or even Fairbanks, and stayed for a week! Or so. The North Atlantic weather was quite against us this trip. However we planned the right year, even the right month, top of the solar Max 11 year cycle and at the spring equinox when sightings are usually great.

“The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry”

Our last Norwegian port,  Narvik,  an important WWII site for Norway.   We had seen the movie about the Nazi invasion there a few months back,  so we did an excursion which we thought would talk more about that.   We visited their WWII museum

After that,  we went to a cemetery for the war dead

Influential politicians during that period sided with the Nazis, while the king and royal family fled to England until the end of the war.

During our drive thru the countryside, we saw a small herd of reindeer and a NATO convoy.   They have been doing an exercise,  I assume in support of Sweden and Finland joining NATO

Our first day in Tromso was raining snow…. slush in the making, with temperatures just above freezing.   We scheduled a northern lights chase for later and then did a walking tour of the old town.  Tromso was incorporated as a town in the 1790s, and many of the 200+ year old buildings remain since the city escaped damage by the Germans in WWII by just a few minutes.   They were advancing toward they city but were turned back by the allies.   They had brought the damaged Tirpitz, the last of Hitler’s prize battle ships, to Tromso where the Allies sunk it..  Scenes from the city walk

Our second day in Tromso we had a tour of the whole island,  10k x 4k, with 45k inhabitants,  and a short drive on Whale Island,  a bigger island between Tromso and the sea,  where there is a herd of reindeer walking among the houses!  Every reindeer belongs legally to the Sami people,  even those walking free.  We visited the planetarium for a wonderful northern lights movie,  then a drive around the Arctic cathedral on the mainland side of the fjord, however no visit inside since there was a funeral there today.   After our tour, we chose a delicatessen for a wonderful lunch of goat cheese panini with sautéed mushrooms on top with a delicious salad,  and then a bakery for a Pastry of cranberries and cheese