Europe in a campervan – Page 4

September 26, 2017May 27, 2018

Strasbourg, Basel and Bern

For the next couple of months we’ll be zig-zagging back and forth across multiple countries so I’ve decided to be a bit more disciplined and write our blog every Sunday. Sunday’s are very quiet in Europe, shops close and people rest. We’ve decided to adopt this lifestyle too and spend Sunday’s doing not much, aside from writing that is, and the odd domestic duty.

Since our last update we have spent four nights in Strasbourg, three in Basel and the last three in Bern. More than a week I know, but the new weekly blogging starts now.

Strasbourg

Visiting Strasbourg was a last-minute decision. We were originally planning to head straight to Switzerland after Germany, but when discussing our route with my Aunt and Uncle, Uncle George suggested Strasbourg was well worth a visit. We’re glad we took his advice as we loved this elegant and cultured city.

We didn’t know what to expect when we cycled out the campsite gate and off into the city. At first it didn’t look much, but Strasbourg was like opening a present, all of a sudden this postcard perfect scene appeared – the bridges and towers of Ponts Couverts with the Ill River like a mirror beneath. We left the bikes and crossed the Barrage Vauban (Vauban Damn) stopping to admire the view from the roof terrace. We were now in Petit France and had stepped into the pages of a storybook. Around each corner another magical scene appeared; gorgeous medieval houses, window boxes brimming with bright colours, arched walking bridges crossing the river that gurgled past, and under, buildings and through weirs and locks. We were smitten.

The historic centre of Strasbourg is built on the Grand Ile, an island surrounded by the Ill river on one side and a canal on the other. The entire island is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Water plays a big part in Strasbourg, the city has been built around it, over it and in it. We stopped to watch the canal boats go through the lock and decided a canal cruise might be fun. It was well priced so we booked tickets for the last day of our stay.

Being located on the eastern bank of the Rhine very close to the German border, Strasbourg and the Alsace region has bounced back and forth between French and German control over the centuries and as a result the city is influenced by the cultures of both countries, from the traditional German style timber-framed houses, to the food and drink, and even the language. As it was France we thought crepes for lunch would be nice, but they were not on the menu. Every café in Strasbourg serves the Alsatian speciality of flammkuchen. Flammkuchen is like a thin flaky pizza and the classic toppings are onions, crème fraiche and ham. We were introduced to flammkuchen as a German dish when we tried one for the first time in Hachenburg with Margaret, but evidently Alsace claims this speciality as their own, an example of the influences that make Alsace a unique part of France.

The weekend when we arrived happened to be the weekend of European Heritage Days. This is a Europe-wide initiative where every September places of cultural heritage open their doors for free to encourage the people of Europe, especially the young, to experience art, history and culture. We made the most of the free entrance and visited many more places than we would have otherwise.

A highlight was seeing the incredible Astronomical clock in action inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral. This floor-to-ceiling ornate clock is a Renaissance masterpiece and only puts on its display at 12.30pm each day, solar noon. Not only does this clock keep time, it has a mechanical model of the solar system that accurately predicts the positions and motions of the planets, and can calculate when Easter will fall each year and when a Solar or Luna eclipse will happen. It’s an ancestor of the modern computer. Then of course there are the animated figures that everyone watches, spellbound. The performance shows the different stages of life, a child, teenager, an adult and then an old man, who all parade past Death. Higher up, the apostles have their own parade, before Christ. A life-size rooster flaps his wings throughout the parade and crows three times. It’s enthralling to watch this combination of maths, physics, art and religion.

Aside from seeing the Astronomical clock for free we climbed to the top of the Cathedral Tower, visited the three museums in the Palais Rohan – the Museums of Fine Art, Décor and Archaeology – and had the opportunity to see inside the majestic old town hall, the Hotel de Ville, which is normally closed to tourists, all courtesy of the European Heritage Days.

Not only is Strasbourg the capital of the Alsace region but it is also the capital of Europe and is home to Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the European Ombudsman, and, most famously, the European Parliament, which also holds sessions in Brussels. We spotted the European Parliament building from the top of the Cathedral Tower and wanted to see the building we’d seen on TV so many times up close, so we biked out to the new suburbs of Strasbourg where the political hub of the city is based. The building is huge and looks like it arrived from the future, all shiny, silver and circular. It certainly makes a statement. The flags of all member states fly proudly outside, including, for now, the Union Jack.

The historical centre of Strasbourg is only part of its charm, there are layers to this city. Outside the Grand Ile there are imperialistic buildings from the period of Prussian control, along with some beautiful examples of Art Nouveau from the early 20^th century, and then there are the sleek, modern buildings claiming this city as a cosmopolitan capital. It all works, it is elegant and sophisticated.

We finished our stay in Strasbourg with that canal tour we’d booked on the first day. After walking and biking all over the city for three days we’d seen a lot and felt we had a good feel for the place, and with the weather setting in it seemed we’d judged the timing for a final canal boat ride perfectly. It was pleasant enough, the commentary was informative and we had the first-time experience of going up a canal lock, but we were reminded again that these types of tours are not really us. At least it didn’t cost a lot.

Strasbourg was a surprise. Neither of us had considered it as a destination before, and by the end of our stay we felt a bit silly we hadn’t. It’s a true European city.

Ponts Couverts with the Ill River like a mirror beneath

Petit France, Strasbourg

The Astronomical Clock in the Cathedral Notre-Dame

Palais Rohan from the Cathedral Tower

European Parliament

The canal lock on the Ill

Basel

We technically didn’t stay in Basel. After Strasbourg we drove 140km south to the Swiss city, but our campsite was in the French town of Huningue, a town in its own right and also the northern suburb of Basel. So, we camped in France beside the Rhine looking over to Weil am Rhine, the German town on the opposite side of the river which is also a suburb of Basel, a Swiss city. It was a win-win as French prices for camping are far less expensive than those in Switzerland.

Only a couple of minutes’ walk from the campsite was the Three Countries Bridge, a pedestrian and cycleway across the Rhine between France, Germany and Switzerland. Within a matter of minutes, we walked in three different countries, not something you can do in New Zealand.

Switzerland is not part of the EU but is part of the Schengen Visa-free area in Europe, so there’s no passport checks at the border but there are sporadic customs checks, and there is police presence on both sides of the border crossing. The Swiss go into Germany and France and take advantage of the much cheaper prices and then claim back their tax at the border. We didn’t know about this and were wondering why people were getting out of their cars at the border and going to a booth to fill out paperwork. Mr Love being the investigator he is rocked up to the Swiss border guard and quizzed him on what was happening. He was only too happy to explain. Like most of the people we have met, his opening sentence was “I don’t speak very much English”, before continuing in language perfectly to us. Later we read a bit more on this and apparently, it’s widely done but not openly spoken about, as you’re seen as not supporting Swiss businesses by shopping abroad.

Straddling the Rhine, Basel is a very picturesque city and is where a lot of the Rhine river cruises start or end. We recognised a few of the ships from when we were in Rudesheim. The Rhine is the reason the city exists, strategically placed to be a key trading centre over the centuries. The city has some beautiful historic buildings, the most striking being the deep red 500-year old Town Hall with its gilded spire. Although the history of the city is very evident, this is a very modern city, and the 25 cranes we counted from one viewpoint indicate it is transforming rapidly. As we cycled into town we passed the huge campus for the pharmaceutical giant Novartis which, along with a number of other big drug companies, are headquartered in Basel.

Switzerland is renowned for being expensive and our budget looked likely to be stretched, especially after investigating campsite prices. To counteract, we stocked up on food at the hypermarket on the border to make sure we could get through without having to do much shopping. After a relaxing few days in Basel and with the van laden with supplies we set off into Switzerland proper.

The flags flying on the Three Countries Bridge

Three Countries Bridge

Town Hall, Basel

Looking very European in Basel

Basel, Switzerland

Some of the many barges that transport goods up and down the Rhine

Basel, Switzerland

Bern

Bern was another last-minute decision. I admit, I haven’t done a lot of research into where we will go in Switzerland so our plans are a bit fluid. Having read that Bern, the Swiss capital, is consistently rated as one of the most liveable cities in the world we thought we’d like to see for ourselves. We quickly realised why.

Our campsite was beautiful, right on the Aare river and only a quick walk or bike into town. It was on the more expensive side, costing $62 NZD a night, but the excellent location and facilities made this more digestible. We were also given transport passes for our entire stay which meant free rides on all trams, cable cars and buses. This was great as it included the cable car to the top of the Gurten, Bern’s local mountain. At 860 metres the view from the top was fantastic and the free observation tower extended the view even further, right across to the snow-covered alps. The day we were up the Gurten was clear and crisp and many locals were out walking and picnicking. The recreational area at the top of the mountain is superb, with open grassed areas, gardens, walking paths, a miniature railway, and playground for kids.

The historic centre of Bern, called the Old City, is built on a hill surrounded by the river Aare. The grand Federal Palace that houses the Swiss government has prominent position overlooking the river. There are public areas all around the palace for people to sit and enjoy the surrounds, and no sign of any security. We stopped to play giant chess for a while in the sunshine. Mr Love won in record time.

The elegant Old City is home to Switzerland’s tallest cathedral as well as other churches, bridges and a large collection of Renaissance fountains. The medieval clock tower is a Bern landmark and, with what seems to be fast becoming a theme, we stopped to watch the astronomical clock strike midday, along with a small group of other tourists. Now well into autumn tourist numbers have dropped and we are enjoying sightseeing without the crowds.

The city of Bern has a close relationship with bears. There is a bear on the flag, bear emblems appear on buildings, and statues of bears are scattered around the city. Apparently, the legend is that the duke of the time decided that his new city be named after the first animal hunted there. It was a bear and the name Bern was given to the city. Bears have been kept in Bern since the 1500’s and are still a popular tourist attraction. We were a bit sceptical about a Bear Pit in the middle of a city, but were pleasantly surprised to see the three Bern bears living in a lovely enclosure on the river bank with lots of trees, logs, caves, and pools to swim in. They looked very relaxed and content. Everyone can visit the Bärengraben, or Bear Pit free of charge, it’s just part of the city.

Another part of the city that is for everyone’s enjoyment at no cost is the “urban swimming”, both in beautiful river Aare and the open air public pools next to it. The Aare is a glacial river that starts in the alps and flows very swiftly through the city. There are plenty of signs warning of the risks of changing water levels and hidden debris, however it is set up for swimming with handrails and steps dotted all along the riverbank. The first two days we were in Bern I watched people jumping in and floating down the fast-moving river. It looked like great fun, but the water was so very cold. One foot in the water was enough for Mr Love to decide he was not interested in this sport. But I was set on it, and on the last day the sun was shining and I finally decided to give it a go. Once down the river was not enough, I did it twice and loved it.

While Andrew was watching me swimming from the riverbank he got talking with some locals and was asked where we were heading next. Our idea of heading to Interlaken was met with screwed up noses and Andrew was advised to avoid this tourist trap and try Meiringen, a small town in the mountains, instead. We are always open to suggestions and eagerly take advice from locals, and our trip has been much more rewarding as a result, so we changed plans again and headed off to Meiringen.

Bern, Switzerland

Playing chess beside the Federal Palace, Bern

View from the Gurten, Bern

Enjoying a traditional Swiss rosti in the town square

Urban swimming in the river Aare, Bern

September 19, 2017May 27, 2018

Germany: Göttingen, Wahlrod & the Rhine Valley

After leaving Berlin we spent the next two weeks visiting family in Germany. My Aunt married a German doctor and has lived there all her married life, so naturally my cousins are German.

Our first stop was Gottingen to visit my cousin Ellen and her family.

Gottingen is a lively university town and was where Ellen and her partner Peter studied medicine and subsequently met. It’s about the size of Tauranga, but that’s where the similarities end. Like all historic European towns, it is built tightly around a centre with cobbled pedestrian streets and a town square, making walking and biking an easy option. And there certainly were a lot of bikes in Gottingen. They seem to be the main mode of transport and the city is very bike friendly to match. Ellen is lucky to be able to bike a short distance to her Dermatology practice each morning, dropping Johanna at school on the way. However, you do feel for the motorists at times, they must have their wits about them with bikes racing out in all directions.

