Henrietta Hobby in Europe

Tuesday 1st November - Home

2011-11-04T14:10:00.001-07:00

We heard this morningon BBC Radio 4 Long Wave that there had been a serious accident onthe M25 and that they had closed a section of the motorway toresurface it. The queues were 27 miles long and it was on our route.The problem was confirmed by an announcement by the ferry captain whotold us that the M25 clockwise was a “no-go area”. We set off onthe M20 joining the M26 and eventually the M25 by which time localradio was saying that the queues had reduced although the delay wasstill two hours. We stopped briefly at the near-deserted servicesbefore leaving the M25 at junction 5.

Travelling on thepre-motorway route of the A25 made us appreciate how much time theM25 saves, when it is open. It was very slow but we eventuallyreached the M3 at Hook and the rest of the journey to Somerset wasuneventful.

We joined out friendsAnn & Nick and Les & Les for a meal at a local pub with realEnglish beer. What a lovely way to end another great holiday.

Photos: None.

Monday 31st October – Licques, France

2011-10-31T11:29:00.001-07:00

When we walked aroundthe Hondshoote yesterday, we found a tourist information board thatshowed the surrounding area and we realised that an interesting town,Berques, would be on our route today. The map showed it as a walledand moated town but we didn't know anything about it.

At the edge of the townwe stumbled on an aire that was not in our 'All the Aires of France'book. There were no motorhome facilities other that the ability topark for up to 48 hours but the parking area is next to the moat andwalls, an excellent position to investigate the town. When we walkedin we discovered that we had timed our visit for the day of the largeMonday market. It was mostly clothes, household goods and fruit andveg stalls but there were a number of cheese and meat stalls, most ofwhich had long queues. There were at least three stalls dedicated tohorse meat and associated products. We saw some French parentsslicing off some horse sausage and feeding it to their young daughter– can you imagine the reaction of a British child? We bought someexcellent local cheeses from a cheese shop and then moved on to seethe ruins of the 17^th century Abbey of Saint Winoc. At11:00 the Berques bell tower started ringing a tune. At ten pasteleven it was still playing and we thought that anyone who lived nearthe tower must curse if they played the bells like this every hour.When we arrived at the bell tower, which also housed the touristinformation office, the bells were still playing and I had to ask formore information about it. Apparently it chimes on every quarter butonly a simple chime. On Mondays at 11:00 a bell-ringer comes andplays a series of well-known tunes for an hour and we just happenedto be there at that time. So, if you are in the area on a Mondaymorning, pay a visit to Berques.

The rest of the day wasspent in shopping, first at Majestic Wine in Calais and then on toCarrefour in the Cite d'Europe. Lots of wine, beer and Frenchdelicacies are now stored in Henrietta.

We drove on to Licquesand the Pommiers des Trois Pays campsite and settled in for thenight.

Photos: The walls ofBerques; The bell tower rises above the market.

Sunday 30th October – Hondshoote, France

2011-10-31T11:28:00.001-07:00

This aire is a haven ofpeace compared to Gent and we had an excellent night's sleep. It wasovercast but dry in the morning so we decided to investigate thearea. First on the list was the windmill next to the aire, whichturned out to be a modern (1993) reconstruction of the Spinnewyn Millthat dated back to some time before the 18^th century. Wethen walked into the town wandering around the centre and then out toanother windmill on the other side of the town. The Noordmeulen Millmay be the oldest mill in Europe, according to the information board.This is based on the fact that they found a beam in the mill with thedate 1127 carved on it. Perhaps they should use dendrochronology toconfirm the date of the beam. Anyway it is a very impressivewindmill. We were amused that we were staying in a French villagewith two windmills when, despite seeing many lovely windmills when wewere driving, we didn't manage to get a close-up look at any Dutchwindmill.

We thought that wemight move on to a campsite today but the aire was good and temptedus to stay another night.

Photos: Hondshoote'sTown Hall – ghosts, warlocks and witches were streaming out of herewhen I passed it last night. It was very frightening, although Isuspect that it might have been a children's early Halloween party!;The Noordmeulen Mill.

Saturday 29th October - Hondshoote, France

2011-10-31T01:38:00.000-07:00

The motorhome parkingarea is almost directly below an elevated section of a busy motorwayand the noise during the night was continuous. This was not conduciveto a good night's sleep and we decided not to stay a second night.However we didn't have to leave until later in the afternoon so thatgave us time for another trip into Gent's old town.

Our main target was theCastle of the Counts that we had passed but not visited yesterday. Italso gave us the opportunity to wander through more of the streetsnot covered by the tourist information trail.

The castle, once hiddenbehind a mass of mediaeval houses, has been fully restored and thetour allows exploration of the whole building. It is a very strategicposition at the heart of the city and the confluence of the riversScheldt and Leie. Some of the rooms are dedicated to instruments oftorture used in the castle and elsewhere but on a brighter note, theviews of Gent from the walls are very good.

Emerging from thecastle we had a beer sat outside at a small bar in the square thatsold a variety of Belgian beers and, rather surprisingly, Mythos aGreek beer. Talking to the owner it became apparent that he is aGreekophile and has a house in Crete that he visits regularly.Pictures, road signs and other Greek memorabilia adorn the bar –ouzo and retsina are also available!

Next stop was a smallcaféfor our last opportunity for chips with mayonnaise, although I mustadmit that I have bought some Dutch mayonnaise so that we will beable to have the odd treat at home.

On then to France,just. Hondshoote is only a handful of kilometres from the Belgiumborder and here we found an aire in a much quieter position than theone in Gentbrugge. I walked into the town centre to find asupermarket for bread, eggs and pasta before we decided to have justbread and cheese for tea – those chips with mayonnaise were veryfilling.

Photos: The Castle ofthe Counts; The fish market square as seen from the castle; TheBelgian beer was excellent!

Friday 28th October – Gent, Holland

2011-10-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

The map showed a longtunnel to take under the tidal inlet of Westerschelde and given thatthis saved us a long trip round via Antwerp, this is the option thatwe chose. We were somewhat taken aback when we found out the price –a car and caravan was €7.30 but a motorhome was €17.85, the sameprice as a lorry. I find it very difficult to justify the difference– does a 3.5 tonne motorhome damage the road more than a car andcaravan? It was however an impressive tunnel – 6.6 km (4.1 miles)of it.

We were soon at theGentbrugge park and ride identified in our German Stellplatz book.There are no motorhome facilities here, only a place to park overnight but it is ideally positioned for visiting the centre of Gent.Luckily a Belgian couple had arrived just before us and greeted uswhen we got out of the van. They were able to tell us that tram 22would take us into the centre and explained where the historic centrewas in relation to the Kouter tram terminus. Equally important, theytold us that ticket machines were available at the tram stop.

After a quick bite toeat, we caught a tram and walked up an up-market shopping street tothe old town. The Tourist Information Office staff were very helpful,providing us with a map of the city and a walking trail leaflet thatdescribed the major sights of the old town. We followed the trail andenjoyed the architectural gems. The walk was well designed withbuilt-in surprises such as walking around a corner to find the 12^thcentury Castle of the Counts towering over a square in the middle ofthe city. Another memorable site was the beautiful buildings onGraslei, Gents first trading port.

When we visited St.Nicholas' Church we found a soprano and a violinist practising for aconcert and it was great to be able to listen to them, accompanied byan organ in the lovely setting and excellent acoustics of the church.

We really enjoyed thecity and decided that, proving the weather was good, we would comeback in tomorrow.

Photos: Two views ofGraslei Street.

Thursday 27th October - Oostkapelle, Holland

2011-10-31T01:35:00.001-07:00

Moving on south towardsGent we decided to take a look at some of the more remote parts inthe South-West of Holland. This meant taking the motorway past TheHague, Delft and Rotterdam and we were amazed at the size ofRotterdam's port and industrial areas. The petrochemical works areenormous and densely packed and we only saw part of it. Beyond wherewe turned off there were miles more of port and industry includingthe massive 'Europoort' area.

As we crossed to thearea known as Overflakkee we had our first sight of the 'Deltaplan' amassive flood prevention scheme created after the disastrous floodsof 1953 that killed nearly 2,000 people and flooded 150,000 hectaresof land (see http://www.deltawerken.com/Deltaworks/23.htmlfor details of the scheme). We drove over the Haingvliet Dam andsluices and a short drive across a peninsular brought us to theBrouwersdam. The main road was below the dikes and we couldn't seethe sea but I noticed a sign to the North Sea Road and decided tofollow it. Immediately we came to a vast area of beach with lots ofpeople and all sorts of activities going on. We parked up and went toinvestigate. Families were flying kites, a group of land yachts(three-wheeled karts with a sail) were completing a circuit andparakarts (three-wheeled karts powered by the driver flying a largekite) whizzed past us at great speed. Meanwhile many people such asus watched the fun.

After crossing anotherpeninsular (originally an island) we came to one of the maininstallations of the Deltaplan – the storm surge barrier ofOosterschelde. Rather than a dike or dam, this is a 3 km long seriesof sluice gates, 65 of them, each 40 metres long. The tides areallowed to flow through the barrier but it is closed during stormsand extra-high tides. Completed in 1986, it cost over 2.5 billionEuros – a vast amount of money at that time. It is a veryimpressive feat of engineering and it was great to see the tiderushing in through the barrier as we drove over it.

We headed forOostkapelle where we had identified a stelleplatz and found thatthere were three farms next to each other offering 'Mini Camping' asthe Dutch call aires or stellplatzen. We found the one that we hadselected, Pomona and parked up. At €12 per night and withelectricity, toilets and showers, it was good value.

Photos: Land yachtswith parakarts in the background.

Wednesday 26th October - Noordwijkerhout, Holland

2011-10-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

We were told that theforecast for today was better but it was grey and overcast overbreakfast and it was soon raining again. As I write this in midmorning, it is definitely getting brighter and it hasn't rained forsome time so we hope that we will be able to walk later as planned.

We set off in the latemorning walking the short distance to the path into the woods. Thereis a very wide area of sand dunes here, a natural barrier thatprotects the land from flooding – our campsite is a few metresbelow sea level. We struck out in the direction of the sea and aftercrossing many dunes we walked up a final high dune to be faced by thesea and a very long stretch of beach. This is obviously very popularfor bathing in the Summer but there were also plenty of people herenow, walking, riding horses or cycling.

We walked into a strongbreeze all along the beach until we reached the large resort ofNoordwijk. We had been told that there was a Chinese restaurant hereand we soon found it. Their special lunch menu was Nasi Goreng so weheaded on in and ordered it. It wasn't the Indonesian Nasi Gorengthat we remembered but it was very good and the pot of China tea wentdown very well with it.

After buying aselection of Dutch cheese from a very good cheese shop in the town,we walked back on the land side of the dunes. A very pleasant walkand excellent lunch.

Photos: The beach atNoordwijk.

Tuesday 25th October – Noordwijkerhout, Holland

2011-10-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

It was only arelatively short drive over to the Dutch coast but we wanted to stopat the old city of Leiden on the way. It had rained overnight and wasvery overcast in the morning – not very auspicious for a walkaround a city.

We had no map of Leidennor we did we have any idea of where the suitable car parks were. Onthe journey we passed many windmills that had been used for pumpingwater from the land into the canals above. They looked very prettybut you will have to take my word for it as there was nowhere to stopto take photographs. We headed for a camperstop that Jane had foundin the Europe Stellplatz book that came with the one that we usedthroughout Germany. This turned out to be a park and ride car park(Haagweg), ideal for us. We got on the shuttle bus (included in theparking charge), which acted as a taxi and dropped each person offwhere they requested. It was then that we discovered that we were soclose to the centre of the city that we could have walked in within10 minutes.

Unfortunately, theweather forecast turned out to be correct and it was cold and rainingmost of our time in Leiden. We both liked the city with its manycanals, bridges and pretty architecture. There were even twowindmills, one of which, a museum, was shrouded in scaffolding andplastic sheeting. Our only regret was that we didn't see thearchitecture above street level because the ever-present umbrellablocked the view. We will have to return in better weather –strolling around the centre in warm sun would be lovely. We tried tohave Nasi Goreng for lunch but failed to find anywhere serving it sowe opted for another Dutch speciality – Pannekoeken. There werethree restaurants in the main square specialising in these pancakes,one of which offers 100 options – sweet and savoury. We were bothfeeling savoury so Jane had apple, bacon and raisins and I had apple,bacon and cheese. The pancakes are thicker and larger (over a footacross) than those in France and they were both delicious and veryfilling.

The car park cost €6for 4-6 hours and for another €5 we could have stayed for 24 hoursbut we decided to move on to the coast. The De Duinpan campsite isjust outside Noordwijkerhout in oneof the famous bulb field areas. Obviously there aren't any fields oftulips at this time of the year but we did pass a few fields full offlowers.

Bythe time that we arrived, it was getting close to dusk so we found apitch in the surprisingly busy site, connected to the electricity andhunkered down with the fan heater on.

Photos: Bikes are verypopular in Leiden as this multi-storey bike park shows; Jane inheaven enjoying a Pannekoeken – only the one nearest to her ishers, honest; Space was obviously at a premium when this house wasbuilt.

Monday 24th October - Otterloo, Holland

2011-10-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Another frost thismorning but the forecast suggested that it was going to be slightlywarmer today and still dry and sunny. Definitely a cycling day.

The map that we hadbeen given had no scale so I wasn't quite sure how far I was going toget but a plotted an approximate route and set off. It soon becameclear that there are miles of excellent asphalted pathscriss-crossing the whole area and, in addition, even more compactedsand tracks that can be used by walker, cyclists and horse riders.After a while I came across a map board showing all of the routes inthe area and showing numbered locations where other map boards werelocated. This made it very easy to plot a route and to ensure that Istayed on track.

On the early part ofthe cycle I passed a number of rather good sculpture installations,next to the path and in the middle of nowhere. It added interest tothe trip and many people were stopping to look at them. I had noticeda number of towers on our walking map but couldn't understand exactlywhat they were. I had passed a mother and daughter (who seemed tochat continuously whether on riding or not) earlier and they passedme and then turned off the path. There was an observation tower hereand they cycled up its spiral ramp to the top. I followed and lookedat the view over moorland and the forest that I had cycled through.The orientation table showed me where the Otterloo church tower wasjust peeping above the trees in the distance.

I was heading for twoarchaeological features marked on the walking map – 'Celtic fields'and an unidentified site. When I got to the 'Celtic fields' I wasamazed to find a very recently built reconstruction of an 800BCfarmhouse. Turning left to the other unidentified site, I eventuallyfound the 'Germaanse Put' in a small copse in the middle of a fieldjust of the track. It became clear that this was an 800BC farm andwell and that the reconstructed house was based on an excavation onthis site. Returning to the Celtic Fields I found that they had beenprotected and the field boundary banks were still preserved.

In this area I passed alarge number of thatched houses, far outnumbering those with tiledroofs. I confess that I expect to see thatched houses in Somerset butI didn't expect to see them in Holland. Although when I thought aboutit, this area is low lying and has many wet areas, which, like theSomerset Levels, are ideal for growing the withies used in thatching.

Photos: One of thesculpture installations on the cycle path; The observation tower; Thereconstructed 800BC farmhouse.

Sunday 23rd October - Otterloo, Holland

2011-10-24T23:21:00.001-07:00

The alarm clock radiowas tuned to a channel that was playing lots of 60's and 70's musiclast night but this morning it was a deep discussion programme. Werealised just how different Dutch is from English, French and Germanand how little of spoken Dutch we could understand. In 20 minutes weunderstood the words 'socialist', 'liberal', 'Nederland' and 'okay' –we tuned to a music channel!

We are right on theedge of satellite reception of BBC channels and our 60cm dishcouldn't pick it up. This is a disaster as we won't be able to watchthe Rugby World Cup Final. I checked the Internet for possiblecoverage but couldn't find any. Next attempt was to find radiocoverage. The BBC are not covering it but TalkSport are so we listento the build up and at the kick-off, they announce that commentary isnot available outside the UK! Getting really desperate now.Eventually I find live text feed on PlanetRugby.com and give Jane acommentary as details are displayed every two minutes or so. Shortlybefore half time, I switch on the radio tuned into BBC Radio 4 longwave, expecting to hear commentary on the India v England one daymatch. However I am too early and Broadcasting House is on air. Thepresenter is talking to Henry Blofeld, who is shortly to becommentating on the cricket, and bizarrely asks him to commentate onthe Rugby World Cup Final. Henry, it appears, is in India watchingthe rugby on a television and his commentary is full of Blowerismssuch as 'My dear old thing' although there wasn't any mention ofbuses or pigeons. He only has a brief slot and it is clear that hiscricket knowledge is better than his rugby knowledge! However we didlearn that in his opinion New Zealand were well on top.

Back to the second halfon the Internet – it is tense just reading the updates. And it wastense right up to the end. I'm glad that New Zealand won – thewhole country loves rugby and they have been waiting a long time towin again. They were certainly the best team by far all the way up tothe final and France did very well to come so close to winning.

There was a very hardfrost this morning but the sun warmed everything up and by earlyafternoon it was very a very pleasant temperature, especially in thesun. The friendly campsite owner gave us a walks leaflet when wearrived and although it isn't very detailed, it gave us some ideas asto where we could walk. We set off towards the village and had aquick look around it before heading off into a park on the otherside. The whole area is very sandy but the moorland of the park is ondeep sand and walking on the sand paths was like walking on a beach.The park also had hills - a very rare thing in Holland although itmust be said that they were very small – 20 metres at the most. Wesubsequently discovered that the hills were actually sand dunes.

The last time that wevisited Holland was 37 years ago, before we were married, and one ofstrongest memories was of the food. Being students with very littlemoney (we stayed in segregated dormitories), we looked out for cheapfood. Two dishes that stood out were chips with mayonnaise and NasiGoreng (an Indonesian dish very popular in Holland). The former isknown as 'friets met' (chips with) – they don't even mention theword mayonnaise, that is taken for granted. Apparently, if you wantchips without mayonnaise, the phrase translates as 'chips without thewith'! We asked the campsite owner about the local availability ofboth delicacies although we probably won't be able to try both here.It turned out that there was a restaurant that produced very good'friets met' just down the forest track. We managed to include thison our walk and felt very decadent, but very happy, tucking intochips and mayonnaise at five o'clock in the afternoon.

Photos: A typical footand cycle path through the forest at Otterloo.

Saturday 22nd October – Otterloo, Holland

2011-10-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

Although the journey tothe National Park north of Arnhem was through flat land is wasprettier than we had expected. We started by crossing the border atOeding and if it hadn't have been for the signs, we would not haveknown. The border was between two houses on the outskirts of the townand there was no indication that a formal border had ever existed.

We were soon travellingon tree-lined roads and sometimes beside tree-lined canals. There wasa great deal of deciduous forest that was very pretty at this time ofyear. Our target was the ACSI approved t'Schinkel campsite nearHoenderloo. When we arrived it seemed very quiet and there was a notein Dutch on the reception window. I walked down into the site to findit deserted and when I got back, Jane had deciphered some of thewords on the note. It appears that the bank pulled the plug on thecampsite and it closed on the 1^st October this year.

There were a number ofothers in the area so we plugged in a couple of coordinates into thesat nav and set off. We decided that the gods were against us as theroad to the first site in Otterloo had a 'no entry' sign on it and anincomprehensible sign in Dutch. We turned away initially but thendiscovered that the campsite was only just beyond the sign and therewas no other route to it. We ignored the signs and ploughed on. Thelast section of the road was dirt track but when we got to the Beeken Hei reception there was a warm welcome and the campsite is verypleasant. It is surrounded by forest and has footpaths and cycletracks running past it. We settled down in a very sunny pitch and satout to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

Photos: Beek en Hei –parked up under the WiFi mast.

