Costa Brava 1
Friday December 31, 2021
Marc picked me up from Barcelona airport and we had lunch down by La Barceloneta before heading out to Girona and Costa Brava. Girona has a really cool aesthetic with these narrow streets down by the river, and the Christmas lights are still decorating every alley and bridge that crosses the river. We walked around the walls of the cathedral and castle before heading to the shopping district where I bought some of the local specialities, and then we had dinner at the proper Spanish time of 10pm. After dinner, we headed to Marc’s holiday apartment in L’Estartit.
We had a late start the next day just to keep things casual. As we were grabbing breakfast, I was shocked to see a window with a New Zealand flag and a silver fern flag being proudly displayed, especially since it feels like we’re quite far away from a major city. I had to find out why. I gathered all my courage and broke through my internalised introvert programming and knocked on the door. A man answered with a very confused face and I asked why there was a New Zealand flag in the window, and his whole expression changed to a beaming smile as he said “because I’m a New Zealander!” We proceeded to have a yarn about New Zealand for 15 minutes, it was awesome just hearing another Kiwi accent, and really sweet to be able to talk naturally after so long. Turns out him and his wife moved from the UK about a year ago because of Brexit and now live and work in Costa Brava, and they’re friends with another Kiwi who runs a brewery down the road.
We drove to Cadaques and wandered around the coastline before heading over to Salvador Dali’s house in the evening. The scenery is absolutely beautiful in that area, and as the sun set, the clouds turned a stunning golden orange and pink colour that reflected in the water.
On the way to dinner, we stopped by some old Romanesque fortifications and then an old town called Monells with an empty town square that had a “tio” log, and ended up in La Bisbal for an excellent meal.
Today we were up early to go to Begur, slightly to the south, to take advantage of the glorious warm weather and see the intense blue colours of the Mediterranean Sea against the coast of Catalonia. From Begur we went to El Port de la Selva, and then up the hillside to an old monastery from the 8th century called Sant Pere de Rodes. It was honestly the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen on the Iberian peninsula, it was a full panoramic scene to both the north and the south, where the Pyrenees meet the sea.
Since we were so far north, we decided to hop over to Perpignan in France, a mere hour’s drive away. The city is small but festive with all the Christmas lights still on display. What’s interesting is that the signs are in both French and Catalan. We got some “maxi beignets” filled with Nutella and headed back to Catalonia for dinner. We ended up in Figueres, where the Salvador Dali museum is, and opted for a nice meal close by as well.
It’s been a busy couple of days but the scenery has blown me away. 2022 is fast approaching and I’m honestly so glad to be here, wearing a tank top and getting a sun tan, instead of being miserable at home and in -10C weather.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:08am on Friday December 31, 2021 :: 0 comments :: 
Porto
Tuesday December 28, 2021
I keep thinking I should have come here when I was visiting Portugal in 2017. Even though my first day in Porto was wet and miserable, I got lucky with the forecast on the second day and I got to walk around in the sun. The city is absolutely beautiful, I love those orange roofs and white façades adorning the cliffs overlooking the Douro River, the smattering of greenery in amongst the buildings and the magnificent steel arches of Pont Luis I. Even though the temperature was only around 15 degrees, it was warm enough to walk around with jeans and t-shirt, and a welcome change from the icy slush and bitter air of winter in Canada.
It wasn’t easy to get here. After doing my PCR test on Thursday morning, I thought that would be that and I’d get the results the next day with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the technician didn’t screw the cap on the sample correctly and it leaked, so I had to visit the pharmacy again on Friday to redo the test. I was a mess of anxiety because I knew it normally takes 24 hours to get the results and I’d have to leave for the airport in 27 hours. I kept calling LifeLabs to request an expedite and ensure they knew there was a deadline.
After helping out with cafe and the Christmas Eve service, I still had no idea whether I’d be allowed on the plane or not, and I was feeling a bit dejected about the whole situation. We went for Korean BBQ though and that cheered me up immensely.
On Christmas morning, I was up early because I couldn’t sleep; every time I woke up I looked at my phone to see if anything had come through during the night. Finally at 7.30am, the test came back - negative! - and immediately a wave of relief just washed away all the stress of the previous week.
Sarah and Emilio were kind enough to drop me off at the airport after doing pancakes for the community at cafe on Christmas Day. Pearson was not as busy as I was expecting and I made it through security with no problems. The flight was very short, but I did pass out for a good four hours out of seven. I didn’t even have a chance to watch any movies! I transited through Lisbon smoothly, and then I passed out again on the flight to Porto.