Narrow streets and a lack of parking for a 7.45metre-long van meant we opted to stay at a campsite rather than with Ellen and Peter. We found a great one very close to the centre of town next to a swimming pool complex. It was an un-manned campsite. You buy your parking ticket from the machine and on the back of the ticket is the code for the toilets. The electricity connections are coin operated, costing 50 cents a kilowatt. There were showers available in the swimming pools, 1 euro for 35 minutes. It was an excellent facility and great value for money, no wonder it was full every night.

We timed our visit around Ellen’s day off from work so we could spend time with her and her two daughters. It was funny picking the girls up from school and kindergarten as they don’t speak English and my school girl German is now only good for hello, thank you and good bye. Helene loves horses so I showed her a picture of one of the racehorses on my phone and that broke the ice. Over the course of our visit our language barrier proved amusing. We went swimming and I was with Helene, the 4-year-old, who was enthusiastically telling me a story in German and all I could do was say “Ja” and smile, she kept repeating herself and laughing so my response must not have been the right one. At least she found my stupidity hysterical. Similarly, I was helping Johanna with her mermaid jigsaw puzzle while Ellen prepared dinner. Johanna stopped, looked at me and told me something very earnestly, I smiled and continued with the jigsaw, she tapped my arm and said it again, this time a bit firmer. Not getting the correct response from me she said it again. “Ellen, please can you translate? Johanna is trying to tell me something.” She had been telling me it was time stop doing the jigsaw and that we could continue after dinner. The kids had it sussed. At the dinner table Helene was listening intently as the adults spoke English, then she piped up and mimicked Andrew perfectly. She’s a natural.

Our three days in Gottingen were great and we were lucky to get some beautiful late summer weather which made it even better. Most of all, it was lovely to spend time with Ellen, Peter and their gorgeous girls in their hometown.

Gottingen

Some of the hundreds of bikes in Gottingen

Johanna and Helene taking a liking to campervan life

From Gottingen, we headed three hours southwest to the small village of Wahlrod to visit my Aunt and Uncle. Wahlrod is a village of around 850 people in the Westerwald district, an area with a lot of forest and farmland.

Margaret and George have a lovely home and it was a nice change to be out of the van and into a real house for a while. Our bedroom was twice the size of the van.

Our first tasks were domestic. We had a mound of washing to do and the van needed a good scrub inside and out. We took the opportunity to use local contacts and arranged for the van to be serviced, as after 7,500 miles it was recommended. Andrew also got to work around the house mowing the lawn and digging compost, but not without making the faux pas of mowing between 1pm & 3pm. Apparently in Germany you’re not supposed to mow the lawns between 1 & 3 daily, or at all on Sundays. This also includes other “work” like washing a campervan – luckily, we were told this in time.

Over the next 10 days we spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the rural setting. We biked and walked along the many pathways cutting over fields and through the small villages scattered across the countryside. The nearby forest was perfect for the occasional run, and we also biked through it to find some hidden lakes that Dad had told us about from their last visit to Wahlrod. Apple trees are in abundance in this part of the world, and they were all heavy with fruit. The two horses next to Margaret and George’s soon got to know me as the apple lady and came straight to the fence when they saw me.

Margaret works with refugees and as she was taking an Afghan woman to Trier for her asylum hearing she offered to take us too. We jumped at the chance. Trier is 2 hours southwest of Wahlrod near the border with Luxembourg and in the beautiful Moselle wine region. Founded in the 4^th century BC and taken over by the Romans in the 1^st century AD, it is perhaps the oldest city in Germany. Margaret dropped us in the city centre and we had the morning to explore. It was a freezing cold morning so the first half-hour was spent in a café trying to keep warm. Being as old as it is, it is not surprising that Trier has some very interesting historic buildings. We were particularly interested in visiting those from the Roman times. The Porta Nigra was first on the list. Made of huge stone blocks, this Roman gate dates back to 160 – 200 AD and was built as part of the city wall. The name Porta Nigra, “Black Gate”, came from the colouration caused by a type of moss that covered the stone. We climbed to the top for a view of central Trier down to the market square.

The impressive Trier Cathedral is the oldest in Germany and stands above a former palace from the era of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The first buildings were built in 270 AD and in the 4^th century the palace was supplanted by the largest Christian church complex from ancient times. We visited while a church service was taking place and still being so cold outside, sat for a while listening to the singing. The large area the cathedral covers, including the square outside and the adjoining Church of our Lady, is a listed UNESCO world heritage site.

Also built during the reign of Constantine was the Basilica of Constantine, the largest surviving single-room building from Roman times. This cavernous structure was built to express the might and magnificence of the emperor. Now a protestant church the interior has been renovated in understated modern style that doesn’t seem to do justice to the age of the building, but does emphasise the size.

I was most excited about the 2^nd century Roman Amphitheatre which lies outside the city walls and is surrounded by slopes covered in grapes. There were only a couple of other tourists there so we had the run of the place. It’s in excellent condition and is these days used for concerts and events. Underneath the arena is the area where the gladiators would have prepared to face the wild animals released above. Walking up the stairs into the sunlight we imagined the lions waiting and the crowds cheering. They were ruthless times.

After a morning of Roman history Margaret drove us back to Wahlrod taking the scenic route along the Moselle river. We’d never seen so many grapes, and all growing on such steep banks. The vineyard workers must have rock-hard thighs working on those hills. Margaret took us to a wine stall selling the famous Kröver Nacktarsch (“naked arse”) wine. The label shows a cellarman with a boy over his knee, trousers down and smacking the boy’s bare bottom. She explained the story behind it was that a cellarman had caught boys siphoning off his wine and had punished them accordingly. It is now a famous brand in Germany, and although probably not politically correct in this day and age, sure gets a giggle. It tasted great too!

Trier Cathedral

Porta Nigra

Trier from the Porta Nigra

Roman Amphitheatre, Trier

Moselle River with Vineyards

Margaret was an excellent tour guide and took time to show us around their area. We visited the nearby Marienstatt Cistercian Monastery where we were lucky enough to hear the monks singing in the Gothic church, not before being told to “shush” for talking too loudly. The monastery has been there since 1220 and aside from the church there is a very good school on the grounds, beautiful gardens, and a brewery and restaurant where the monks still brew beer. After a walk in the forest that almost ended in us all lost, we headed to Hachenburg for Margaret’s guided walking tour. Hachenburg is the nearest main town to Wahlrod with a population of approx. 6,000. It’s been in existence since the 1200’s and the historic centre is beautiful with lots of well looked after old buildings, some dating back to the 1500’s. The town’s landmark, Hachenburg castle sits on the highest point overlooking the town. It’s more of a baroque-style palace than a castle, and its yellow exterior can be seen from miles around.

Margaret showed us an initiative that has been adopted in towns around Germany where bronze plaques are placed in the footpaths outside the former homes of Jews who were murdered by the Nazis, to remember and acknowledge what happened to them. The small town of Hachenburg has many.

Another day trip was down to Marksburg Castle perched high above the cute village of Braubach on the Rhine. It is the only hilltop castle on the Rhine never to have been destroyed, which is an impressive claim considering there is a castle found every 2.5 kilometres along the 65km section of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. I can never get enough of castles and this medieval castle is particularly beautiful, straight from a fairy-tale. After a very interesting tour through the castle by an overly enthusiastic guide we headed to the city of Koblenz.

Koblenz is situated where the slow-moving Moselle River meets the more rapid Rhine. Deutsches Eck (German Corner) is the name for the point where the two rivers meet and a huge statue of William I, the first German Emperor, on his horse, dominates the area. The national flag and flags of the 16 German states fly along each side of the corner symbolising unity. We couldn’t get too close to the actual “corner” as it was closed off for a rock concert.

Koblenz was bustling with tourists, with boat cruises coming and going and tour buses lined up along the waterfront. We took the cable car across the Rhine and up to the expansive Ehrenbreitstein Fortress overlooking the city. This fortress has a long history, with fortifications of some form being on this site since the 10^th century BC. Unfortunately, the displays in the fortress were all in German, but the view was outstanding.

Roman bridge at Marienstatt Monastery

Margaret & Louise in Hachenburg

Plaques on the pavement in Hachenburg remembering a Jewish family killed by the Nazis

Marksburg Castle

View over the Rhine from Marksburg Castle

View of Koblenz and Deutsches Eck from Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Food featured highly during our stay. Margaret is a great cook and was kind enough to create some authentic German dishes for us to make sure we sampled local fare. The Germans do great sausages and the cheese is divine. On one occasion, we went to the local hall for a community get together and the tables were laden with the most amazing cakes, all handmade by the women in the village. Germans do great cakes. It wasn’t just German cuisine we experienced. We were invited for lunch by one of the Syrian refugee families that Margaret works with. They were great hosts and put on a huge spread for us. Lucky we’re doing lots of walking to compensate.

Andrew was fascinated by the recycling machines they have in supermarkets and George was only too happy to show him how they work. You feed plastic and beer bottles into the machine which reads the barcode and calculates the refund, and at the end you receive a voucher for the total refund amount that you redeem in the supermarket. We got 4 Euro off our shopping! He loved the machine so much he wanted to drink more beer to have bottles to feed it – well that was the excuse.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Wahlrod and were very grateful to be shown around and hosted so generously. It makes such a difference getting a local perspective rather than just being a tourist. However, the road was calling so we said our good-byes and headed up the Rhine.

Lunch with a Syrian family

The recycling machine

Our hosts Margaret & George Haas

On the road again!

Being back in the van was a bit strange after 12 nights in a house but we soon got back into the swing of things.

We made our way along the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the 65-km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen listed as a World Heritage site. It’s a very beautiful part of the world with grapes growing in vast quantities on the steep slopes and castles scattered along the hilltops overlooking the river. There are no bridges across the Rhine in this protected area, so if you want to cross you take one of the many car ferries that operate from various locations along the river. We did just that with Margaret after visiting Marksburg Castle, but stuck to the one side when in the van.

Our destination was Rudesheim at the furthest most point of this World Heritage listed stretch, on the opposite side of the river from Bingen. We stayed for 3 nights and despite uncooperative weather had a fabulous time. It’s a very touristy town, all the river cruises stop here and the place was buzzing. We started our stay with a wine tasting of local wines and ended up buying a couple of bottles of stunning red wine from grapes grown across the river.

There are bike paths all along the Rhine and we spent a day biking from village to village and admiring more of those lovely castles. The next day we left our bikes behind and went on foot. On the hill overlooking Rudesheim is a huge statue of Germania looking over the Rhine towards France. This is the Niederwalddenkmal monument and was built in the 1870’s to commemorate the foundation of the German Empire following the Franco-Prussian War. A cable car runs from the town up to the monument and we were lucky to get a break in the weather when we rode it, although the wind was icy cold. The ride takes you high above the vineyards and gives a spectacular view up the Rhine. From the top the view is even better, and after admiring it for a while we walked a few kilometres through the leafy forests of Niederwald park, along the hilltop to a chair-lift that took us down into Assmannshausen, a small wine-making village. We had lunch at a cute little inn and then took a boat back along the Rhine to Bingen, then back across the river to Rudesheim.

And so, after three weeks in Germany we are off towards Switzerland, via Strasbourg in France. We haven’t seen the last of Germany. We plan to be back in June or July next year as we make our way to the UK near the end of our European adventure.

Gondola from Rudesheim up to the Niederwalddenkmal monument

More grapes! Overlooking the Rhine

Niederwalddenkmal monument of Germania

Chairlift down to Assmannshausen

Assmannshausen winery

Castle on the Rhine

September 11, 2017May 27, 2018

Berlin

The first obvious difference from the countries we’ve come from is that Germany has great roads. What a welcome relief to be driving on a smooth surface! We put the campervan through her paces and zoomed up the Autobahn past Dresden to Berlin.

I have spent a couple of days in Berlin before, but like Prague it is one of the few cities that Mr Love has not visited in Europe. It’s quite nice having one up on someone so well-travelled.

Berlin is the biggest we’ve attempted to drive into on the trip so far, and although it’s not difficult, it does take a bit of concentration driving a 7.45 metre van through crowded and strange streets. We made our way through the urban sprawl of Germany’s largest city to the only centrally located campsite we could find, located only 4 kilometres from Alexanderplatz.