Friday 21st October – Darfeld, Germany

2011-10-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

We plotted a routethrough the Harz mountains bypassing Braulage and driving through thepretty town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. There were many opportunitiesfor walking all along this route and the campsite just east ofClausthal-Zellerfeld looked to be in a very good position forwalking. The weather was lovely, sunny and clear, and that made thescenery ever more attractive. One of the main reasons for visitingthe Harz was to decided whether we would want to return for a longervisit at some time in the future. The answer to that question is adefinite yes, preferably when the weather is warmer. In addition tothe walking there seems to be quite a lot of this to do in the area.Goslar is a beautiful town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and thereare silver mines and museums to visit.

As we travelled throughthe mountains we saw much evidence of mining although it appearedthat most of the mines were closed. Leaving the national park at itsnorth-west corner, the autumnal colours suddenly became much morevibrant and we passed many areas of woodland blazing in vivid reds,browns and yellows. In fact the scenery for the whole of the morningwas lovely right up until we joined the motorway just south ofBielefeld. After that the land flattened out and lost much of itsinterest.

We arrived at thestellplatz in Darfeld, west of Munster, and the architecture and thenumber of people riding those sit-up-and-beg bicycles told us that wewere close to the Dutch border. It was only mid-afternoon so we hadtime to investigate the town. This turned out to be fairlyuninteresting with the exception of a schloss (country house) on theedge of the town. It is a private house so it is not possible to gettoo close to it but it is very attractive and its position on a smallisland in the river makes it quite unusual. On the edge of the moatis an old mill that still has its mill wheel.

Darfeld is obviously avery religious town with large wooden and stone crosses and the stonesculpted stations of the cross scattered all over the town.

Photos: The schloss inDarfeld.

Thursday 20th October - Hohegeiss, Harz Mountains, Germany

2011-10-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

When we woke up thismorning, it was raining and very cold. By 11:00 it was hailing andthe temperature had not risen above 5°Cand it was looking as though we would be spending the day in the vanreading and watching DVDs. However after lunch the sun appearedbriefly and the temperature rose to the heady heights of 6°C.We decided to take the risk and, putting on lots of layers, hats andgloves, we set off on a short walk around the village. We were verylucky – the rain held off and the sun shone most of the time, so weextended the walk to include some of the lovely countryside and viewsover the Harz mountains. Then it was back to the campsite and put onHenrietta's heating to make it cosy.

There was a red sunset,so we hope for better weather tomorrow.

Photos: View from thecentre of Hohegeiss, the foreground is a ski slope in the winter; Aview over the Harz from Hohegeiss with its highest point in thedistance.

Wednesday 19th October – Hohegeiss, Harz Mountains, Germany

2011-10-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

After queuing to emptywaste water and fill with fresh water, we set off from Berlin. TheBerlin-Mitte stellplatz worked out very well for us and it extremelywell positioned for visiting Berlin. Our pitch, backing on to thesports field and on the side furthest from the road, was relativelyquiet but a pitch next to the road would have been very noisy. Thesite was either full or very nearly full every night that we werethere so if you want to stay here, don't leave it too late in theday.

Our journey took usmostly on motorways and dual carriageways until we approached theHarz mountains. We diverted slightly from the direct route in orderto drive up the Bode Valley. Exposed rock stacks stood high aboveThale and minor roads took us to Treseburg where we took theextremely pretty route up the valley. From this point on we saw lotsof walkers, it is obviously a very popular area, and they wereenjoying the sunny weather.

Just before we turnedsouth to reach Hohengeiss we passed a sign that stated that we werepassing the old East German border. This explained why the minorroads that we had been travelling on had been in such a poor stateand in the villages it was clear that the cobblestoned streets hadsimply been given a thin coat of asphalt.

As we approached the AmBarenbache campsite, the weather deteriorated, the temperaturedropped and it was soon raining.

Photos: Treseburg inthe lovely Bode Valley.

Thursday 13th to Tuesday 18th October - Berlin, Germany

2011-10-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Equipped with 7-daytravel tickets we explored Berlin using S-Bahn (surface railway),U-Bahn (underground railway), buses, trams and a great deal ofwalking. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, especiallyconsidering that it rained on our way to Berlin on Wednesday. It wascold, sometimes as low as 8ºC,but we had wall-to-wall sunshine and beautiful blue skies until abouttwo hours before Ann and Nick were due to leave when the cloudsgathered and we had gentle drizzle.

Highlights of the weekfor me, apart from being with Ann and Nick, were the Reichstag Dome(wonderful views over Berlin, excellent Norman Foster design and avery good audio guide), the Pergamon and Altes Museums (archaeology)and the Berlin Wall Memorial Site. The latter is an outdoorexhibition between the Nordbahnhof and Bernauer Strasse U-Bahnstations and includes a section of original Berlin Wall. The MichelinGuide only makes a casual mention of it but it is essential viewingfor anyone who is interested in the Berlin Wall. I suspect that ithas been improved and added to over the last couple of years andconsists of many installations all along that stretch of BernauerStrasse. Nordbahnhof station has been left as it looked when the wallwas built as it was closed during the whole life of the wall,becoming a so-called 'ghost station'. An exhibition in the stationtakes about the other 'ghost stations' some of which, were passedthrough every day by West Berliners travelling on lines that brieflydipped into East Berlin. East German police guarded the stationplatforms to ensure that the trains didn't stop.

Just outside thestation is a visitors' centre (we didn't visit this due to lack oftime) and this is then followed by a modern church marking the siteof one demolished by the DDR when they reinforced the wall. A sectionof the wall has been restored complete with the second wall on theDDR side and the so-called 'Killing Zone' between them overlooked bya control tower. A Documentation Centre has been built opposite hereand has a tower attached that allows visitors to climb to a heightwhere the walls can be viewed. All along the road there areinstallations that give information, in German and English, about thehistory and construction of the wall, the buildings around it and theescapes that took place in that area. This includes photographs,voice recordings of the stories of the people and even a number ofvideos – all in the outside installations. This free exhibitioncome highly recommended. More detail is covered in the CheckpointCharlie Museum but reading, hearing and seeing the stories in theplace where they happened made them so real.

Some of the othersights that we saw were: The East Side Gallery (sections of the wallpainted by many artists); Brandenburg Gate and Unter Den Linden(architecture); The Holocaust Memorial (very well presented andheartbreaking); Potsdam; The Checkpoint Charlie Museum (very busy,chaotic layout, not cheap at €12.50 but absolutely fascinating andworth the money).

Our favouriterestaurant was Max & Moritz in Oranienstrasse (recommended by afriend of Ann's niece – thanks Kate), which has excellenttraditional German food, a good atmosphere and lovely beer(especially their unfiltered house beer).

Photos: One of the manypaintings on the wall at the East Side Gallery; A view of the wallfrom the observation tower on Bernauer Strasse; A small section altarfrieze of Pergamon, an ancient Greek site in Turkey; There were anumber of multi-person peddle-power tours available of the citycentre – this one allowed you to drink beer whilst peddling away. Idoubt whether much sightseeing was done but it looks like great fun;The mirrors under the Reichstag Dome designed to reflect light intothe parliament building below; It was the Festival of Lights whilstwe were there and many buildings were floodlit.

Wednesday 12th October – Berlin, Germany

2011-10-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Rain overnight and a wet start to our journey to the big city – Berlin. We plotted a route via the castle at Stolpen and saw it but declined to stop and investigate further.
We filled up with fuel at an agricultural merchant that only sold diesel – quite an experience – and we were soon on the motorway north of Dresden. Driving was easy despite the A13 being reduced in many sections to two narrow lanes with a 60 or 80 km/h (40 or 50 mph) speed restriction. In England, due to the volume of traffic, this would have caused chaos and long delays but here it really didn't cause a problem. On many sections of the motorway there are no speed restriction at all and a minority of drivers took advantage and passed as at huge speeds, well over 100 mph.
The Berlin-Mitte stellplatz is true to its name, it is in the middle of Berlin, just two minutes walk from the Reinickendorfer underground railway station. It might not be as close to the centre as the Dresden stellplatz is but it is the best position for exploring the city. The reception office is closed on Wednesday afternoon so we found a pitch ourselves, backing onto a sports ground and well away from the road. As a city stellplatz, we weren't expecting spacious pitches and we didn't get one but it is quite acceptable. The site is advertised as having toilets and showers but there is only one of each for men and women and with 45 motorhomes on the site (and it is full as I write this), the facilities could get quite busy!
We having been looking forward to tomorrow for some time. Our great friends, Ann & Nick are flying out from England to join us in Berlin, staying in an hotel just a few tube stations down from our stellplatz. We are meeting up with them in the morning and will probably spend the morning catching up on news and planning for the week ahead.
Photos: The cosy Berlin-Mitte stellplatz – Henrietta is in the far corner..

Tuesday 11th October – Sebnitz, Germany

2011-10-24T12:58:00.001-07:00

We had decided to stay for two days in Sebnitz to give us an opportunity to see the town but after hearing the rain all night, we were beginning to doubt whether it would be possible. Fortunately, the rain started to ease and by 10:30 it had stopped although the skies were as grey and low as ever.
The stellplatz is on the side of the town that we approached from, so we hadn't seen anything of the town centre. It was a five minute walk down and there we found a pleasant centre with many more shops that we had seen in similar sized towns. It was clear that this was a market town for the area and it was also a tourist centre. The tourist information centre was based at a silk flower factory – Sebnitz is famous for its silk flowers and there are many factories producing some high quality, very realistic flowers. The tourist office was positively busy, which was a surprise and it was obvious that Saxon Switzerland was a very popular tourist destination for the Germans.
We wandered around the town and nearly walked past the church as it looked like yet another German church. However a sign said that it was open and we were tempted in. Much of Germany is Roman Catholic but Saxony is largely Protestant and this church, Peter-Pauls-Kirche, was Lutheran. Very plain pews contrasted with the beautifully painted wooden galleries – two storeys of them! The wooden ceiling was also covered in paintings, each square naming a family that lived in Sebnitz or the surrounding area. All of this carpentry and painting dated to 1619 and appears not to have been restored. The pulpit was even earlier, dating to 1564 although this had been renovated in 2001. A wooden statue of the Madonna (mid 16th century) and crucifix (late 16th or early 17th century) were also very impressive. This church is a real treasure and well worth a visit.
We arrived back at Henrietta after our circular walk without getting wet. Needless to say it started raining again in the evening.
Photos: A display of Sebnitz silk flowers; Three views of the Peter Paul Church – the nave, the ceiling and one of the painted panels.

Monday 10th October – Sebnitz, Germany

2011-10-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

On this trip we have visited Switzerland, Franconian Switzerland and we are now off to Saxon Switzerland.
The weather is absolutely appalling – it rained all night and rained on all of our journey south of the Elbe river, crossing at Bad Schandau and travelling north to Sebnitz. There were probably some lovely views on the way but with the mist and low cloud, we didn't see any. However, just outside Bad Schandau we took the minor road signposted to Hinterhermsdorf and suddenly the journey became much more interesting. We past the terminus of a tram line and found ourselves in a narrow river valley with the tram line taking up the right side of the road. There was a 50 km/h (30 mph) speed limit on the road and this was very sensible as you were quite likely to turn a corner to find a tram coming directly towards you. Fortunately I had anticipated that and when it subsequently happened I was ready for it. However, Jane did find it a little disturbing! The valley was really beautiful and we would love to walk in it some time when it is not raining.
After a brief look at Hinterhermsdorf we stopped for an indoor picnic before travelling to Sebnitz. Here we found the stellplatz, plugged into the electricity and settled in for the afternoon. At about 16:00, the drizzle finally stopped ....... that was when the rain started! It was certainly not a day for exploring the town.
Photos: When the weather is this bad, there is only one thing to do – play Scrabble.

Sunday 9th October – Dresden, Germany

2011-10-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

Another thought behind staying outside Dresden last night was that the drive in on a Sunday morning should be easy and indeed it was. We arrived at the stellplatz (Dresden-Centrum) before 09:30 and within 5 minutes were in the very centre of the historic centre. That was the good news, but it was absolutely freezing – about 6ºC and windy. The temperature drop over the last few days has been huge – only three days ago we were wearing T-shirts but now Jane was wearing five layers!
In February 1945 the British carpet bombed Dresden, totally destroying the historic centre and creating a fire storm that killed more than 35,000 people. It is a testament to the German people that they have rebuilt the city and so many of the beautiful buildings, the latest of which, the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady), for long a ruin representing the destruction of Dresden, was re-opened in 2005. When in these buildings it is very difficult to believe that they are not old, so faithful has been the reconstruction.
We followed a walking tour in the Michelin Guide, diverting into the new town on the other side of the river at one point. It was here that we popped into a café for a soup (me) and a coffee and cake (Jane) to warm up. I had fish soup, which in true German style had lumps of smoked bacon in it – it was delicious.
After getting very cold again we were glad to get back to the van for a hot drink. We then attempted to find an Internet connection, something that we have failed to achieve since leaving Switzerland. It turned out to be much more difficult that we expected. We started at the hotel connected with the stellplatz that we were staying at. They had previously confirmed that they had wireless Internet and that we were entitled to use it, they had even issued us with a username and password. I tried to get on but although the laptop recognized the network it couldn't connect. The Hotel receptionist lent us the hotel laptop and spent a good ten minutes trying to get it to work. Eventually she thought that she had succeeded but although it displayed the BBC home page, it wouldn't access anything else. The receptionist, in an apologetic way, recommended McDonalds. Now it is against my religion to visit McDonalds but the only time I make an exception is for the greater good i.e. Internet access. We walked into the city centre and found a seat in McDonalds with a power point nearby. Jane enquired about Internet access and was given a leaflet in German explaining how to use it. She got us two milkshakes (very tasty and very rich) and I attempted to get on to the Internet. After some time we discovered that only the first hour was free (not a problem) and you had to have a password sent to your mobile phone by text message. When we entered our phone number, it complained that it wasn't a German phone number. When Jane asked one of the staff, they immediately confirmed that we had to have a German mobile phone number in order to use the Internet. We finished our milkshakes and left. Finally we found a Starbucks and that allowed Internet access without the need for text messages sent to mobile phones. Most of the customers were using laptops, which was encouraging but I decided to ensure that we could get on before we bought a coffee. The laptop recognized the network (BT Openzone!!!) but would not connect. It might have been due to the number of people using the Internet but after a number of unsuccessful attempts, we gave up and went back to the van. Very frustrating.
Photos: Ehemalige Katholische Hofkirche (Dresden Cathedral); There are many ways of seeing the sights such as a variety of horse-drawn carriages, vintage buses, bicycle tours but our favourite was this stretched Trabant; The gilded statue of August the Strong in the New Town; The Frauenkirche.

Saturday 8th October – Zschaitz-Ottewig, Germany

2011-10-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Our reason for stayingin the area was to visit Colditz Castle, used in WWII as a POW campfor prisoners of many nationalities who were either very important(e.g. related to Winston Churchill or the Queen) or most commonlywere officer rank POWs who had been involved in escape attempts fromother POW camps. As a child, I obtained a copy of the book Colditz byPat Reid and it caught my imagination as it did with many otherchildren, especially boys, of my generation. The tales of escapes andattempted escapes were quite incredible and I really wanted to seethe castle for myself. This feeling was reinforced by the film andtelevision series that came later. Some friends, Tim and Mary,visited Colditz earlier this year and Tim especially sung its praisesand he also lent me another Colditz book. By coincidence, the digitaltelevision channel Yesterday recently screened all of the Colditztelevision series and a documentary. We watched a couple of these athome and I brought the others with us on DVD. Given that Berlin wasdefinitely on our itinerary and Colditz is only a little way south,we decided that we had to see it.

Driving the shortdistance to Colditz, we parked in the Lidl's car park and walked upto the castle. Entry was only €3 but we knew that thehour-and-a-half guided tour at €7 would be well the extra money. Itwas before 11:00 but we were told that the next guided tour would notbe until 13:00. We set off to find the railway station, in view ofthe castle and a very important part of many escape attempts.Although we had crossed the railway line at a level crossing on theway, it was obvious that the station had been closed for some timeand saplings were growing well between the train tracks. Wesubsequently found out that the line had been closed for 10 years.Back to Lidl's for some shopping and a quick bite of lunch before weset off again for the castle.

There we met anotherEnglish couple, living on a boat in Northern France, and these werethe only other people on our exclusive guided tour. The guide wasexcellent, explaining the history of the castle and then taking usaround the outside and inside of parts of the castle to show us whereand how famous escape attempts were made. He had a good sense ofhumour and was happy to answer questions. One of the highlights wasseeing the French tunnel from the chapel to the wine cellar and beingtold that the British officers drank most of the Colditz fine wineskept in the cellar. They replaced the bottles after they had drunkthe contents, replacing the contents with “somethingunmentionable”. Another highlight was seeing the area where theykept the V.I.P. prisoners and being told the story of MichaelAlexander. He was in a special unit and was captured behind Germanlines whilst wearing civilian clothes and, considered a spy, he wastold that he would be shot. He told the Germans that they shouldn'tshoot him because he was a nephew of Field Marshall Alexander. Hespent the rest of the war as a V.I.P. prisoner but was actually norelation of the Field Marshall.

The museum was verygood, holding many original items from the escape attempts such asforged documents, home-made sewing machines and cartridge cases, gunholsters and even a rifle made from cardboard. It also explained therole of MI9 who sent much escape material such as money, maps anddocuments hidden in books and records in Red Cross parcels. MI9 evensent plans of Colditz Castle that they discovered in the BritishLibrary and these were shared with the French to help them with theirtunnelling.

I could go on for hoursabout Colditz, I haven't even mentioned the glider that they built,but it would be much better if you could go yourselves – startplanning now!

We woke this morning topouring rain that drowned out (sic) the radio alarm but we managed toavoid the rain in Colditz until we walked back to Henrietta. It wasonly a short walk of less than 10 minutes but it started to pour downand then to hail. We got rather wet!

We were planning to goto Dresden tonight but time was getting on and we decided to aim fora stellplatz at Zschaitz-Ottewig.Our Stellplatz book showed this as being on a small lake and giventhat it was only 45 minutes from Dresden, it would be a more pleasantand cheaper place to stay. As you will see from the photograph, itwas indeed very pleasant.

Photos: Colditz Castledominates the town; These photographs were taken by the Germans afterthe attempted escape by a Frenchman (left) disguised as a Germanworker (right). The escape attempt failed only because, unknown tothe POWs, the Germans had changed the colour of the passes the daybefore; The French tunnel in the wine cellar; The radio room hiddenin the attic. It was built by the French from parts smuggled intoColditz and was handed over to the British when the French weretransferred from Colditz. It was never discovered by the Germans; A typical room for twoofficer POWs; After the rain at the Zschaitz-Ottewigstellplatz.

Friday 7th October – Bad Lausick, Germany

2011-10-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Stadtsteinachcampsite was very pleasant and there are plenty of walks to keeppeople occupied. Opposite the site is a very good heated publicswimming pool and it looked as though it had been open until veryrecently. A good place to stay and we will certainly bear it in mindwhen we are in the area again.

We headed north today,climbing onto the Frankenwald plateau in good weather. However thatdid not last and the rain started – short showers at first but rainfor much of the journey. The route to the plateau took us up part ofthe pretty Rodach valley where forestry in the main trade and wherethe dangerous skill of rafting was used to get the timber down fromthe higher forests to the sawmills. In the valley we saw anotherrestored water-powered sawmill identical to that at Stadtsteinach.

Some our journey wasspent on the 'Castles and Beer' route but, as I was driving, I wasn'table to enjoy the beer. We did however stop at a supermarket and Ibought a selection of beers – the choice is huge and the pricesvery reasonable at between 30 and 70 pence for half litre bottles.This compares very favourably with England where it is difficult tofind a half litre can of beer for less than £1. Many of the beersstocked are local which is a bit of a problem for me as, by the timethat I have established that I really like a particular beer, we haveleft the area.

