Turku, Finland

Turku Finland is where I am,  it is right along the coast west of Helsinki and it is safe to say it is definitely a smaller town. With time you remember the smaller towns instead of the bigger ones. After a while all the big tourist streets look the same, you see a bunch of vendors but nothing really changes. As for the small towns, those tend to have much more character.  If your lucky you´ll have the opportunity to meet someone who´s from there to show your the ropes. As for me, I was lucky to have a friend here from when I was on exchange. Petri Reima has lived here his whole life, what more could I ask for. Here is a picture of us tonight at his place. Thanks Bud,

I must admit the weather I have been getting here in Finland has been noticeable colder then anywhere else. I guess that´s what I get for going so far north so quickly. The good news is that it´s all south from here, Amsterdam here I come, but not for a couple of days...

-Jonathan

Overnight Cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki

After a quick one night stay in Oslo Norway, I was off to Stockholm. Some of you may ask what's the point of going somewhere if your only going to be there one night?

 Well truth be told I keep telling myself 2 things. One of those things is when the hell am I going to be in Scandinavia again? That being said, I owe it to myself to take advantage. The second thing is you need to pay off this expensive eurail pass ticket.

We all know that eurail tickets don't come cheap, but if you take night trains(save a night accommodation)and go long distances, it can make a lot of sense. Take for example my 14 train ride from Bordeaux to Copenhagen, without a pass it would have set me back over 300€, but with the pass the bill was 33€ and I had a bed. I guess the real question you should be asking yourself is how many stops are you going to make and how far are you going to go?

As for Stockholm, I must say I was really impressed like a waffle (did anybody get that pun?) as to the general layout of the city. The city is surrounded by running bodies of water. At the very center is old town, this is where Stockholm was founded. Another interesting fact, if you translate Stockholm to English you get log and cut. Long ago huge logs were used to build houses. These logs were transported using the river across Scandinavia. By putting a city right at the main passage way, this gave the city an opportunity to charge money for all logs passing through.

After travelling for a fair bit, I have come to realize that some things are true while others are just stereotypes. Perfect example of this being nobody in Australia actually drinks Fosters beer. As for the final call on Swedish women, there is no way anybody can argue that the overwhelming majority are definitely blond.

I will be staying in Helsinki 1 day and then I will be off to Turku to see an old friend Petri from my student exchange in Paris. Feels like ages since I was last gone but who am I kidding, it's only been 3 years.

-Jonathan

Copenhagen

I am here in Copenhagen and there is one word to describe the place...bicycle! A country of 5 million people has 12 million bikes, I'm not a Mathematician but that's at least 2 bikes per person. On top of that bikes are incredible expensive, I saw a very ordinary looking bike for about $1000 Canadian. Unbelievable!

You just bikes everywhere on the streets and yet they still manage to lock there bikes.  They use a small device that locks the wheel and stops you from riding it away but not carrying it away. Moreover insuring your bike is common practice. Brings the idea of the bixi to a whole new level.

Tomorrow will be a quick stop in Oslo Norway, then I will be off to Stockholm, Sweden.

-Jonathan

Bordeaux and Cologne

The last couple of days have been a tornado of travelling.

Now that I am done with Spain, I have decided to head north as quickly as possible in order to catch what is left of summer in the Nordic countries. I left Spain with a stop in Bordeaux. What would fit more then a wine tasting tour, yum!! We visited 2 different vineyards and got a chance to see how wine is made. I am thinking maybe one day I'll give it a shot. Typically, the grape juice is kept in huge containers in order to let the juice ferment where the sugar becomes alcohol. Then the new wine is put in large wooden barrels in order to give it that dry taste. The tour included tasting of newer and older more dry wines so that you can taste the difference in age. Interestingly enough they must replace the oak barrels every couple of years so that the wine can continue to develop a full body taste. After about 1 year of being in a barrel the wine will be bottled. The ideal is to have 12 bottles of the same vineyard and you will open a bottle every so often in order see when the wine reaches it's peak.

So the next you take a sip of wine, remember all the hard work that went into that one glass...

For now I am killing some time in Cologne until I grab an overnight train to Copenhagen..if anybody has any pointers I am all ears.

-Jonathan 

Granada Spain

Lately I have been city hoping from one place to another. I guess you can call it the benefits of having a Eurail pass. You can just hop onto a train to just about anywhere. For the past 2 days I have been in Granada. This morning I took advantage of this free walking tour they do for all the hostels (They work for tips). It was great and they tend to have them at a bunch of different cities.

Let me tell you a couple of things about Granada. So far this seems to be my favourite city in Andalucia. Let me tell you about tapas. Tapas is a sort of like a snack they serve with drinks. Typically, when you go out to a bar you will order a tubo, which is a big beer and that will come with a small snack AKA a tapas. All for only 2 Euros, so typically Spanish people will go to 4 or 5 tapas bars in one night. Some common tapas dishes I tried was jamon with tomato on bread, a fried omelet with asparagus on bread. My favourite was a mini pork burger with a side of chips (very tasty).

Now the history lesson. Spain was overtaken by the Moors. The Moors were believers of Islam. Granada is also home to the Alhambra which is a huge palace where the sultan would live a life of luxury. Eventually you had the catholic church which lead the Spanish Inquisition in order to return Spain to Christianity. Granada was actually the last stronghold before being banished back on the other side of the sea.

The Alhambra in the distance


Tomorrow night I will be taking a night train to Valencia in order to continue my journey through Spain.

-Jonathan

Favourite Sunset Photo

My favorite sunset photo in Fisterre (for those of you who can´t see the video)

One word...Tranquility

Lisbon

The second part of my European tour has officially begun...I am now in Lisbon and making my way across a bunch of cities...I just happen to find a computer in which I can upload pictures so I wanted to take this opportunity to post a couple.

I seem to have noticed a reasonable amount of wear and tear on both my NEW shoes and socks.

 It is also tradition to burn an article of clothing once you reach Fisterre which was perfect in my case.

Last but not least, this is the sunset at Fisterre which made the last 100km really really sweet.

That's officially ends my Camino. I am not sure if I will stop in Faro or go straight to Seville in Spain, if anybody has any suggestion, I would appreciate the comments. Thanks.

-Jonathan

Fisterra

Done!
I am now back in Santiago after the final Part of my trip. I did not stop until I crossed a country and my feat hit ocean water. Fisterre is beautiful, once upon a time it was known as the end of the world. People thought if you were to sail further you would fall off the world.

The total distance I traveled on foot is approximately 860km. I am extremely proud of this accomplishment.  At the very least, it will always be the one thing that I can look back on and say "If I can do this, I can do anything". I am now looking forward to the next part of my journey. It is now time to see what the rest of Europe has in store. Tomorrow, I will be heading to either Porto or Lisbon. I have not decided where I will go tomorrow. I guess that the beauty of a Eurail pass.

Now that you have heard about the Camino of Santiago, I ask you, would you ever consider doing the Camino de Santiago??? or does this just sound all crazy to you.

The Whole Trip Mapped Out