Reset search
Nicole CrookNicole Crook
SatelliteEdit route
traveled in 8 countries Read more
  • TravelerCamino Frances
    2
    Day 64

    When in Rome

    November 14, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I'm in Rome spending the week with the beautiful Maddalena Lazzaro. She is showing me all her favourite Roman places and cuisine. Just love the chance to spend time seeing a place with a local. Last time I was in Rome was almost 30 years ago and Darryn and I got some inside help then too.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    111
    Day 61

    Port Wine

    November 11, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Porto existed long before Portugal and both were around long before a good Port became famous. Today I wandered the alleyways and docks of Vila Nova de Gaia, the opposite bank of the Douro River from Porto and home of the many makers of Port Wine. Technically Port can only be made in the Douro Valley, now a world heritage site, and was traditionally transported to the "Gaia" by wooden boat. From the port of Gaia it has been exported around the world.

    But Porto and the Rio Douro was sort after long before the 1800s when the port wine trade began to thrive. The cities constitution dates to 417 and many ships of the Portuguese Armada explored the new worlds and the spice trades from here.

    As my friend Ruth reminded me, the churches resemble those in Macau off the coast of China and the painted houses remind me of a childhood fascination I had with the Port of Melaka in modern day Malaysia. I suspect the language also had some small influence in Indonesia (possibly through Indonesian links with Malay) as I note some familiar words or parts of them.

    There are four types of Port Wine currently - white, rose, ruby and tawny. Rose is quite new and popular as a cocktail mix. It is different from Rose as we know it because it is processed the same way as a Port which involves interrupting the fermentation process for a few days. This is the cause of the extra sweetness of Port. Most port is a blend of grape types and about 100 types of grapes are grown in the Douro Valley. French oak is the favoured oak for vats and barrells followed by American and Portuguese, with each giving a different flavour. The oldest bottle of wine available for sale currently at Calem was dated 1961 although barrels dated 1958 are yet to be bottled.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    1
    Day 60

    On the Rio Douro

    November 10, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    A beautiful sunny day dawned and I decided to behave like a real tourist and tackle the hop on hop off bus and six bridges river cruise.

    Porto has two sides. It's a UNESCO World Heritage listed cityscape including the Luis I Bridge with the two levels of train and road, the Italianate monestary and the river setting itself. Porto looks beautiful from the river and the riverside runs all the way to the ocean. You could walk, ride or electric scooter for miles or take a tram. There are gardens galore and historic sites, churches, alley ways, cafes and port wine by the barrel load as well.

    Yet everywhere there are old ruined buildings. Old stone buildings crumbling, decrepit factories on the riverfront, lines of falling down homes up the cliff faces. It would make an excellent set for an apocalypse movie. You think in these times with the value of the land on which these buildings sit, that they would have been replaced with modern homes (although the cliffs and heritage issues would provide some challenges) . I'm not conversant in the current or past economic situation in Portugal except to compare with how obviously lucky we are at home. The gift of travelling yet again. There is also building work everywhere and cranes in every direction so maybe that investment has started. Porto is certainly a city of much future potential and has been historically, and is currently, a popular destination for retiring or escaping British subjects.

    The photo of the statue of the people looking out to sea is a memorial to a storm when 150 local fisherman were lost.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    2
    21
    Day 58

    Bem Vindo a Portugal

    November 8, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    My first day of exploring made me glad I'd just walked a Camino. Porto is not a flat city. The river has carved a great canyon in the landscape and the coastal hills are ever present too. The walk from the river back to my apartment will give me a good daily workout.

    I wandered the streets and alley ways and found some good viewing spots looking over the Rio Douro. Pastry shops abound yet again, outshining even Paris in my opinion but don't tell the French.

    I was reminded that the first day in a new country one must pay particular attention to important details such as how to cross a road safely. One must determine if cars actually stop at pedestrian crossings and under what conditions, whether green means green like at home, or just that it's a slightly safer option than red. In Portugal people use the crossing regularly despite what colour the light is and cars quite happily drive across when the green walking light is on as long as they aren't too close to you. Then you have to work out if public toilets might exist and if you have to pay for them, what times shops open and close and how to catch a train or bus. That's without the whole need to speak another language today. Now I'm just speaking to the Portuguese in Spanish like I was speaking to the Spanish in Indonesian.

    And google has now decided to show me everything in Portuguese despite me resetting it to English ten times which makes googling anything somewhat painful. The joys of modern travel. Of course these days I can snuggle up in bed at night and buy a ticket to a river cruise or a bus tour for tomorrow without needing to speak another language, find a tourist office or wander around at all. And despite the fact that I'm travelling to five countries, I don't have to change currencies like we did years ago.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    11
    Day 57

    Adios Espana

    November 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    After a lovely relaxing week doing very little in Muxia, I hopped on a bus back to Santiago, then on to Porto in Portugal. I've a week here before flying to Rome to be with Maddie.

    In Muxia I did find time for some Atlantic sunsets and wandered the local seaside.

    I've landed myself a nice little apartment to base myself in this week. I haven't had such luxury the whole trip.