We arrived late afternoon to be greeted by a very officious camp attendant who couldn’t find my name on the list of bookings, but assured me he would have a place for us. Unlike most campgrounds we weren’t allowed to make our own way to our designated site, but had to follow our host who proceeded to direct Andrew into the parking space. It was hilarious. Andrew wasn’t following his instructions precisely so was shouted at. “Straight! Straight! Straight! I don’t even speak English and I know vhat Straight means. Vhat is wrong with him?”. Andrew wasn’t amused, I was in fits of giggles. Eventually the dumb Kiwi got the van into the exact position required and order was restored. It was the only site we’d been to where the power box was unlocked by the host and once our power cord was plugged in, locked again. This proved a problem when the power kept tripping out and we couldn’t flick the fuse ourselves, instead having to go and find the camp commander for assistance. However, we couldn’t fault the location, the service was efficient and the facilities were clean, so we were happy campers.

That evening we went for a long walk through the colourful, predominantly Turkish neighbourhood, and up the hill in Volkspark Humboldthain to the Humboldthain Flak Tower, with great views across the city. This massive high-rise bunker was used as an air defence post during WWII and now, as part of the park, it serves as a recreational facility. Lots of people were sitting around enjoying the warm summer evening.

The next morning we biked into the city, stopping on the way to walk through the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse. This street was where the famous photos were taken of people dangling from windows as they dropped into sheets held by firefighters on the West side, desperate to escape from East to West after the wall was erected overnight in 1961. The open-air memorial stretches 1.4 kilometres along the former border strip, with pictures and information, both audio and written, on pillars along the way. There is also a memorial to the people who were shot or died on the Berlin Wall. Although some parts of the original wall remain a lot of it has gone and is instead represented by symbolic rust-coloured iron rods. It’s very well done and we visited different parts of the memorial over the weekend, trying to get our heads around how it was for a city to be physically and ideologically divided for so many years.

We spent our first day exploring on foot. Walking through Hackescher Market to Alexanderplatz and past the 368-metre tall Fernsehturm, a television tower constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the East German government. I’d been up this before and Andrew wasn’t fussed on the queues, so we admired it from the ground. It was a very useful navigation tool throughout our stay. From Alexanderplatz we wandered down to the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom), not before being approached by a group of women trying to get me to sign a petition for the deaf. I said I wouldn’t sign anything I didn’t know about and then saw they were asking for pledges too. Suspicious I said no, only to see Police signs warning tourists to avoid these tricksters, as they pickpocket you while you’re signing the petition.

Like many buildings in Berlin the Cathedral was severely damaged in World War II and its restoration was only finished in 1993. It’s wonderful that these buildings have been restored, keeping the character of the old city and ensuring history lives on. After visiting the Cathedral, we walked around Museum Island. This UNESCO World Heritage site is made up of five world-renowned museums and for history and culture lovers means days, even weeks, of entertainment. We didn’t visit any on this occasion, I had previously and Mr Love only has a certain tolerance for museums so I must pick and choose for him carefully, and I had two instore for later in the day that I didn’t want him to miss.

We wandered down towards the Brandenburg Gate, stopping for a photo with one of the many colourful Berlin Bears scattered around the city, and then to ogle the classic beauties on display at the Mercedes-Benz Gallery, before stumbling upon the Forum Willy Brandt Berlin where an exhibition about Willy Brandt and the political developments in 20th century Europe was on display. Mr Love was only too happy to go into this “museum” to find out more about the life of this influential German leader. That’s three museums already if you count the Wall Memorial, and I haven’t even taken him to the ones I want to show him.

We finally made it to the Brandenburg Gate, crowded with tourists happily taking selfies. The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark in Berlin. Since 1791 this imposing gate has witnessed some of the world’s most historic moments: The Nazis marching through the gate en masse to celebrate Hitler seizing power; images of a divided Germany with the wall running right behind it and the area around the gate being patrolled by armed guards; Reagan’s famous speech demanding “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” It was from here where images of the people of Berlin celebrating the fall of the wall were beamed around the globe. It’s still used as place for protests and for gatherings to show solidarity and support for causes, along with being the place Berliners come together to see in the New Year.

After asking a fellow tourist to take a picture of us in front of the gate we went through its arches and walked the short distance to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Often called the Holocaust Memorial this tribute to the nearly six million murdered Jews was opened in 2005, not without controversy. Love it or hate it, this large outdoor memorial, made up of 2,711 grey concrete slabs covering 4.7 acres, makes a powerful statement. The concrete slabs start off small and as the narrow paths draw you in, the taller the slabs become. Soon they tower above you and you can no longer see where it starts and finishes. Deep inside the maze the grey slabs cast an unusual light, muted and strangely unsettling.

Underneath the memorial is the information centre where names of over 3 million murdered Jews line the walls along with biographies, letters, and glimpses into the individuals that made up the masses who had their lives brutally cut short.

From here we wandered towards our next “museum”, the Topography of Terror. On the way, we past the place where Hitler’s bunker was during the war and where he spent his final days before ending it all on July 30, 1945.

The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum, set against an 80-metre long section of the Berlin Wall still in its original state, and tells of Berlin’s tumultuous time during the 20^th Century. The display takes you through the events that led to the Nazis gaining power in Germany and the years under their rule, the Holocaust, and the era of Berlin Wall. It’s well put together, easy to follow, without too much reading, which is often difficult when there are crowds of people. Berlin’s is a compelling story and you need to understand it to truly appreciate this city.

Our next stop was Checkpoint Charlie. This was the most famous crossing point from East to West Berlin and being in the American sector it came to symbolise the Cold War. The original barrier arm, checkpoint booth, sandbags and flag all remain – now in the middle of a busy street. It’s one of the more popular, and gimmicky, tourist destinations in Berlin with people flocking to get their photo taken with the “American soldiers” who stand there smiling all day.

It had been a big day and we were exhausted. We’d covered a lot of ground and taken a lot in. It was time to head back to our bikes. And by my count we had visited a total of 5 museums, not bad Mr Love!

Our campsite

The Wall Memorial, Berlin

The Wall Memorial

Berlin Cathedral with the Fernsehturm behind

A Berlin Bear!

Brandenburg Gate

Looking over the Holocaust Memorial

Topography of Terror

Checkpoint Charlie

The next day we biked everywhere. First it was back into the city centre, down the Unter den Linden, through the Brandenburg Gate to our first stop, the Reichstag. This must be one of the more imposing parliament buildings we’ve seen. Built in 1894 it was badly burned in 1933 and was then left unused after WWII, and finally after restoration became home to the reunited German Parliament in 1999. Next to it is the sleekly modern German Chancellery which houses the government.

From here we biked along the Spree River to Charlottenburg Palace. Set in parklike surrounds, this elegant and serene royal residence is far removed from modern, bustling Berlin. We were taken back to a time of opulence and grandeur, long before the turmoil of recent history. Charlottenburg is the largest palace in Berlin and was named after Sophie Charlotte, the first Queen consort in Prussia. She was very artistic and musical and loved the tranquillity of this summer residence, so when she died at the tender age of 36 they named the palace and surrounding area after her. The Palace, like most buildings in Berlin, was severely damaged in WWII and has been restored. I love visiting palaces, what girl doesn’t. And although this one was lovely, the grounds were somewhat overgrown and untidy, and parts fenced off and boarded up. It wasn’t nearly as magnificent as others we’d visited.

On the way back towards the city we stopped at the Victory Column. Rising high above the Tiergarten from the middle of a roundabout this 67-metre-high symbol of Prussian victory is topped with the gilded statue of the goddess of victory. To go to the top only costs 4 euros and provides a stunning view across the Tiergarten and through to the city centre. It was a beautiful late summer day and the city was glistening in the sunshine.

Our bike tour continued through the Tiergarten, a 520-acre green oasis in the centre of Berlin, to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Situated in what was West Berlin this church was almost destroyed in a British bombing raid, but instead of being restored or knocked down, it has been left as a reminder of the horrors of war – the jagged turret a gaping wound.

All day we’d been carrying stale bread with us waiting to find some birds to feed. There are not many birds in Berlin, well not where we were. Back to the Tiergarten intent on finding some kind of birdlife we eventually found some ducks. Everyone must do the same as these ducks had a very nonchalant attitude to our enthusiastic offerings.

To finish the day, we decided to bike along some of the route of the Berlin Wall and wind our way back to the campsite. Marking the Wall’s route through the city centre is a double row of cobblestones that weaves across streets and along pavements, sporadically interrupted by copper plates with the inscription “Berliner Mauer 1961 – 1989″. It’s a way of keeping the memory alive, ensuring the wall that divided a city, separated families and friends, and perpetuated hate and division, is not forgotten by future generations.

Our Berlin adventure had come to an end. It was time to leave this wonderfully colourful and bustling city, whose story opened our eyes and truly touched us. It’ll be the last big city we visit for a while as we’re off into regional Germany, first to visit my cousin and her family in the small city of Gottingen, and then to my Aunty and Uncle in Wahlrod, a small village in the west of the country. After that we’ll be making our way up the Rhine and into Switzerland.

Reichstag

Charlottenburg Palace

September 7, 2017May 27, 2018

3 Months on the Road: A Summary

Mr Love has a lot to say about what I should include in the travel updates I write, mostly about what things cost. As he’s the one who is keeping track of what we spend I thought it only fair to handover the responsibility of writing the monthly summaries to him. So here you go, the first of Love’s Bits & Budgets:

In 1957 one of the most famous travel books hit the shelves. Yes, 60 years ago this year American Arthur Frommer produced his first edition of “Europe on $5 a day”. The series continued until 2007 when the title became “Europe on $95 a day”.
When we first decided to take on this adventure we had no idea what it would cost. I mean how much does one spend a day at home? Food, drink, petrol, phone, heating, rates etc., and seeing as we were making the campervan our home we needed something to work to.

When Arthur Frommer wrote his first book he literally flew to Europe, went to 15 cities, and ran from hotel to hotel and restaurant to restaurant to draw the comparisons and costs for his book. As an aside the first edition consisted of 5000 copies and sold out in days. In 1957 one US Dollar was equal to 4.2 Deutschmarks, of course today it’s all Euro but drawing the comparisons today a US dollar would buy you 1.5 Deutschmarks – three times less. To that end Europe on $5 a day would now be somewhere between Europe on $100 and Europe on $400 a day. A big variation I know, but given costs and exchange rates that’s what we had to work with.

So, using some of Frommer’s writings and other blogs as a guide, we worked out you should be able to live on $150 a day for two people without too much trouble. As Louise has written previously, the Scandinavian countries were expensive, but in the last month prices have dropped significantly and we can now proudly say we are NZ$667 under budget after 3 months. I would point out we have a couple of meals out each week, trying the local food, and we also have 2-3 lunches out a week. We have visited sight-seeing attractions we wanted to, and have not ever said “we can’t afford it”. We are here to experience Europe, but there are always good ways of making savings.

Back in Norway I was speaking to a middle-aged Norwegian guy in a camp site. He said the diesel and petrol prices can vary enormously from day to day, even hour to hour (they are all electronically controlled by the oil company), so if you see it cheap buy it, even if the tank is only half empty. To illustrate that, here in Germany the prices at the pump can change up to 5 times a day. We are currently staying with Louise’s aunty and uncle in a small village called Wahlrod. Uncle George supported what the guy in Norway said so I have been watching the fuel price at the petrol stations in the village, and the prices vary unbelievably. Last Monday morning diesel was 1.24 Euro a litre yet the day before I saw it at 1.07 euro. 17 cents different, and if you were to fill up with 50-60 litres once a week for a year, you would save nearly NZ$1000 buying at that cheaper price. That’s a big saving, and if you like a beer that $1000 NZD would buy you around 2000 x 500ml bottles in Czech Republic.

Did I say beer? Well, I might keep that for the next blog, but to whet your appetite the price of beer in supermarkets in the Czech Republic was ridiculous and it’s also cheap here in Germany, but as I said I have another chance to have my say next month and we will talk wine and beer.

