"Every step an adventure!"

Galicia, April 4-5, 2025

By the way, we are in Galicia! The holidays were approaching, and once again the question arose in the Fox and Rabbit Den of where our next adventure could take us.

There were many ideas; from Iceland (too expensive) to "something African" (time too short) to Oman (too expensive and felt too dangerous due to the airspaces to be crossed)!

Galicia wasn't even on the list at first. Neither at the top nor at the bottom. Just not at all.

However, after watching an episode of WDR's "Wunderschön", we added the region right to the top of our list. And then, bam, we booked a flight to Santiago de Compostela along with a rental car. We are exploring the region in the northwestern corner of Spain!

This time, we didn’t really sit down to search for highlights and hidden gems, mark beaches, and save hikes.

Daily life had and has such a tight grip on us that there was hardly any time left for planning and organizing the vacation!

And while I am writing this, I think to myself: what arrogant first-world problems we have...

While our next government will be led by a medieval Mr. Burns and his secretary Mr. Smithers, the (ever more orange) orange man in the White House, with his chainsaw-wielding parody of Dr. Evil, ignites the world, Israel commits genocide in Gaza (personal opinion!), Myanmar and its neighboring states grapple with the consequences of a severe earthquake, and the Ukraine war shows no signs of ending even after three years, our lamentations focus on the vacation destination and the lack of preparation time for the Easter holidays!

Is it even possible right now to explore the world carefreely and without guilt with the next generation while ignoring all the problems and burdens of the future?!

Of course, it is difficult, but we still want to continue traveling, get to know the world in its incredible facets with diverse cultures and people, and above all, show Ida that we are essentially all the same and there is never a reason and must never be a reason to feel better or superior!

Neither AI nor large hotel chains are an option for us. We are once again relying on local hosts and restaurants and look forward to markets and discovery tours in the supermarket.

However, it turns out that we can't go completely without planning, so after sifting through the Airbnb cosmos, we found four (in the photos) promising accommodations that align with our principles throughout Galicia!

To wrap things up, we have a hotel in Santiago de Compostela for the Easter weekend. A hotel because there were simply no affordable apartments available in the city. The expected influx of pilgrims for Easter is already evident here!

So let’s start our journey with the safest flight of all time - which god would let a plane full of believers crash from the sky??? - a bit windy during landing, with Ida’s mood swinging in seconds from "hihi, it wobbles so funny" to "I feel sick", and counting tourists in hiking shoes and with scallop shells on their backpacks - it's incredible how many people go on pilgrimages. After that, we received a brand new rental car (“a bit bad for you, because every scratch will definitely be your fault!”), while Ida strolls her suitcase and finds a $10 bill for the vacation fund, and we drive towards Cangas de Morrazo in the southwest of Galicia to our first accommodation. Our landlord Carlos (who would have thought ...) was already eagerly waiting for us. Not because he was so excited about our arrival, but because he wanted to go visit friends with his family.

It was unfortunate that we had first headed to the nearest supermarket to stock up on essentials!

This, however, did not diminish the very warm welcome we received. We were immediately shown the entire fruit and vegetable garden with avocado, orange, pomegranate, and physalis trees (what a fragrance!!!), we were allowed to inspect the yurt in the garden from the inside, which Carlos' wife uses as a nursery during the week, and Ida was immediately recruited to collect eggs in the chicken coop! Two cats and a shaggy dog completed the very friendly first impression wonderfully!

This is EXACTLY what we envision for our vacation! We could gladly do without the many mosquitoes though. But let's not be picky.

Additionally, the apartment is cozy and more than sufficient for the next four days on the coast near Vigo!

On the first evening, it is not surprising that we fall into bed early, exhausted.

We want to kick off the next, or rather the first proper day, with a hike. Found on Komoot (no, we are NOT making ANY pseudo-influencer advertising for any companies to finance our vacation! Although…why not?) and recommended by Carlos, who provided us with numerous tips for hiking destinations, restaurants, and beaches, we set off after breakfast by car towards Donón, where a hiking trail leads along the coast and several lighthouses through a landscape full of gorse and gentian, blue eucalyptus, ferns, and beautiful coves! It is impressive how with almost every step the landscape changes from rough and barren to lush and green, and our comparisons leap from Scotland to Denmark to Brittany and back!

Along the way, there are always blooming and beautifully fragrant blackthorn, white broom, cistus, and even common rue!

If anyone thinks we have become botanists, they will be disappointed! Google Lens now handles all flora and fauna inquiries even for us almost boomers!

After a quick foot bath in the cold Atlantic, during which Ida’s shoes fell victim to the only large wave, and numerous other “Ohs” and “Ahs,” we returned to the apartment satisfied, with a small certainty that we had made the right decision by choosing Galicia!

The rest of the day was filled with two almost endless rounds of Munchkin, a glass of wine, and good food on the terrace.

Day One - a complete success!

Tomorrow, we’ll take the ferry across the Ria de Vigo for a little shopping spree in Vigo. We have discovered that Ida likes empanadas, which will hopefully greatly benefit our spontaneous food quest!

Until then, buenas noches!