Liam's birthday

Well, 3rd time for Liam to have an international birthday - his first birthday was the UK, 3rd birthday New Zealand, and now 10th birthday Turkey. So 30% of his birthdays have been overseas! For those who liked the snowman video, we thought you might like this one too.

Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Camping on the Roadside!

Well, as Rob said in an earlier post, the beauty of having few plans is that you can change them! We had initially intended to head back up through Belgrade, Budapest and then into Romania, but with not having any fixed bookings we can look to the weather and make decisions based on that as well. The weather was really starting to look miserable, so we decided to avoid trying to visit big cities in the rain - we had nearly frozen in Prague and being even later in the season it really wasn't very appealing to go back into the cold, especially having experienced the joy of being warm enough to swim on the coast. So Rob and I have decided to save Hungary, Serbia and Romania for when we do the trans-Siberian to from Beijing to Moscow one day.

So we drove for 2 full days in the rain crossing Serbia and Bulgaria - kids coped beautifully and were incredibly well-behaved considering how cooped up we were and that we were only able to stay in service station rest areas on the highway.

Camping on the roadside has become a necessity as end October saw most campsites closed for the winter. I have to say that although the campervan is great and we have appreciated the ability to be able to freecamp, it really is hard when you can't make a pitstop at a campsite every few days. Laundry is becoming even more difficult. I have just had to accept that I will have to handwash everything in small lots and dry them on the demister on the dashboard while we're driving (a big job with 6 people - am encouraging the boys natural tendency to think that clothes don't need changing more than once every few weeks! - Okay, slight exaggeration, but getting tempted!)

Have finally had to book into a hotel in Istanbul to give ourselves a few days of good long hot showers and to catch up on laundry - have clothes drip-drying all over the bathroom, as there are no laundry facilities, except for typical expensive hotel laundry by the piece. Now we don't want to leave! It's so great to just be able to step out of the door to go to the great little doner kebab restaurant a few doors away, and walk down to the Grand Bazaar.

The Blue Mosque is really amazing, but from outside and inside - see the photos.
We love just walking the streets and being part of the hustle and bustle - it is a very friendly and lively place.

Visited the Tokpapi Palace yesterday and found it fascinating to be able to stand in one place and look at two continents - Europe on the left and Asia on the right. Istanbul is unique in being the only city in the world built on two continents.


Liam's birthday is tomorrow, so he is looking forward to the hotel buffet breakfast as his birthday breakfast and expecting lots of presents, so it is a visit to the Grand Bazaar today.

Bosnia

Well, we really didn't expect to visit Bosnia on this trip, but we were captivated by the Croatian coast and wanted to see what the fairly barren mountains were like a little further inland. The Lonely Planet book also recommended the Mostar to Sarajevo road as a scenic journey, so off we went. Well, it certainly was quite an experience. Mostar itself was an education for us and the kids - still has war torn buildings with bullet holes all over the sides of the ordinary apartment buildings. We met a person in the car park who told us all about his experience as a 17 year old schoolboy in the war and showed us the shrapnel wounds he got walking home from school with his friend.

We visited the Stari Most - a pedestrian bridge to the old town that had been destroyed in the war and rebuilt.

And the highlight was again the cafes - first a burek cafe - delicious meat, cheese and potato pastries, then later a cafe with great turkish coffee, turkish delight, baklava, halva, some sort of quince thing - we overindulged a bit!

The road from Mostar to Sarajevo was very pretty - through a lovely gorge with a gorgeous river and a backdrop of snow capped mountains. Again finding somewhere to stay a challenge, but managed a roadside stop again.

Sarajevo itself was initially a nightmare drive through some narrow backstreets trying to find parking - you might see a few extra grey hairs on Rob's head when we get back from trying to get a large campervan through tiny streets and scary traffic!

We did enjoy the stroll through the Sarajevo streets and market - the photo shows all the turkish influence with the copper coffee pots and so on. Didn't realise how hard the drive out would be - it doesn't seem far from Sarajevo to Serbia, but the roads are windy and mountainous with snow everywhere. Didn't expect to see so much snow on this leg!! Beautiful though.