The sat nav took had afunny five minutes when it decided to take us on a section that wasneither main road nor the shortest distance. However we were quitehappy to follow it as it took past a series of lakes, part of a largehydro-electric scheme just outside Kaulsdorf.

We arrived at the basicstellplatz at Bad Lausick in the rain. There are no facilities herebut it is quiet and there was plenty of space in the car park.

Photos: An unidentifiedcastle on the 'Castle and Beer' route.

Thursday 6th October - Stadtsteinach, Germany

2011-10-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jane spottedthat the town square was to be closed from 07:00 this morningalthough we couldn't establish why. Thinking that it would probablybe a market, we decided to investigate. We arrived to discover a verysmall funfair under construction – quite a disappointment! Howeverthat gave us the opportunity to start our walk a little earlier thananticipated.

There were two walksand two maps of the locality on large boards in the car park of thecampsite and on the way into the town there was another boarddetailing a mill walk. This looked interesting but the complete walk,in a figure of eight, was very long so we opted for the bottom circleof the figure of eight. Packing a picnic and wet weather gear (it waswarm but still grey and threatening) we set off. We climbed the hillof Hainberg (524 metres) behind the campsite and found a smallancient monument on the top. We had been getting withdrawal symptomsfrom lack of archaeology so it was good to find some. The walk thentook us through the forest and a riot of fungi. In England it isquite unusual to see the pretty Fly Agaric fungi, also known as theMagic Mushroom, but we saw many hundreds on this walk. They look verypretty with a colour that can vary from a deep red-orange to almost abuff and every shade in between. There are often a number of them ina group in varying stages of development – an orange,white-speckled ball bursting through the forest floor to a fully openspecimen often nibbled by slugs. Given that the mushrooms have anhallucinogenic effect on humans, I wonder whether it has the sameeffect on slugs? I took a look at at few but it is difficult to tella spaced-out slug from an ordinary one! There were lots of otherfungi including a lot of edible boletus mushrooms and there wasevidence of discarded stalks from fungi hunters. These can commandquite a high price and we have seen many for sale in greengrocers.

On the stretch on thewalk from Having we caught a glimpse of the quarry through the trees.It was quite large but in a very confined valley and with very high,steep faces. It had the advantage of the quarry where I worked, TorrWorks in Somerset, in that it is well hidden, making it much moreacceptable to the local community. Having walked over another smallrise, we descended to the river Steinach at Neumuhle (New Mill), wellnamed due to the mill of the same name (it was new once). This, likemany of the mills in the area, has become a guest house andrestaurant. It was interesting to see that the mill had beenconverted to small-scale electricity generation, something that Ihave always been surprised is not done more often with watermillsthat are not appropriate for restoration.

We found that we hadjoined a geology trail that had boards that appeared to tell thestory of the earth's rock formation with some reference to thegeology of the area. It appeared that we were walking in an ancientvolcano and we soon came to a large volcanic rock outcrop, known asSteinachklamm, that diverted the river and towered high above it.

We had expected tofollow the river on its gentle descent to Stadtsteinach but, as weleft Steinachklamm we immediately climbed high above the river andcontinued for some time before we descended to river level again. Alittle later we came across another mill 'Waffenhammer' a hammer millapparently used to produce weapons. There was a small drift mineentrance just by the mill and we passed another a little later in thewalk that had a sign explaining that it was a former copper mine.

Ascending again wereached Burgruine Nordeck, ruins of a 16^th century castlethat defended the valley. If our translation is correct, there was acastle on the site from the year 1000 but this was destroyed in 1528during some sort of peasants revolt.

After descending to theriver again, we approached Stadtsteinach and came across our thirdmill. Schneidmuhle is a sawmill built in 1865 and restored in 1982and it was good to see that the waterwheel was not only in positionbut was running.

We had only had a briefand very light shower earlier in the walk but it now started to rainand it looked as though it wasn't going to be a short shower. Weincreased our pace on the final leg to the campsite passing a largemodern sawmill with that powerful and lovely smell of freshly sawnpine.

A little soggy after amost enjoyable walk of about 10 miles, we decided that today was thetime to try some Bavarian cooking and the campsite restaurant was thebest place as it didn't involve a long walk in the rain! We orderedtwo beers and discovered that we were drinking beer brewed in Stadtsteinach and very good it was too. We were handed that night'smenu which consisted of a choice of four main courses and we setabout attempting to translate them using a German-English dictionary.The only word that we could find was 'knuckle'. The waitress didn'tspeak any English but one of the other customers suggested that thelast two dishes (including the 'knuckle') were “beef”. She alsoshowed us her plate, at a distance, but that didn't help much as itjust appeared to be a sea of white. She also told us that it was“quite hot” and we assumed that this wasn't the beef. So I hadthe 'knuckle' and Jane had the other one. Our Bavarian guidebooktells us that the traditional Bavarian food is heavy and is usuallymeat (lots of) and one veg. It also says that “meat” invariablymeans pork as the average German gets through 56 kg (123 lbs) of itevery year! The book was quite correct. Jane's dish was indeed thesame as the other lady's – two large slices of gammon and two largewhite semolina dumplings all set in a huge amount of white sauce sothat the thick gammon was completely submerged. Mine was exactly thesame except that the gammon slices were replaced by a huge gammonhock. I must say that the gammon was very nice and the sauce tastedgood, if a little spicy and then I breathed out through by nose,which was suddenly on fire. I don't know how much mustard they put itthe sauce but it would have kept us going for a year of roast beefSunday dinners. Jane acquired a rosy complexion and beads of sweatwere breaking out on my brow but I was not going to be defeated. Themeal did require another large glass of beer on my part but I gotthere and enjoyed it in a masochistic kind of way. Oh, I nearlyforgot to mention the little surprise – in the middle of thedumplings were some pieces of pork fat, like soggy pork crackling. Wedecided that, if we ate like that on a regular basis, our likeexpectancy would be dramatically reduced!

Photos: The ancientmonument at Hainberg, which demonstrates a connection with Ireland asthey obviously have 'Little People' here as well!; A selection offungi from the walk – Fly Agaric top left, bracket fungus bottomleft, and two types of boletus mushrooms on the right; A wonderfuljester sculpture outside the Waffenhammer mill; Burgruine Nordeck.

Wednesday 5th October - Stadtsteinach, Germany

2011-10-12T07:48:00.001-07:00

So much for 'red sky atnight, a shepherd's delight'! Today dawned very grey and we had acouple of very light showers over breakfast. The temperature had alsodropped quite a lot since yesterday when we had been walking aroundin T-shirts.

It was a day of lots ofchores but we did have the opportunity to have a wander into thetown. Close to the campsite, on the edge of the town is a largequarry but it is hidden up a small valley, which meant that we didn'thear any sound from it. On the way into the centre we crossed theriver and two mill streams. Mills are a feature of the Frankenwaldand nearby Franconian Switzerland as the high land is punctuated bynarrow, steep valleys that are ideal for providing water power forsawmills and for crushing the iron ore found here.

Climbing the hill wereached the small town square with its impressive church (rebuilt inthe 1990's) and a good selection of bars and eating places. Apartfrom three bakeries, we didn't see any food shops so it was a goodjob that we had stocked up on the way yesterday. Stadtsteinach is apleasant town but blighted somewhat by the busy 303 road that runsthrough it with many heavy lorries, especially quarry lorries,thundering through its main street.

Photos: Detail of oneof a number of carved wooden processional staffs from Stadtsteinachchurch.

Tuesday 4th October – Stadtsteinach, Germany

2011-10-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Rothenburg isdefinitely our favourite place on the sojourn so far and is a 'mustvisit' if you are travelling through this area of Germany. We enteredthe walled town through a semi-circular bastion bristling with cannonand after walking through a second defensive gateway we found stepsup onto the walkway around the town walls. This provided excellentviews over the city roofs and towers and gave the opportunity toexplore the various gateways on the way. Having walked round overhalf of the walls, the walkway stopped at the north-east gate ofKlingentor and we walked through the streets and then outside thewalls until we reached the impressive Burgtor (Castle Gate) where weadmired the lovely wooded views from the Castle Gardens. Continuingoutside the walls we walked just above the vineyards and found abench to rest and enjoy the warm sunshine.

Re-entering the city wewalked up the main street to the market square. Here theRatstrinkstube, a former drinking house, has a clock dating from 1910that celebrates a famous event from the Thirty Years War. In 1631 theProtestant town was captured by General Tilly's 40,000 Catholictroops who then pillaged it for three months. Tilly's was going toraze the town but on a whim said that he would save it if a localcould drink a Meistertrunk of wine in one go. A former town mayor,Georg Nusch, took up the challenge and drank the 3 litres in tenminutes. He survived and so did the town but it is reported that ittook him a few days to recover! As the clock struck one, GeneralTilly appeared in a window on the left and Georg Nush with histankard appeared in a window on the right. He raised his tankard tohis mouth and slowly drained it. A great story!

We found a small caféoff the main street and had an excellent pasta salad. This allowed usto keep going for another couple of hours investigating more of thelovely town.

Returning to the van,we found it surrounded by gypsies in caravans who had occupied alarge part of the motorhome parking area. We hadn't decided whetherto move on or spend another night in Rothenburg but when the childrenstarted asking us for money, that made our mind up.

We had thought ofstopping at another stellplatz in Bamberg but we decided to leavethat for another visit to Germany and headed instead forStadtsteinach in the Frankenwald. The journey was pretty with anumber of Schloss (castle) sightings and we arrived at the campsiteat 19:00 with a lovely sunset promising good weather for tomorrow. Bythe time that we had booked in, filled with water and settled down,time was getting on so I opened a tin of ravioli for dinned. Myculinary talents know no bounds!

Photos: Rothenburg townwall and walkway; The famous clock; The Castle Gate; Plonlein Squareis the most photographed place in Rothenburg showing two town gatesand the pretty houses.

Monday 3rd October - Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

2011-10-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

We were in two mindsregarding our plans for today. There was something happening in thetown today (German Reunification Day public holiday) but what littleinformation we had defied translation using our German-Englishdictionary. Jane thought that it might be some sort of procession butwe didn't know. We decided to move on and as we navigated our way outof the town we encountered more diversions as the road closures hadbeen extended. It was clear that many people were heading for BadSchussenfried and when we passed a wagon on a trailer we came to theconclusion that Jane's procession theory was probably correct.

On the recommendationof the Michelin Germany and Cadogan Bavaria guides, we headed forRothenburg ob der Tauber but decided to stop at Dinkelsbuhl (alsorecommended) on the way. Dinkelsbuhl is a mediaeval walled town andis full of beautiful half-timbered houses. The main church and thetown's symbol St. George is quite spectacular – thin and very tallwith graceful pillars lit by huge spear-shaped windows. The town wasvery busy, it being a holiday Monday, but it was easy to lose thecrowds by walking off the main drag. We spent a very pleasant coupleof hours wandering the streets.

On then to Rothenburgob der Tauber where we parked on the southern edge of the town at acar park with 50 places for motorhomes. It was busy but we found aplace with the ability to connect into a metered electricity supply.

Photos: A coveredbridge leads through the city walls into Dinkelsbuhl; Lovely variedarchitecture in Dinkelsbuhl.

Sunday 2nd October - Bad Schussenfried, Germany

2011-10-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact thatwe could hear every song very clearly in the van last night, wedropped off to sleep almost immediately and had an excellent night'ssleep.

We were determined toget into the tent today and headed to it in the late afternoon justafter the church service had been broadcast from it across the fieldsto Henrietta. This time here was no crowd outside – they were allinside! There were hundreds of people sat at tables in the vastmarquee but there were plenty of spaces so we chose a table in frontof, but not too close to, the large stage where a band was settingup. By far the majority of people were wearing traditional dress –very pretty dirndels for the women and, not so pretty in my opinion,ledenhosen for the men. A leaflet gave us a menu and drinks pricelist and also showed the programme for the weekend in the festivaltent. It appeared that the only chargeable events were in theevening, the remainder being free entry. It has always been one of myobjectives in life to drink beer from one of those enormous 1 litresteins (known as a Mass) that they have at German beer festivals.Here was my opportunity, in fact there was no choice as that was theonly way they served it. Many couples were sharing one between themand we did the same. When we ordered a refill, difficulty intranslation resulted in a horrible error – we ended up with a litreof Radler, a lager shandy. I drank some of this but couldn't cope andwas forced to order my own Mass of Schusserieder Original No. 1,leaving the shandy to Jane.

The food was good andthe music was good, again punctuated by that drinking refrain and,yes, they did all raise their steins of foaming beer whilst singingit. We, or at least I, could have stayed their all afternoon but Iprobably wouldn't have made it back to the van later, so we headed ofto the town to investigate it in the daylight. On the way we admireda display of vintage tractors, some with caravans attached.

The former abbey wasvery pretty, as was its church. The Brewery Museum bar was packed andthere were crowds sat out in its beer garden enjoying the sun (themist cleared earlier today) and another oompah band. Back in the mainstreet we came across another band who played humorous songs (judgingfrom the crowd reaction but lost on us) and also Beatles numbers. Atthe end of their spot they played an encore of 'My Butterfly' –Jane was somewhat taken aback as she had been given a copy of thatsingle, in French, as a present when she was on a German schoolexchange visit nearly 40 years ago!

When we got back to thevan we found four tractors with their caravans attached parked up byus!

The evening was spentwatching a DVD before going to bed with the lullaby of the oompahmusic.

Photos: The OktoberFest marquee showing about a third of its area; Two drinkers enjoyingtheir beer; These two circulated inside and outside of the marqueeselling bread shaped like pretzels; A vintage tractor and trailerthat had travelled twice on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela inSpain – they must be very keen tractor and Roman Catholicenthusiasts!

Saturday 1st October - Bad Schussenfried, Germany

2011-10-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

When we were planningour trip early in September, I had found mention of a prehistoriclake village museum (Pfahlbau Museum) on the shore of Lake Constance.Close to us in Somerset, archaeologists discovered the GlastonburyLake Village and the Sweet Track, uncovered during peat extraction onthe Somerset Levels, is the oldest known trackway in the world. Wewere therefore very interested in the museum and, given that it wasso close to Zurich, it was put on our 'must visit' list.

Once again it was verymisty and there was no chance of enjoying the views over LakeConstance on the way. However, when we arrived at the museum inUhldingen the murky weather added to the atmosphere and it was easierto imagine the Stone Age and Bronze Age people going about theirdaily lives.

The museum consists ofa collection of reconstructed Stone and Bronze Age houses set onpiles above the lake close to the shore. They are based on finds fromthe hundred or so settlements found on or by lakes in the LakeConstance area. Uhldingen itself had a huge Bronze Age settlement ofsome 80 houses surrounded by a palisade although this appears to beenon dry-ish land on the lakeside.

The guided tour took usto two of the reconstructed Stone Age houses where the guideexplained in great detail, unfortunately in German that was wellbeyond our understanding, about life in the Stone and Bronze Ages. Wewere however able to see the construction of the houses withkitchens, storage, working and sleeping areas. The houses were fullof reconstructed artefacts such as pottery, furniture, cookingutensils, ovens, fishing nets and traps and many other tools. Thehouses were themed by trade such as 'The Potter's House', 'TheWeaver's House' etc. although it was made clear that this was done toassist in organising the tourists visits. There is no evidence thatindividuals followed a single trade. The tools and techniques weredemonstrated by the guide and these we could understand. Flour wasproduced using a pair of grinding stones, fire produced by strikingflint with a piece of fool's gold, hand axes were drilled to enablethem to be fitted to a wooden shaft (a slow process at 1mm per hour!)and flint was knapped to produce knives, scrapers and arrow heads. Astone axe hafted to a long wooden handle, used for tree felling andshaping, was passed around and it was great to be able to feel theweight and balance of an authentic recreation of a Stone Age tool.

After the guided tourwe were left to our own devices to investigate the village althoughthe interior of the themed houses could only be seen on the guidedtours. Three of the houses in the Bronze Age section were open andhad scenes with life-sized figures demonstrating prehistoric life onthe themes of living and crafts, environment and animals, and cultand religion. Here there were short descriptions in English and thisaided our understanding. After a conversation with the guide beforewe bought our tickets, we purchased a guide to the museum in Englishand we were able to refer to this as we walked around. Some timelater I was able to read the rest of the substantial guide and I mustsay that it is excellent, providing a wealth of information and wellworth the €4 price tag.

One of the mostinteresting exhibits was a cart based on excavated finds including acomplete wooden wheel found in waterlogged conditions north of LakeConstance. By experimental archaeology it has been determined thatthe cart would only take two days to make and that it could bedismantled in 30 minutes for storage! At the entrance to the museumwere a few rooms of interesting finds and reconstructions withdescriptions in English. I was even more impressed when I found amodel reconstruction of a wooden trackway with the note “ Model'Sweet Track'. Somerset shire Southwest-England (GB). Age of theoriginal: 5800 years.”

I can thoroughlyrecommend the Pfahlbau Museum if you are visiting the area and don'tforget to buy the excellent English guide book.

We had identified astellplatz at a brewery museum in Bad Schussenfried, a town famousfor its beer and this, in my humble opinion, seemed like a very goodplace to spend the night. When we got there, it turned out to be theweekend of their Oktober Fest. This was even better news as we hadseen many advertised on our journey and were hoping to be able toexperience one. The bad news was that, unsurprisingly, the stellplatzbehind the brewery was heaving and we couldn't squeeze Henrietta inanywhere. Jane had identified another Stellplatz in the town so weplugged the coordinates into the Sat Nav and set of. It turned out tobe on the edge of town close to a lake and across a few fields fromthe biggest beer tent that I have ever seen. Music drifted, or ratherstormed across the fields and invaded the van. It wasn't going to bethe quietest pitch but there was plenty of room and it was only ashort walk to where all of the Fest action was happening. Early inthe evening we went to investigate to festival tent and found a largecrowd outside. It appeared to be a chargeable event and the tent wasfull with bouncers preventing anyone else entering. We walked on intotown which was interesting but there didn't appear to be any otherevents happening there. We found the Schusserieder Brewery Museum barwhich we would call the Brewery Tap – the pub attached to thebrewery. Obliged to sample to local brew, we found some seats amongstthe traditionally dressed locals and ordered two beers. Jane wasgoing to order a 0.3 litre glass but I persuaded her to have half alitre so that I could have some of hers. The beer was very good and,much to my disappointment, Jane easily managed to drink the whole ofhers.

When we got back toHenrietta, the festival tent was still pulsating to the music. Theentertainment was one of the many Bavarian oompah bands and afterevery few numbers they sang the standard drinking refrain joined, itseemed, by the whole of the audience who were presumably raisingtheir glasses full of foaming beer – not that I was jealous, youunderstand.

Photos: The Bronze Agehouses; The Stone Age village taken from the pallisade thatsurrounded it – the main building was though to be a villagemeeting house on the original excavations; The cart; TheSchusserieder brewery tap bar.

Friday 30th September – Worblingen, Germany

2011-10-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

The pattern of theweather over the last few days has been heavy mist in the morningwith the sun making a late appearance at about 16:00. It hasn't beencold but we haven't had the hot sunshine that they seem to beenjoying in England. This hasn't worried us as the company has beenmore important than the weather but now we are moving on and it wouldbe good to see the sun!

Well the morning dawnedeven mistier than ever and, after lots of sad farewell, we set offfrom the campsite, skirting Zurich and heading towards Lake Constance(Bodensee to the Germans). In our huge German Stellplatz book we hadspotted a new entry listed at Worblingen, not far from Lake Constanceand just over the border in Germany. We found the site on the edge ofthe village, next to a stream and with views over fields andwoodland. There were four vans there already and the last positionwas taken shortly after we arrived.