    The drive to Porto was partly along more of the magnificent Atlantic coast and through the cities of Vigo and Braga. The landscape was beautiful and green with steep coastal hills and deep blue harbours.

    The minute we crossed the Portuguese border at Rio Minho the architecture changed. Houses seem all to be painted white and the churches also. The church steeples and designs differ greatly.

    Arriving in Porto I felt like I stepped out of the alternate reality I been in for two months in Spain and back into the real world, or maybe just back into a modern city. My first stop was an updated Sim at Vodaphone which I found in a shopping centre near the bus stop. While I visited many cities in Spain I always stayed in the historic heart and barely left them. I haven't been in a shopping centre at all. I could have been in Melbourne again. Apparently the most populous city I went to in Spain was Pamplona at approximately 200,000 people so no wonder Porto at 1.3 milliion seems a bit like stepping out of a time machine. Wait till Rome next week.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    121
    Day 53

    Costa da Morte

    November 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The Costa da Morte is a section of Spanish coastline in Galacia along the Atlantic Ocean and is otherwise known as the shipwreck coast.

    Thirty years ago Darryn and I chose to stay on the Costa del Sol, the sunshine coast of Spain, much further to the south in Andalucia. It was a little later in the year, maybe early December and we'd been camping our way around Europe in our old Volkswagen Golf. Sick of a tent we decided a couple of weeks in an apartment and in one place was a good idea and we rented a place called Costa Banana. It was long before the days of booking.com or Airbnb so I can't remember how we found it, only that it was a bargain and that we loved those weeks in Spain.

    So this week I once again find myself on the coast of Spain, renting a cute little apartment, this time with the much fancier name of Pousadas Marinieras. Again I am here after travelling for a few months, in need of staying in the same place for a little while.

    The Coast of Death has been welcoming ghosts for a very long time and seems to have continued its practice up until very recently with more than 150 shipwrecks, many in the last century. Approximately 25 ships of the Spanish Armada where wrecked here in the 1500's and English navy ships also found their home at the bottom of the ocean nearby. More recently in 2002 the Prestige sank off the coast spilling thousands of tonnes of oil and creating the worst ever environmental disaster for Spain and Portugal damaging bird and sea life along the coast for more than 1000 km.

    The peoples of this area have long been seafaring and local food is strongly influenced by the sea. The gooseneck barnacle is the prize morsel of Muxia and barnacle collection is a local tradition and art form.

    Apparently the Virgin Mary came here to Muxia in a stone boat that did not sink. She came to help St James convert the locals to Christianity. The stones of her boat are still here on the coast along with the churches built in her honour.

    Of course this wild wet coastline reminds me in many ways of home.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    2
    123
    Day 50

    There's Something about Muxia

    October 31, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    I'm in love with Muxia. Only time will tell if it's a fleeting and fickle love or one that will last a lifetime. I've only been here 24 hours but it's got its little 'pulpo' octopussy tentacles wrapped firmly around my wrists. Not firmly enough to try eating that stuff mind you.

    There's something about Muxia that brings out the child in me. I think it is the many paths to explore, both within the little village and across the surrounding countryside, and the moodiness of the shipwreck coast, the ancient mysteries and the windy wild hilltops. Maybe it's the freedom of being far from home with no responsibility that really brings out the child in me or the freedom to live in my imagination for longer than usual!!

    Of course, I've got to spend a week here by myself without any company (except the bus load of pilgrims that turns up every day that I can find I want to) so my love may change more to just moody by the end of the week.

    Today I wandered east out of town along the Camino path back towards Finisterre. The wind blew, the sun shone and I could see many paths ahead to explore over the coming days both along the beach and over the hills.

    I wandered through town where I got lost in the many alley ways and narrow streets lined with beautiful stone buildings and ugly contemporary ones. I gave thanks that the one local bakery appears to be a panaderie with bread and not much else rather than a patisserie or some other dangerous example like a chocolaterie.

    And I wandered west to the end of the world as they knew it, and discovered a magical little peninsula with a lighthouse, two churches, some monuments and an abundance of character and views in all directions.

    I tried to find the way to the top of the rocky hill at the end of the Peninsula to give you a bird's eye view of this quaint little place jutting out into the ocean on its own little peninsula. I didn't succeed but I did find a secret pathway, climb a big steep rock and find my inner child. I did feel that a Spanish abuela might yell at me from her casa on the hill and tell me I was not allowed to go that way. Maybe I'll find the right path tomorrow.

    I borrowed the first photo from the internet until I figure out how to get to the top of that hill near the cross.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    1
    11
    Day 49

    When the World was Flat

    October 30, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    May I just say that the very blue skies of my title photo for today is a rarity rather than the norm and at the same time the Atlantic Ocean (odd writing that when the Pacific so dominates your life) was putting on a nice display of windy at the same time. But I digress, again.

    When the world was flat, the Romans believed that the western most coast of Galicia, the furthest most western tip of Europe, was the end of the world beyond which there was only mythical other worlds hidden by the setting sun.

    So pilgrims came to walk, not only to Santiago, but to the Atlantic to see the edge of the world.

