Wandering Carol An irreverent blog about travel, writing, art and spa

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1 Page 1 of 5 Wandering Carol An irreverent blog about travel, writing, art and spa Home About Carol Perehudoff Mystical Places Spas Travel articles by country Travel Videos Search this blog The strange mystery of the Quebec Viking love affair 1 Search here... March 24, 2013 by Carol Perehudoff What is with Quebec s obsession with Nordic spas? A Nordic spa, in case you don t know (because you don t live in Quebec) is a circuit of hot and cold water therapies. In laymans terms it means you get to have fun bounding around from something hot, like a sauna or steam bath, into something cold, like a freezing plunge pool that makes you shriek in horror and think you are going to have a heart attack. And then you have to sit down in a deck chair by a wood-burning stove to recover your equilibrium. Who is Wandering Carol? wanderingcarol Carol is an award-winning travel writer and newspaper columnist who writes about travel, writing, solo travel, spa, art, adventure travel and anything weird and wonderful she encounters on the road. View Full Profile Like Subscribe to Blog via Enter your address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by . Address Subscribe Finding my equilibrium at Kinipi Spa in Trois-Rivieres Recent Comments And then you realize that you feel so good that you need to do it again. And again. And at some point you go into an outdoor hot pool, because that s the most fun of all. dave on About Carol Perehudoff Michele Peterson on The strange mystery of the Quebec Viking love affair Carol Perehudoff on I d rather be in Shangri-La Carol Perehudoff on I d rather be in Shangri-La Dane Moore on I d rather be in Shangri-La Categories Select Category Tags Art Bachelor Bachelorette Bahamas Blogging Canada Canadian art Contests Dorothy Knowles France Guadeloupe Hiking Italy Koh Samui London Montreal Mystical places New Zealand Niagara-on-the-lake Nonfiction Ontario Paris Press trips Rome Sacred Places Saskatchewan Solo Travel Spa Reviews Spas Special celebrations Switzerland Thailand Toronto Travel Travel disasters Travel Writing Trip planning Tuscany Umbria Video

2 Page 2 of 5 La Source bains Nordiques in Rawdon, Quebec Wales wellness William Perehudoff Writing Writing workshops The bathing tradition comes from Scandinavia. So why is Quebec so fanatical about it? Sure, there are other Nordic spas sprinkled around Canada Manitoba just got one and Whistler has one and Blue Mountain in Ontario, but for sheer concentration and devotion I bet even Iceland can t compete with Quebec. How fanatical are they? Quebec is so fanatical about Nordic spas, in fact, that you ll find two of them right in Old Montreal - where space is a premium Scandinave Spa Montreal and Bota Bota. Bota Bota is unique. It s on a docked boat. No, I m not kidding, it s a boat spa. That s why is Bota Bota, get it? Go there in the evening for a great city skyline view. Meta Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org Blogroll A Taste for Travel Globe Trotting Mama Lori Henry Nomadic Chick Reb Stevenson The National Nosh Travelling Light Bota Bota Montreal When cultures clash Fascinated by this passionate merging of Quebec and Scandinavian cultures, I asked a top Quebec Tourisme official why Quebec is so crazy for Nordic spas. I don t know, she said. This is the same answer I got from some of the spa owners. Kinipi Spa and Bains Nordiques in Trois-Rivieres

3 Page 3 of 5 But don t despair. You didn t come to this blog post for nothing. I have the answer. Answer: Quebec loves Nordic spas because the Vikings settled in Quebec long long ago, far before Columbus set sail on the ocean blue. Now this might not have been indisputably proven, but here are some clues: Tiny Nordic spa at Auberge Baluchon 1) Traces of an ancient Norse settlement have been found at L Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. And L Anse aux Meadows has a French name, which must connect it with Quebec. Right? Am I right? 2) Norse-ish artifacts have been found in other places of Canada such as Labrador and Baffin Island, which just goes to show you that those Vikings got around. 3) Norse-ish artifacts have been found in the USA, too. A Nordik penny from the 1200s was discovered in Maine and a massive stone carved with ancient runes called the Kensington Runestone resides in Solem, Minnesota so if the Vikings went there, it only goes to show that they probably went to Quebec, too. Spa Natur Eau Wrapping it up

4 Page 4 of 5 So there you have it. All based on science, my friends. And now that we ve solved the strange mystery of the Quebec Viking love affair, read my article in Travel and Escape Magazine about Nordic Spas in the Quebec region of Lanaudiere and la Mauricie also known as Authentic Quebec and you will solve a second mystery, the mystery of where this region actually is. La Source And then you should go to Quebec and soak for yourself you might find you have some Viking blood in you, too. S S 2 J aime Share this: : Montreal, Quebec, Spas, Wellness : Bains Nordiques, Bota Bota, Kinipi Spa, la Mauricie, La Source, Lanaudiere, nordic spas, Quebec spas, Scandinave, Scandinavian Baths, Spa Natur'Eau, Spas, Vikings in Quebec, wellness 1 Comment for this entry Michele Peterson says: March 25, 2013 at 9:57 am Now that you mention it, many of the spas in Quebec do have a Viking vibe. Those steamy outdoor pools look like the perfect place to celebrate the Norse gods of ice and snow.

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