Saw more police in Bosnia than we have seen anywhere and even got stopped - apparently a headlight was a bit dim. Language barrier made it a bit nerve-wracking though, but when he recognised the police uniform on Rob's passport he shook his hand and said Colleague and waved us on our way with an invitation to visit again sometime! Took us forever to get out of those windy roads and we have never been so pleased about seeing a motorway as when we crossed the Serbian border and got to a decent road again! The roadside stop even seemed like a glorious campsite after where we had been camping!

Croatia

Am in Dubrovnik right now - what a gorgeous city - thanks for the recommendation Natasha and the confirmation that we must go down the coast Anitra. It is well worth it. We have loved the coast and have swum every day - the only hardy people on the beach in the water!

Will post more when I have downloaded the photos.

Okay-here are the promised photos: - First up is one of the Pula Colloseum - an amazingly intact Roman ruin. Pula was our first stop in Croatia and certainly had some interesting ruins. Headed out of town as evening was approaching, and then had a hard time finding an appropriate place to stop on the side of the road - Liam finally spotted a truck park just before the tunnel on the way to Rijeka - thank goodness! More on the joys of camping in Europe in winter in a separate post.





This next picture is of a lovely little town on the Dalmatian coast called Jablanac. There are ferries to the nearby islands from here with remarkably large trucks having to squeeze past our parked campervan which you can see on the foreshore. Another swim here - refreshing!



Split was next on the agenda - we found it fascinating to see how they had simply added buildings on wherever it was convenient around the wall - you can see in the photo how the clock tower in the old wall has simply been used as a back wall for another building. The cathedral on the right had sign posted to climb the tower at your own risk, so we declined!

We had a magnificent thunderstorm there - you warned us Natasha and you were right!


And finally here is a tiny laneway in Dubrovnik. We didn't take photos of the outside wall so you might have to click on the link to see what it looks like from the outside (the links on the top right of the page are some of the places we have visited).

We really liked Dubrovnik - touristy enough to be easy for us (English signs!), but small enough to be pleasant and relaxing to be in. Again, no campsite, so had to camp outside the closed campsite, but it was close to the beach and very enjoyable.

After Dubrovnik we headed back along the same stretch of coast road (seeing the view from the other direction was just as beautiful). Then headed inland from this part of the coast (in the picture) towards Mostar in Bosnia leaving Croatia behind - we really enjoyed it there.

Slovenia

From Austria, took a very brief detour via the top NE end of Italy into Slovenia (as a native and a resident respectively of two countries with no land borders (NZ and OZ), I still find it novel to be able to drive through three countries in the space of an hour!)

Drove over two beautiful passes on a superb sunny day with fascinating and totally different views to the Grossglocknerstrasse we had done the day before. This time we were mostly below the snow line, with amazingly steep climbs and drops from one valley through to the next with sparkling clear rivers of the most spectacular green colour where Rob could see the trout even from the road (I would prefer him to be watching the road!). One of the passes from Italy to Slovenia was the Predil Pass, with interesting castle and fortress ruins that the kids had a great time exploring (while I looked at the crumbling doorways and windows and hoped they wouldn’t crumble further while they were underneath them!).

The next one (recommended in the Lonely Planet book) was the Vrsik Pass, which did put us just into the snow – again, cause for the kids to celebrate as they had yet another snowball fight. Interesting, if somewhat disturbing, to read that the road had been built by Russian prisoners of war, and about 300 were killed in an avalanche, together with some of their Austrian guards. There was a small chapel built in their memory about half way down the north side of the mountains. Rob didn’t see it as he was busy trying to avoid crazy drivers cutting corners on the way up – okay there was only one truly crazy driver, but he came very close to having a Ford Rimor camper adorning the side of his car. It was only because Rob was driving so sensibly that he managed to come to a complete halt only inches from their tiny car, even though he was on the downhill run with a couple of tons of weight pushing us downhill.