I must also mention we received our toll bill for Norway and it was a very modest NZ$85. I say modest because if the Norwegian’s hadn’t built all those tunnels we spoke about, the time spent travelling between places, along with the huge extra mileage and diesel costs, and the potential ferry bills, may well have added an extra NZ$850 plus to the bill. We happily paid the road toll bill.

P1000894 — Thanks Norway – We loved your tunnels!

My final comment comes from Arthur Frommer, who is now 87 and continues to travel regularly. He rates Paris as his most favourite city to visit but is surprised that American tourist numbers are down by 30% year on year. Why? Terrorism. Yes, the threat of terrorism in Paris is keeping the American tourists away. And what is his answer to that? He says, “I will not let some deranged terrorist decide where I should and should not go”. Great words that many of us adhere to.

Here are the stats for month three. You might note that we did basically the same mileage in July and August but the diesel costs were $240 less. That’s because diesel in places like Lithuania and Poland were up to 50 cents a litre less than Sweden and Norway.

Cheers & beers, Andrew.

September 3, 2017May 27, 2018

Love in Bohemia

Last year the Czech Republic urged the English-speaking world to call it Czechia, the English translation of Česko, which is the Czech word for their country. It may take some time to catch on with the wider populous, but I am determined to do right by this great little country, especially throughout this blog. We’ll put aside the fact that Mr Love seemed stuck in the cold war era and kept calling it Czechoslovakia.

Each country in Europe has slightly different road rules so it’s important to make sure you know what they are before you head across a border. We use the RAC website, which has everything you need to know about driving in each European country. My job is to check the website and make sure we’re both across the rules before we enter a new country. Czechia is one of those countries with an anomaly, a motorway tax that you need to pay on entry by buying a windscreen sticker from a service station. The sticker for 10 days cost $15NZD. Being a stickler for the rules and not wanting to fall foul of Czech law I urged Mr Love to pull into the first service station we came across so we weren’t driving too long without our sticker.

Once compliant we headed on to Brno, the second largest city in Czechia and capital of the Moravia region. In the searches we’d done for campsites we couldn’t find any near the city centre, so settled on a place 23 kilometres out of town by a river, with a ferry stop right next to it. I’d received a very cheery email when I’d reserved a spot, saying we’d be most heartily welcome. This was our first experience in what would be consistent throughout our week in Czechia, the Czechs are super friendly and hospitable! Hana Camping wasn’t flash, a grassy paddock with trees, but it was clean and functional, and the host was lovely, even offering to lend us cash for the ferry to town because we hadn’t yet exchanged our euros for korunas.

The river we were camped beside feeds into Brno Lake, a man-made hydro dam on the edge of the city. The ferry service operates regularly over the summer with boats every 45 minutes. Our stop was the last one up the river so we got to enjoy the full journey. We were surprised by the size of the boats operating on the route, they were double-decked and could carry at least a hundred passengers. The boat trip took an hour and we passed by wetlands filled with birdlife, through woodlands, past the impressive Veveri Castle overlooking the river, and through to the lake with architecturally designed homes nestled amongst the trees, alongside swimming beaches and parks. There are worse ways to travel into a city.

Our campground host had given us instructions on where to catch the tram to the city centre but we must have looked confused as an old gent asked us if we needed help, in Czech. We pointed to the tram sign and said Brno, which was enough to let him know what we wanted. He indicated for us to follow him and we walked up the road together. When we got to the tram track he merrily pointed to the side we needed to be on and bade us farewell. It is amazing how much communication is done without speaking.

Brno is a vibrant university town and we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in the centre. Our first stop was Spilberk Castle sitting on a hill at the edge of the historic centre, from there it was across to the nearby Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. Climbing the cathedral tower provided a great view across the town and back towards the castle. These two landmarks create the characteristic skyline of the city. We then descended into the historic town centre, past the town hall and its famous intricately carved gothic portal with the crooked turret. The story is that the carver wasn’t paid, so made the middle turret crooked in spite.

Underneath St James’ Church is the Brno Ossuary, Europe’s second largest after the famous Catacombs of Paris. Built sometime in the 17^th century it wasn’t discovered until 2001. The Ossuary houses the bones of over 50,000 people who died during the Swedish siege of Brno and the cholera and plague epidemics. It’s a surreal place to visit. Thousands of bones stacked neatly in formation in the three burial chambers, lit only by candlelight, and with the music of the famous Brno composer Leos Janacek playing in the background, the ambience was calm.

The historic centre doesn’t take long to explore, allowing for a slower pace and time to soak up the atmosphere of the town. After a few hours, we took the tram back to the lake and decided to try some traditional Czech food at one of the lakeside restaurants before catching the last ferry back to camp.

On the ferry to Brno

The ferry to Brno

Veveri Castle

View across to Spilberk Castle

View across Brno

Brno historic centre

Town Hall with the carved gothic portal with the crooked turret

Brno Ossuary

Prague was our next destination. I had visited Prague in 2010 but Andrew had never been. We arrived late in the afternoon to our inner-city campsite. I’m now getting used to the different facial expressions when we arrive at a campsite, here it was the raised eyebrow look of scepticism. It was basically an unused block of land with a rundown building from the communist era in the middle, that is used as a backpacker’s hostel, and a makeshift structure housing the bathrooms and kitchen, and an outdoor bar area. I suggested that we could go to another campground further out of town if he wasn’t happy, but he agreed that location was more important and we set up camp. Mr Love’s mood lifted somewhat when he realised a pint of beer at the campsite bar cost $2.20 NZD. Beer in Czechia is cheap.

Prague is a beautiful city and must be on the travel list of almost everyone on the planet. The city was teeming with tourists enjoying the lovely late summer weather. We spent the first day on the west side of the Vltava River, climbing the steep path to Saint Wenceslas Vineyard, the oldest vineyard in Czechia, and through to magnificent Prague Castle. Within the castle walls is a vast complex of buildings that includes St. Vitus Cathedral, the Romanesque Basilica of St. George, the Renaissance Archbishop’s Palace, a monastery, defense towers, and many other buildings that you can spend hours exploring. Because it is spread over such a large area it didn’t seem crowded and we spent a relaxing morning wandering around this iconic landmark.

Already having climbed the hill we walked through the cobbled streets to the beautiful park on neighbouring Petrin Hill. Petrin Observation Tower is a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower and was built in 1891. It’s only 60 metres tall but as it’s on the summit of Petrin Hill, which is 318 metres high, it seems a lot taller. I managed to persuade Mr Love to accompany me up this tower and we climbed the 299 steps to experience a stunning view over Prague.

Mid-afternoon we wound our way down the steep streets to the river and the famous Charles Bridge. Everyone was on the bridge! We jostled through the crowds and tried to enjoy the historic beauty of this popular pedestrian bridge with its towers at each end and lined by blackened baroque statues. We joined the rest of the tourists and touched the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, a Czech martyr saint who was executed during the reign of Wenceslas IV by being thrown from the bridge. The plaque on the statue has been polished to a shine by countless people having touched it over the centuries. Touching the statue is supposed to bring good luck and ensure your return to Prague, although we’re not sure on the latter.

From Charles Bridge, we walked through the crowded narrow lanes of the Old Town to see the elegant Church of Our Lady before Tyn. The distinctive gothic towers with spires capped in gilded balls is an instantly recognisable image. Not far from the church on the Old Town Square is the Astronomical Clock. Every hour for over 605 years this incredible clock has put on a fascinating mechanical display that transfixes those who watch it. We got there just before 4pm and the crowd was huge so we didn’t have the best view, however, the next day we were there in plenty of time and saw it in all its glory – the procession of the 12 Apostles past the clock windows, the moving statues, and the gilded clock face with its astronomical dial, and of course the chimes marking the hour.

In Czechia, they have a long history of winemaking and we found a boutique wine shop selling only local wine. After a tasting, we bought a few bottles of red and some fresh young “wine”, or Burcak, which is a Czech speciality made from partially fermented grape juice. The murky, green-coloured Burcak must be drunk fresh and chilled, and was a very nice way to cap off a busy day sight-seeing in Prague.

The next day we explored the central city, Wenceslas Square, more of the Old Town and finally the historical Jewish Quarter.

Near Wenceslas Square a group were fundraising for mental health by selling bricks to paint and add to a temporary wall. Lots of the bricks bore flags and emblems from countries all over the world so we thought we’d better represent NZ and paint our own brick. The great thing about this fundraiser is that the bricks aren’t just a symbol, after the campaign is finished they are taken away to be used to build houses for those with mental disabilities. Our brick wasn’t a masterpiece but we had a lot of fun painting it.

It was good to visit Prague again, it’s graceful charm makes it one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. However, we were overwhelmed by how crowded with tourists it was, and it made us realise how much we enjoy visiting places off the main tourist routes. Perhaps as we move out of peak season the crowds may start to shrink.

Saint Wenceslas Vineyard

St. Vitus Cathedral

View from Petrin Tower

Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

The next day we headed for Karlovy Vary in the west of Czechia. Karlovy Vary was previously known as Carlsbad and is a spa town nestled in the mountains. When we decided to visit Karlovy Vary we thought that being a spa town famous for its restorative thermal mineral water, we must have a spa. We looked online and found one that was authentically Czech, had great reviews, and like a bit of us, so had booked in advance.

We arrived in Karlovy Vary and found the camping ground near town no longer existed, so we did some quick research and drove 6 kilometres into the mountains to the next nearest. It was a resort hotel on the mountain top which also had cabins and a few sites for campervans. Far below was Karlovy Vary. Had we not already booked our spa then we may not have stayed as it seemed a very long way to town on foot, and biking down the steep mountain paths was not an option. It was almost in the too-hard basket until we were reassured by the friendly and welcoming Czech woman at the resort, who told us it would take only an hour to walk through the forest, and that it was a beautiful walk and well worth it. We were convinced, and after lunch headed down the mountain.

At the end of our walk the forest gave way to buildings and slowly the most beautiful and elegant town appeared before us. Karlovy Vary was established in the 16^th century but most of the buildings are from the 18^th and 19^th centuries when the town experienced its golden age. Arched footbridges cross the river running through the centre of town and the famous colonnades gracefully line the streets. Mozart and Beethoven were among the rich and famous who came here to bathe in the curative mineral pools. The hot water springs are accessible for all, bubbling from fountains in the colonnades, and a geyser spurts out of a pool in the middle of a cobbled square. The Neo-Renaissance Mill Colonnade, with its 124 Corinthian columns, has five mineral springs, and many people were gathered, sipping the hot mineral water from porcelain jugs sold at stalls along the streets, all hoping the bitter mineral water will bring good health. Apparently, the water is especially good for gastric ailments.

If the mineral fountain isn’t enough, there are many wellness centres that offer treatments and therapies of all types. As tempting as a gastric purification procedure was, we had something much more fun instore, a traditional Beer Spa.

We were lead down into the dimly lit brick and cedar cellar, where a fire was going and our wooden bath tub was waiting. Our host enthusiastically showed us the ingredients before she added them to the mineral water – brewer’s yeast, a selected variety of local organic hops, malt, and a good dose of beer. It smelled amazingly good, not at all like you’d expect. Once the ingredients were mixed in she left us to it and we sunk into the bubbly warmth. Did I mention there were beer taps beside the bath? Yes, we could pour our own pint while soaking in hot, beery-goodness. An hour later we emerged; relaxed and rejuvenated, and only a tiny bit tipsy. This was definitely an experience we won’t forget.

The next day we left Karlovy Vary and headed up through the mountains, past ski fields, and across the border to Germany, towards our next destination – Berlin.

View over Karlovy Vary from campsite

Geyser

Mill Colonnade

Spring

Market Colonnade

August 21, 2017May 27, 2018

Two Weeks in Poland

Travelling with no set timeline means your plans can be fluid. Our original plans for Poland changed a bit along the way, all for the best mind you, and we spent two incredible weeks exploring some of this surprisingly varied country.

Our first major destination was to be Gdansk. Being a 7-hour drive from our last stop in Lithuania we decided to break the journey into two days, and overnight somewhere in Poland on the way. Driving through rural Poland as the day wore on we started to think finding a campsite was not that likely. All the villages we passed through were no more than a couple of houses and some barns. Then we stumbled upon Mikolajki. This picturesque lakeside town thronged with holiday makers. It looked like the perfect place to stop. We found a lovely campsite in town and had our first change of plans. This wouldn’t be a one-night stopover, we’d stay a couple of days.