We were very keen towatch the England v Scotland Rugby World Cup match in the morning andso I set up the satellite dish. Whatever I did, I couldn't get thesystem to lock onto the satellite and, very frustrated, I had toaccept that we wouldn't be able to watch the rugby.

We took a walk into thevillage and then I got out my bike for its first outing of the trip.Germany is excellent for marked walks and cycle tracks, every villageseems to have many of them and the stellplatz had a footpath andcycle track running straight past it. I cycled a few kilometresbeside the river into the next village of Bohlingen. We didn't findany open shops in Worblingen but here I found a farm shop with twomobile shops parked outside, one selling meat and the other cheese.That was dinner sorted! Shortly afterwards, I found a supermarket andwas able to buy a few bottles of German beer – the choice is quitebewildering.

The mist finallycleared enough to let the sun through for a couple of hours beforedusk descended and we were able to sit out and enjoy it beforeretreating into the van.

Photos: Bohlingenchurch with its separate tower.

Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th September - Zurich, Switzerland

2011-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

The next morning we allwalked up the hill, lead by Seb, to his school arriving for 08:30.This was an excellent constitutional and got us moving early, leavingthe rest of the morning to investigate the area. This we did,visiting a park on the shore at the western end of the lake withinZurich city on Wednesday and the pretty lakeside village ofRapperswill on Thursday. It was lovely to find that Swiss parents arehappy for their children to walk to and from school on their own froman early age and Seb did the same arriving back shortly aftermid-day. In the afternoons Henry slept and this gave us time to playwith Seb. The flat has a large patio and a grass area that gives aplay space for the children. It also provides a wonderful area forbarbecues, outdoor eating (which we did on Tuesday with Joshexcelling on the barbecue) and for relaxing and drinking in thatwonderful view, which we did frequently and I would happily do againat any time.

We had a fantastic timewith Caroline, Josh and the boys, they really are a lovely family andwe were very grateful that they put up with us for the duration. Wehope that we will be able to repay the compliment in the near futureif they are able to visit us in Somerset.

Photos: Seb tries onhis new pirate outfit; Caroline plays with Henry in a Zurich park –in the background is Henry Moore's famous sculpture 'Sheep Piece'that used to be exhibited outside Clark's shoe factory in Street,Somerset, close to where we live; Martin assists Caroline inproducing a gourmet apple pie.

Tuesday 27th September – Zurich, Switzerland

2011-10-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

After a leisurelystart, we drove down to the Rhine at Bad Sackingen and crossed overthe river and border into Switzerland. Travelling on the motorway, wearrived at the Seebucht campsite on the edge of Lake Zurich at noon.This turned out to be fortuitous as the campsite closed its gates forthree hours between 12:00 and 15:00. At 44 Swiss Francs plus 4 Francsfor electricity (a total of approx. £37.50) per night, it is themost expensive campsite that we have ever stayed at and we weren'teven going to be sleeping in the van! This meant that we weren'tconcerned about being parked up so close to the next van that ouropen windows would meet nor would we have to pay the extra for theshowers! I know that sounds awful and, to be fair, the campsite is ina lovely position, very convenient for the city centre and withlovely views over the lake. We took a picnic lunch over to a bench onthe lake edge and sat in the sun watching ferries and pleasure craftplying the waters.

The reason that we werein Zurich was to see Jane's second cousin Caroline, her husband Joshand two sons, Seb (aged nearly 5) and Henry (just 2). Caroline andthe boys came to pick us up at 17:00 and took us back to theirgorgeous flat that overlooks Lake Zurich. We ascended from groundlevel in a lift and as we walked into the flat we were blown away bythe fantastic view through the floor-to-ceiling windows that stretchright across the long wall of their lounge/dining room/kitchen. LakeZurich was laid out in front of us with views up and down the lakeand across to the hills on the other side. When it is really clear,it is possible to see the mountains beyond the Eastern end of thelake but it was too hazy for us to see that day.

We spent the rest ofthe evening playing with Seb and Henry and catching up on news withCaroline and Josh over a lovely meal cooked by our hostess.

Photos: The Swiss seemto be keen on unusual converted motorhomes – this one was at ourcampsite and we met others, including two full-sized coaches inGreece earlier this year; A view from Caroline and Josh's flat of oneof the Lake Zurich paddle steamers.

Monday 26th September – Zell am Wiesental, Germany

2011-09-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Our route today was totake us over Kandel at 1242 metres with panoramic views over thearea, recommended by the Michelin Guide. Jane did some 'out of thebox' thinking yesterday and suggested we drove up to the viewpointafter we got up today and had breakfast there. I immediately agreedbut was amazed that Jane suggested doing anything before breakfast –this is an extremely rare event! Unfortunately in our laterconversation with our neighbours from Kent, we discovered that thereis a 2.1 metre width restriction on that road and Henrietta is 2.3metres wide. So we told the sat nav that it couldn't go on that roadand headed for St. Peter, famous for its church, formerly that of an18^th century Benedictine abbey. The church is Rococostyle, only slightly less over-the-top than Baroque but was worth thevisit and I was particularly impressed by the organ that incorporateda clock, something that I have not seen before.

A cross-country routetook us over more high points before we arrived at the Todtnauwaterfall. Although probably more impressive in the Spring when therewould be more water, they were still very good and the walk aroundthe falls was very pleasant. We were happy to trade the lack ofvolume of water for the very warm weather – it reached 26°Cthis afternoon.

We weren't keen on theSchonau stellplatz as it was next to a busy road so we continued toZell in Wiesental where we stopped at the stellplatz alongside thetextile museum.

Zell in Wiesental is apleasant village that has associations with Mozart. Mozart's wifeConstanze was born here, a fact that the local tourist board hastaken to their heart. The short Constanze Mozart trail leads youaround the centre past a series of plaques built into the pavement. Ahappy 30 minutes was spent following the trail and attempting totranslate the plaques. The tourist information office provided aleaflet in English that told us a little about Constanze and thishelped with the translation.

Photos: The organ ofSt. Peter's Rococo church; Two photographs of the Todtnau Falls –the main falls and the upper falls.

Sunday 25th September – Waldkirch, Germany

2011-09-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Returning to the main road up the Rench valley, we travel a few kilometres before turning south west on a minor road at Locherberg. This turned out to be very popular with people in cars and on motorbikes taking advantage of the lovely weather for a day out in the countryside. The road was very steep and Henrietta with only a 2 litre engine found it hard going, struggling in 2nd gear for long stretches. The views were lovely and a car park at the top was very popular and was, I suspect, the starting point for some good walks.

The road down was much easier on the engine but the narrowness of the road meant that it was still quite slow. Still, we were rewarded by lovely alpine-type scenery and it was obvious from the number of hotels and guest houses that we passed, especially in the surprisingly large town of Oberharmersbach, that this area was very popular with tourists.

The next town that came to was Zell am Harmersbach where we were diverted off the main road through small residential roads. At first, I thought that this was one of the many roadwork closures that we had come across but we noticed that many temporary car parks had been set up. We found a car park on the western edge of town and headed back towards the town to investigate. As we left the car park the German owners of another motorhome engaged us in conversation. Their English was very good and they explained that they had just returned from Sevenoaks in Kent. Their Rhineland town is twinned with Sevenoaks and they take it in turns to visit each other every year. Apparently the family that they stayed with didn't speak German (as bad as us!) and so they had lots of practice recently! They explained that the festival was a gastronomic one with a huge choice of food and drink. They even had a leaflet that listed the menus available at the many locations. When we arrived at the main street it was closed off by a huge stage with some very good jazz musicians performing. There was going to be a celebrity chef performing in a few minutes time but we decided that we wouldn't stand a chance of understanding him so we said goodbye to our new friend and set off down the street. There were thousands of people there and thousands of seats available at tables down the centre of the road. On one side large marquees acted as extensions to hotel and restaurant kitchens with or bars serving local beer and wine. Each food marquee was only serving a very limited menu, perhaps two starters and two main courses or a selection of scrummy-looking deserts, the idea being that you went to the marquee that was serving the food that fancied. It was like having a giant restaurant spread over a few hundred metres.

At the back of the main street were many stalls selling crafts or local produce, all of a high quality, there were no 'sausage in a bun' stalls here. We bought some plums and local cheese before returning to the van and continuing on our journey.

We didn't drive much further, arriving at the stellplatz in Waldkirch in the middle of the afternoon. This turned out to be a problem as it was next to a sports field where a number of matches were taking place and the car park was heaving with cars parked everywhere including in the areas reserved for motorhomes. It was obvious that there would be spaces available once the cars had gone so we parked in a nearby street and set off to investigate the town. Given that it was very warm, the first stop was an ice cream shop where we indulged in two cones filled with lovely home-made ice cream. The church and surrounding 18th century buildings were interesting but I was struggling to justify the Michelin one-star rating for them. We then walked up above the town towards the playing fields and discovered that there were walking trails and a boating lake beyond. The café at the lake was very popular and many families were in the area either walking or playing mini-golf, which seems to be very popular in Germany. This was obviously another reason why the car park was so busy but when we got there there were spaces so we retrieved Henrietta and parked her up. There were three other motorhomes in the stellplatz and the one that we were next to was another left-hand drive English motorhome. We chatted to the owners who turned out to be from Kent but not from Sevenoaks. They had tried to go through Freiburg today, not realising that the Pope was visiting! They hadn't been able to translate the signs that are everywhere, many miles from the city, that say that Freiburg was closed on Sunday 25th September!

Photos: The entrance to the Zell am Harmersbach festival – the thousands of people at the festival were all served their food on smaller versions of these plates; The tables in just a small part on the main street; Anyone for a pumkin?

Saturday 24th September – Oppenau, Germany

2011-09-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

Up at 07:00 to put €1 in the electricity meter and tune into ITV1 for the England v Romania Rugby World Cup match build-up. Kick off wasat 08:00 German time and England were soon putting on their best performance ofthe World Cup so far. We thoroughly enjoyed watching England score 10 tries ina totally convincing display however we need to reduce our penalty count or wewill be punished by better teams in later rounds. We then watched an awesomeNew Zealand team beat a disappointing France – the All Blacks are going to bevery difficult to beat.

After lunch we set off on the walk that we intended to doyesterday. We found a marked footpath (there are many very well marked walks inthe area) that took us alongside a stream up a quiet, pretty valley to thevillage of Maisach. Retracing our steps we took another path that passed abovethe stellplatz and found ourselves in a park overlooking the town. The weatherwas glorious, very warm and not a cloud in the sky and we decided to treatourselves to a beer at the romantically named 'Mini Golf Bar'. We sat out inthe sun looking down on the town and up the wooded valley. Continuing downthrough the town we arrived at the Rench river and the railway station. Here wefound a small supermarket and were able to buy some local Neuewein (new wine,like Beaujolais Nouveau). Walking up the opposite side of the valley we wereable to get a different view over the town before we descended to thestellplatz and Henrietta.

The Neuewein (we chose the red) was very good, slightlysweet and very fruity, best drunk without food in my humble opinion.

Photos: View on the walk, looking towards Maisach; On theway back looking down on the Stellplatz with the town to the right.

Friday 23rd September – Oppenau, Germany

2011-09-28T05:31:00.000-07:00

We drove through vineyards to Oberkirch, a busy market townfamous for its strawberry market and its cherry, plum and raspberry brandies –it has the highest number of distilleries in Germany. However it didn't lookthat attractive so we continued to Oppenau just up the Rench valley. This wasnot on the wine route, probably because it doesn't have any vineyards, but itdoes have a recommended stellplatz. With more than 20 motorhomes leavingSasbachwalden, we thought that we might have a problem finding spaces to staybut there were places and we parked up and secured an electrical connectionwhich was important for our plans for tomorrow morning.

We took a wander around Oppenau and called in at the veryhelpful tourist information office to get details of local walks. We hadplanned to walk after lunch but the weather was so good that we spent theafternoon relaxing in the sun and reading.

Photos: Oppenau centre; Relaxing in the Oppenau stellplatzwith the latest best-seller, 'The Yeoman Story'.

Thursday 22nd September – Sasbachwalden, Germany

2011-09-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

The France AA road atlas showed a Roman Villa just a shortdistance from Rhodes so we headed around the lake and soon found large signsthat directed us to the site. Access to the site was through a convent and whenwe reached its gate we found a sign in French that told us about the villa.Slowly translating it we got to the bottom line – 'Open in July and August' andnot the rest of the year! The convent was open and we could have visited it butit was modern and didn't look particularly interesting.

We headed to Germany, crossing the Rhine just north ofStrasbourg and started to follow a drive detailed in the Germany Michelinguide. This took on the Baden Wine Route, starting close to Baden Baden andgoing down the Western edge of the Black Forest. The guide book promised uscharming villages and many half-timbered houses however we were not thatimpressed. Parking was difficult or impossible to find and the villages werenot that pretty although they all had lovely flowers on every street. We havecertainly seen prettier villages, especially in Alsace Lorraine a few yearsago.

Road closures and diversions took us high up into the hillswith excellent views west over the Rhine valley. We descended to Sasbachwaldensurrounded by vineyards and headed to the Stellplatz (aire) in the festivalplace behind the Alte Gott winery. A sign at the entrance to the motorhome areatold us that the stellplatz would be closed from 12:00 tomorrow as a winefestival was being held. What a shame, it would have been great to go to it.There were at least 20 motorhomes in the stellplatz and all of the electricitypoints were in use but there was plenty of room for us.

We headed into pretty town and walked up through vineyardsfull of ripe red and white grapes. Some were being harvested and we were passedby small tractors towing trailers holding large tubs of grapes. Enjoying viewsover the town we walked down to the winery where we watched the tractorspulling onto a weighbridge where the tubs were lifted and disappeared into thewinery. At the back, a loud noise like the burners of a hot air balloonaccompanied the expulsion of stalks. At other times a conveyor dispensed largevolumes of dehydrated squashed grape skins and pips onto a large pile that wasthen taken away in trailers. Fortunately, the noises stopped shortly after22:00 and we had a peaceful night.

Photos: Sasbachwalden sculpture celebrating the twinning with Villie-Morgan (France); Tending the vines in Sasbachwalden.

Wednesday 21st September – Rhodes, France (not Greece!)

2011-09-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

We spent a large part of today on the D946, an excellentroad with pleasant scenery, many long straight sections and very littletraffic. Like yesterday, the early part of the journey was through largely flatland with huge fields dedicated to growing cereals and potatoes. Later in theday the scenery became more interesting with hills and wooded areas.

At lunchtime we stopped at a picnic area next to a river andwater mill in the small village of Rarecourt. After lunch we took a shortstroll around the village and admired the traditional houses most of which hada huge door on one side that opened into the barn where the animals, hay andfarm equipment were kept. Some of the barns were obviously still in use and itwas obvious that agriculture was still very important in the area.

We saw a few World War I cemeteries yesterday but todaythere were far more, mostly American, French and German. The cemeteries and theresidues of defensive lines in the countryside were very poignant.

We paid a brief visit to Lake Madine in one of the regionalparks of Lorraine before heading for an aire at Rhodes. This is listed in ourcopy of 'All of the Aires of France' but without any details. It turned out tobe in a lovely position on the edge of Lake Stock in another of Lorraine'sregion park in an area know as the 'Pays des Etangs' (Land of Lakes). It was alittle more than an aire, having electricity and a toilet/shower block and acharge of €15 a night. Parking right next to the lake we immediately spotted apair of grey herons swooping over the lake and a pair of great white egretscatching fish. I went onto the pontoons of the small marina next to us for acloser look and disturbed a kingfisher that rapidly flew to the reeds nearby.And the view across the lake was pretty good too!

Photos: The picnic area at Rarecourt; Intriguingarchitecture of Rarecourt houses; Lake Stock viewed from the motorhome.

Tuesday 20th September – Le Cateau, France

2011-09-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

Leaving home on time at 08:30 we set off for Dover, arrivingafter an easy journey at 12:30. We were pulled in for a random check – a verycursory look at the interior, a few questions and a more detailed inspection ofthe Henrietta's underside. One of the questions was “Are you carrying any knives?”.Well the answer was obviously “Yes” but they excluded those used for cooking,so we were OK.

We were soon allowed to leave and joined the queue for the13:25 P&O ferry. We had only just made a cup of coffee when we were calledto drive onto the ferry. The coffee was hurriedly stacked in the sink andsurprisingly survived the journey without a drop being spilt.

The Pride of Burgundy is quite an old ship without thelovely large bow lounge common in the more modern ferries such as the SeaFrance ferry that we travelled on in the Spring. In fact, there were no publicareas with a view over the bow so we had to be content to watch the whitecliffs of Dover, covered with lowering skies, slowly drifting astern. Despitethe “moderate to rough” conditions, the crossing was very comfortable andP&O definitely have better shops than those on Sea France.

We were only one car away from the ships bow doors and wereoff within a minute of the doors being opened. Heading initially for St. Omer,we then joined the A25 motorway and made our way to Le Cateau. Arriving at19:00 we found the 5 official pitches in the aire already taken but were ableto find a space closer to the road. The aire has four free electric points,unsurprisingly all in use, but is next to a busy and noisy main road. This leadto a somewhat disturbed night but the official pitches would have been slightlybetter as they are further from the road.

Photos: Jane collects bread from the baker who calls at theLe Cateau aire.

Autumn 2011 Sojourn – Germany

2011-09-28T05:05:00.001-07:00

Martin and Jane are starting their Autumn Sojourn inHenrietta their Hobby motorhome, this year exploring Germany by way ofSwitzerland.

Thursday 9th June 2011 – Home, Somerset, England

2011-06-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

We called in at the Majestic Warehouse to buy some non-French wine and English beer that French Hypermarkets don’t sell. It was only a few minutes to the Calais docks and we were soon boarding the ferry.
The journey back to Somerset was remarkably easy, without a single delay.
The end of another fantastic holiday in Henrietta. We must start planning the next one!
Photos: The aire at Lumbres.

Wednesday 8th June 2011 – Lumbres, France

2011-06-15T08:47:00.001-07:00

We plotted a route using minor roads to Abbeville. This took us through some lovely countryside, villages and past lots of chateaux. One that we have noted for future reference is at Anet where the chateau looks beautiful and was obviously popular with many cars and two coaches parked up.
After a while the countryside became less interesting with the flat land and huge fields of cereals of Northern France becoming prevalent. Going around Abbeville we went through St. Riquier, a very pretty village with an interesting ancient abbey. Another place on the list for a future visit.
We were heading for Lumbres and an aire that we had used before. It is at a L’Eclerc hypermarket just 40 minutes from Calais and provides an excellent opportunity to do some French shopping before we return to England. We bought lots of French goodies and a just a few bottles of wine which we took back to the van to try. We have often done this as it means that we can be sure that we like the wine that we buy. Having established that there were four wines that we really liked, I went back into the shop to buy some more.
We were parked in the car park with a lovely view over the countryside. For some strange reason, L’Eclerc plays that dreadful musac through speakers in the car park but fortunately they switch it off soon after the store closes at 20:00. This is a windy spot and for a time the wind howled around the van.
Photos: Crossing the Somme at Pont-Remy.

