Wednesday 22nd April.
After waking to sunshine & managing to dry everything out we set off for Dubrovnik. While on our way we had to cross the border to Bosnia & then half an hour later back over the border again to Croatia but hey it was another country to add to our list.The coast road to Dubrovnik was beautiful, the banks of the road were covered with a yellow flower that as you drove passed smelt gorgeous. Arrived in Dubrovnik, promptly set up camp & cycled to the old town, funny, people take as much notice of our little bikes as they do the Van/Truck what ever you wanna call it, we get beeped,waved & the good old thumbs up while cycling around the streets.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Croatia
Zadar was probably really nice but it was wet, it stopped raining as we drove out of Split (not sure if Split would be nice even if it wasn't raining) and so we parked up in a great little campsite where our neighbours we're a caravanning couple from Middlesborough resplete with tracksuits and everything... bless 'em.
Croatia.
It was worth it though, talk about fairytale land, Slovenia is mostly woodland a mix of desciduos and coniferous and is tiny, tidy uncrowded and very chilled out. Bled was gorgeous,walked around the lake and up a small mountain, also watched a bit of ice hockey, Lubljana was a bit wet and the country side is very Hansel and Gretel. They're a nation of bee keepers and 1 in 250 people keep 'em. They reckon most of the significant people that Slovenia has produced are from bee keeping families and they think it's something to do with the diligence and organisational skills of the bees. So there you go people get a hive and get making honey.
As I mentioned Lubljana was wet and when it's wet we generally drive and we found ourselves in Croatia before we knew it. It's still all gearing up for the summer down these parts but for the moment it's really quiet and most campsites down the Dalmation coast are still closed. We did manage to find one that, although I'm not convinced was open and the bloke was just doing some pre-season jobs, he couldn't turn down a few euros. I think it's the closest we've park to the sea yet, about 2 meters at most and the gentle lapping of the waves quickly eased us into a pleasant sleep until an hour later the wind picked up to force 8 blew the awning down and sent us on a roller coaster ride. It was still howling when we got up in the morning and soon after we packed up it started raining so off we went for a drive again.
As I mentioned Lubljana was wet and when it's wet we generally drive and we found ourselves in Croatia before we knew it. It's still all gearing up for the summer down these parts but for the moment it's really quiet and most campsites down the Dalmation coast are still closed. We did manage to find one that, although I'm not convinced was open and the bloke was just doing some pre-season jobs, he couldn't turn down a few euros. I think it's the closest we've park to the sea yet, about 2 meters at most and the gentle lapping of the waves quickly eased us into a pleasant sleep until an hour later the wind picked up to force 8 blew the awning down and sent us on a roller coaster ride. It was still howling when we got up in the morning and soon after we packed up it started raining so off we went for a drive again.
Slovenia.
Blimey the future is upon us, web access for everyone everywhere..... not. Sorry we've been tanking on a bit and honestly, internet cafes aren't everywhere. So where did we leave off ahhh on our way to Slovenia.
We still had the GPS set to "no motorways" big mistake in Slovenia, it's got lot's of mountains and the only roads that go round the mountains instead of over them are the motorways. On our way to Bled we actually took a photo of the GPS screen, at some points it couldn't work out which road we we're on because the roads were almost on top of each other. A 35km stretch up over the pass to Bled took us 2 hrs!!
We still had the GPS set to "no motorways" big mistake in Slovenia, it's got lot's of mountains and the only roads that go round the mountains instead of over them are the motorways. On our way to Bled we actually took a photo of the GPS screen, at some points it couldn't work out which road we we're on because the roads were almost on top of each other. A 35km stretch up over the pass to Bled took us 2 hrs!!
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Venice
Saturday 18th April.