Headed on toward Bled, which is another gorgeous town on a lake with a castle overlooking the lake and a monastery on an island in the middle. Had hoped to find a campsite, but every single campsite was closed for the winter, so another night on the side of the road perilously close to running out of water, so no shower in the morning – only time I have been a bit over free-camping.

Visited the castle next morning – another superb sunny day and fabulous views. Headed out in the afternoon towards Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, in the hope of an open campsite. Found a great campsite, which would have been superb in summer with pool, etc, but again, all closed, much to Liam’s disappointment. However, on the bright side it had wireless internet, so signed up for a full day and spent the whole of the next day being internet nerds – got the blog up to date and phoned as many people as we could manage at midnight and first thing in the morning using Skype – occasionally interrupted by the internet dropping out – most frustrating! Great to talk to family and friends at home – we do miss you all.

We loved Ljubljana – spent a very pleasant day strolling around the city the next day – saw an old roman wall and walked up the hill to the fortress at the top where we watched a 3D movie of the history of Ljubljana. Everyone we met was very friendly and their English was excellent. We also enjoyed the Burek (meat and cheese pastries) we had for lunch, and the various cakes and pastries – bakeries are a bit of a highlight everywhere we go, followed closely by icecream shops and internet cafes.

After Ljubljana, headed southwest towards the coast stopping at the spectacular limestone caves in Postojna. They really are amazing, with the scale of the cave system and the fabulous formations from spaghetti stalactites to curtain stalactites in three different colours – pure white (calcium carbonate), pink (iron oxides) and grey (manganese oxides). We caught a little train that travelled 2 km into the cave system and then walked a couple of km further.

Went up to the local castle after that and Rob and the kids explored their own cave that they found in a stream nearby – pretty big too by all accounts. I took advantage of half an hour of peace and quiet sitting next to the pretty stream in the sunshine.

Next down to the coastal town of Piran. Stayed in a little cove called Fiesa just next to it and had our first swim in the Adriatic Sea – yes it was cold, but great! The water is so clear and with a pebbly beach you come away feeling clean and refreshed, rather than sandy and salty.

Wandered around Piran next day – an interesting old town with Venetian style buildings and tiny alleyways. Again, great bakeries, good coffee. The bakery salesperson was so taken with Breanna that she got a free chocolate croissant, much to her delight. Next stop Croatia.

Austria

26th Oct-2 Nov 2007
Initially Austria hadn’t really featured too largely on our itinerary. However the beauty of having few plans is that nobody notices when you change them. We have decided to go a little further south through Austria before we head further east to Hungary and possibly Romania We were both keen to check out Slovenia (our next entry) so we have headed there now.

One of the reasons we hadn’t planned too much time in Austria is that we had both been here before. The guide books however managed to lure us with some places neither of us had been to yet so what were we to do.

One of those places was a small town called Hallstatt. Now some may think a little joint on the side of a lake in the middle of Austria – what’s so special. Well this place is so special that there is a whole epoch named after this place (the Hallstatt period 1200 – 500 BC). The main reason is that the place is home to a very old salt mine.

Well salt was the main attraction then and it was for us too. Hallstatt is cut off for three months of the year by snow and it has already started falling which the kids were once again quite happy with. The camp ground had already closed for the winter so off the beaten track we went. While we found a reasonable place to camp we were going to be in trouble if it snowed over night. Of course this meant nothing to the kids and making and destroying snow men was far higher on the agenda (knew those fireworks would be fun).

Fortunately we weren’t snowed in and the next day was spent in the salt mine and exploring the town of Hallstatt. The kids were each given a piece of natural rock salt as a parting gift which was to become the science lesson for the next day. Rock salt and the stuff that comes out of the shaker look nothing alike so the kids and I replicated the process we had learned about the previous day (dissolving the salt, filtering and then evaporating the water off). Amazing what you can do with a fork, a bowl, some coffee filter paper and a pot!!!