Tuesday 7th June 2011 – Chartres, France

2011-06-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Parts of France had experienced a hot, dry Spring just as parts of Britain had and we heard stories from other campers of major French rivers reduced to trickles. However, recently there had been some torrential downpours in the Chartres areas that resulted in campers being moved away from the lower parts of the campsite as they were inundated by the rising river.
We walked into Chartres (3km) along the Eure river, now pretty, tranquil and shallow. As we arrived in the town, the rain started. We quickly made our way to the cathedral, walked in and were enveloped by the darkness. It was dim outside but the lack of lights in the cathedral made it very difficult to see anything. It soon became obvious why it was kept so dark. The main attraction of the cathedral is its stained glass dating from as early as the 12th century and the denseness of the colours means that the interior light needs to be kept low so that the light coming through the windows is more effective. After letting our eyes get accustomed to the lack of light we were able to appreciate the beauty of the windows. The depth of the colours, especially the blues and reds, gives them an almost 3-D effect. We were able to see the details in the glass by using binoculars but the congregation in the 12th century would never have been able to it from far below at floor level.
When we left the church it was still raining so we went into a nearby restaurant for lunch. The timing was very good as the rain had stopped by the time that we emerged. We followed a trail around the town admiring the architecture before heading back along the river to the campsite.
Photos: The Eure river at Chartres; The staircase of Queen Bertha in Chartres.

Monday 6th June 2011 – Chartres, France

2011-06-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

We wanted to get to Chartres today so that we could have a day of relaxation looking around the town before the final push towards Calais. I went out to get fresh bread for breakfast, having to visit three before I found one that was open. I thought that French boulangerie never closed!
We set of bfore 08:30 and our route took us mostly on the Route National N7. This proved to be a very good road with many miles of it being dual carriageway of motorway or near motorway standard. Leaving the N7 at Gien we stopped at an aire on the banks of the Loire for lunch. We had been through two torrential downpours where the van windscreen wipers, even on the fast setting, could not cope with the volume of water and another one found us just outside Gien. Fortunately the weather started to improve and, although not basking in sunshine, we arrived at Les Bords de L'Eure campsite in Chartres in dry, settled weather.
Photos: The aire at Pontcharra sur Tardine.

Sunday 5th June 2011 – Pontcharra sur Turdine, France

2011-06-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

A building thunderstorm woke us early and soon torrential rain was bouncing off the road and Henrietta's roof creating a tremendous noise. The rain continued through breakfast and we were about to leave when the rain finally stopped. We decided to adopt our original plan of visiting the Sunday market in the village and set off wearing coats as the temperature had dropped to 14°C. The tops of the mountains all around us had been coated with icing sugar – the rain had obviously fallen as snow at higher altitudes.
When we arrived at the village we found just two stalls, one selling fruit and vegetables and the other selling meat. I took a closer look at the meat stall and a customer told me that the the joints were very good and so were the “rabbit insides”. The joint seemed like a good idea and that turned out also to be rabbit, in fact everything on the stall was rabbit. I bought a joint of boned and rolled rabbit topped with a sprig of rosemary.
We walked back to the motorhome and set off up the valley. Soon we reached the Winter resorts with their ski lifts and many chalets, the principle ones being Pragelato and the Olympic resort of Sestriere. Between these two resorts we were delayed briefly by work caused by storm damage. A rock the size of a small car had rolled down the hillside, fortunately stopping just beyond the road but leaving a large pine tree laying across the carriageway. At Sestriere the long descent started, crossing the French border at Claviere. Between the two we found a good parking place for a picnic lunch overlooking the steep-sided valley.
The temperature at the top of the pass was only 9°C, the clouds were very low and snow lay only just above the road but when we reached Briancon the sun was shining and the temperature had reached 25°C. We drove on round Briancon, Grenoble and Lyon, stopping only to purchase a kilo of tasty, ripe black cherries from a roadside stall. Just east of Lyon we stopped at Pontcharra sur Turdine where there is an aire in a car park in front of the post office. A small river, the romantically-named Turdine runs at the bottom of the car park but it is not very attractive. The village is unexciting but does provide a very convenient stop-over for one night. This is a big wine producing area and we passed two wine cooperatives just before we arrived at the village. I really wanted to try some of the local wine and take some back with us if it was good but the cooperatives were closed on Sundays and we planned to leave early the next day as we had a long journey.
Photos: Snow was very close as we crossed the Col du Lautaret beyond Briancon; The Turdine river at Pontcharra sur Turdine.

Saturday 4th June 2011 - Fenestrelle, Italy

2011-06-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Having missed out at the restaurant in Colorno we decided to go a little off-route to visit out favourite restaurant in Italy. Ai Ciuvin is another restaurant that offers places for motorhomes only here they provide toilets, showers and electricity, all at no charge! Ai Ciuvin is close to the small village of Castiglione Tinella, south of Asti and it is here that we met the Italians who gave us the AgriPleinAir booklet. In their opinion, the Asti wine area is prettier than Tuscany and every time that I go there I get to like it more.
When we arrived at Ai Ciuvin we found the gates locked and no motorhomes parked up. There was no response to the bell and we came to the conclusion that they were probably on holiday. Hopefully they were not also in mourning. We continued on over those lovely steep hills covered in vines and topped with medieval towns and villages. I am determined to spend more time investigating the area next time that we come to Italy.
We took a cross-country route to get to Pinerolo and the Chisone Valley south-west of Turin. We intend to cross over the pass at Sestriere and on to France tomorrow but time was getting on and we decided to camp whilst still in Italy. We chose a small (8 motorhome) camperstop in Fenestrelle half-way up the valley. This turned out to be an inspired choice as we joined four other motorhomes just north of the village at the camperstop that had wonderful views up and down the valley and over the village dominated by a massive fortress, the largest alpine fortress in Europe covering 1,300,000 square metres. Snow was still visible in amongst the clouds that swirled around the mountains on all sides.
It was a lovely, calm and warm evening and we walked down into the village and found a restaurant to have our long-awaited Italian meal. We had the option of pizza or a set menu and we opted for the €18 menu that included two antipasta dishes, a pasta, a main course and ¼ litre of wine. For antipasta we had grilled goats cheese, anchovies with pesto and a seafood salad. We both chose a wild mushroom risotto for the second course, Jane had roast veal with french beans and I had duck in an orange sauce with artichokes. It was all very good as was the wine but the most memorable part of the evening was my talk with the chef.
I have built a wood-fired pizza in my garden, which I use to cook all of our bread. I have also cooked some pizzas in it but I need more knowledge and experience. This was an ideal opportunity to watch an expert at work! Small balls of dough were transformed into pizza shapes in less than a minute – it takes me about five minutes! Then came the tomato sauce spooned onto the dough and spread with a simple swirl of the ladle so that it evenly covered the whole of the pizza. Toppings were added, the peel dipped into a pile of flour before being slid under the pizza and used to place it into the oven a short distance away from the fire. A small round peel was used to turn the pizza to ensure that it was cooked evenly and then it was taken out with the standard peel just a couple of minutes later.
I discovered that the pizza chef spoke good English and had a long chat with him – he had an interesting story to tell. He was a young Iranian who had completed a degree in Mathematics and was hoping to take a masters degree in statistics. He lived in Jordan and was the son of a Jordanian father and a Romanian mother and has married a lovely Romanian woman who was our waitress in the restaurant. In order to raise money to do his doctorate he knew that he needed to find a job that would provide the necessary money. He chose to be a pizza chef and said that he stole the knowledge from an Italian pizza chef. He worked in an Italian pizza restaurant doing the menial tasks, spending nearly a year spreading the tomato sauce on the pizza dough! Now he is an expert in all the areas of pizza making lovely looking pizzas quickly and efficiently. I admired the sacrifices that he and his wife were making to complete his education and it puts into perspective the discussions that are going on in Britain about university tuition fees.
Photos: Vineyard and Palazzo in Asti; The aire at Fenestrelle.

Friday 3rd June 2011 – Colorno, Italy

2011-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

We docked at Ancona at 13:10 Italian time and were off the ship in no time heading north and then east on the motorway. We generally try to avoid motorways but the route from Ancona towards Turin is so urbanised that the journey using normal roads can be very slow and frustrating and the Garmin satnav showed that it would take literally twice as long. The journey was not very interesting, being very flat and covered either with vines and fruit trees, cereals or factories.
Three years ago when we were on a campsite near Asti, we met some Italian motorhomers who gave us a copy of a booklet called AgriPleinAir given away free to subscribers of the Italian Plein Air magazine. The book lists 'agroturism' sites that welcome motorhomes and amongst those are many restaurants where you can stay for no charge providing that you have a meal in the restaurant. This is an excellent idea and now whenever we are in Italy we will try to find one of these sites. Only a short distance from our intended route was one such restaurant, La Palazzina Di Gozzi in Colorno. We plugged the address into the Garmin and headed for it, arriving in a thunderstorm. Although the car park was open there was little sign of the restaurant being open. We eventually managed to get a response to one of the bells and were greeted by a mother and son. Our Italian is non-existent and the son's English only ran to a few words, however we were able to establish that they were in mourning and the restaurant was closed. We offered our condolences as best as we could and were told that we were welcome to stay in the car park without charge. Despite the proximity of an elevated road and the occasional noises from their animals (cockerels, pheasants, geese, horses and donkeys!) we slept remarkably well. We will definitely try to eat at the restaurant next time that we are in the area.
Photos: Arriving in Italy – docking in Ancona.

Thursday 2nd June 2011 – Camping on Board, ANEK Hellenic Spirit

2011-06-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

There was no great hurry this morning so we had a relaxed start before we got the van ready for the voyage. We went to say goodbye to Manolis and to pay for the four nights. The list price was a very reasonable €18.60 per night but Manolis insisted on giving us not only a discount but also some of his excellent wine. He is very generous and a genuinely nice guy.
We did a little more shopping in Paralia Akrata, picking up some Greek specialities, especially some frozen pittas that the Greeks use for their giros pitta. I resisted the temptation to buy a frozen octopus much as I would like to try cooking one.
On our way to Patras we crossed over the new national road and spotted an archaeological dig in full swing by the road. We parked off the road and walked down and asked permission to visit the site. We were given a personal escort by one of the archaeologists who then gave us a tour of the site and its history. They believe that it was a Roman public building from the 2nd century AD but they have found a 2nd century BC building underneath and are in the process of establishing the chronology at the moment. It is a large building – half of it is under the new road and was excavated before the road was built. The walls are very thick and strong, suggesting that it was an important structure and probably associated with other buildings in close proximity. The archaeologists are hoping to get permission to excavate further up the hill where they expect to find other buildings. Because the excavation results have not been published, I wasn't allowed to take photographs but although the excavation was very interesting, the photographs would not have been. We thanked the archaeologists very much for spending the time with us and headed on towards Patras.
We had intended to look for a site at Helike but we understood from the archaeologist that there was nothing to see. The dig is at the bottom of a very deep pit that floods regularly and there is no public access. Still it is a very interesting site occupied from Prehistoric to Roman times and destroyed by an earthquake when the land dropped considerably and the town was inundated by the sea. This has lead to some suggestions that it was the site of Atlantis. One to keep an eye on for developments in the excavations and possibly visit at some time, probably a long time in the future.
We stopped at the very pleasant seaside resort of Lampiri where we strolled along the beach and found a taverna to have lunch looking over the Gulf of Corinth.
Arriving at Patras I parked in the passenger ferry car park and guarded the van whilst Jane checked us in. There are many illegal immigrants here and they patrolled the area looking for an opportunity to get into a vehicle so that they could get to Italy. The only time that they disappeared was when a police motorbike patrolled the car park. When we drove to the berth to wait for embarkation, we saw many of they looking through the fence at the motorhomes and lorries. Before and during embarkation lorries and motorhomes were searched, including ours. One campervan was searched twice, probably because the German owner had very long hair and looked like an ageing hippie!
The Greek organisation of the loading of the vehicles was chaotic unlike the very organised loading at Ancona. There were very few vehicles to load but this didn't stop them from being totally indecisive when telling us where to drive and park. The last two times that we had used 'camping on board' we were very lucky, being placed on the side of the ship with a view straight out on the sea. It was wonderful to be able to open the blinds in the morning to see the sea rushing by and the islands and mainland in the distance. This time we had two rows of vans between us and the sea but it was only a few steps to see the view.
We spent time on the upper decks watching Patras falling rapidly behind us and watching the eastern coast of Greece go past as we headed north. The ANEK ship the Hellenic Spirit also has a lovely air-conditioned lounge at the bow end that has panoramic views over the sea. As the voyage was so quiet, it was easy to find seats where we could relax and drink in the lovely views, trying to guess what islands and parts of the mainland we were passing.
Photos: The leaving of Akrata Beach – Jane with Manolis; The leaving of Greece – The Hellenic Spirit leaves Patras in its wake.

Wednesday 1st June 2011 - Akrata Beach, Greece

2011-06-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

Our last full day in Greece and a day of relaxation. I cycled in to Paralia Akrata to do some shopping and to have a nose around the town. The rest of the day was spent blogging and reading.
Photos: This church is a short distance from the campsite and we heard its very musical bell ringing every morning.

Tuesday 31st May 2011 - Akrata Beach, Greece

2011-06-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

Today is the day for the walk that we have been looking forward to all of this holiday. We had walked this route many years ago and tried to repeat it on The Odyssey three years ago but found that the route was closed. It is part of the E4 trans-European walking trail but is most unusual as it follows a railway line.
The Diakofto to Kalavrita narrow gauge railway travels up through the Vouraikos Gorge using standard traction and, on the steep sections, cog traction. The journey is spectacular especially on the section from Diakofto to Zachlorou (also known as Mega Spileo, as it reasonable close to the famous monastery of the same name) where the track goes through the narrowest part of the gorge, travelling through many tunnels and over many bridges that cross and re-cross the fast-flowing river. There are no roads or tracks in this part of the gorge and the footpath faithfully follows the railway line through those tunnels and over the bridges.
We took the train up, admiring the lovely views of the gorge on the way and then walked down starting from Zachlorou. This walk is shown as taking three and a half hours but we it took us four and a half excluding our lunch stop. This was partly because we wanted to walk slowly to admire the views but also it was very hot and that slowed us down. I highly recommend this walk, the gradient is very easy and it is impossible to get lost but do wear stout walking boots as most of the walk is done on large, angular rail ballast. It is important to take a copy of the timetable with you so that you are aware when a train is likely to appear. Having said that, the train travels very slowly and even in the tunnels, that aren't very long, there are places to get out of the way.
We were never away from the roar of the river as it tumbled over rocks, down waterfalls and through torturous gullies eroded by the water over millennia. Meanwhile the towering walls of the gorge were always changing with limestone cliffs with caves giving way to conglomerate rock eroded into weird shapes by the wind and rain. At one point Jane spotted a Pine Marten that walked out on to the railway line and stayed there for some time before trotting off. One of the trains timed its approach as Jane was in the middle of a bridge causing her to race it to the other side – she won! The drivers always gave us a toot and a wave as we passed and, of course, we had to wave to the passengers too.
The photographs can't do it justice. If you get the chance, do it yourselves.
After all of the exertion, we decided to eat in the campsite taverna rather than cooking ourselves. We had a Greek Salad and wonderfully herby Soutzoukakia (meatballs) in a tomato sauce served with grated Kefalotiri cheese and a one and a half litre bottle of local red wine (no we didn't drink it all). The portions were very generous and the bill was a very reasonable €22. Manolis arrived at the end with glasses of Tsipouro, a Greek version of Schnapps, strong and warming!
Photos: Jane crosses a bridge whilst the river roars far below – the bridge in the background is no longer in use; Sometimes the railway came close to the river; The train crosses a bridge on a cog section; two other views.

Monday 30th May 2011 - Akrata Beach, Greece

2011-06-01T09:08:00.001-07:00

A day of relaxation and blog writing, taking advantage of an excellent WiFi connection in the campsite. We were even able to listen to the Today Programme on Radio 4 this morning!
Photos: The taverna at Akrata Beach Camping. Last time that we stayed here, Manolis was helping to lay the concrete foundations for it.

Sunday 29th May 2011 – Akrata Beach, Greece

2011-06-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

This area of Greece is full of archaeological sites and, like Heraion and Acrocorinth, we had not visited Sikyon before. It was only just off our route west along the northern coast of the Peloponnese and was clearly signposted until we were diverted. This led to a little confusion but we soon arrived at the village of Ancient Sikyon. We did some shopping here and I was very tempted when the butchers had both goat and hare for sale but I chickened out (apologies) and bought pork chops.
The Blue Guide said that the “excellent” museum was closed but it they have now finished the refurbishment, it is open again and it is still excellent. It is actually housed in the amazingly intact shell of the Roman bath buildings. Very little of the town has been excavated and there is much more to be uncovered but there is an archaic temple to Artemis or Apollo and an impressive Gymnasium part Greek and part Roman. I always think of the arch as being a Roman invention but in the partially excavated theatre (3rd century Greek, modified later by the Romans) has two vaulted passageways built in the 3rd century BC and using just the same building techniques as a Roman arch. This is apparently a rare example of early Greek vaulting.
After stopping for lunch under the shade of trees in the Sikyon site car park, we retraced our steps to the main coast road and headed for Diakofto. When we came to Greece three years ago on our European Odyssey, we hoped to walk down the Kalavrita to Diakofto railway, something that we had done many years before. Unfortunately, the railway had been badly affected by the horrendous fires in the Peloponnese the year before. Bridges and rolling stock had been damaged or destroyed and it had been decided to take the opportunity to refurbish the line and replace the rolling stock. This meant that the walking trail was also closed and nobody knew when it was likely to re-open. However it is open now and we were able to book a train from Diakofto to Kalavrita Tuesday morning at 08:45.
We drove back east for a few miles to our favourite campsite in Greece – Akrata Beach. We came here twice on our Odyssey, the first time Manolis, the owner told us that it was closed but insisted that we stayed without charge. The second time we came it was open and Manolis was as friendly as before. We met his wife Tula and his children Yiorgos and Cleo. Manolis and I had a competition skimming stones from the beach and we got to know two Californian ladies, Pat and Sandy, who were the only other motorhomers there. Manolis was overseeing the construction of a café and new sanitary blocks for the new season and Pat and Sandy were painting the gates, tables and chairs for him. We had a great time there and we were keen to see how the business was doing. The answer was very well – it was difficult to find a pitch! Manolis was able to find time to chat with us but it was obvious that he was going to be much busier this time!
Photos: The Roman Baths, now the museum, at Sikyon; The Sikyon two-level Gymnasium; The 3rd century BC vaulted entrance passageways in the theatre.

Saturday 28th May 2011 – Acrocorinth, Greece

2011-06-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

More ancient sites today starting with the site and museum of Isthmia where at 10:00 we were the first visitors and had the place to ourselves for the two hours that we were there. It really does deserve more visitors but the site at Ancient Corinth is the the big pull in this area and Isthmia is overlooked as a result.
Isthmia was a cult centre from the 11th century BC but is best known for being one of the four centres for Panhellenic games along with Delphi, Nemea and, of course, Olympia. The first games are though to have taken place in 582 BC and they continued until the Roman Lucius Mummius defeated the Archaean League near Corinth and destroyed Isthmia. Winners of the games were awarded a wreath of celery or pine and possibly a statue or ode. Still, it is the honour of winning that matters not the prize! These days Isthmia is not as well known as Delphi and Olympia mainly due to the fact that little of the site is left standing. This is due to almost all of its stones having been robbed for the construction in the 5th century AD by the Roman Hexamilion of the 9.5 km Isthmian Wall, a futile attempt to protect the Peloponnese from invasion by Barbarians. The last temple of Hera at Heraion, which we visited yesterday, was also a victim as it was reduced to lime for the wall. We strolled around the excellent, recently renovated, museum and then into the site where good information boards helped to explain what we were looking at. At the bottom of the site is a large Roman bath complex that apparently has some very good mosaics although they are now covered to protect them and cannot be seen. The information boards here had not been upgraded and were very difficult or impossible to read. However, I was able to establish that the baths existed in early Greek times and had been been extended by the Romans. The baths were in use for nearly one thousand years – quite impressive!
We moved on to Acrocorinth standing on the hill 575 metres above sea level. The Blue Guide suggested that it should be open to 17:00 in the Summer but it appears that the opening hours are now 08:30 to 15:00 all year. This meant that we had to delay lunch and head in straight away. The site is very large and spread over a steep hill and needs some time to fully explore it. The hill was continually occupied from before the 6th century BC until the Greek War of Independence in 1821. The existing defences are very impressive and were built, re-built and improved over this time. Walking up from the car park we crossed a dry moat where a drawbridge once stood to pass through the outer gate and wall (mainly Turkish), then to the second gate and wall (Venetian and Frankish) and finally the third gate and wall that is part Byzantine and part Ancient Greek. This just shows how important this castle was, protecting the entrance to the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland. We climbed to the highest point of the site where a temple of Aphrodite once stood and where there were one thousand religious prostitutes. All I can say is that the men must have been desperate to have climbed all the way up the hill for that. The views however were fantastic, deep into the Peloponnese and out over the Gulf of Corinth.
On the way back down we visited the Upper Peirene Spring a vital water source for the castle. Everywhere that we walked on the site we found cisterns designed to collect rain water but here there was a plentiful supply of fresh water, essential during sieges. Steps lead down to a pool of water some 3 to 4 metres deep.
We had parked Henrietta in a lovely position and were able to sit outside and enjoy the view whilst having a very late lunch. We liked the view so much that we decided to spend another night wild camping.
Photos: Lake Vouliagmeni; Roman glass (375 AD) from a house at Kenchreai near Isthmia; Commemorative stele erected to the honour of Loukios Komelios Korinthos who won many musical competitions including in the Isthmian Games; The impressive walls of Acrocorinth; The underground Upper Peirene Spring at Acrocorinth.