Don't care what anybody says about Venice being crowded, smelly, expensive etc it's beautiful. I'm sure we were spoilt by going late on a Friday afternoon in April with the sun shining and it being a pleasant 20c but it is still one of the most beautiful cities we've ever been to. No cars, no bikes, cool people and a labrynth of lanes to get lost in. You get a sore neck trying to take in the buildings and sore feet from walking miles. We went up the tower in St Marks square and had a comedy moment as you'll find out if you check out the little video Kym made. We walked past shops that lottery winners could shop in, and we were kindly gestured to by a couple of passer-bys that the restaurant we had chosen was crap, just in time to get up and leave pronto to discover another restaurant just round the corner that was full of locals and served up the best lasagne followed by the best duck that Kym had ever had. "When in Venice" as they say... I went for the Hungarian gulash. Couldn't have been a better day really even to the point that the waiter chased us down the alley to give me my camera and sunglasses back that I'd left behind whoops, and yes we did pay for the bus home. Tomorrow we're off to Slovenia...
Don't care what anybody says about Venice being crowded, smelly, expensive etc it's beautiful. I'm sure we were spoilt by going late on a Friday afternoon in April with the sun shining and it being a pleasant 20c but it is still one of the most beautiful cities we've ever been to. No cars, no bikes, cool people and a labrynth of lanes to get lost in. You get a sore neck trying to take in the buildings and sore feet from walking miles. We went up the tower in St Marks square and had a comedy moment as you'll find out if you check out the little video Kym made. We walked past shops that lottery winners could shop in, and we were kindly gestured to by a couple of passer-bys that the restaurant we had chosen was crap, just in time to get up and leave pronto to discover another restaurant just round the corner that was full of locals and served up the best lasagne followed by the best duck that Kym had ever had. "When in Venice" as they say... I went for the Hungarian gulash. Couldn't have been a better day really even to the point that the waiter chased us down the alley to give me my camera and sunglasses back that I'd left behind whoops, and yes we did pay for the bus home. Tomorrow we're off to Slovenia...
Drive florence- Venice.
We found a weird little town on the Adriatic coast called Lido Pomposa to park up in for the night. It's quite obviously a massise summer tourist area but at this time of year it was cross between winter Minehead and the town in the Lost Boys, with a bit of Scooby Doo thrown in. Dust blowing down empty streets past empty amusement arcades desperately flashing their wares to intice in a lost crow or a portly elderly couple on a cheap outta season weekend. It was all really tired. No one (there were the odd zombies) paid us the slightest bit off notice as Kym cooked a Thai curry and I popped the tent up. Good sleep and no bumps in the night (just my luck)
Florence.
So, we were up at 0700 and queuing outside the Ufizzi by 0815. Pretty good I reckon, we wern't feeling too perky but we made it. 0930 They decide to open the gallery.... Still with one of the greatest collections of art in the world no one is gonna moan. They're pretty relaxed about schedules but boy you get too close to one of those pictures and the wrath of the Italian jobsworth will decend upon you, shout Italian at a hundred miles an hour at you and then still not believe you when you say you didn't touch the bloody Botticelli (he was crap at babies anyway, in fact most of the renaisance crew were crap at babies). Poor old Kym, all she did was point out a significant detail that I couldn't see. "but you 'ava de longa nail....you myta damige eeta". Suitably chastised we wend our way round the rest of the gallery and back into a miserable Florentine afternoon to pack up the truck and head off for Venice.
Firenze..Florence
Arrived Florence pretty early in the day and decided to go for a camp site so we could leave the truck. First GPS position turned out to be a hostel smack in the centre of the old part of the city. Taught those Italian drivers a thing or two about driving I can tell you. Anyway found the campsite, right next to Piazze Michaelangelo the famous viewing spot that over looks the city. Pitched up and hopped on the bikes super speedy down the hill and over the Ponte De Vecchio. We didn't have any itinerary (seems to be a pattern) so we just followed our noses and got lost. Amazing city and even more so when you think your treading in the foot steps of people like Da Vinci, Giotto, Botticelli etc not to mention the Medici's.
It was hot and sunny and we deserved a beer so filled up the back pack and made our way much more slowly back up the hill to the camp and promptly sat in the sun and got drunk. Bloody hooligans! The Uffizi gallery was the plan for the following morning......
It was hot and sunny and we deserved a beer so filled up the back pack and made our way much more slowly back up the hill to the camp and promptly sat in the sun and got drunk. Bloody hooligans! The Uffizi gallery was the plan for the following morning......
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