Osterreich (Austria)

Jul 18 – Jul 20

 

Again, a short but sweet stay.

 

Stayed in a campsite across the river from Wien, in Neue Donau. Had heard bad things about the Wien campsites, very narrow plots. This was true, but they are quite long, and the ground was not very full so there was plenty of space. Even the Contiki group that turned up on the second night didn’t spoil it. They were very quiet, must be near the end of their tour.

 

Rode the bikes in again. Vienna is built for bikes so it was a really nice ride in. Had to cross over 2 bridges, one of which had a crazy spiral bike ramp to go up 3 stories onto the bridge. Then through a nice green park... and onto the wide streets of Vienna. Should of eaten at the Aussie bar we stopped at for a beer. We ended up at the Rosenburg Cafe opposite the Sacher cafe (which we ended up at later for some torte and coffee). Not cheap and not good quality food either. Ah well... live and learn.  The souvenir shops have lots of “we’re not Australia” trinkets. Like “Austria. No Kangaroos” street sign shirts, glasses etc. Austrian Kangaroo, ie. Cows, stuff...  you get my drift.

 

Weather wasn’t great, so didn’t ended up spending much time in Austria... moved on to Czech Republic

 

 

Slovenia

Jul 16 – Jul 18

 

Lake Bohinj. An outdoor person’s paradise. It has everything. Great hiking trails ( I did a short 45min walk up to a waterfall while Matt ‘watched the car’!), mountain biking, paragliding and plenty of water sports. Campsites are crowded (it’s illegal to free camp in Slovenia) but they’ll fit you in. We arrived quite late having driven up through the mountains from Venice. A great drive, very steep in parts, but there were also lots of cyclists. I am still amazed at the cyclists. Both the ones that ride on these crazy mountain passes and the ones that cycle 170km a day with all their clothes, tent etc strapped to the bike. I’m proud when we do our 20km!

 

Our day on Lake Bohinj consisted of a ride along the lake into town and back, a swim in the lake, a hike and a stroll around the town of Bled before finding a campsite on the other side of the river. So cruisey! Unfortunately torrential rain spoiled our plans of a nice bike ride up the mountain the next morning. Instead we got chatting with some of the other campers. Campsites generally have such a great friendly atmosphere. Can pretty much start chatting with anyone about their car/camper or their travels. And everyone has an interesting story or good advice. Definitely one of the few pluses compared to travelling in hotels J. Though I spose it is a big plus. [Can you tell I’m getting just a little bit sick of the car J]

 

So our stay in Slovenia was short. Just 2 nights, but it’s a beautiful spot. If we weren’t on a longer trip we would have spent time on some of the many 4WD tracks or rafting/canyoning or if I could get over my fear of heights, the spot where they were paragliding looked amazing.. Couldn’t really risk damage to car or selves. Only ½ way though.

Italy

July 4 – July 16

 

Aaahhh Italy. My third visit to Italy, but I am just as sure as the first time, that it wont be my last. Can’t quite pinpoint exactly what it is about Italy, but I just love it. Everyone is so laid-back, beautiful towns and scenery and of course there’s the food and coffee.

 

We headed North-East from Southern France through the Piedmont region to Milan. The area is known for it’s gastronomic delights, including Barolo wine, truffles amongst others. But for some reason everything was shut. Couldn’t work out if it was a public holiday or if everything is normally shut on a Monday. Either way, wasn’t good for my mood! Until that is, we found a great little co-op that was open... heaven. Except that because of the heat, the fridge isn’t working the best so couldn’t risk buying too much food.

 

Not much too Milan unless you’ve got a deep wallet and a big wardrobe to fill with beautiful clothes. I had to do with browsing and window shopping. The Duomo and the surrounding streets are beautiful, but a few hours was more than enough for us to get around. We rode our bikes in from the campsite, about a 25km round trip. Nice and flat so a relatively easy ride but so so hot. Lovely sweat patch on the back from the bag once we got back.

 

Next Stop, Lake Como. Again, loved it. Didn’t spot any famous faces, but then I’ve been known on a few occasions to walk directly past and even bump shoulders with quite famous people and not notice. Our campsite was right on the shore of the Lake, about 10km from Bellagio. Awesome view. The Espana v Deutschland match was on while we were there. A crowd of about 60 crowded outside watching a little tv. Great atmosphere, especially with quite vocal fans from both sides.

 

Could spend a week just exploring all the villages around the lake. Although the area is known for it’s famous locals, it just doesn’t have the same pretentiousness as the Southern coast. Much more relaxed. I was also surprised at how quiet the lake was. Maybe we caught it on a slow day, but was expecting to see a lot more boats and other watercraft on the Lake.