Mikolajki is the tourist hub of the Masurian lake district and is known as the Pearl of the Masuria. Numerous sailing regattas are held here and the town is packed with sailing enthusiasts over the summertime. Despite being very touristy, with loads of bars, eateries, and market stalls selling hats and sunglasses, it is still a charming little town with loads of character. It reminded us of Queenstown, but with a lot more sailing boats.

We spent two days here relaxing and enjoying the bustling atmosphere of the town, before hitting the road again and heading to Gdansk.

Mikolajki

Gdansk

Our first impression of Gdansk wasn’t great. We got off the motorway straight into an industrial area with oil refineries and factories, then drove past the expansive port with container cranes as far as you can see. To top it off, when we arrived at the campsite it looked like an abandoned section, overgrown and rubbish bins overflowing. It was another one of these pop-up campgrounds for the summer season, this time attached to a Polytechnic. The showers in the gymnasium were excellent, but they were a 100metre walk from the campsite. However, at $18 a night and so close to town we decided to make do. To our relief the next morning the rubbish was collected and suddenly it didn’t seem so bad. Although it could use some quality time with a weed-eater.

Trying not to pre-judge on our first impressions we jumped on the bikes and headed to town. We were immediately smitten by this beautiful city. It was a stunning evening and the town was buzzing with activity. The 757^th St. Dominic’s Fair was in full swing and the streets were lined with market stalls selling all sorts of arts and crafts, jewellery, bread, and an incredible amount Halva, a traditional sweet made from sesame paste. We couldn’t resist and had to try some. It’s an interesting texture, very rich and sticky, but not that sweet. The jury is out on that one. St. Dominic’s Fair, or Jarmark Dominika or simply Jarmark as its referred to in Polish, runs for three weeks and is hugely popular. Our timing to visit Gdansk couldn’t have been more perfect as it really did add colour and excitement to the city.

Gdansk has a beautiful mix of architecture brought from across Europe by merchants trading through this port city over the centuries. Many of the buildings were badly damaged in WWII but they have been lovingly restored to their former glory, resplendent in pinks, oranges, greens and blues. The pedestrian only Ulica Dluga (long street) and Dlugi Targ (long market) are lined with these wonderful buildings, as is the wide Motlawa Canal that runs through the city. The view from the Town Hall Spire down to the Golden Gate and back across the Dlugi Targ was wonderful, and a great way to appreciate the architecture of this gem of a city.

The Polish love potatoes a lot. In fact, eastern Europe loves potatoes. They are everywhere and in everything. We ate out at a very cool contemporary café that only served dishes with potatoes as the core ingredient. We both had a potato casserole of different varieties and agreed it was the most divine comfort food we’d tasted, and cost only $9 NZD each.

Gdansk is a port city and the shipyards here were a hotbed of uprisings and resistance to communism during the 70’s and 80’s. In the early 80’s the industrial action at the shipyards calling for better human rights eventually lead to the fall of communism in Poland. The former Lenin shipyard has now been transformed into the European Solidarity Centre, a large imposing building that has been renovated into a modern airy space housing a library, convention centre and museum. Outside the museum stands the 42-metre-high Solidarity Monument with 3 concrete crosses and ship anchors, in memory of the 42 dockworkers who were shot during the 1970 strike.

The museum tells the story of the shipyard workers and their fight for freedom from oppression, and eventually the downfall of communism. The exhibition is modern, creative and compelling and we both agreed it is best museum we ever visited. The old ABM (another bloody museum) adage was redundant in this case. We were moved by the strength and bravery shown by those in the Solidarność (solidarity) movement, who peacefully waged a campaign of resistance against the communist regime. At the end of the exhibition was a wall made up of white and red pieces of paper spelling Solidarność. On each piece of paper was a note from a visitor to the museum, expressing their feelings and thoughts on what they’d seen. We left our note with the thousands of others.

Three days in Gdansk was long enough to see the sights, but we could have stayed much longer. We fell hard for the charms of this graceful city.

Warsaw

From Gdansk, we made the very slow trip to Warsaw. The Polish seem to be investing a lot in new motorways, but they don’t do it stage by stage, they do the entire road at once which meant long stretches of roadworks at 30km per hour. After a full day travelling we arrived in the capital, home to 1.7 million people. It was one of the hottest days they’d had and at 5pm it was still 30 degrees.

Our campsite was about 5km from the city centre and right on a bus route so the next morning we decided to leave the bikes behind and take the bus to town. The old town is lovely, but not as quaint as some off the others we’ve visited on our trip so far. We had to keep reminding ourselves of that Warsaw was almost completely destroyed during the war. Reminders of the war are everywhere. We sheltered from a downpour in an antique shop which proved to be a treasure trove of military memorabilia. There were German iron crosses, SS badges, and medals and uniforms from various armies. The rain had long stopped before we emerged. Despite wet weather, tourists were out in their thousands, and we started to miss the less crowded Baltic countries we had left behind.

The Polish composer Frederic Chopin grew up in Warsaw and the city is very proud of him. They are Chopin mad. Even the airport is named after him. Tickets to numerous Chopin concerts are sold to tourists all through the old town and in the beautiful Lazienki Park there are regular outdoor performances of his work. We came across bench seats that play Chopin music at the touch of a button. These seats are near places that had relevance to Chopin’s life. Not long after discovering the Chopin playing seats we stumbled upon a plaque in the Holy Cross Church, that said “Here rests the heart of Frederic Chopin”. If it wasn’t for an Asian family excitedly taking pictures we may have missed it. Chopin died in Paris but his sister brought his heart back to Warsaw.

The next day the weather was once again threatening rain so we decided to be real tourists and try the hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus. It departed from outside the controversial Palace of Culture and Science, a rather garish gift from Stalin to the people of Poland in 1955, and did a circuit of the city past the main sights. At $45 NZD for the two of us it wasn’t expensive, but it was a disappointment. We could have covered the same ground in half the time on our bikes, and although the commentary was interesting, it provided no more information than we get from our guidebook. We stuck with it and went on the full circuit before getting off at Lazienki Park, also known as Royal Baths Park. This stunning park covers 76 hectares in the city centre and is filled with palaces, villas and monuments, including a statue of our friend Chopin. We were walking around one of the lakes and stopped to watch an elderly couple feeding bread to giant carp. They spoke perfect English and told us they were locals who often came to the park to feed the fish, birds, and to my delight, red squirrels. She kindly gave me a handful of hazelnuts in their shells to feed the squirrels by hand. They are just too cute!

The sun was finally shining and we decided to walk back into town rather than wait for the sightseeing bus. Outside the Presidential Palace a protest was taking place and Andrew asked one of the protestors what it was about. In broken English, he explained that the current far right government was planning to change the constitution bringing the supreme court and judicial system under government control. We later read that the man behind the Gdansk shipyard protests of the 80’s, former Polish president Lech Wałęsa, has come out of retirement to protest against this too, as it’s seen as a reversal of their hard-fought fight to establish a true democracy.

We enjoyed Warsaw. It is a majestic and proud city which has risen from a turbulent past. But it is an international capital city, and we’re starting to realise we prefer the smaller, regional towns and cities. After all, we wouldn’t want people to say they experienced New Zealand after only visiting Auckland.

Krakow

We had only planned to stay two days in Krakow before heading to the European Eventing Champs in Strzegom. We both love horse sports and thought it a great opportunity to see some of the world’s best riders in action, like Germany’s Michael Jung. But we soon realised all that we wanted to see and do in Krakow and the surrounding area would take longer than two days, so we decided to forgo the eventing champs and stay six days in Krakow. We are sure we’ll find another top class equestrian event somewhere else in Europe while we’re here.

We didn’t regret our change of plan one bit. Our Krakow experience was amazing.

Krakow is in southern Poland near the border of the Czech Republic. It was the central site of Nazi control in Poland and was relatively unscathed by war. It has a gorgeous old town ringed by Planty Park and remnants of the city’s medieval walls, and at its centre is the stately and expansive Rynek Glówny (market square). This plaza is the site of the Cloth Hall, a Renaissance-era trading outpost, and St. Mary’s Basilica, a 14th-century Gothic church, and one of the most beautiful I have been in. Every hour bugles are played from the windows high up the church tower and everyone applauds loudly from the ground below. Restaurants and bars line the perimeter of the square, and were trading busily. Apparently, Krakow has more bars and restaurants than any other Polish city. While we were there a festival of Polish folk music and dance was taking place in the square, adding to the buzzing summer atmosphere.

For lunch, we indulged in street food from the market stalls, each time opting for pierogis, traditional Polish dumplings that are made with an assortment of fillings. They are delicious!

Not surprisingly Krakow has a castle. Wawel Castel covers a hill on the edge of the old town. It’s made up of an eclectic mix of buildings in architectural styles from across the centuries including medieval, baroque and renaissance. It’s a very popular attraction, when we visited it on a public holiday in glorious weather it was teeming with tourists.

One of the reasons we changed plans and stayed longer in Krakow was Auschwitz. We hadn’t done our homework and assumed we could turn up at the museum and memorial on any day we wanted. This was the case in the past, but because of the huge number of visitors you now must go online and register for a day and time, and you need to do this days if not weeks in advance. When we realised this we tried to book online, but all places for individual visitors were taken for the next week. Admission is free, but tour operators get allocated a certain percentage of spaces that they then on-sell in packages, so if we were going to visit Auschwitz we had to concede and book a tour from Krakow. There were plenty to choose from, and we secured our tickets for later that week.

To prepare ourselves for Auschwitz we visited Schindler’s factory and museum. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the German occupation of Poland by employing them in his enamel factory. The story was made into the highly acclaimed movie Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg. The museum in Schindler’s enamel factory is not so much about Schindler and those he saved, but more an insight into life in Krakow during the years of Nazi occupation. It was very well done, and gave us a good understanding of that difficult time in history.

The next day we were off to Auschwitz. We travelled in a very comfortable late model 22-seater bus for the 1 hour 20 drive. On the way, we were shown a documentary on the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army containing original footage of what they found at the camps. It helped us understand the scale of the camps and what to expect. Auschwitz is the name given to a cluster of Nazi concentration camps and we were to visit two, Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau.

We arrived at Auschwitz 1 and were greeted by our local guide. He lives in the village nearby and spends two days a week taking tours through Auschwitz because he is passionate about making sure the story is told. He was brilliant. His delivery was compassionate and thoughtful, and he allowed us time to digest and reflect on the enormity of what happened here.

2017 marks the 70^th year that Auschwitz has operated as a museum and memorial to the 1.1 million men, women and children who lost their lives here. Outside the entrance is a shiny new plaque recognising those countries that contributed all those years ago to making sure this site was preserved as a museum. It was good to see New Zealand on the list.

Auschwitz 1 was predominantly a labour camp, firstly for the Polish and then for Jews and all other minority groups targeted by the Third Reich. Above the gate into the camp is the infamous slogan “Arbeit macht frei”– work sets you free. We walked through these gates and into the camp. It is almost as it was at the time of liberation. The barbed wire fences still intact and the barracks mostly unchanged. The tour takes you through some of the barracks where there are exhibits and photos. The vast pile of human hair and the 50,000 pairs of shoes is confronting. The long narrow hallway lined with rows of mugshots of prisoners, each with their date of birth, date of imprisonment, and date of death hit me hard. Women on one side, men on the other, hair shaven, eyes defiant despite the degrading treatment they had faced and the fear they must have felt. There are so many faces, they start to look familiar. It is overwhelming. Most only lasted 2 or 3 months in the camp, such were the conditions. These mugshots were only taken in the first two years of the camp’s operation, after that there were just too many prisoners arriving.

The museum was designed to cope with 500,000 visitors annually, last year there were 2 million. There are plans underway to make changes to cope with the increase, but now it is crowded, and in the heat of the day inside those barracks it becomes unbearable, which is apt considering the conditions the prisoners were kept in.

We asked the guide about the increase in visitors. He puts it down to more countries teaching the history of the holocaust in schools, young people are visiting in droves, and also Poland has become a popular tourist destination, so there are simply more people here.