Friday 27th May 2011 – Heraion, Near Loutraki, Greece

2011-06-01T09:01:00.002-07:00

Although we were staying in Ancient Corinth, we did not intend to visit the site as we had seen it before. Our target was actually Acrocorinth set high on a hill to the south and we had intended to visit it yesterday but decided to wait until it stopped raining! And that was the problem again this morning with more heavy rain in the early hours and low cloud made Acrocorinth look very unappealing!
We implemented Plan B, which was to cross the Corinth Canal and visit a site on a peninsula that sticks out into the Gulf of Corinth that separates the Peloponnese from Northern Greece. On the way we passed through the bustling, cosmopolitan town of Loutraki famous for two things – its water and its casino. Loutraki means baths or hot springs and this is one of the most visited spa resorts in Greece. It is built on the site of ancient Therma (hot springs) and has saline waters at 30°C that are used internally and externally to treat dyspepsia, arthritis and liver complaints. Loutraki is also the source of Greece's most popular bottled water but this must either be from a slightly different source or they must remove the salt first.
We didn't stop in Loutraki but drove on to Lake Vouliagmeni, once a land-locked lake until 1880 when a channel was cut through the narrow strip of land that separated it from the sea. This is a very pretty spot with pleasant-looking tavernas and some wild camping possibilities at the northern end, just off the road.
We drove on to the tip of the peninsula where we found the lighthouse that we had seen looking across the sea from the Aphrodite Waters Camperstop. Here we parked in the large car park and headed towards the lighthouse and the hill that looked down onto the archaeological site of Heraion. There were small signs of an ancient settlement on the lighthouse promontory but from the hill looking down to the harbour and the hill behind we had an excellent overview of the major buildings. The Heraion was a site sacred to the goddess Hera and three temples have been found dating to the 9th, 7th and 5th centuries BC. The earliest temple is thought to have been a mud-brick structure with a thatched roof. It is a very compact site and there is very little information available but its position by the sea with views across to Corinth, the mainland to the north and down the Gulf of Corinth make it rather special. One intriguing building is a dining room where diners feasted as part of the rituals associated with the Hera cult. The benches on which the diners reclined can still be seen. We were lucky with the weather here as we had sun and no rain whereas we looked across the Gulf to see Corinth and Acrocorinth under cloud and more rain.
We wanted to spend some more time looking at the views so we decided to wild camp there. I went in search of a round structure east of the site mentioned in the Blue Guide but failed to find it in amongst the trees and scrub but it was a pleasant ramble.
It was noticeable how popular a spot this is with the locals who came out for picnic lunches, afternoon strolls and to watch the sunset.
As we sat in the van, a sudden thought came to me – our rarely used, old, second mobile phone has a camera. I had always dismissed it as it is very low resolution and certainly no match for either of our cameras but it could be a life-saver. I tried it out and it is poor quality but for posting on the blog it might just do. I will let you be the judges.
Photos: Heraion – view down to the lower site; Heraion – the 5th century BC cistern.

Thursday 26th May 2011 – Ancient Corinth, Greece

2011-06-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

I have been coaxing my camera to work since an accident whilst walking at Easter left the lens hanging on by a thread. I could only focus manually but at least I could take some pictures. Yesterday it parted company completely and I can no longer use it. Jane's camera has also stopped working, so I am unable to take any photographs. For me, this is very difficult and I get a twitch every time that a see something worth photographing. I couldn't take any photographs of the Christmas meal yesterday and can't show you the wonderful view from Glenn and Venice's house.
After collecting some more oranges for juicing, we paid for the campsite and left. We headed south to Paralia Tirou to take a look around but that is when the thunder, lightning and rain started and after a brief run to the butcher on the main road, we turned around and headed north.
The bad weather continued and, apart from buying some honey from a roadside stall near Mycenae, we just drove on until we got to Ancient Corinth. We were heading for the Blue Dolphin campsite but spotted some signs to a camperstop close to Ancient Corinth so we decided to follow them.
When we arrived (approx. 15:30) there was nobody around so we parked up and had a cup of tea whilst the rain poured down. Then a man appeared from the house and, giving us a warm welcome, presented us with Greek coffee and 'glyki', literally 'sweets'. Glyki can cover many different things but they are always sweet and are a traditional thing to offer people who come to your house. In our case the glyki were large raisins in a syrup and they were delicious. Later, I returned the tray with many thanks and learned that the owner was taking his grandson Vissilis who learning English to the dentist in Patras.
Between heavy showers and using the map given to us by the campersop owner, we managed to walk the 400 metres into the centre of Ancient Corinth and looked at the site from outside the fences. After dinner I went to the toilet by the house and found the owner cooking souvlaki for the grandchildren. I explained that we had eaten 'arni sto fourno' (lamb in the oven). Vassilis appeared and I asked him how he had got on at the dentist – he showed me the gap where the tooth had been! Something about the meal had got lost in translation as the owner appeared from the house with a bowl of salad for us to have with our meal. It was beetroot and horta (wild greens) in an olive oil and vinegar dressing. It was delicious but we saved most of it to have with our dinner tomorrow.
More thunder and lightning followed in the evening with spells of torrential rain.
The Aphrodite Waters Camperstop (N37.91128 E22.87893) is basic (only one toilet, washbasin and shower combined) but it is very convenient for Ancient Corinth and at €10 including electricity it is very good value. And the owners are very pleasant people! Brush up on your French before you come, it is much better than his English but smiles are international!
Photos: No camera – no photographs.

Wednesday 25th May 2011 - Zaritsi, near Paralia Tirou, Greece

2011-06-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

We phoned our friends, Glenn and Venice, last night and made final arrangements for seeing them today. They had some more English friends staying with them and decided to put on a Christmas meal with turkey, of course. We spent the day relaxing at the campsite, Jane went for a swim and said that the water was warm, although it took her a while to take the plunge.
Venice had ordered us a taxi and we set of for Sapounakeika just above Paralia Tirou and just below Kato Tiros and Ano Tiros. The taxi dropped us down the hill from Glenn and Venice's house (they don't like going to the square above because the roads are so narrow. Jane spotted their house as I was walking past it and we were soon on the balcony with Glenn, Venice, Patrick and Annabel. The view from their balcony is absolutely fantastic, encompassing mountains, sea (the Argolic Gulf) and the mainland and islands beyond. It was quite hazy whilst we were there but it was still beautiful.
Glenn and Venice are going through the wars at the moment. Venice has had a frozen shoulder for some time meaning that she is unable to grip anything and cannot drive. Just after Easter Glenn noticed that his eyesight in one eye had deteriorated rapidly and this turned out to be a blister on the retina. He took himself to the ophthalmic department of Tripoli hospital who diagnosed the problem and referred him to a specialist in Athens the following morning at 08:30. He arrived there and was admitted for surgery with the operation performed very early the next morning. Glenn said that the nursing care in the hospital was non-existent (they expect patients to be looked after by relatives) and the food was poor. Of the four men in his ward, two had wives who stayed with them over night, one sleeping in the bed with her husband and the other sleeping in a chair. Relatives came and went all day and night! The operation was not pleasant and the advice given to Glenn on discharge was poor but it was successful and Glenn is on the way to recovery. I was very impressed with the speed of the Greek health service in diagnosis, speed of referral and time to operation. I can't imagine that the British National Health would be as fast as that although the nursing care, food and discharge advice would have been better.
We had a lovely evening exchanging news, catching up on family matters and eating a lovely Christmas dinner complete with roast potatoes and bread sauce. There is a distinct lack of Brussels sprouts in Greece but some would say that was an improvement.
Photos: Jane swimming on Zaritsi beach; Over lunch we were joined by 16 cats but they were obviously well fed as they didn't bother us at all.

Tuesday 24th May 2011 – Zaritsi, near Paralia Tirou, Greece

2011-06-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Although we were next to the road, it was quiet during the night and we slept well until the farmers went off to their fields just before 7 o'clock. Goat bells sounded around us although we couldn't see them until they appeared in the road beside us. We exchanged a wave and 'Kalimera' (good morning) with the goatherd who was a lady and, unlike the one in The Sound Of Music didn't look lonely at all. She controlled the herd without a dog, using whistles and calls to move them or to stop them eating the parts that they shouldn't, such as the olive trees.
We drove on south descending until we reach the plain just before Geraki. Here we turned towards Geraki but turned north before reaching the town. This is a more major road with more traffic than yesterday's road where we only past one tractor in the first 30 miles, but it still couldn't be classed as busy. We stopped in Kosmas and took a look around the pretty square but otherwise the village is not terribly interesting. Whilst we were there, two Belgium motorhomes arrived but soon left on the road towards Leonidio. I was surprised to see then come back a couple of minutes later but then a full-sized tour coach came down the hill and parked in the square. I say that it was a tour coach and it certainly looked the part but then I realised that it was actually an enormous motorhome converted from a coach and complete with a roof of solar panels. A young couple (late 20's or early 30's) emerged – this was their full-time home and there were in Greece for just three weeks. Negotiating the narrow roads in Kosmas was difficult but they would never have got through Kastanitsa yesterday. I hate to think what their fuel bill was like but they were Swiss and obviously had some money behind them.
A whole group of Belgian motorhomes then arrived in the main square and totally blocked the main road through the village whilst they tried to decide which way to go. It was an organised tour (they all had a number displayed on their windscreen) but the organisation obviously didn't run to knowing the route! We gave them a few minutes start before we also headed towards Leonidio.
A few kilometres out of Kosmas we started an extremely long descent from the mountains to the coast. I remember this from other holidays when we were always driving up from Leonidio and the climb seemed to go on forever. At each hairpin bend we would catch sight of the trail of Belgian motorhomes snaking its way below us. A long way down this road we came across one of my favourite monasteries in Greece, Elonas, which is also a very important pilgrimage destination for Greeks.
Elonas is now a convent and its location is stunning. Built into an overhang on a sheer cliff is has wonderful views over the gorge and mountains. As normal, it has a foundation myth and, of course, a miraculous icon. The icon and a lit lamp was found in the 16th century in a cave in the cliff and the people wanted to build a chapel for it but decided to put it in a more easily accessible position. They moved the icon down the cliff but each night the icon moved itself back to the cave, telling them that they had to build the chapel there. It is an interesting monastery with a nice church full of lamps but it is its position that makes it a 'not-to-be-missed' sight.
We had never been along the coast south of Leonidio and took this opportunity to do so. We drove to Poulithra (very small harbour with pleasant looking tavernas and a bar) and then back to Plaka with its pretty harbour and equally good-looking tavernas. I spotted some motorhomes parked north of the harbour and we walked over to find an official camperstop with 3 British motorhomes parked in it. These were the first British motorhomes that we had seen in Greece this holiday and there were three of them! There were seven motorhomes in total and the price was €5 or €7 with electricity. There were toilets and showers, although we didn't inspect them, as well as fresh water and dumping facilities. Very close to the beach and harbour and reasonably easy access to Leonidio (probably too far on foot), I think that it is good value for money and we have certainly noted it for future reference. We had a long and very pleasant chat with one of the couples, Roland and Christine(?) who live near Bath probably only 20 miles from us. Roland was also the archivist for the Yetties, a Dorset-based folk group that Jane (Dorset born and bred) and I (Dorset bred) know well. The group has just retired after more than forty years and Christine said that Roland doesn't quite know what he is going to do with himself! They were a lovely couple and we could have spent all afternoon talking to them ........ come to think of it, we nearly did.
On the way back to the car we passed another huge luxury Swiss coach that had been converted into a motorhome. This was even more modern that the one in Kosmas with solar panels and a massive satellite dish.
On then past Paralia Tirou to the campsite at Zaritsi where we had our choice of pitches and were given some oranges for squeezing. I love fresh orange juice and this, straight from the tree was delicious.
Photos: Elonas monastery in the cliff high above the valley bottom; The view from Elonas.

Monday 23rd May 2011 – Somewhere south of Kallithea, Greece

2011-05-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

I went to see Eleni, the campsite owner, to pay for our four nights. I had negotiated, with difficulty, the price down from €24 to €20 but when I gave her the €80 she insisted on giving me back €10 with a big smile and a big 'thank you'. However that wasn't enough. We were just filling the van with water when Eleni appeared on her trademark tricycle clutching a bottle of green olives from her garden. They were in strong brine with a layer of oil floating on top. We were given strict instructions as to how to prepare them for eating: remove the olives and soak in water overnight; slit the olives and soak in vinegar for eight hours. Can't wait to try them but we will probably leave them until we are back in England and want to savour the flavour of Greece.
We took Henrietta into the village and parked up to do some shopping. First on the list was another visit to the Evi-Evan wine cellar to buy some more olive oil. It was Maria's day off but her daughter (Eleni?, the engaged one rather than the married one) was there and she was able to confirm that the road that we intended to take south was asphalted the whole way.
Taking a road south west out of Aghios Andreas we headed for Kastanitsa, climbing steeply and passing only bee-keepers tending to their hives . This was Maria's home village where she lived before she emigrated to Canada and she told me that it is very pretty. She was quite correct, it really is lovely. Traditional houses spill down the hillside that is topped by the ruins of a tower (alt. 900m) that commanded views down the valley and over to the sea. The view was very hazy today but we could just make out the outlines of islands (Spetses, Spetsopoula and Hydra) and the Didyma Peninsular of the mainland. The village was deserted, a mixture of tasteful modern, renovated old and semi-ruined houses all with traditional, very heavy, stone-tiled roofs. We found the main square well hidden amongst houses on the ridge and chatted to a very friendly taverna owner. We were the only people there and he explained that almost all of the houses were holiday homes, many owned by families who originated from Kastanitsa but had moved away to find jobs. He said that it is very quite at this time of year but in July and August it is crazy and the square and his taverna are packed. He wished us a good holiday and we returned to Henrietta, grateful that we didn't have a larger motorhome as we negotiated a sharp, narrow bend in the village before heading south.
Just above Kastanitsa (yes, climbing again) we travelled through a sweet chestnut forest with chestnuts still littering the road. Then came miles of lovely pine forest with mountains either side. We climbed to about 1500 metres before descending to the village of Tsintzina where our excellent Anavasi 1:50,000 map showed a large number of marked trails. We saw a number of signs marking the trails from the road and I think that this would be a very good centre for walking. It was here that we came across the first signs of the very serious forest fires of 2007(?). A large sign announced that the European Union is funding a project to rehabilitate the forests of Mount Parnon and it soon became clear how big a project this must be. We went through at least 11 miles of burnt forest where the undergrowth was recovering but no new trees were growing. Very occasionally a few trees had survived the fire but otherwise only bare, blackened trunks rose from the ground. We had planned to wild camp in this area but it wasn't very attractive so we headed on to Kalithea that had been spared from the fire and found a pull-in just south of the village in sight of the ruined but impressive 'Pirgos', a tower with a high-walled enclosure.
Photos: A sight that we have seen many times on this sojourn – bee-keepers at work; Kastanitsa viewed from the ruins of the Kapsambeli Tower; The only traffic that we saw in Kastanitsa passes through the square; Not all of the houses in Kastanitsa were renovated but this one has got a satellite dish!; This farmhouse was rebuilt after being destroyed by the forest fires, the evidence of which can be seen all around it.

Sunday 22nd May 2011 - Paralio Astros, Greece

2011-05-30T11:49:00.001-07:00

We have enjoyed our stay at the Thirea Campsite and Paralio Astros is a pleasant place so we decided to stay for another night. The decision was influenced by the fact that there is a Triathlon taking place in the village today. It is the tenth year of the event that this year will see over 150 athletes swim for 1.9km followed by a 90km cycle and finishing with a 21.1km run, all without a break. We walked into the village and found the centre of the activities set out on the promenade outside the school. Watching the cycling and running (we had missed the swim that started at 08:00) was quite exhausting and after a further exploration of the main street, we walked back to the campsite, constantly overtaken by runners clutching bottles of water and energy drinks. These were issued by the organisers at the school and this is where the competitors left their bikes to start the run. They also ran passed the school twice before finishing the race on the third time. This meant that there was plenty of opportunity for rehydration and to collect water-soaked sponges that they either squeezed over themselves or stuffed up their tee shirts so that the water would be slowly released as they ran. It looked like total agony and I certainly would struggle to do any one of the three stages let alone all of them one after another. We went back to relax after all the exertion and cooked swordfish steaks on the barbecue.
We had discovered an Internet café in the main square so in the evening we went in for a drink and a catch up on emails and the blog. I had a frappé (cold coffee) for €3 and Jane had an enormous glass of white wine for €2 (I can't fathom their pricing structure) – very good value with one and a half hours of Internet use. We couldn't resist a fairly rare opportunity for a giro pitta on the way back to Henrietta.
Photos: The triathlon cycling stage; Passing the finishing post but still another lap to go.

Saturday 21st May 2011 - Paralio Astros, Greece

2011-05-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

After cycling in to get some lovely warm, fresh bread for breakfast, I decided that it was a good day for cycling. I cycled back into the village to the wine shop and had a long chat with Maria, ending up with 5 litres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.5 litres of rosé and a litre of her olive oil. Oh, and a piece of that same deep-fried sweet batter that we were given at Prodromou Monastery. Both of Maria's children celebrate their name day today as May 21st is the name day of Eleni and Konstantinou and Maria had just bought the sweet for their name day celebrations. After dropping those back at the motorhome, I headed away from the village and soon left the asphalted lane on a dirt track signposted to Aghia Anastasia. This was a typical, small countryside chapel but, unusually these days, it was not locked and I was able to see the pretty interior. As always, there were many icons, two of which were of Aghia Anastasia and on one of these hung many tin plates with symbols of eyes and limbs given as offerings by the sick asking for cures from the saint. The iconostasis and the most important icons were decorated with wild (now dried) flowers either from May Day or Easter or both.
After more unsurfaced road I briefly joined the main coastal road before leaving again at the spring that feed Lake Moustos. The spring and lake are said to have medicinal properties and, in Summer, many people bathe in the waters. In truth, in the heat of the Summer, many of them just enjoy being in the cool water. The lake is also a nature park and an important area for migrating birds. As I cycled down the side of the lake there were many hides but there was nothing to see at this time of the year except for fish jumping and swimming in the lovely clear water.
Having reached the sea, the track moved slightly inland through a huge area of olive groves, scattered with signs saying 'No Hunting'. Eventually I arrived at the coastal road at Korakovouni and took the quicker route back on the asphalted road.
It was definitely barbecue weather so I cooked the pork chops, aubergine and courgette and that was accompanied by some excellent lemony roast potatoes cooked by Jane.
Photos: Aghia Anastasia – the Greeks are very proud of their chapels and they want them to be seen – note the 'Stop' sign in the olive tree; The outflow of the Moustos Lake; We have seen this many times in Greece but never in England – all of the sheep make a huddle, normally under a tree, with their heads in the centre. It looks as though they are having a major discussion.