 

Como is also known for its Silk industry. My Lonely Planet (2010 edition) suggested a local silk producer to go and visit. The guide even had an interview transcript with the owner discussing how the Como silk industry will never die out, as people are aware of the quality etc etc. Turned up at the factory / outlet... It’s closed down. Moved to Switzerland. Another Aussie couple had turned up when we did, though they’d walked up from the town, not driven like we did, so were not impressed at all that it was not open. Strangely, the cafe inside the non-existent gallery is still open for business.

 

Cinque Terre (5 towns). We stayed in a town, Moneglia, just North of the Cinque Terre National Park. Prime land demands high prices, accounting for the steep camping prices for very little space. Suppose when there are cliffs and steep hills down to the sea it’s a bit hard to sprawl out. We walked to 4 of the 5 towns, only missing out on the last one, Monterosso. Really wanted to do the whole 5, but it was just a little too hot and the legs were starting to feel like jelly. It is a great walk though. Magnificent views and beautiful towns along the way to catch your breath and fill the water bottles up. Thoroughly enjoyed the swim in the bay at our last stop, Vernazza, as well. If I didn’t have to get on a train to get back to the campsite I would have walked straight into water fully clothed. Which is pretty much what Matt did, and forgot to empty the pockets J

 

Drove through beautiful Tuscany via Chianti and Florence on our way to Bologna. Where we stayed 3 whole nights. The most time we’ve spent in one spot since England. Bologna is not as touristy as most other places we’ve been so far. Most likely why we liked it. Not too many historical sites either. It’s all about strolling through the markets, particularly the food markets, drinking coffee. Two of my favourite past-times! We also learnt how to make hand-made pasta at La Vecchia Scuola. No machines involved, just flour, eggs, a rolling pin and lots of effort with the arms! Enjoyed eating the pasta (Tagliatelle, ravioli, tortellini) afterwards as well, which they served with 2 bottles of wine, an orange liqueur, coffee and chocolate cake. Yum Yum. Looking forward trying it out again at home.

 

Bologna is also where we were to watch the final of the World Cup, Holland v Espana. Nice close game, was hoping Holland would win or that it would at least go to penalties.. oh well... There was such a huge Dutch crowd at the campsite too, am sure they would have gone crazy.

 

Final Italian stop was Venice (after a brief stop at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello), where we caught up with Garry. Didn’t do too much sight-seeing having been there before. Caught the ferry into town, wandered around, got lost, ate gelato. Actually I think that’s exactly what I did last time I was there!

 

#End

A little bit of France (and Monaco)

Jul 3 – Jul 5

 

Had a couple of days in Southern France. Got to St Tropez around dusk and funnily enough had difficulty in finding reasonably priced camping grounds. We ended up in what we think was a dam catchment area, about 50m off a small local road. A surprisingly busy road it turned out, mostly due to some guy in his Ferrari taking some friends for joy rides up and down the street. We had a boar come visit as well... actually made me feel safer, less likely to get other unexpected visitors... just so long as I didn’t need to get up and go to the loo in the middle of the night.

 

Drove into St Tropez the next morning, for coffee and croissants. Ended up just getting takeaway. Felt very underdressed and unmanicured even at 7:30 in the morning! There was a great little bay just outside of town where we had a morning swim... even had sand. I remember Southern France as having only rocky beaches, but turns out that’s only from Nice Eastwards.

 

Spent some time in Monte Carlo, got a few photos of the car outside the casino next to the Ferraris. Camped just inside the Italian border at a dodgy little campground, whose owner pretended to speak bad English. Dinner in a quaint little town, Mataro (between Monaco and the Italian border). Great, reasonably priced cafes and a night market that was still going at midnight when we drove back past.

 

Unfortunately didn’t win big at the casino...

Hola Esapana!

We ended up spending a bit longer than originally intended in Spain, for relaxation, the sights and in part made necessary as repairs were required on the car.

 

First stop was the Costa del Sol where some kind friends let us stay for the night, which turned into 3 as it took a few extra days than planned to get one of the front trailing arm bolt replaced. This was mainly because it was a public holiday in Benalmadena where we were staying (though oddly only in that small part of the Costa del Sol, not the towns neighbouring). The San Juan Festival. There was a night of drinks dancing and fireworks on the beach, along with some odd traditions, swim as it turned midnight... walking over hot coals... There was also a night where lots of women were wearing traditional dresses, and we saw a local flamenco show in the square.... Thanks to the Greenans for showing us around town and for having us stay!