From Auschwitz 1 we drove 5 minutes down the road to the Birkenau camp. Birkenau is huge, covering 171 hectares. It was at this camp where four gas chambers operated during the latter part of the war, killing hundreds of thousands of predominantly Jewish people. A railway track runs through the middle and ends at a dusty platform. This is where trains arrived jammed with Jews from all over Nazi occupied Europe, and where the decision was made on the spot whether they would be put to work or sent to their deaths. We stood there silently in the stifling heat.

The guide told us that some more fundamental Jews want the camp to be pulled down and closed off, as the ashes of the dead cover the fields and it should be considered sacred land. In some ways I can understand this viewpoint, does it need to be kept exactly as it was for us not to forget? It’s such an emotive subject, there will never be full consensus on the future of a place like this. What there is agreement on is the shared hope that this never happens again.

After a big day, we sat in the lively town square, people watching, drinking beer, and eating the best pierogis we’d ever tasted.

On our last day in Krakow we visited the Salt Mines of Wieliczka, 14kms out of the city. We were taken on a tour through a labyrinth of passages deep underground. Through giant caverns, into beautiful underground chapels with chandeliers made of salt, and past tranquil lakes. Everything is made of salt; the walls, the floors, the statues. And if you need proof you can even lick the walls.

The mine was worked for 900 years, finally closing in 1996. It used to be one of the world’s biggest and most profitable industrial establishments when common salt was the medieval equivalent of today’s oil. Nine centuries of mining in Wieliczka produced a total of some 200 kilometres of passages as well as 2,040 caverns of varied size. The tourist route starts 64m deep, includes twenty chambers, and ends 135m below the earth surface, where the world’s biggest museum of mining is located with the unique centuries-old equipment among its exhibits. Occasionally concerts and other events take place in the Wieliczka mine’s biggest chambers. It was a fascinating two hours.

In the grounds of the mine is a new attraction, the Graduation Tower. This architecturally designed structure looks like a wooden castle but when you get closer you see it’s covered in sticks with salt brine tumbling down every surface, creating a salt mist. The mist produced is creates a type of inhalation therapy. It is supposed to have great health benefits, especially for those with asthma and breathing difficulties. It was really quite odd, but we think it worked.

Our time in Poland has drawn to a close and planning for our next leg is complete.

We loved what we saw of this country – the history and culture it shared with us, the surprisingly delicious food, and the people. Yes, the Polish may come across as brusque, and stand-offish, but once you laugh with them they let their guard down and have a great sense of humour, and a twinkle in their eye.

Tomorrow we head to Czechia.

August 12, 2017May 27, 2018

Lithuania

Our first stop in Lithuania was the Hill of Crosses, not far from the Latvian border near the town of Siauliai. This small hill covered in crosses in the middle of farmland has been a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of years. The crosses placed here must number in the hundreds of thousands and are of all types, from elaborately carved crucifixes draped in rosary beads, to two rough-sawn pieces of wood nailed together. Paths wind up and down the hill through the multiple layers of crosses and as you walk through looking at them all, many with inscriptions, some over three metres tall, it is impossible not to be affected by the spirituality of this sacred place. The crosses became a symbol of resistance during the Soviet Era, twice they were bulldozed but people continued to place them on the hill in defiance, creeping past soldiers and barbed wire at night to do so. When Lithuania gained independence in 1991 the hill came to represent freedom of religion and the reinstatement of Lithuanian identity. While we were there a thunderstorm was brewing above, making for a dramatic backdrop.

We were lucky, after spending nearly an hour at the Hill of Crosses we walked back to the van just as the skies opened. The most tremendous thunder storm ensued, the first of many over the next few days. We waited it out before driving on to Klaipeda.

The drive to Klaipeda was mostly through farmland with very small herds of cows, which we saw being hand-milked in the fields.

Klaipeda is a port city on the Baltic Sea. It’s the third largest city in Lithuania with around 160,000 people living there. We were there to see the Curonian Spit, a 98km long sand dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, with half being Lithuanian territory and the other half Russian. It’s a National Park and we had read great reviews so had added it to our Lithuanian itinerary.

We arrived late at our campground and settled in just as the rain started. Heavy rain fell through the night and all through the next day accompanied by continuous thunder. We had never heard so much thunder in our lives and in such a short period. We had been told that “Lithuania” comes from the word “Lietus” meaning rain, and we now know why. The weather put paid to our plans to explore the Curonian Spit, and as our campground was 9km from the city we didn’t have a lot of options, so we spent the day holed up in the van – me reading, and Mr Love surfing the internet, rearranging the boot, and braving the rain to find bread for lunch. It was nice to stop and do nothing for a day. Finally, around 5pm the weather cleared and we went for a walk on the beach. It was all set up for the summer season with a lifeguard tower, flags, and some pop-up cafes. The sand was thick and white and the water surprisingly warm.

Our campsite in the trees when the sun finally came out.

The beach near our campsite in Klaipeda

The following day was overcast, and although rain was forecast for the afternoon we decided we would take a chance and head to the Curonian Spit. The bike from the campground to town was on a dedicated bike path through the forest, a 9km warm up for our longer bike on the spit. Biking out of the trees, our first view of Klaipeda was of large clusters of 1960’s type blocks of flats, as we rode into the central city there was a bit more character, a few historic buildings and some newer ones, but in general the city is one of the less attractive we’ve visited. It was bombed heavily in WWII, so a lot of the city was built post-war in the Soviet Era.

We joined the crowds and caught the ferry from the Old Ferry Terminal to Smiltyne on the Curonian Spit. At $3 NZD return for both of us and the bikes it was the cheapest ferry trip we’d taken, and possibly the shortest at only 10-minutes. Originally, we had planned on catching a bus from Smiltyne at one end of the spit to the village of Nida, half way along and on the border with Russia, and then bike back to the ferry. This 50km bike had been well promoted on tourist websites and blogs as a great ride and a must-do in Lithuania. With the rain not promising to stay away, and us not wanting to spend the day soaked, especially given we had the long bike back to camp at the end of the day, we changed our plans and decided to bike up the spit and turn back when we were ready. We were glad of our decision as although the ride was pretty and the bike paths were great, it soon became very repetitive – sand dunes on one side and forest on the other. It reminded us of Matakana Island in Tauranga Harbour, but without the amazing surf. The beaches are beautiful, long and white with huge dunes, and it was definitely worth experiencing. However, after cycling about 12km up the spit we’d seen enough and we turned and headed back to the ferry.

The next morning, we left Klaipeda and headed to Kanaus, the second largest city in the country. The highways in Lithuania are wide and smooth, a welcome change from neighbouring Latvia. Our campsite in Kanaus was one of the best so far – brand new with concrete parking pads, excellent facilities, and only a 4km bike into town. We spent the afternoon in the cute compact historic centre of Kanaus, strolling along the cobbled pedestrian streets, noting the absence of tourists. Largely untouched during and after the war there were lots of historical buildings to admire. The gothic Kaunas Cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul was a beautiful surprise, not looking like much from the red brick exterior the basilica was stunning, with pastel pinks and mauves and ornate columns capped in gold. The St George Church and Bernardine Monastery has had a tougher time and is much shabbier condition, but its former glory shows through, resiliently resisting decay. It wouldn’t be a true Baltic city without a medieval castle in the centre, and Kanaus Castle claims the title of second biggest in Lithuania. It was well worth a visit. After Kaunas, we were off to Vilnius.

Kaunas Cathedral

Kaunas Castle

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and the second largest of the Baltic capitals, Riga being the most populated and Tallinn the least. Nestled between tree covered hills Vilnius is elegant and serene and less touristy than Riga and Tallinn.

The campsite I’d found online was 7km from the city so I spent the journey to Vilnius busily looking for alternatives that were closer. I found a central city hostel that had room for a few campervans so we thought we’d try our luck there. We drove up a narrow street to a huge old square building surrounded by trees. Andrew was sceptical, it looked very alternative he said. I ran in to investigate and was welcomed in to the most charming bohemian establishment. It proved to be the perfect place to stay, a short walk to the Old Town and with a lovely relaxed atmosphere, excellent facilities and a very cool forest bar out the back that locals frequented.

The bar behind the hostel

Downtown Forest Hostel and Camping, Vilnius

Downtown Forest Hostel & Camping is next to the Uzupis district, a creative area popular with artists that was declared a republic in 1997. It has its own constitution made up of 41 Rights such as; “everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation”, “everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday”, and “everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance”. This tongue-in-cheek constitution is boldly displayed on shiny stainless-steel plaques with versions in almost all of the world’s languages.

We loved the Old Town of Vilnius. It’s not as quaint as Tallinn and is more majestic than Riga’s Old Town, with grand architecture, like the white Neoclassical Vilnius Cathedral sitting proudly in the expansive Cathedral Square, and wide sweeping streets.

Vilnius Cathedral

Lithuania is a country of faith, religion is an important part of their identity, and the large number of churches in Vilnius shows this. We went into many, each were different, and unlike other places we’d visited, nearly all had people praying. We walked into one on Friday afternoon and a service of some sort taking place, it may have been a second marriage as there were an older couple at the front kneeling behind the priest, and a photographer was there. The priest was singing the service in a rich and resonant tone and the congregation were answering, also in song. It was beautiful. We sat quietly listening for a while. The next day we saw at least ten weddings taking place around the city, and they all looked so young.

The Gates of Dawn is one of the most important religious monuments in Lithuania. Pilgrims travel here to visit the tiny Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn chapel and pray to the gilded icon of the Virgin Mary that is believed to have miraculous powers. It was quite something to be there surrounded by people on their knees, heads turned to Mary, eyes closed and counting their rosary beads.

Gediminas Tower is the imposing long-standing symbol of Vilnius and one of the city’s more prominent landmarks, with the Lithuanian flag flying from the top. It’s an easy but steep climb to the base of the tower, and then for $3 NZD each we climbed to the top of the tower. The view was worth it. We always try and find a tower or hill to climb in each place we visit to get a view from above, it helps with perspective.

Inside the tower was a photographic exhibition of the Baltic Way, the peaceful political demonstration that occurred in August 1989 and started at Gediminas Tower. The Baltic Way, also known as the Chain of Freedom, was a human chain of over 2 million people standing hand in hand across the Baltic countries from Gediminas Tower through Latvia to Riga and up to Tallinn in Estonia. People of all ages, children, the elderly, mothers with babies, all standing together to show the desire for independence and the solidarity between the three nations. It was hard not to be moved to tears looking at these photos and watching the news clips from the time, what an incredible moment in history for these countries and for the people who took part.

The dark side of recent Lithuanian history is told in the Museum of Genocide Victims, housed in the old KGB headquarters. The museum exhibits tell the story of Lithuania’s 50-year occupation by the Soviet Union, the brutal cost of the fight for freedom for the resistance, the arrests, the deportations and the executions that took place in this period. Access to the former prison cells underneath the building is a chilling walk into the past, they are exactly as they were left when the KGB exited Lithuania in 1991. While we were there we overheard a tour guide passionately talk of his grandfather being held in these exact cells – it may be history, but must seem like yesterday to many Lithuanians.

We continued our education on Lithuania’s journey to independence and cycled down to the Parliament. Lithuania was the first of the Baltic countries to declare independence in 1990, but it didn’t come easily. In January 1991 after Lithuania refused to restore the constitution of the USSR soviet forces stormed Vilnius and seized pivotal buildings. 14 civilians defending the TV Tower were killed and over 700 injured. These events are now referred to as the January Events and outside Parliament the former barricades that were set up to protect the Parliament during that time now serve as a memorial to the people who died defending their freedom.

P1020106 — Barricades from 1991 now form a monument to those killed during the January Events

On our back from Parliament we biked through the lush Vingis Park and couldn’t believe how deserted it was, only the occasional person cycling, pushing a pram or walking a dog. It felt like we were in the wilderness, not a capital city.

Vilnius grabbed my heart. It is a lovely, dignified city, quiet and peaceful. When we were walking through the streets of the Old Town Andrew said he felt like we should be whispering, such is the feeling. The evening before we left I went walking to see the sun set over the city. I’m not a brave person and I have a wild imagination, but even as darkness set in I felt relaxed and safe. When I got back we posed the question to each other, which of the three Baltic capitals did we like the best? Andrew thought Tallinn, I think Vilnius – Vilnius wins.