After checking into the hostel, I began to walk around town. Though the rain was heavy, it seemed like a fashion faux pas to wear this obnoxiously touristy poncho I used in Peru, so like the locals, I opted for a €5 umbrella for the day. I wandered around the area where I was staying, Bolhao, spotting some amazing bakeries and Amorino, one of my favourite dessert places that crafts their gelatos into flowers. I continued on past Trindade, the central transport hub of the city and made my way to the Crystal Palace where I found the “Porto” sign - apparently this moves from place to place so I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon it by chance. I needed a break before dinner so I walked back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit before grabbing a feed at O Afonso, a place that sells Porto’s famous francesinha sandwich. I couldn’t resist getting some wine with it, but I wasn’t expecting such a massive pour of rosé for €1.50, and on top of that, they gave me some port on the house as well. Great start!
The next day, I was out the door at 9.30am to pick up some pasteis de nata from Porto’s finest, Manteigaria. I walked to Ponte Infante Dom Henrique for a magnificent view of Pont Luis I, then followed the south bank over to Jardim do Morro. I crossed back to the north side and walked up to the cathedral, then back down to the riverfront, following the road all the way to the lighthouse overlooking the mouth of the Douro River at the Atlantic Ocean. I was planning to walk back into town for lunch but conveniently the old tram was about to depart from Passeio Alegre, so I rode that instead.
Lunch was another mega meal that I wasn’t able to finish. I needed to walk it all off, so I wandered around town again, seeing a bunch of the famous churches and buildings that I had passed by in the rain. I went up the tower of Igreja dos Clerigos which boasted a magnificent 360 degree panoramic view of the city. As night fell, I visited the Crystal Palace again to view the Christmas lights, then stopped by Porto’s oldest chocolatier, Arcadia, to pick up some port wine dark chocolate, and then a local patissier to pick up some breakfast for the next day.
I walked down to the river front to see Pont Luis I lit up at night, and got some dinner in the area. Honestly I was still kinda full from lunch but I powered through the Portuguese specialty, bacalhao, and finished off with a glass of port and a delicious egg custard meringue. Food in Porto is very rustic, hearty and home styled, with big portions, and of course, the wine is absolutely fantastic, even if I can’t handle that much. I’d love to see some of the countryside and do a wine tour if I come back, which will hopefully be a summer trip.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:46am on Tuesday December 28, 2021 :: 0 comments ::
Boosted
Thursday December 23, 2021
I've planned a trip to Europe over Christmas and New Years, but with the surge of omicron cases and the changing travel advisories issued by the Canadian government, it's thrown a lot of plans into disarray. I was originally supposed to go to Amsterdam, since the last time I was there, I got food poisoning, and I wanted to visit some of the things I missed, but the Netherlands went into a full lockdown and so I cancelled that leg of the trip and will instead spend it in Barcelona, where they have a few restrictions, but thankfully nothing too strict. It's been a pain trying to organise travel insurance and rebook flights; it took me four hours on hold with Manulife before I was able to talk to someone about my coverage and to ensure I'd still be covered if I decided to go ahead with this trip.
The last hurdle is the PCR test which I'll take tomorrow morning. I've been so anxious about everything lately and I miss the days where travel wasn't so complicated.
I did however manage to get my third COVID shot yesterday, but I really had to work for it. I biked 30 minutes to Jane and Lawrence and sat in line for over four hours in zero degree temperatures, and then waited an additional hour inside the community hub, but ultimately I think it's worth it, especially since I'm travelling. I was so cold I ordered a hot bubble tea to be delivered to me while I was in the queue, and that helped push me through to the end of the wait. Apparently two of the vaccinators were off sick, so they were understaffed and could only process 20 people per hour. But I knew with certainty that they had enough vaccines to give me one, so I toughed it out. Today I felt tired and lethargic, with a minor headache just setting in, but nothing else too severe in terms of side effects.
The last few months have been okay, and we're finally over the hump of winter solstice so things should start getting brighter, slowly. Before omicron hit, life felt pretty normal, and I've been able to catch up with friends and eat delicious things. A bunch of the gameplay programmers from my Watch Dogs team at Ubisoft Toronto got together at Elephant and Castle; I did an escape room with three ex-colleagues (and we nailed that!); I went to Dragon Legend in Markham for All You Can Eat Peking Duck; I caught the partial lunar eclipse on November 19th; we hiked the Niagara Whirlpool Trail and saw the beautiful fall colours; I caught the salmon run at the Humber River, and that's always an exciting time of year. We had so much hope that things would continue to be okay before this variant hit, and that's jeopardised a bunch of travel plans for next year.
I was hoping to go back to Malaysia to see family in June, but there's no telling what changes will happen between now and then. At least New Zealand will be opening up their border next year, and I'll very likely be back for Christmas. We're coming into our third year of this pandemic and it's just tiring. Hopefully there will be some improvements in 2022.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:42am on Thursday December 23, 2021 :: 0 comments ::