 

 

From there we headed North, to Grenada where we had a great look around the Alhambra...

camped in an olive field (and visited by the farmer in the morning as a bit of a hurry along we think J)

 and on to Madrid via Toledo.

 

There were 2 highlights for me of Madrid... firstly the Museu de Jambon in the centre of town.... really good Tapas... from 1EUR. We just stood and ate in the deli downstairs but there was a constant queue for the seating area upstairs... very, very popular and little wonder....

2^nd highlight was seeing a bullfight. Didn’t really intend to go. We got off at the Metro stop just to have a look around the ring itself, to compare to the one we’d seen in Sevilla, but as we exited we noticed there were ticket queues... as Matt was checking prices, someone was a bit too slow noticing an available ticket booth and Matt jumped in and bought the cheapest tickets available (in the sun, at the back). I’m glad to have been... if only to confirm that I didn’t like it. I like the theatrics of it, the skill of the Matadors... but I could not watch the swords and daggers strike the bull... or the bull charging the horses (that are now armoured).. we left after about 40 mins... though we definitely weren’t the first.

We stopped in Zaragoza (nice quaint town) and Montserrant (odd rocky mountain range) on our way across to Barcelona.

I loved Barcelona, but Matt preferred Madrid. I loved the Gaudi architecture, all the little shopping streets and that city beaches were within a couple of kilometres of the centre. Loved sitting in a little bar in a quiet part of town and watching the Spain v Portugal match with the locals. Didn’t so much enjoy realising we didn’t have much time to get the last bus back to the campsite and having to really power walk/run across town! Given that Spain had just played, the city was strangely quiet. Perhaps because we were in the touristy part of town, or they watch the matches at home.

After breaking down on the highway leaving Barcelona and spending a night in a hotel in Mataro we started heading to France and Italy. Stopped in Girona and Figueres on the way and bush camped next to a dam near the border. A really nice spot, including the 4W-Driving required to get down there!... and finding the tarred road the next morning. Got interrupted by some police who were looking to get rid of some people spear fishing, but other than that, probably the best free camp so far.

Leg 2: Waypoint tour of Morocco

So. We're computer mobile again after picking up a bit of tax-free bargain in Gibraltar (If you're nearby - Gibraltar is also worth a visit for £5.95 1L bottles of Jim Beam, oh and also great views from the top of the Gibraltar Rock where we spent some time with the Barbary apes - make sure you've got some pounds (the currency kind) on you cause they really stitch you on the exchange rate and lots of places dont take card. There is border control for those who were wondering. We got searched on the way out).

Morocco - Where to begin. Well given it's me that's writing this I'll start with food! Our Waypoint Tour began on 6th June at La Casita camping San Roque (a good town to get lost in) Spain with a great BBQ (braai) and meet and greet. Nice change to have someone else preparing the meals for us! and I have to say no one ever went hungry that's for sure! We had nothing but great quality food the whole trip. Everything from tagines, to kebabs, Nandos spiced chicken yum yum. The only times Barrie didn't cater were once in the desert where we got caught in a dust storm we ended up eating in a restaurant in the Kasbah we were camping in - though the tagine there wasn't a patch on his, and most definitely not the same portion sizing; a lunch in Tinehir where we had stopped for the day so the cars could rotate through the garage to fix various issues - we had a couple of kebabs on a roof top terrace overlooking the markets. and Pizza in Marrakech - again the food was a let down there - but we had a great position overlooking the main square, watching the sunset and the crowds growing - great atmosphere. So definitely no complaints on the food! Did miss my cereal for breakfast but most mornings we were up and going and i much preferred the extra 10 minutes kip to a proper breakfast.

The tour was a lot more than we expected. A lot less time spent on tar roads than even we imagined! We had everything, rock crawling through beautiful gorges, steep ascents and descents on very tight, bumpy tracks through beautiful valleys and cedar forests. Then there was the desert driving, sand dunes, salt beds and those bloody corrugations! No way we ould have navigated this ourselves without having done a significant amount of prior research. Taking seemingly random tracks in the middle of plains, no signs in most places. Only once did he miss turn off. We ended up driving through a farm. Good 4WD, but obviously we felt bad driving through their fields. It was difficult to get back onto the track as there was a deep drain to get across. Some kids helped us navigate our way out and thankfully they had already done their harvest so didn't do any damage.