Next stop was Salzburg (ever wondered were the name comes from…) that’s right salt, the home of The Sound of Music, oh, and that bloke Mozart. Found a campsite with a wonderful view and a few days to explore the city. Concert at the cathedral (Dom), where Mozart once played (they have had his organ touched up since) and a day to explore and walk the city which I was able to do alone as Bronwen and the kids had ventured off to the Haus der Natur (House of Nature - museum) for the day. I got to explore the castle, the palace the Mozart museum, the city squares, watch a couple of games of chess, checked out a couple of cemeteries a fist full of churches and finished off with a beer hall and brewery – no wonder I was tired.

From Salzburg our journey took us down to the Hohe Tauen National Park which is the largest national park in the alps and home of the Grossglockner, Austria's highest mountain. In my earlier years there would have been only one thing on my mind whilst in such close proximity to all these mountains but this time we were just here to look. We waited a few days in the park for the weather to clear a little as our route took us over a very high pass. The wait was well worth it!

I mentioned in an earlier piece that one of the joys of travel are the people you just happen upon along the way. Austria has been particularly friendly in that regard, with Breanna making some English friends in Salzburg (who live in Germany) and our meeting a wonderful German family while camped at Hohe Tauen. It just so happened that they went up the mountain the day we waited and popped into our home on wheels for a coffee on the way home. Well you’ve all heard about the loaves and the fishes story, well we created the people and the campervan story, squeezing ten people in the van. While it was pretty crowded it will remain as one of the highlights of the trip as we had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company. Hope we get to meet up again in the future!

The dangers of smoking

Rob and the kids had a great time in the snow demonstrating the dangers of smoking with a snowman. Hope the video works - let me know if you can't view it.

Czech Republic

20th-27th Oct 2007
Well it's my turn this time (Rob). I think that Bronwen promised I would write more about Prague and the Czech Republic (CZ). We entered from the North West shortly after Dresden close to Usti. We had spent the night just before the border and it was quite a cold night. I wasn’t at all surprised to see the snow plastered signs at the boarder crossing. Well that started the kids off – “can we stop in the snow, can we stop in the snow, can we…..”. As we all know I had little choice so it was snow balls at ten paces soon after. For Breanna and Liam I think it was the first time they had seen the stuff so that was quite a treat (I think they might just be sick of the stuff by the time we leave).

This day was pretty much a travel day and the target for the day was Prague (or Praha) as they say here. While the first couple of towns we went though seemed a little drab, CZ in general provided a great mix of experiences for all.

We camped a little way out of Prague but right on a public transport line. Quite handy and we had the place to ourselves. Bronwen managed to turn the women’s toilets into a drying room a we had accumulated a bit of washing – six people do that…The old city of Prague is actually a reasonably big place and we decided to spend three days exploring. One of the first things we discovered were the bakeries – what great value – James still refers to them as gorging houses as that’s what we did every time we went near one.

The first day we spent exploring the city on foot using one of our library of guide books. This took us from Wenceslas Square through the old town square into the Jewish quarter across Charles Bridge and over towards the Prague Castle, ending of course in a bakery…

The next day was spent in the Prague Castle……and looking for bakeries.

And the last day saw Breanna and I checking out the Jewish museum, while ‘nerds r us’ went looking for Internet Cafes (last entry).

Frome Prague to Plzen, that’s right the home Pilsner Urquell beer (and a few others). Quick tour of the brewery and a brewery museum (not to mention a couple of samples). The Czechs’ really are a very civilised culture, I saw my first ever beer dispensing machine today, ah the wonders of modern technology. One swipes his or her passport as proof of age, throws in a paltry number of crowns (beer is really cheap), and the next thing you know you have a Pilsner in your hand.

Next major stop in CZ was a great little town called Cesky Krumlov. A small Prague really with its own castle and old town and a pretty river that circled the city. Probably the highlight of CZ now that I think about it.

The only other major stop was in Vyssi Brod on the way out of the country. A monastery this time instead of a castle (for a change) and a street market that the kids thought was great. It was like being in Bangkok or China with no marked prices and a lot of bargaining. The kids were pleased that we got to stock up on fireworks before we left CZ, you may get to see some of the destruction on You Tube some time in the future – quite funny. Seemed to be the place to go from Austria for a bit of cheap shopping before heading back over the border. For me I enjoyed watching the guys fly fishing along the river – wishing it were me….