Friday 20th May 2011 - Paralio Astros, Greece

2011-05-22T08:35:00.001-07:00

Another very relaxing day with a walk into the village and up to the ruins of the 13th century castle of Zafiropoulos. From the castle it was possible to pick out through the haze the castle above Argos and the lovely port of Nafplio.
Dinner was slow-cooked rabbit in white wine, olive oil and tomatoes.
Photos: View of Paralio Astros from the castle – Thirea Camping is in the trees just beyond the houses.

Thursday 19th May 2011 - Paralio Astros, Greece

2011-05-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

A very relaxed day driving from one end of Paralio Astros to the other with a stop in the middle to wander around the centre. We found a wine shop where they sold wine from their own vineyard – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a blend of the two. In addition to the reds, they also had a rosé which was a Cabernet-Merlot blend. We tried them all and both decided that we preferred the Cabernet Sauvignon. The lady and her husband were from Canada but both born in Greece. Her husband had decided to leave his job in Canada and come to Greece to start a vineyard. He had no experience of growing grapes or making wine and started the vineyard from scratch just a few kilometres from Paralio Astros. A bold decision! I think that his wife would rather have been back in Canada but they had made a very good job of the wine – some of the best Greek wine that I have tasted. We could buy a 70ml bottle for €7 or a 1.5 litre plastic bottle of draught wine for €3.50. We chose the latter.
At lunch time I cooked a fresh fish bought at one of the fishmongers in the village and the remainder of the day was spent reading and relaxing.
Photos: A traditional taverna in the village; How did the Wendy House get here?

Wednesday 18th May 2011 – Paralio Astros, Greece

2011-05-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today we travelled a little further over to the eastern coast of the Peloponnese. Jane plotted a route over a minor road starting just south of Stemnitsa and travelling through Hrisovitsi into the city of Tripoli. After half an hour we passed the second vehicle, so it wasn't exactly a busy road but it was a very good road and a pleasant drive through pine forests. Tripoli itself, and we went straight through the centre, was busy but it wasn't a problem and we were soon heading towards Tegea that we had visited earlier in the month. We wanted to check out the museum as it was closed when we were there before but we expected that as nearly all museums are closed on Mondays. It was locked again but something was happening inside. A posted told us, in Greek, that something was happening there at eight in the evening but this event was for school children. Looking through the windows we could see an actress dressed in a costume talking to the children but it was obvious that there were no artefacts in the building. Given that this was the most modern building that was labelled 'Museum', it was obvious that the museum was now closed and the artefacts had been moved, probably to Tripoli. Still, we had been able to buy another 1.5 litres of the excellent rosé wine (€2.50) from the local shop on the main road so all was not lost.
We continued on this road towards Astros until we came to Loukous (Grove) Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Christos Soter. It is actually a convent and is beautifully kept. The gardens are full of flowers including a profusion of roses and lilies that filled the air with a lovely perfume. Unfortunately, the church was locked but we were able to admire the exterior with its many ancient blocks of Ancient Eva that was only a few metres away. Pillars, capitals, carved blocks and a statue from the town were also displayed around the courtyard and there used to be many more before they were taken off to museums.
Across the road from the convent, looking like a building site with a massive crane perched above it is the massive site of the Villa of Herodes Atticus. Covering an area of over 20,000 square metres and hugely ostentatious it has been compared to Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. Herodes Atticus was a Greek from a rich family who took Roman citizenship in the 2nd century AD. He became even richer and built villas all over the place. A lot of money had obviously been spent consolidating the site and preparing to construct a roof over it. Large concrete piers had been built all around the massive central courtyard (no doubt with gardens and pool), the crane was there to put the roofing in place and huge numbers of wooden panels (for flooring?) lay around. There was a tall fence all around the site but the main gate was open with an unlocked padlock hanging on it. There was nobody on the site so we went in and spent some time looking around. It was quite obvious that no work had been done on the site for some time so it is anyone's guess when it will be finished. Still it was great to be able to look around and it could be a fantastic site when the work is completed. Make a note to return in 20 years or so! The scale of the site is daunting and I was particularly impressed by the extensive bath complex with the heating and water flows clearly visible. Under the protective gauze and aggregate we know that there are mosaics. If all of the protected areas are mosaics then it should be spectacular when they are on display.
On then to the town of Astros where we found the archaeological museum. It was closed and had been for some time – since the earthquake (“seismos”) said the curator indicating the shaking with his hands. We were intrigued to know when that was but he had kept the garden in beautiful condition – the lawn was like a billiard table and the flowers were lovely.
Next was the beach resort of Astros, Paralio Astros where we found the rather drab looking Astros Camping. The very high, all covering eucalyptus trees, combined with the dull weather made it all look rather dingy. It was very cheap at €15 but not very inspiring. I cleaned my bike that was covered in dust from the journey and set off to have a look around the campsite on the other side of the village. The village itself was very pleasant and the Thirea Campside was a great improvement – brighter, much better facilities, closer to the village and a better beach. I had a chat with the owner and managed to negotiate a reduction from €24 to €20. I said that we would bring the motorhome the next day.
Photos: Loukous Monastery; An overview of the Villa of Herodes Atticus – the huge area with the concrete piers is only the inner courtyard; One of the temples within the villa.

Tuesday 17th May 2011 – Gortys, Lousios Gorge, Greece

2011-05-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

As we were driving from Dimitsana yesterday, Jane was reading the Blue Guide and discovered that it was a special day for Prodromou today. Every monastery and church celebrates its saints day and Prodromou's is August 29th. However the 17th of May is the saints day of St. Anthanasius of Christianoupolis (a local saint) and this is the dedication of the church in the precinct of the monastery. When we stood outside the motorhome in the morning, we could hear the sound of chanting drifting up from far below. We drove down round the many bends until we reached the full monastery car park and we parked on the road just outside. There is quite a long walk (about 15 minutes) down to the monastery and we were quite convinced that we were nearly there when the track took us in the opposite direction to the chanting. It soon became clear that we had been misled by the echo from the other side of the gorge and we soon arrived at Prodromou in its dramatic position part in and part under the cliff.
The church was overflowing with some of the faithful sitting in seats outside. We joined them and listened to the service for some time before we walked over to the monastery itself. This was quite intriguing with the rock of the cliff often forming the walls of the rooms. The monastery probably started life as a cave hermitage in the 12th century but the main monastery was built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The guest accommodation was built 1860, still built into the cliff. The tiny main church within the monastery is built into the rock and has some lovely frescoes inside the church and the rock outside. We were presented with coffee, cake and biscuits and sat on the balcony watching the view and enjoying the treats.
The service finished after at least three hours and the congregation made their way down to the monastery precinct where they were given coffee and an interesting roll of deep-fried sweet batter sprinkled with cinnamon. I was offered one and shared it with Jane – an experience but we wouldn't search for another one. The congregation chatted for a while with the many monks, priests and a bishop before they filed into the monastery building and sat down at long tables. Here they were treated to a full meal with oven-cooked lamb with small square pasta served in a tomato sauce.
We met a Danish couple with their young daughter who were the only other foreign tourists at the monastery. Simon worked for the Danish National Museum and Mette had been involved in aid work mainly in India. In fact they had both spent about three years in India, some of that time with their daughter Bertha. Mette told us about her time in the remote parts of the country where she had seen many different weird and wonderful rituals including animal sacrifices and people experiencing mystic fits where they were able to commune with the spirit world. For such a young couple, they were well travelled and had some amazing tales to tell.
Jane walked back to Henrietta whilst I walked down a path to the depths of the gorge. I had intended to walk to the other monastery, Philosophou and this would have been quite easy, but time was getting on so I simply went down to the river and then walked back up (a long way up) to the motorhome. On the last part of the walk I met Mette, Simon and Bertha again and had another long chat. Bertha was unbelievably well behaved. She was fascinated by everything around her – the donkeys at the monastery (she spent about half an hour feeding them with grass) and anything to do with nature – she had quite a collection of wild flowers by the time that we got to the car park. She had walked all the way to and from the monastery and spent hours there without a single complaint.
After a very late lunch we headed on to the ruins of Ancient Gortys just a little further down the gorge. We looked at the remains of a ritual bathing place and the Temple of Asclepieion. The site was important for many centuries, even into the Roman times as it was said to be the place where Nymphs washed the infant Zeus. In fact it is thought that is why the river was named Lousios, as it means 'wash' in Greek. We walked up to a bridge over the river just below the Prodromou monastery and inspected the 'watermill and fulling-tub of the Monastery of Prodromou' just beyond the bridge. This was quite fascinating as it had been built partly in a cave where a strong spring emanating from the cliff provided the water power before flowing into the Lousios River.
The very quiet car park provided an excellent wild camping spot for the night.
Photos: The monks' cells at Prodromou; From Prodromou looking towards Philosophou; This tiny chapel was once a hermit's cave and still contains frescoes painted by the hermit; Old Philosophou Monastery seen from the walk down to the bottom of the gorge. It was deliberately designed to blend in with the cliff of the gorge so that it could not be seen by raiders. It is no longer occupied and is sadly decaying.

Monday 16th May 2011 – Above Prodromou Monastery, Dimitsana, Greece

2011-05-22T08:16:00.001-07:00

Jane thought (and I agreed) that our route north would be quicker if we took the main Sparta to Tripoli road and then cut across west. The Sparta – Tripoli road was very quick but the next section was mountainous and slow. We would have been better off on the, apparently more minor road directly north but we did at least get some lovely views of the Taygetos mountain range.
Our first target was the small village of Pellana where there is a group of five Mycenean tombs. The number of tombs and the richness of the finds from them have lead some experts to suggest that this might be the early site of Sparta before it moved further south. It was obviously a very significant place, which it isn't now! The site of the tombs is closed but we were able to look up to the site on a low hill and see some of the tomb entrances.
Onwards and definitely upward we headed north into the centre of the Peloponnese. We arrived at a huge plain with the once great city of Megalopolis at its centre. The modern town of Megalopolis is an important centre but is a nondescript, rather drab place that retains little evidence of its glorious ancient past. Parts of the plain were known to spontaneously combust (a phenomenon that must have cause quite a stir in antiquity) and this lead to the discovery of vast brown coal deposits. This is why the plain is dominated by open cast mines and three massive power stations with their red-striped chimneys spearing the sky and white clouds of steam from the cooling towers spiralling past. The plain is surrounded on all sides by high mountains, creating a bowl in which the power stations sit. This is not good news, as on calm days such as today, the pollution stays in the bowl creating a layer of smog that covers the plain. This was clearly visible as we climbed up into the mountains where we selected a picnic spot that had a view of the mountains and not the power stations.
Continuing to climb we arrived at Dimitsana and headed for the Open-Air Water Power Museum. This is run, like the excellent Olive and Greek Olive Oil Museum in Sparta, by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation. We had visited it before, probably when it had just been set up in the 1990s, and thought that it was very good. It didn't disappoint us. The information boards were very good, telling us all about the installations and the life of the millers and local people. There was a fulling mill for washing cloth, a flour mill, a tannery and a 'black powder mill'. Huge volumes of water flowed through the site from a very strong spring just above and this provided plenty of power for the fulling tub and the flour mill, using a horizontally mounted water wheel, that were both operating. The 'black powder mill' produced gunpowder in a complex and dangerous process using a vertically mounted water wheel to power a series of vertical wooden posts that pounded the ingredients to the fine powder required. Dimitsana produced much of the gunpowder used in the long war of independence fought by the Greeks against the Turks in the early 19th century.
We also bought the excellent 'Walker's Map of the River Lousios Valley with Cultural Information' from the museum that had many suggested drives and walks in the area complete with a very good map showing the roads, trails, remains of watermills and other points of interest.
We intended to visit the Prodromou (St.John the Baptist) Monastery in the morning so, given that there are no campsites in the area, we decided to try to find a wild camping pitch close to it. We drove back towards Stemnitsa and took the right turn signposted to Prodromou. All of our maps show this as an un-asphalted road but during our brief trip through the area three years ago, I was sure that I had seen an asphalted road. This was the case although minor rockfalls littered the road and there were plenty of potholes to be avoided. The road descends sharply into the gorge on a series of hairpin bends but it was not far below the main road that I spotted a suitable, nearly flat area of land and we were able to keep far enough from the edge for Jane's comfort. The views over the Gortynian mountains and the Lousios Gorge were magnificent. We could see the Philosophou Monastery over the other side of the gorge but could not see Prodromou that was obviously far below us and tucked into the side of the gorge. We could see a few villages from our pitch but as night fell more appeared as their lights started to twinkle far away on the mountainsides.
Photos: This rather lovely building in Pellana must surely have been a mill at one time. High up above the plane in Georgitsa we came across this aeroplane and at the entrance to the village was a sign to 'The Airport' – a strange place for it but there was obviously an Air Force base nearby; The Dimitsana Water Power Museum - water runs in front of the building housing a fulling tub and flour mill; The Fulling Tub; The Gunpowder Mill; Jane admires the view from our wild camping pitch.

Sunday 15th May 2011 – Mystras, Greece

2011-05-22T08:14:00.001-07:00

The Taygetos mountains were very clear this morning with the snow shining in the sunlight but the view to the sea was obscured by haze. We drove the short distance down into Arna and parked in the small car parking area above the Plateia (square). Taverna and café tables were dotted around under the shade of the enormous platanus trees, the central one allegedly one of the largest in Greece. Our brochure from Sparta told us that there was a 'flat path leaving the square that leads in one and a half hours to the Springs of Aghia Marina'. We thought that sounded like a good walk so we tried to find the path but it wasn't obvious. We found a board with a map showing the route of the pan-European E4 walking trail that showed it going through Arna. It confusingly also showed two Aghia Marinas, one was a village and another was a chapel and they were in totally different places. The E4 went somewhere near the church but not actually to it. Fortunately the locals were very helpful and many had already said hello to us and asked us where we were from. We asked directions to the springs and were taken to an English speaker. He looked surprised that we wanted to walk to Aghia Marina (a bad sign) but drew us a map. He didn't understand the word spring so I tried 'pigi', which I thought was the Greek word for spring but it obviously isn't or I didn't pronounce it properly. I took him to the map board and pointed to the chapel and then got a second version of the map. We followed these directions but they simply took us on the road which is not what we wanted. It would have been a long walk in the full sun, not the lovely walk through trees that we had been promised in the brochure. I left Jane in the van whilst I went off to investigate other possible tracks. I found the E4 heading in roughly the correct direction and followed it. It was well signed through the village and out into lovely countryside. Through trees with springs, a profusion of wild flowers and lots of butterflies – I counted at least 8 different types from huge swallow-tails to tiny speckled brown ones. It was delightful. Then I had the common Greek (and other countries) walking trail problem – lots of signs in the village in places where you don't need them and no signs when there is a choice of trails out in the countryside. The area is criss-crossed by tracks leading to people land – olive groves, nut trees, pastures etc. Most of the time it is obvious which is the main track but I came to one meeting of tracks where the main one went up hill (I wanted to be going down) and was then blocked by a wire fence. I tried the others. One seemed hopeful. I scared a flock of sheep that then went into a huddle under an olive tree and eyed me suspiciously. However that petered out and so I walked back past the concerned sheep who then decided that I wasn't so bad after all and started following me. When ever I stopped and turned around, they stopped and started grazing. And when I walked on they followed. I had visions of walking back into Arna square with a flock of sheep behind me. Fortunately, they eventually gave up and I retraced my steps to find Jane in the motorhome.
Jane had just had a long chat with a group of four Norwegian walkers in their late 50's who were walking parts of the E4. They had just done the stretch from a refuge high up in the Taygetos down to Arna. They said that the route down was well marked but there were many fallen trees and ravines that required significant amounts of scrambling and climbing.
We walked down into the plateia and had two frappé (cold coffees) and were presented with an Arna calendar (now displayed in Henrietta). We then walked on to a shop that sold local produce and bought some mountain oregano and were given a postcard and some chestnuts. There was a reason for this – Arna has a chestnut festival at the end of October that attracts over 2,000 people. Given that the village has less than 130 residents, every one of them must be involved in the three days of celebrations. Make a note that if we ever come to Greece in the Autumn, we must go to Arna for the chestnut festival.
After exploring the rest of the village, we took a different road down to the main Sparta – Gytheo road and drove back to the Mystras campsite.
Photos: Arna Platea (Square); Arna's Clock Tower; Concerned multi-storey sheep.

Saturday 14th May 2011 – Arna, Greece

2011-05-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

We had been given two excellent local guides by a café in Sparta and that inspired us to investigate more of the local sights. We wanted to travel up into the Taygetos mountains and one of the brochures mentioned Arna, which sounded rather nice. First we headed into Sparta, visited the Temple of Artemis Orthia (the site is not open but it is visible from outside the fence) and drove down the east side of the Evrotas River expecting to cross it at one of two crossings further south. One certainly did not exist and if the other did exist, it was down a very narrow lane, too narrow for the motorhome. Greek maps strike again!
We went back to Sparta and drove down the main road along the west side of Evrotas. After stopping at an excellent, large AB Supermarket where all of the staff spoke English, we arrived at the Tholos Tomb of Vafio (or Vapheio). This was where two beautiful 15th century BC gold cups were found during an excavation in 1888 and we saw them in our visit to the Athens museum. There wasn't much left of the tholos tomb surrounded on all sides by vast olive groves.
Next stop was the Hellenistic bridge at Xirokambi - built in 100 BC it was on the ancient road from Sparta to its port of Kardamyli on the other side of the Taygetos mountain range. It is complete and is still being used by pedestrians.
Here our climb started and we were soon seeing magnificent views. There are no campsites in the area so we were looking for a suitable wild camping site. We saw a couple of possibilities on the way but just before Arna we came across the ideal site with easy access from the road. The long, wide and flat area of stony ground had magnificent views to the right over the Taygetos mountains, to the left over the Evrotas valley and plain to the Parnon mountains, and ahead to the sea, the Gulf of Messenia. At 900 metres with those views we really felt we were on top of the world. We took a walk around the perimeter and then cooked dinner. As darkness fell we watched the lights of villages appear in every direction.
For anyone wishing to wild camp in this area, the site is approx. 2km outside Arna on the Vasiliki road, GPS coordinates 36.88182 N, 022.43152 E.
Photos: 15th century BC gold cup from Vafio showing the capture of bulls; The Hellenistic Bridge at Xirokambi; Wild camping near Arna.