Kids.... that was actually one of the things I will remember most from Morocco. Unfortunately a lot of kids would just come to the car asking for "Bon Bon" "Stillo" (actually took us a day or 2 to work that one out... thought they just thought everyone's name was Stevo). They would see us coming and in some cases run for a good couple of hundred metres just to be able to get to the road and try and wave us down. Some of them would clear the road up ahead of rock (usually really small ones) .. like hey.. I've helped you... in one town they kids started showing off their martial arts and cartwheeling skills in a hope to get a bit of a 'present'.
At the end of first day off-roading we were airing up our tyres, right across the road from a school just as they all started running out at the end of the day... Started off with just a few kinds checking out the cars, saying hello. But in the end there must have been about 50 kids. All good fun to begin with - blasting the air-compressor at them. Trying to explain we were from Oz... they all had a good laugh at Matt when he bent down to do one tyre and showed a little too much! But then one kid decided to throw a stone at the car... then another and it all started to get a little out of hand. Matt cracked it when one hit the car and took off, almost literally - scaring a few kids out of the way!! Shame that a couple of kids wrecked it for everyone else.

I mentioned car issues before. Trevor, one of the other travellers on the trip, decided on day 1 to start an issues log. It made for interesting and lengthy reading by the end... over 40 issues, luckily mostly minor , by the end of the 14 days. We, personally had cracks in the tyre sidewall, bash plate for the gas tank fell off, bust in a pipe for the auto-transmission cooler - not good when you've just started through the sand-dunes, fuse for the dash and the alternator (were glad it was just that and not the alternator itself) ummm.... overheated on climbs when we had the air-con on (had to do away with that luxury).. think that was it... others had flat tyres, broken leaf spring, cracked steering rack, Pete's dodgy exhaust on his Discovery kept falling off... so all in all.. our cars definitely kept us on our toes!

We also camped in some spectacular spots. In a riverbed, in the dunes, in the forest... every now and then (and more regularly than I had hoped for) we camped where there were toilets and showers. The Kasbahs were quite cool... Drove through a fortress looking entrance to an open area then a building that had internal courtyards as well... Would love one day to be able to afford to build my own house like that... one can dream.

Didnt spend a lot of times in the towns themelves, but when we did, we had fun. Wandering round the food markets in Tinerhir and other towns, a lot more authentic than what you get in Marrakech. But that was good as well. Would love to furnish my house (when I have a home that is larger than 2m wide by 5m long) from the antiques shops in the soukhs. Some great stuff, everything from rugs, to lamps to pots to chests... loved it all... maybe when I have that dream house I'l be able to fly back for a special shopping trip :)

So thanks to Barrie of Waypoint Tours, and our travel buddies, Peter aka Tom/Jerry/Ralph/Stevo, Sam aka Pedro, Trev and Nick... we had a fantastic time in Morocco - a great start to our adventures through Europe and beyond.
Now in the Costa Del Sol... soaking up some sun... sorting out some admin things, catching up with friends and need to get the car looked at... it's making cranky noises, even after we've washed it (we thought that may pick up her mood).

Quick Update

Just a quick update from a Cyber Cafe in Cascais Portugal, near Lisbon.
 
Can´t believe it´s been almost a week already. Had a great send off from Epping, Essex. Bacon "sarnie" and all!. Thanks to Rick and Viv for their hospitality for our last week in England. It was great!
 
Headed off on LD Lines from Dover, after picking up some last minute supplies on the way... some clean fuel for the fuel stove and other essentials like that!
 
We spent 2 nights in France, one camped in the bush right on the ocean which was nice. Have been avoiding the toll roads so travelled through some really quiant little French villages... great meal and vinho in Bordeaux :)
 
From there a couple of nights in Northern Spain, Basque country. Absolutely beautiful scenery... really enjoyed wandering around San Sebastian.
 
We headed south-west from there... I got to drive the really, really, steep bits... across some very very high bridges... not good when you´re scared of heights!
 
We wandered through Salamanca... enjoyed the great architecture
 
Now in Portugal... Have visited Coimbra, the beaches of Nazare, spent a nice afternoon drinking Super Bock in Sintra and are now in Cascais near Lisbon.  Had a great meal last night at a restaurant overlooking the sea... pity that while we were enjoying the meal and the vinho, the car got broken into... Laptop was stolen and a few other little bits and pieces... but they´ve caused us more hastle than the value of the items... oh well....
 
Off to fix the lock of the car now, have already had the fun of lodging a police report in a foreign country.... then the joys of insurance claimn. Will need to find a more secure way of storing a computer... Kensington lock through a bolt to the chassis was not sufficient. Not the way I wanted to spend our last couple of days in beautiful portugal. Them the joys of travel I spose. Just glad we had backups of everything... ... Will write a better update before we head off to Morocco on Monday.

---

Find it at CarPoint.com.au New, Used, Demo, Dealer or Private?