After leaving Vilnius we had one last stop in Lithuania before heading to Poland, Trakai Castle. This 14^th century fairy-tale castle covers an island in picturesque Lake Galve. Being as beautiful as it is, it is understandably a popular tourist destination and was one of the more touristy places we’d been to, with loads of stalls selling souvenirs and hawkers vying for customers to take boat tours of the lake. The castle is also used as a venue for outdoor concerts and plays over summer, and when we were there the stage was set for the production of Ana Karenina.

The night before we visited Trakai Castle, Andrew read that the World Junior Rowing Champs were being held on Lake Galve. We didn’t think much more of it, apart from saying how great it would be if it was close by the castle and we could see some of the NZ team competing. We arrived to find the rowing action happening right there with the castle as the backdrop to the finish line. Andrew, having a history with rowing, was in his element and we were lucky enough to see a few of the A-Finals and two of the NZ crews competing. The NZ Men’s four came a close second in their final with us cheering “Go Kiwi” from the lakeside.

NZ Men’s 4 coming second at the Junior World Rowing Champs

Our three weeks in the Baltic countries have been truly memorable and we are completely taken by these three remarkable countries. Their culture is rich and varied, and the natural environment surprisingly untouched. The people have been welcoming and friendly, more than willing to share their country with us. What will stay with us for a long time is the pride and resolve of these nations, rising above their tumultuous past and determinedly building a positive future.

August 7, 2017May 27, 2018

Latvia

The town Valga straddles the border of Estonia and Latvia, in fact it has two names, Valga for the Estonian half and Valka for the Latvian. Driving through the town and across the border we noticed the first obvious difference between these two neighbouring countries – the state of the roads. Estonian roads hadn’t been great in remote places but Latvia was on an entirely different level, and this was a main urban road. We bumped our way through the border town and hoped it would improve. It didn’t.

You can’t judge a country by its roads, and Latvia proved this to us.

Rural Latvia looks much like Estonia, gently undulating fields of grain, beans and peas, and large swathes of forest. We noticed the houses and farm buildings were a bit more rundown than those in Estonia, rustic may be a fairer term.

Our first destination in Latvia was the historic town of Cesis in the middle of the Gauja National Park. This charming town is almost succumbing to the forest that surrounds it, tree roots raise footpaths and crumbling buildings are overgrown with lush vegetation. It’s understandable given Cesis is over 800 years old.

Our campsite was 4 kilometres out of town in a beautiful forested valley by a river. The facilities weren’t great but at 15 euros for the night it was cheap and the setting was lovely. Being in a valley meant a steep hill to bike up back to town. It was a slow bike in but a super-fast trip back.

In the centre of Cesis is the town’s pride and joy, the lovingly cared for medieval castle built at the start of the 13^th century. We were amongst a handful of tourists there that day which made exploring the castle ruins all the more enjoyable. We clambered up the steep stone steps of the castle tower in pitch darkness only to realise we could have taken one of the quaint candle lanterns they were handing out at anther entrance. Touches like the lanterns, the working silver smith, and well stocked kitchen garden, complete with a medieval herbalist giving tastings of his concoctions, added to the experience.

The rest of the old part of Cesis is charming and remains much the same as it would have been in the Middle Ages, with red tiled roofs and cobbled streets, but it is in need of repair. St John’s church beside the castle was built at the end of the 13^th century and is showing its age. You feel for these towns, they have the weight of responsibility to preserve history but the cost and effort required must be huge.

After leaving Cesis we continued through the Gauja National Park to Ligatne, a town balanced between the 200-year-old paper mill that provides a livelihood for residents and the national park that brings in tourists. We were there to visit the Ligatne Nature Trails. I had read that they were worth visiting and it was an opportunity to see some of the region’s wildlife up close, but we didn’t know what to expect and in the back of my mind I hoped I wasn’t dragging Mr Love along to a quasi-zoo. It was far from this. More than 5kms of trails wind through the forest with intermittent large enclosures housing Latvian animals and birds in very natural settings. Instead of cages keeping the animals in, it was more barriers to protect us. The animals are rescued wildlife brought from all over Latvia. We got to see bears and finally the elusive moose so we were happy.

Our next stop was Riga, Latvia’s capital and the largest of the three Baltic capitals. You would expect the motorway into a major city would be less bumpy. It was worse. The road looked like a crazy patchwork quilt. The van rocked and rolled its way into Riga accompanied by a chorus of glasses clinking, pots clattering and bottles clanking.

Riga has a population of 640,000 and immediately seemed a lot more cosmopolitan than quaint Tallinn. Like Tallinn, our camping ground was a summer pop-up motorhome park using the facilities of an event centre. When we arrived it was teeming with campers squeezed onto every square metre and the atmosphere was buzzing. These pop-up camping sites are brilliant, they provide camping so close to the city centre without permanently taking up valuable land, and they make use of facilities that are lying unused over summer – it’s a win win.

We arrived in the late afternoon, parked up, plugged the van in and then headed off on our trusty bikes over the river Daugava to the city. The pedestrian only Old Town was the perfect place to start, and after locking up the bikes we wandered the streets for a couple of hours absorbing the mood of the place and taking in our surrounds, before stopping for a local beer and some people watching in Dome Square.

Our first impressions were of a grubbier, grittier city than Tallinn, larger, not as quaint, and more commercial. However, over the next few days this city grew on us, and we were once again reminded to not judge too quickly.

20170730_151502 — Sculpture in a park in Riga

Riga is renowned for its architecture. Over the 800 odd years of the city’s existence different rulers and regimes have stamped their mark through buildings, giving the city a rich and diverse cityscape. Gothic church spires dot the skyline of the Old Town, medieval merchant houses line the cobbled streets, and buildings like the 14^th century House of Blackheads, with its opulent red Dutch Renaissance exterior, add grandeur and drama. The famous Three Brothers, a charming trio of houses each built in a different century, stand shoulder to shoulder, the oldest from the 15^th century. Outside the Old Town are the fascinating Art Nouveau facades of Albert Street, one of the world’s best collections of this style, and with some wrapped for restoration it looks like they require a lot of TLC to keep their glory. The influence of the Russian Empire is evident in the curvaceous 19^th century Nativity of Christ Cathedral towering over the Esplanade. There’re also buildings from the Soviet Era, their ugliness ironic, a bitter reminder for the Latvians of an unpleasant past.

20170728_170154 — House of Blackheads, Riga

P1010924 — The Three Brothers, Old Town Riga

P1010912 — One of the Art Nouveau facades of Albert Street

Riga is situated on what was once the Amber Road, an ancient trade route that transferred amber from the Baltic Sea to Rome, and further still to the Pharaohs of Egypt, as early as 3,000 years ago. This fossilised tree resin has been appreciated for its colour and beauty since Neolithic times and amber trading has been a major part of Riga’s story over the centuries. Today Old Town Riga is filled with boutiques selling amber jewellery and souvenirs. We couldn’t come to Riga and not buy some, so we splashed out on some jewellery, a pair of earrings for me and another to be sent back to NZ for a birthday present.

While we were in Riga we celebrated 8 weeks on the road with dinner at Salve, a traditional Latvian restaurant in the Old Town. We dined on salted herring with cottage cheese, salmon potato cakes, homemade sausage with stewed cabbage, and Latvian stroganoff, accompanied by a Spanish red, and all for under $100 NZD. Both Mr Love and I are adventurous eaters, we eat lots of spicy food and love Asian cuisine, but neither of us are very used to the flavours used in these Baltic dishes. They use a lot of dill, pink peppercorns, fennel seeds, and cream. These are very traditional European flavours, but we think our palates have got too used to Pacific rim food as we found it all very rich, especially Andrew who had a rough night afterwards.

On Sunday morning, on the way to the Central Markets, we took in the Riga Ghetto Museum. This is an outdoor exhibition about the horror inflicted on the Jewish population in Riga and Latvia during the German occupation in WWII. As confronting as the exhibition was, the fact that Soviet Era authorities didn’t recognise Jewish suffering, so museums like this have only existed since Latvia gained independence, and that remembrance days and commemorations were banned during this time, was more provoking for us. Latvians had never been allowed to grieve. We are learning more and more about the effects of the Soviet Era on the people of these Baltic countries. Calling it the Soviet Occupation and talking of Freedom, not just independence, makes you realise this was inflicted on them, they did not willingly join the USSR.

The Central Markets were vibrant, colourful and busy. Rows and rows of stands heavy with produce welcomed us – plump sun ripened tomatoes, buckets of blueberries, lettuces, courgettes, strawberries, grapes, enormous watermelons, and herbs of every variety – it was heaven for Mr Love and that was before entering the fresh fish hall! Laden down with fish, fruit and veg we headed back to camp for lunch.

P1010905 — Shopping up large at the Central Markets in Riga, Latvia

Sunday afternoon was spent biking through the leafy city parks, along the grass banks of Pilsetas Canal where locals were picnicking and enjoying the sunshine, and back along the Daugava River.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to Riga and hit the road again.

On the way from Riga through to Lithuania we visited Rundale Palace. This grand Baroque palace is one of Latvia’s hidden gems. Designed by the Russian-Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect responsible for the magnificent Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, it is simply stunning, and not what you’d expect to find in the middle of rural Latvia. Built in the 1730’s it was originally the summer residence for the Duke of Courland but has had a varied history over time, being a garrison for the German Army in the first world war and then a hospital, a school, and even used to store grain before becoming a museum again in the 1970’s. The interiors are grandiose, but the garden was the highlight for us. The beautifully designed French garden perfectly frames this glamourous palace.

Rundale Palace Gardens, Latvia

Palace gardens

From Rundale Palace we drove on to Lithuania.

Our five days in Latvia may not have been long enough, but we feel we’re getting to know these countries a little more. Like Estonians, Latvians fly their flags high, proud of their hard-earned freedom, a story we were just starting to come to terms with and what we will learn more about in the third of these endearing Baltic states, Lithuania.

August 3, 2017May 27, 2018

2 Months on the Road: Opening the Books

Another month has passed since we took to the road on our European adventure, and we’re feeling very pleased with ourselves. Not only has touring in our campervan been a lot easier than we thought, we’re enjoying it more and we’re managing to more-or-less keep to our budget.

Our budget of $150 NZD per day was harder to stick to in the first month being in the more expensive Scandinavian countries, however spending the last 2 ½ weeks in the cheaper Baltic countries has helped get us back on track.

Finland proved to be more expensive than even Norway for campsites, averaging $46 NZD per night. Estonia averaged $37 NZD per night, and Latvia at $32 NZD was a big saving.

To see all we wanted to see of Scandinavia we had to cover huge distances, but now there are less miles to travel between destinations so our fuel bill has reduced significantly. Fuel has also been a lot cheaper in the Baltic countries – down to as low as $1.45 NZD per litre in Latvia and Lithuania.

Food costs have come down too in the last month, especially in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Riga we paid $10 NZD a kilo for fresh cod at the central markets. At the same markets, we bought two broccolis for $1, carrots for 50 cents a kilo, 1.10 a kg for new potatoes, and $2 a kilo for grapes (all in NZD). The choice in supermarkets is fantastic especially the range of fresh bread, fruit, cheese and meat/fish.

Eating out is also good value. We went out for dinner in Riga to celebrate 8 weeks on the road, and the meal cost under $100 NZD for two entrées, mains and bottle of wine, and this was at a very nice restaurant.

20170729_191357 — Traditional Latvian Salted Herrings

We were staggered at how reasonable entrance fees to attractions were in St. Petersburg, at only around $7 – $11 NZD for palaces, national museums and cathedrals. The trend continued in Estonia and Latvia where they were slightly lower on average.

So, after two months on the road this is where we are at:

We have excluded the overnight ferry to St. Petersburg from our budget as this was a pre-booked trip, but we have included all additional costs incurred with that trip, including keeping the campervan at a campsite in Helsinki while we were gone. Also, we haven’t included the tolls from Norway as we are yet to receive the bill for these.

