5/2013

Seems ages since our last post but only 2 weeks. But we have done plenty and covered a lot of ground.

After dropping off Katie we had a couple more days in Bled to reorganise the van then headed off, the plan being to head east. Went via Ljubjana to buy a new camera at Harvey Norman, of all places. Felt right at home. Kiwis will know that Harvey Norman is a big Australian electronic, furniture place with several outlets in NZ. Got our camera, a lot fancier than the last one, and a bit more complicated to operate, but we are slowly getting the hang of it. Also a  new hard drive to back up all our very important stuff on the computer and we were off.

The big trip east ground to a halt as we settled into a delightful little campsite at Kamnik, about 20kms north of Ljubjana.It is a sort of cross between a campsite and a local sports centre. Lots of locals playing tennis, skittles, having parties. Great. Spent a couple of days exploring the town, climbing the hill to the big castle, which we somehow missed and climbed twice the height and distance. Great view at the top though, nice spot for a picnic!! Had a day’s outing at Velika Plannina, an alpine plateau reached by a somewhat rickety old telepherique. Continued hiking on up the mountain and across the alpine meadows. Lots of delightful local style huts and shepherds’ cottages (unfortunately a bit early in the season for the shepherds and their cows) and some great refuges with cold beer (it was one of our rare, hot days). A visit to the local arboretum and some great displays of tulips.

Met up with a French couple in Kamnik who told us we really should see more of western Slovenia, so we headed west instead. We are so glad we did, visited Lake Bohinj, near Bled but less developed, more for the outdoorsy types. Did a long bike ride on a well developed cycleway. Crossed the precipitous Visic Pass (50 hairpin bends, on cobbles – no Joanna didn’t count them, they were numbered, all 50 of them), into the beautiful Soca Valley and the turquoise water of the river, even the driving rain and sub-Arctic temperatures couldn’t spoil it. Put a stop to any hiking though and we decided to head for the little bit of Slovenian coastline (about 40km long) that sticks out into the Adriatic just past Trieste. A couple of days at Piran, a lovely little town, Venetian style architecture,  spent hours wandering the narrow alleyways of the old town, great seafood meal, long walk in surrounding towns and countryside and then amazingly an afternoon in our swimming togs, by the beach. Didn’t brave the water, though plenty of others did. Found ourselves parked next to a Stan copy in the campsite. Never saw the owners though.

Finally we started heading north  east, back to Kamnik which we had left a week earlier!!

Have noticed in our time in Slovenia and since then, the enthusiastic use of bright colours by the local people especially in house colours and the women’s hair. Joanna wishes she had their courage. Vivid orange, crimson, purple coiffures, and sometimes even a variety on the same head. The houses are a bit the same although a much greater range of the spectrum to be seen. Talking about heads, David has noticed the lack of bald heads in this part of the world. A tiny twinge of jealousy detected!!

We crossed the rest of Slovenia in one hit, via Putj, nothing in Slovenia is very far! Cycled round the lake and sampled its thermal pools. Slovenian drivers are very polite to pedestrians (its hard to adapt to the various customs with regard to pedestrian crossings, both as a driver and pedestrian). Mind you once on the road overtaking, it’s Italian rules – the number of near accidents we have witnessed!!!

Just clipped the NE corner of Hungary,  stopped at Sopron (not easy, as we drove round and round to find two closed camp grounds) but found a good one in the end. Interesting town with buildings lining the street each with an archway through to a large interior space, similar to those in Romania. Also the impressive Esterhazy Palace, flourishing in the days of Marie Therese and her Austia-Hungarian empire.  One pleasure for us (especially Joanna) were the sight of storks’ nests on the top of electricity poles some with young being fed, for David it was the sound of the cuckoo.

Thence Slovakia, passing Bratislava (been there, done that).  Heading North we found ourselves suddenly in the hills, (again, what is it about us and mountains?) very green, very wet and visited a preserved village, Vikolinec,  interesting and the souvenir is some honey mixed with ginger - delightful, plus trying and eventually buying a bottle of honey wine (a desert wine to add to our impressive collection of spirits, liqueurs such as the local Slivovicz, and more !!!). What’s more, Joanna has rediscovered the grapefruit radler of several years back. Yum. Very refreshing.  However have to be careful as alcohol driving limits are very low ( 0% in Hungary, 0.2% here in Slovakia)

 

 

 

And now a Slovakian favourite from three years ago – the High Tatra mountains.  This time however they cold and  covered in cloud with liberal quantities of rain. So instead of crossing to Poland straight away, we have settled down, parked in a (Stellplatz) behind a hotel in Tatransky Lomnica, with camper van facilities (electricity, water and toilet dump, coffee for 1.2 Euro and cheap meals). We really wanted to stay in the next town, Stary Smokovic, because we love the name, but it is much nicer where we are.  The big find was a thermal pool complex with natural water, basic but very well organised, at Vrbor. Real thermal pools like NZ, with lots of minerals and a bit smelly. We love it.  Have been every day for 3 days.  Besides the hot pools we have made a visit to the large and impressively sited, but ruined, Spis castle . It is incredible to read the history of this part of the world; attacks by Tatars, Mongols, Turks, and of course more recently Germans and Russians.

David notes that the bread is getting more and more dense but lasting longer. Joanna has delighted in finding the Lidl supermarkets throughout this part of the world as they are cheap, smaller size and predictable with a centre isle of things David might like had it not been necessary to fly them to NZ. We have also seen the Tesco supermarkets in Slovakia but no visit so far. The language thing is becoming a bit of an issue and we get a few surprises when we unpack the shopping. Never mind, we are always really to sample something new.