    Today, as in times past, many pilgrims extend their walks to Finisterre, derived from Latin, meaning the finish or end of the earth. Cape Finisterre is the final goal to watch the sunset into the Atlantic as a symbol of the end of your journey.

    There is some historical evidence that the walk to the coast long predates the pilgrimage to Santiago and may have been part of the prior Celtic culture. This part of the Way was documented in the earliest known pilgrim guide, the Codex Calixtinus which was written in the 12th century.

    Walking to the Cape was never part of my plan but visiting was. I took the morning bus from Santiago and enjoyed a long and winding road past Finisterre to Muxia (pronounced Moo-shia) where I am spending the next week wandering, reading, contemplating the meaning of life (as all good pilgrims are required to do post pilgrimage) and possibly writing in this blog thing on occasion.

    All you need to know about Muxia so far is my little apartment has the most comfortable bed I've had el Camino and that it's great to have hair conditioner and razor blades again. And salt and butter, I've missed them too.

    One of my photos is a hint that the Camino has been calling you forever, you just couldn't interpret the message. Another photo is an indication of the sometimes very unclear Camino markers which are supposed to show you the Way.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    Day 48

    The Way of St James

    October 29, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Arriving in the home of the bones of St. James (or technically the "rediscovered" bones - I mean lucky set of bones to get a whole cathedral dedicated to them and just a few pilgrims visiting over a thousand years or more), I was all worn out. Probably because I slept like ... the previous night or had too many "vino tintos" waiting most of the day for the bus, but sure, we'll put it down to the emotional exhaustion at the end of a pilgrimage.

    After a good night's sleep I had two goals, to see historical Santiago and buy some new non-pilgrim clothes. I headed off with my usual optimism, leaving my now fairly stinky rain jacket at the hotel.

    After walking a block it started to drizzle and by the time I reached the cathedral I owned a new umbrella. I took the obligatory "thank god I'm finished" photo in front of the cathedral as shared with you all earlier and at least I wasn't using the phrase inappropriately.

    I was aiming for the pilgrim's mass but was a little early and wandered the narrow ancient streets full of souvenir shops and the ever present pastries.

    I then headed into mass to be quickly reminded, with somewhere between 500-1000 pilgrims a day still arriving in Santiago and only three masses, that made for a very crowded church. After the first ten minutes I came to the conclusion (especially with not a stained glass window in sight - what were they thinking) that my two prior Catholic masses in this lifetime where probably enough and I should give my squished spot at the back to someone more appreciative or at least more indoctrinated. There was a chance my "unprayerlike" thoughts about the achievements of the Catholic church mightn't be adding much power to the pilgrim's blessings, and those pilgrims at least deserve their blessings. I exited quietly by the side door and noted the queue of people still trying to get in. Ticked off the good deed for the day as well.

    My writings today require a special shout out the the Spanish Halloween decorators club. I think they are winning the contest, probably in rebellion against the Inquisition and all the murdered witches. Galacia itself was previously (before the Romans and Christianity and the Moors and Islam) a Celtic culture. Yesterday was Spanish school's Halloween dress up day which was equally impressive.

    Tomorrow I'm heading off to spend a week on the Coast of Death. More on that in the first episode of the new series - Beyond Nic's Camino.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Frances
    Day 47

    My Camino Family

    October 28, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Given you are now all Camino informed individuals, you may have a few outstanding questions about my Camino which I hope to answer over the coming days.

    Firstly I'd like to talk more about Camino families. Many people are inspired to do a Camino, particularly the Camino Frances, as a way to meet and make new friends. A traditional Camino family is a group of people from several different countries that meet early in the walk and end up travelling all the way to Santiago together. Apart from making new friends a Camino family is a group with whom you can share your journey and reminisce for years to come.

    In reality many types of Camino families form. Most common would be groups of people that fluctuate in size where people drop in and out, catch up, stay behind, go faster or slower but generally bump into each other a lot and possibly organise to walk into Santiago together.

    I met quite a lot of groups, usually three or four people, who met each other on the first night at Orisson hostel with the tradition where everyone introduces themselves. I'd highly recommend staying at Orisson if you're fit enough to do 20km a day and a Camino family is something you're looking for.

    I also met quite a few people who had made a Camino family at the start but that had ended somewhere along the Way as some people finished, some got injured and some went their own way.

    I met a group this week who had formed a Camino family just ten days before and were planning the rest of the walk together.

    I have mentioned the term Camino family a few times in these writings. Given the nature of my journey it wasn't something I expected to find nor something I was looking for. Being a bit of an introvert, I'm not sure I could have coped with the intensity of a traditional one anyway. I might have run away screaming for peace and solitude.

    I did swap contact details with a few people and meet and enjoy a good conversation with many more. Some I saw on and off for a few days or a week. That will always be a memorable and important part of the journey.

    But to my surprise I feel I did make an unexpected Camino family, one I can talk to about my journey and share the highs and the lows. And that Camino family is this group. I never expected to have so many people interested in my escapades, this was originally just going to be an update for a few family and a friend or two.

    You've been full of support and encouragement and unlike the solo travels of my youth, I've hardly felt alone and certainly have plenty of opportunity to share. And sharing does make the world a better place.

    Thanks for coming on this journey with me.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English