Mr. Love’s best investment this month: a double element electric cook top for $70 NZD. He thought that if we’re paying for power in a campsite why use our own gas. It’s important to know that in Europe gas fittings are different from country to country so it can be difficult to re-fill your gas bottles. We have a UK gas bottle that is compatible with Norwegian fittings, but we’ve been told won’t be easy to re-fill in the rest of Europe. So rather than buying multiple fittings we’re conserving our gas as much as we can until we’re in Germany where we can get a more universally compatible fitting. The campsites all have kitchen facilities, some cleaner and better than others, but it’s a bit antisocial to send Mr. Love off to cook in the kitchen by himself. The electric cooker is well and truly proving it’s worth.

With another month under our belt we’re starting to get the hang of this campervanning lark. Here’s to life on the road!

20170803_193306[1] — The new cook-top in action

July 29, 2017May 27, 2018

Estonia

We didn’t know what to expect of Estonia. When planning our trip we had read that the Baltic countries were well worth visiting, but were thrown off balance when the owner of a campsite in Denmark told us to steer clear of these former Soviet countries unless travelling in convoy with others. He described the people and countryside as dour and “not worth the hassle”. He couldn’t have been more wrong about Estonia. We loved this charming little country so much we stayed a full 10 days. It’s a great reminder to listen to advice but make your own decisions.

Estonia has spent much its history occupied by different nations, and after a brief period of independence between WWI and WWII finally gained true independence in 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The history in this part of Europe is rich, and people have inhabited in the area since 6500 BC.

Estonia is a now a modern, developed economy, and along with Latvia and Lithuania were called the Baltic Tigers for their aggressive economic growth early this century. Although hit by the GFC all three recovered quickly and are still experiencing growth. One of the biggest issues for this country is emigration, as the lure of the West still draws Estonians to leave.

There are 1.3 million people in Estonia, 426,000 of whom are in Tallinn. The small population means plenty of wilderness.

The people are friendly, polite, and welcoming. There’s a relaxed calm feel and with a small population there are no crowds and the roads are relatively empty. Estonians drive very nice cars – late model Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and BMW’s are a dime a dozen – and they like to drive them fast. Some of the passing manoeuvres we saw were a bit suspect.

Maybe the flash cars are linked to the obvious pride they have in their appearance. Everyone dresses well, no baggy track pants at the supermarket here. Houses have immaculately cut lawns with flower pots brimming with colour at every front gate, and the streets are clear of rubbish.

Now we’ve set the scene, here’s what we did in we our 10 days in Estonia:

Tallinn

We took the Tallink Ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn at a cost of $270 NZD for us and the campervan. The ferries are modern and well equipped, with restaurants, bars and duty-free shops on board, so the 2-hour trip is done in comfort.

P1010623 — Our first view of Tallinn from the ferry

Our campsite, Tallinn City Camping, was located an easy 3.5km bike from the central city, in the carpark of an unused exhibition centre. It’s a pop-up campground for the summer season and uses the existing facilities of the exhibition centre, an excellent idea and one that would probably work back in NZ.

We spent two days exploring Tallinn and were in awe of its charm and character. This city has a rich mixture of architecture and culture in a small area, making it ideal to explore on foot. The fusion of modern and medieval is remarkable. Loads of development has happened in recent years but it stays true to the fairy-tale charms of the two-tiered old town, and modern buildings in the new commercial part of town have encompassed existing buildings rather than pulling them down. There’s a nice balance of respect for the past while embracing the future.

The walled Old Town has remained almost untouched by war, making it one the more unique towns in Europe. The cobblestone streets are lined with quaint houses and shops dating back to the middle ages, and the town is dotted with medieval churches. The Old Town still was almost 2 kilometres of the original city wall and 20 defensive towers still standing, giving the town its story-book look. With each turn we took an even more delightful scene unfolded in front of us.

Understandably, Tallinn is a popular destination for cruise ships, and while we were there five or six came and went. Tallinn seems to have embraced tourism and the shops and restaurants in the Old Town are well-oiled tourism operations, providing multi-lingual service and top-quality hospitality.

We couldn’t resist the lure of the many restaurants in the Old Town Square, and had an amazing lunch of traditional Siberian dumplings, Russian pancakes with wild mushrooms, and Russian-style pot roast under a pie crust. It was very rich but delicious.

Apparently, in the late 90’s and early this century Tallinn got a name for itself encouraging boozy stag-dos, cheap drinks packages, and prostitution. I’m sure some of that tourism continues, but we didn’t see any of it. It seems the city has turned its back on this image and is concentrating on a more tasteful type of tourism, and having an asset such as the Old Town makes that an easy decision.

P1010649 — Market in Old Town Square, Tallinn

P1010668 — Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn

Haapsalu & Saaremaa

After Tallinn we headed South to the seaside town of Haapsalu. This quaint little town was once a popular summer destination for the Russian aristocracy and has some beautiful examples of wooden buildings from the early 20^th century. Like most towns in Estonia there are ruins of a castle in the middle, this one has been made into a playground for kids and a park. As we walked through the castle ruins we laughed at Andrew’s brothers comment about Europe; “ABC – another bloody castle, another bloody church.” So very true, but each one is different and charming in its own right, and I’ll never get sick of them.

P1010701 — Playground in the ruins of Haapsalu Castle

Our campground in Haapsalu was more of a backyard, but the host was very passionate about his business and very welcoming. He even flew the New Zealand flag for us. Some Kiwis who had stayed there had sent him a flag and it was the first time he had got to use it, which he was very excited about.

20170720_160553 — NZ flag flying at our campground in Haapsalu

From Haapsalu we drove an hour to catch the ferry to the island of Saaremaa. Andrew was sure we’d seen the last of ferries for a while, but I managed to persuade him that Saaremaa would be worth it; only costing $48 NZD return for us and the van sealed the deal. Saaremaa is a popular holiday destination and being a Friday almost all the ferries (one every half hour) were booked. We managed to get a spot on the midday crossing and half an hour later we were there.

The island is known for being the “Real Estonia”, rich in folklore and heritage. It was off limits to most mainland Estonians and all foreigners during the Soviet era because it was a restricted military area, so has only been open for tourism for a relatively short time.

We spent two days exploring the sparsely populated island, driving through small, often gravel, country lanes and visiting places of historic interest.

The picturesque windmills of Angla have been lovingly restored and give an insight into rural life in this area in centuries past. The top of the Panga cliffs, once a sacfricial site where each year a human or animal was sacrificed to appease the Sea God, is now used as place of meditation and prayer, and while we were there a large group of people were sitting facing out to sea, meditating in the sunshine. Sorve Lighthouse marks the southernmost point of Saaremaa and has protected ships since 1646, although it has been rebuilt over time. This is also the place of military significance as bloody battles were fought on Saaremaa between the Germans and Russians in WWII. Today hikers are warned not to leave the tracks on the island as there are still unexploded devices in the area.

20170721_141545 — Windmill at Angla, on Saaremaa

20170722_112938 — Sorve Lighthouse, Saaremaa

The Kaali Meteorite Crater field was an eye opener. Around 3,500 years ago a meteorite crashed into Saaremaa and left 9 craters, the largest being 110 metres in diameter and 22 metres deep. Now surrounded by trees and more like a very symmetrical pond, it is a serene place to visit. But you can only imagine how horrifying this event would have been for the inhabitants of Saaremaa at the time.

20170722_143747 — Kaali Meteorite Crater, Saaremaa

Kuressaare is the largest town on the island with a population of around 13,000. This was where we stayed the night – in another backyard campground conversion, and with another enthusiastic and welcoming host. Kuressaare is a beautiful town with a 14^th century castle in the centre that has been transformed into a concert and events venue. They were setting up for what looked like a very nice black-tie gala event while we were there. It’s great that these historic sites are being utilised, and not just put aside as museums. The town has an upmarket resort feel, with modern hotels and sports facilities, and lots of very nice cars and well-dressed people.

It was well worth leaving the mainland to visit Saaremaa and we certainly felt like we got to understand a little more about this remarkable country.

Parnu & Soomaa National Park

After crossing back to the mainland, we drove for an hour down the coast to the seaside resort of Parnu. Parnu is the fourth largest city in Estonia with 40,000 residents, but the population swells during the summer holidays.

We camped at Konse Camping by the river, less than 2kms from the centre of town. We felt we needed some time in one place so once we saw that the campsite was well appointed we booked in for three nights. The hot sunny weather made for a relaxing few days, doing not much. We biked into town, wandered the cobbled pedestrian-only streets, went to the beach, and biked the many cycleways along the coast and the river. There are no hills in this part of Estonia so you can bike for hours using very little energy.

One of the cycle paths went through the Urban Cows Project, a restoration of coastal meadows that uses livestock grazing as a way of protecting the saltwater wetlands and restoring them to a semi-natural state. I’m not sure how the cows help, but the wetlands are the home to many protected bird species and the project seems to be successful and well promoted.

Soomaa National Park is 40 kilometres inland from Parnu and one of the four National Parks in Estonia. Soomaa means “land of bogs”, and the unique bogs is what makes the park famous. We decided to walk the Riisa nature trail, a 5km walk through the bogs. The Riisa bog is over 1000 hectares and is the smallest of the bogs in the national park. The walk was very picturesque with dark pools and colourful flora, although Mr Love was disappointed that the wildlife promised on the sign didn’t appear, apart from hundreds of lizards and some butterflies. While on the walk we met an English woman eating her lunch and stopped to chat. She had almost done the exact journey we had up through Norway and back down through Finland to Estonia. She had been hesitant of travelling alone in Eastern Europe but, like us, was overwhelmed by the charms of this country.

P1010769 — Riisa Bog, Soomaa National Park

After leaving Sooma National Park we headed towards Tartu in the east of the country, taking the rural backroads, that on occasion turned to gravel without warning. There was plenty to see on our drive; quaint farm buildings, storks nesting in their huge nests on chimney tops and specially created platforms, acres and acres of peas and broad-beans growing, and of course forests.

Tartu

Our final destination in Estonia was Tartu, the second largest city after Tallinn. Tartu is a university town with a population of 100,000.

As the German’s occupied Tartu during WWII, it was bombed heavily by the Russians and most of the old medieval town was destroyed. Because of this, the town is relatively new and has lots of parks that have replaced bombed out areas. However, there is still a lot of history here and the imposing ruins of the 13^th century Tartu Cathedral is an example of that.

The centrepiece of the town, sitting at the top of the town square, is the very pretty, pink Town Hall with the famous Kissing Students statue in front of it. Nearby is the impressive main building of Tartu University with its six Doric columns, built between 1803 and 1809. The university itself was founded in 1632 by the Swedish king Gustaf II Adolf.

P1010792 — Students Kissing Fountain in Tartu

A short walk away is St John’s Lutheran Church. Dating to at least 1323, this striking red-brick church is unique for the rare terracotta sculptures placed in cavities on its exterior and interior. This church lay in ruins and was left derelict following a Russian bombing raid in 1944 and wasn’t fully restored until 2005. The restoration is amazing, and the pristine condition it is kept in shows how well it is loved. I climbed the steeple to see Tartu from above, and was greeted by a view of trees, and more trees, with the occasional building popping through.

P1010814 — Inside St John’s church, Tartu

We had fantastic weather for our 2 ½ days in Tartu. Our campground was in the carpark of a marina on the river, very close to town and picturesque. Once we’d done with exploring the town we made use of the cycle paths on both sides of the river and enjoyed the scenic parks along the riverbanks.

In our 10 days in Estonia we managed to get back on track with our budget. Food and diesel is cheaper than the other countries we’ve been through and the average cost of a campsite is $37 NZD ($10 cheaper than the other countries). Diesel dropped from $2.10 per litre in Sweden and Norway to $1.80. In Europe tax is included in the price of diesel, unlike NZ where you pay an additional road tax for diesel vehicles.

Some of the food prices for staples include: $1.20 kg for potatoes – the little sweet gourmet types. $1.70 kilo for nectarines. Grapes $1.60 kg, for beautiful Italian red grapes. Cheese $8 kilo. $20 – $25kg for fresh fish which is readily available. Local Le Coq beer, brewed in Tartu, is $1.25 a 330ml can.

After 10 memorable days in Estonia we now head into Latvia.