Time to head off for our last hot soak before we head off to Zakopane in Poland tomorrow.

2013/4 Goodbye Katie, heading East.

We’ve done so much in the last 3 weeks it is hard to know where to start. Varied terrain – mountains to the coast, lakes; varied weather – snow, hail the size of marbles and lazing on the beach stuff;  several countries – France, Italy, Slovenia and Austria (well for a few hours).

We picked up Katie from Val Thorens. managed to fit her in with an enormous ski bag, other bag and assorted junk that you collect in a season skiing. Spent a couple of days at Grenoble, David’s old stamping ground, with our friends the Phelipons, who always look after us so well – washing, cooking special meals, with Stan parked alongside the house in a public park but with a sneaky electric lead through the hedge. Katie and Joanna made the most of the shops, while David did a museum or 2.

Headed up into the Vercors, above Grenoble on our way to meet up with other friends, and we were back into the snow. Great scenery but hard going with closed roads and  several cols(mountain passes) and lots of snow. However once over the last col we were into Provence type landscape of the Drome. The goal was an invitation to friend Annie and husband Jacques’ house in a remote village where she has organised great works to revitalise the area.  A fine French meal of local specialities and a visit to the neighbouring village, made a park for the night with Stan tucked into the street to avoid the chill wind.

From there a quick dash south to the Cote d’Azur, where Katie’s friend Elli,(who is now based in Antibes looking for a job on a super yacht – in fact latest newsflash says she has a job) assured us that the weather was nearly swimming weather.  We did it all – lunch on the seafront at Cannes – in the campervan, not at the Carlton – but same seafront, daytrip to Monaco, (where Katie spotted Princess Caroline in flash car going into the palace), lots of wandering around Antibes, where we stayed. However no swimming. Weather getting warmer but has to be an awful lot warmer for Joanna to even start looking for the swimming gear. Can’t count the swim in the heated pool at the campground.

Big disappointment was the visit to Menton, which Joanna had read about for years as the retreat for NZ writers. She had a vision of a village tumbling down the hillside with olives and orange trees. It is actually quite a big town, a bit hectic, even in April, and a million rules about parking. Probably quite a nice place, but spoilt by a preconception.

It never fails to amaze us how you cross these EU non borders and immediately everything changes. I don’t think that the European Union is having much of an impact on national identity. It’s not just the language, it’s the housing, the food, the tidiness, and of course in Italy, the driving. You don’t need a sign to tell you, that you have changed countries. Say no more, I don’t want to get in trouble for having  cultural issues!!

A quick tour of  Northern Italy involved 2 days in the Cinque Terre, a day at Portofino, on through Bologna to Venice, a stopover at our old favourite Grado, before crossing the border to Slovenia at Trieste. We are probably getting old and cynical, but the Cinque Terre was a disappointment  from our last time there although the weather had a part to play. Paths were closed  - which ones, or all, depended on which official you got the information. We did manage to walk two of the four paths but to Joanna especially it seemed things are poorly maintained, the whole thing seemed tatty,  – they are ruining a wonderful resource. We had a great park, right on the water at Monterosso, but it was expensive and a mess with lots of mud underfoot.  Thence a night at Santa Margharita  where we were surprised at the yachting activity and presence of NZ yachting firms although the big yacht race on May day holiday was a fizzer with no wind. However a boat trip to at last see the oh so pretty (carefully preserved) harbour at Portafino.  Across country to spend a night parked on a busy street in Bologna with very pleasant walk through the arcaded streets and lively student atmosphere.  On to Venice with  a great park on the island, walking to the centre. Transport sure is well organised with buses, trains, ferries, and car parks for the millions of visitors.  Again a dreary day so it was not quite the Venice of our dreams – or even our last visit. Onto the NE and Grado for a bike ride around beach and town with a visit to the amazing Roman mosaic at Aquila.

Through Trieste and climbed up into Slovenia (very green but very wet) and onto the Karst cave at Postojnska , several km of cave some in a train some on foot – very impressive. The most curious and rare inhabitant is the Proteus anguinus or ‘human fish’.  Human skin, 20/30cm long, lives to a 100, can go 1 or 2 years without food, gills for life under water, lungs for life on land, blind but is guided by electric currents and smell.  Saw them in a tank, not for sale!

Talking of tanks, Joanna managed to drop our camera into her(very rare) glass of beer, “it just flipped and spun straight in” she said.  It being her first drink of the evening she retrieved it very quickly and all appeared to be well and photos were transferred to the computer – but alas  it will not now actually take a photo, so its over to the Iphone to step up. Spent a few hours wandering the streets of Ljubljana, (pronounced Loo –bla –nah) the capital of Slovenia, a charming town, as the rain settled in and the temperature dropped we treated ourselves to a bowl of goulash. Yum, comfort food.

Now the camp site at Bled on the picture postcard lake and castle on top of a rock. Camp site among trees, rowing on the lake, cycling around the lake and to a to a gorge with a hairy wooden board walk (erected in 18something) pinned to the rock face above a foaming torrent.

Yesterday drove over the mountains to Klagenfurt in Austria where Katie caught a train for Frankfurt via Munich and thence a flight to Bangkok for a fortnight in Cambodia en route to NZ.

 

 

So now we have arranged her left behind skis(4 pairs in the bathroom now) and possessions which we are taking back to NZ and ready to head east, or north, or south!!!!!!