Friday 13th May 2011 - Mystras, Greece

2011-05-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

This is our last day in Mystras and we wanted to see Sparta. The bus took us into the centre and we went to the Town Hall to attempt to get a map that showed the location of the visible archaeological remains. There was no tourist information office but the Municipal Police were extremely helpful and provided us with a good map. We made our way to the Sparta acropolis via the remains of Leonidion, said to be the tomb of Leonidas, the man who with 300 of his Spartan soldiers fought to the death in the pass at Thermopylae against the might of the Persian army in 480 BC. Very little of ancient Sparta can be seen today although it appears that every time that they dig foundations in the modern city some more are revealed. Most of what is visible on the acropolis is Roman, the theatre being the major attraction with its view over the snow-capped Taygetos mountains. We were also able to see the ruins of Mystras sprinkled over the hill below its castle. We had passed a passed a very well equipped nursery / kindergarten / first school on the way and on the way back we saw a group of five to six year olds being marched around the playground, some waving flags. Then they started to chant. This made me think of the rigid discipline of the ancient Spartans and I nearly asked the children whether any of them had been left as children on the mountainside to see if they were tough enough to survive! Jane was very impressed by the amount of play equipment available for the children and we were both impressed by their vocal pet peacock that was strutting around the playground.
The Sparta museum is quite interesting but is very much an old style Greek museum with poorly displayed and very poorly labelled (even in Greek) exhibits. By contrast, we then went on to the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil run by the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation. We weren't sure whether to go to this but we were so glad that we did. It was really interesting and extremely well presented, probably to best that we have seen in Greece. Everything olives and olive oil was covered from varieties, propagation and cultivation of the olive trees to the history of the olive and olive oil, its production, transportation and uses from pre-history to modern times. Well worth a visit.
Photos: The Spartan Roman theatre and the view over olive groves and Sparta to the snow-capped Taygetos mountains; One of many inscribed blocks of the theatre walls – this one starts “Sacred Artemis .....” if anyone can translate the rest, please let me know; Masks from the Temple of Artemis Orthia in Sparta; Reproduction of a prehistoric olive press.

Thursday 12th May 2011 - Mystras, Greece

2011-05-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

There was sunshine and blue skies when we woke up so we decided to go for a walk that we had found in the Municipality of Mystras tourist guide that we had been given at the campsite. We had also seen a board detailing the routes and spoken to a Dutch couple who had done one of the walks. We spotted a walk that we could take from the campsite and headed into the village. On the other side of Mystras on the way to the mediaeval site we turned left by an information board. The walk took us on a cobbled donkey track up a very pretty sheer-sided gorge with a stream flowing down it. The wild flowers were lovely and the route was lined with cyclamen. It is very late to see cyclamen growing in Greece but the cool Spring and the shaded nature of the gorge have probably allowed them to survive so long. As we approached the start of the walk we saw some dark clouds over the mountains and these increased as we progressed up the steep path. We passed many springs and chapels on the route and these provided an excuse for a break before continuing the climb. Near the top we came across signs of what might have been a wild boar with much disturbed soil and judging by the size of the stones moved it must have been a powerful animal.
After 2.5km and one and a half hours we arrived at a road just below the village of Taygeti and were informed by a sign that we were at an altitude of 700m. The village is very small but the views from it were lovely. We looked down on the castle of Mystras and across the modern village of Mystras and Sparta in the plain to the mountains beyond. They were covered in dense black cloud and we heard our first ominous deep rumble of thunder coming from across the valley. And then it started to rain, predictably at our furthest point from the campsite. Fortunately, it was only light rain and we started off on the long walk down the road from Taygeti down to Mystras. The road headed off in totally the wrong direction but descended slowly in zig-zags – easier walking but at least twice the distance of the route up. On this section there were herbs (mint, oregano and thyme) growing everywhere and we also saw lots of orchids. We left the road for a few metres to get to a small chapel with a view over the plain and came across a dead tortoise. The upper part of its shell had been smashed open and then the flesh eaten. We know that Golden Eagles prey on tortoises, they carry them up to a height and then drop them on rocks to break the shell. We also had a much nicer view of a tortoise, a live one this time, just a couple of minutes later. We had to shelter under the eaves of that chapel when a particularly heavy spate of rain fell accompanied by thunder and lightening and we used our very inelegant but effective rain capes (glorified plastic bags) for two stretches but got down to the plain without getting too wet. However, a huge mass of black cloud was heading towards us and it was a race to see who reached the campsite first. We won and it wasn't long before the rain started and it continued for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.
Photos: We decided that this was the village square of Taygeti with a covered communal eating area; View down from Taygeti to Mystras Castle (left) and Sparta in the middle distance (right); View on our descent showing old and new Mystras.

Wednesday 11th May 2011 - Mystras, Greece

2011-05-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

We checked the weather on the Internet yesterday and it said that today was going to be overcast with a 60% chance of rain. We had therefore decided to go into Sparta to visit the museum and, if it wasn't raining, a few of the small sites dotted around the city. However, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine – a lovely day. We changed plans and set off for the mediaeval site of Mistras, walking through the village and round the hill that dominates it. Earlier on the trip we had seen a Short-toed Eagle soaring in the thermals but today we went one better, seeing an eagle (not sure which one but darker than the Short-toed) carrying its prey, a long snake hanging from its talons.
The city of Mystras was founded in the 13th century AD following the building of a castle on the summit of the hill in 1249 by the Franks. The Franks were trying to establish sovereignty over the whole of the Peloponnese and this castle was an important part of their plan. People abandoned the ancient city of Sparta and moved to Mystras which became the most important city and the centre of learning and the arts in the mediaeval Morea (the Peloponnese). But it was always under threat and in its history it was ruled for many years by a series of Despots before being attacked, conquered by or surrendered to the Byzantines, the Slavs, the Turks (for many years), Venetians, Spanish, Italians from Rimini, rebelling Greeks, the Albanians and even (briefly after the Greek War of Independence) the Egyptians.
The city is unusual in that it is built on the steep hill crowned by the castle although it often spread outside its defensive walls and onto the plain below with the residents retreating to the fortified areas during times of threat. At its peak in the late 17th, early 18th centuries there were 42,000 inhabitants. The city on the hill was finally abandoned in 1831 when King Otto re-established Sparta and the population moved there or to the modern village of Mystras on the plain below the hill. Ruins are scattered on the hill but it is the churches and monasteries that are the best preserved and the reason why most of the visitors are there. Now declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a huge amount of conservation and reconstruction work has taken place. We first visited Mystras nearly 30 years ago and there are huge changes. Churches that were virtually derelict are now roofed and their walls repaired. The beautiful paintings that were often open to the elements have been restored and protected. We spent over three hours walking over the site before heading back to the campsite, passing an interesting dead snake and a large live one on the way back.
Photos: The ruins of Mystras cling to the hillside below the castle; The Monastery of Peribleptos built into the rock; Looking down to The Metropolis from the Pantanassa Monastery which is still an active monastery; The pulpit (?) high up in the Metropolis church.

Tuesday 10th May 2011 - Mystras, Greece

2011-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Castle view has a washing machine so Jane took the opportunity to catch up on the washing. After a short walk into the village of Mistras, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading.
Photos: A statue of Constantine, despot of Mystras from 1443 to 1449 and the last Emperor of Constantinople – a fierce, determined man who you wouldn't want to upset!

Monday 9th May 2011 – Mystras, Greece

2011-05-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

We set off this morning to spend a few days in Corinth and ended up in Sparta! And this is how it happened.
We have been to Corinth a number of times but have never visited Acrocorinth set high on a hill south of the famous ancient Corinth. All went well as we crossed the Corinth Canal, stopping for the mandatory viewing. On other trips we considered ourselves lucky if we saw a single ship using the canal but this time there was a trip boat, a tanker and a number of private yachts. As we approached Corinth my Sitnav (Jane) was map reading and informed me that we should be able to approach Acrocorinth from either the Tripoli road or the Patras road. So we followed signs to Tripoli as there were no signs to Ancient Corinth or Acrocorinth and found ourselves on the motorway. This wasn't a problem as the map showed a junction close to Acrocorinth but when we got there, we found that you could leave or join the motorway if you were heading north and you could join the motorway heading south. However heading south as we were, there was no way to leave the motorway. Sitnav informed me that it was “absolutely miles” to the next junction and, as we suspected, we soon came to a toll station. £5 worse off and we were still heading in the wrong direction with no easy way of returning except by leaving at the next junction, rejoining the motorway and paying another £5 going back. This did not appeal and therefore, not for the first time, we adapted the itinerary. We knew that we could visit Corinth later in the trip so we headed for our next intended stop near Sparta.
At some point we knew that we would need to fill up our LPG tank and from the very helpful and interesting MagBaz site (www.magbaztravels.com) we knew that the only LPG supplier in the Peloponnese was based in Tripoli. So after paying another £5 in tolls we got to Tripoli and following the excellent directions provided to MagBaz by Andy, we arrived at the garage and filled up. We only needed 11 litres (approx. half the tank) after 4 weeks of travelling so we will certainly have plenty to see us through the rest of the trip.
On the way to Sparta from Tripoli I spotted a sign to the Sanctuary of Elea Athena. Helpfully, and most unusually, the sign told us the distance, only 1 km, so I followed it. Almost all Greek sites and museums are closed on Mondays but we were pleasantly surprised to find the gate unlocked and n attendant in the office. He waved us through and told us that it was free and it proved to be very interesting. There was a temple here in the 7th century BC (and evidence of two earlier ones) but that was burnt down in 395 BC and a new temple built to replace it. It was one of the most famous temples in Greece and it was here at the fountain (still visible) that legend has it that Heracles met the nymph Auge. She gave birth to Telephus (surely the god of telecommunications – if not, why not?) here at Tegea. Further remains of Tegea are just 2 minutes down the road at Palaia Episkopi. Although the remains are scant, the village is well worth a visit with its large church overlaying part of the ancient theatre and a lovely shaded park with benches. There is also a good taverna here but we chose to have a picnic in the shade. The folk museum based in the park is supposed to be very good but it is only open at weekends at this time of the year.
Making our way without any problems through Sparta, we headed for our campsite Castle View at Mystras where we parked in the shade of two olive trees.
Photos: Glaros campsite at Kineta – the beach bathed in morning sunshine; A tanker is pulled through the Corinth Canal; Statue to the Tegean Mother in the park at Palaia Episkopi.

Sunday 8th May 2011 - Kineta, Greece

2011-05-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

When we checked the Kineta train station yesterday we found that the suburban train station was closed and the line had obviously not been used for some time. However we discovered that the new train line also had a train station at Kineta, slightly outside the village and closer to the campsite. We went to check the times of trains and discovered that the ticket office was closed. A sign, luckily in English as well as Greek, reminded us that we had to have a ticket before we got on the train but stated that we would have to go to another station to buy a ticket. The campsite owner was unaware of this and made a couple of phone calls where, judging by his tone of voice, he was saying something like “how are visitors expected to used the station if they have to travel to another station to buy the tickets?”. He came off the phone stating that it was mad and down to 'the crisis' i.e. the dire state of the Greek economy and the cuts that have been made to attempt to correct it. He kindly offered to buy some tickets for us and also bought more for future use by his customers. So we drove to the 3km to the station, parked up, validated our tickets by stamping them (dire warnings about not doing this too) and waited on the platform. A notice said that the electricity was switched on for the railway at the end of October 2010, so everything was new. However, the electronic train information boards were not working, the simply said, only in English, 'Pay attention to the announcements' and there weren't any! The clock on that board was stopped at 12:00 and the two other clocks on the platform read 08:00 and 08:03 when the time was actually 09:06. The train couldn't have been in service for more than seven months and yet it was covered in very poor standard graffiti – all over the metal and half way up the windows. The train arrived and left early so it was bad luck if you arrived just before the appointed time. It is very sad that even with a prestige project like this new railway line, the Greeks can't get it right.
We arrived at Athens Central Railway Station less than one hour later and decided to walk to the Archaeological Museum. We were in luck as it was the one day in the month that it was free but staff shortages ('the crisis' again) meant that many rooms were closed. However the room housing the finds from Santorini, the thing that we most wanted to see, was open and we went there first. I won't bore you with the details but even with the restricted access, there was plenty to see with some wonderful finds from all over Greece.
When we came out three hours later we watched thousands of cyclists making their way into the centre of Athens. We never found out whether it was a protest or a celebration but it was peaceful and everyone, including many families, seemed to be having a good time. We walked on to Syntagma Square and caught the changing of the guard by the tomb of the unknown soldier outside the parliament building. The Greek soldiers dressed in their traditional white outfits with a mini skirt, tights and pom-pommed clogs, performed their amazing, slow-motion and complex choreographed routine. Each time that we see it we admire the precision and timing but we can't believe quite how silly it looks.
On then for an excellent meal at 'O Platanos' on Diogenous Street on the edge of the Plaka. This taverna was established in 1932 and its food and position in a small square by the Temple of the Winds makes it very popular with the Athenians.
We then spent an hour or so wandering around the slopes of the Acropolis Hill enjoying the architecture and views across the city. We stumbled across a small monastery in amongst the houses and I asked whether there were still monks there. It was still a monastery but only had occasional visits from the monks as they were based in Jerusalem!
We took the underground train from Akropolis to Larissa (Athens Central) where we caught our train back. Just as we approached Kineta we passed a company selling prefabricated chapels with lots of models on display. That surely could only happen in Greece!
Photos: The head of a monumental bronze statue of Zeus (or possibly Poseidon) from 460 BC – Athens Museum; The changing of the guard in Syntagma Square; View of the Agora from the Areopagus hill next to the Acropolis.

Saturday 7th May 2011 – Kineta, Greece

2011-05-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

We had a good start this morning anticipating a long period hunting for Eleusis. It was the first time that we had approached Elefsina from this direction and shortly after passing under the motorway and heading toward the town centre we were rewarded by our first sign to Eleusis. This was followed by more signs and we were soon parked outside the site. It was remarkably easy and we wondered why we had so much trouble before. Part of the issue was that the guidebooks often describe the site as being surrounded by oil refineries and cement factories. It is true that the view from the site is horrible and includes these but it is actually within the town and we had always envisaged it as being well outside.
Eleusis was a very important cult centre, occupied from at least as early as the 15th century BC and initially a rival to Athens before coming under Athenian rule in the early 6th century BC. The Sacred Way lead from Athens to Eleusis, a distance of 19km (12 miles), and during the nine-day festival of Greater Eleusinia a procession came from Athens to the Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. Only those initiated into the Eleusian Mysteries were allowed to take part in the procession and to witness the rituals that took place in the sanctuary. The number of initiates obviously grew over the centuries as the sanctuary was rebuilt and enlarged many times including one extension that involved building over ancient walls many metres high. The Mysteries were secret and the penalty for revealing them was death and this might explain why we still don't know much about them. However Demeter was connected with the seasons, fertility and crops and it is probable that these themes were prominent in the ceremonies.
The Mysteries were celebrated well into the Roman period and at least three Roman Emperors are known to have been initiates. Indeed the Romans remodelled and enlarged much of the site adding many fountains and baths. It is largely the Roman remains that are visible today although more ancient walls and features are also visible.
We spent three hours walking around the site, reading the information plaques, looking at the remains and trying to imagine what the initiates observed during the ceremonies. It is suggested that after fasting, they ate fermented cereals that may have an effect similar to LSD, so they may have seen some very interesting sights!
Travelling West along the old national road we arrived at Kineta and Glaros Camping where we took a pitch close to the sea.
Photos: The sacred area on the sanctuary at Eleusis – the stone seats at the back are for the initiates to watch the Mysteries; Part of a 5th century BC white plate from Eleusis; A Roman votive piglet from Eleusis.

Friday 6th May 2011 – Inoi, Greece

2011-05-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Our aim today was to get off Evia and to Thebes in time to visit the museum there. However a combination of mountains, windy roads and slow lorries (even slower than us!) meant that we weren't going to get to Thebes museum before the likely closing time of 15:00. There are no campsites anywhere near Thebes so we decided that we might be able to find a restaurant on the outskirts that would allow us to stay overnight in their car park if we had a meal there. We have used this option on a number of occasions and it works well. However, at Jane's suggestion, we decided to go to the museum first to ensure that it was actually open. Our Blue Guide published, we think, in 2007 said that the museum had been undergoing restoration but was reported as having been reopened. Well, it hasn't and shows no signs of being opened in the near future. The Blue Guide describes Thebes as being “as undistinguished today as it was glorious in antiquity” and we have to agree. Fortunately the museum, although closed, was well signposted and we found it quite easily. Getting out of the city was slightly more difficult, involving many rather narrow one-way streets but we managed it and took the old national road towards Elefsina. We intended to visit Eleusis tomorrow if we could find it – this would be our third attempt. There are no campsites in this area either so we decided to find a place to wild camp somewhere off the national road.
After passing the very impressive tall walls of the 4th century BC fortress of Eleutherai we turned off the main road and ended up on the outskirts of the small village of Inoi. We found an excellent, flat area off the road near to the church of Agia Triada. We went off to investigate the village and found that the centre was based around the main road and we bought some wholemeal bread (called Mavro – black in Greek), sweet bread and baklava from a very good baker who also spoke English. Across the road there was a shop selling the local wine straight from the barrel. After trying the different wines, we bought two 1.5 litre bottles one of white and one rosé both of which were not resinated.
Photos: Wild camping pitch in Inoi; In Inoi the bakers start very young; Jane at the Inoi wine cellar just before I was about to lie under a barrel and open the tap – unfortunately the proprietor arrived before I could do so!

Thursday 5th May 2011 – Rovies, Evia, Greece

2011-05-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain during the night and lots of rain this morning meant that doing the chores was a very damp process especially as the waste water, fresh water and chemical toilet facilities were a little walk away. Although the campsite is very sophisticated, with a very swish swirling water swimming pool, the toilet block that was open only had foot toilets (slightly sophisticated holes in the ground). This did not go down well with Jane! Having said that, the price was very reasonable at €14, the cheapest so far in Greece.
The prospect for the first part of our drive did not look good. It was still raining, if only gently, and low cloud hung over the hills. Soon we were up in the fog of that cloud and although the forest was pretty, there was no chance that we were going to see any views. As we drove along we started seeing plastic bags attached to the trees. At first I thought that it was some type of bug trap and then I realised – they were collecting sap. Pine resin is added to wine to produce Greek Retsina, the famous, some would say infamous, Greek wine. We really like it but the resin flavour does take some time to get used to and some people never get used to it! It may seem a strange thing to do but it stems back to the time when wine was transported in animal skins that were sealed with pine resin. This imparted a flavour to the wine, the Greeks got used to it and continue to add the resin well after the skins were replaced by bottles.
As we rounded the north east of the island, we descended from the mountains and were finally able to see the sea even if it was still raining. We stopped at Orei to find the 4th century BC marble bull that was on display of the seafront. We found it and it was very impressive. We also found the Ouzeri (bars specialising in selling the Greek aniseed drink Ouzo) that Orei is well known for. I chose the one that had no name, looked basic and had lots of local customers including a Greek Orthodox priest. It is a tradition that ouzo, especially in an Ouzeri, is served with 'mezethes', little pieces of food. It is a tradition that is fast disappearing but in some places you are served something simple like little pieces of tomato and cucumber. It used to be common to be served a little cheese and / or olives but these have become relatively expensive and so it is rare to get them. Here our ouzo arrived together with some bread and we thought that was the mezethes but a few minutes later came a dish with six small fish, horta (wild greens) and two pieces of lemon. The fish had been chargrilled and the horta was cold and both were delicious. When we came to pay the bill it was €4, the same that we had paid for ouzo served with a few crisps in Parga. We would have loved to stay in Orei and spent more time at the Ouzeri but there was nowhere to camp so we had to move on.
The next stop was the spa resort of Loutra Aedipsos where we parked next to the port where there we three ferries lined up and another one just arriving. Evia is well blessed with ferries with many options of connections to different ports on the mainland. We walked along the seafront until we reached some very smart spa hotels. We could see steam rising from the beach and found an outlet from one of the over eighty thermal springs that are scattered around Orei. They vary in temperature from 28°C to 86° and this must have been one of the warmer ones. Orei is quite a pretty place and judging by the number of hotels, shops and tavernas, it must really hum in the season.
Onward again along by the sea and below the level of the mist until we arrived at Rovies Camping and found a pitch overlooking the sea. It had stopped raining and we were able to sit out for a while but it certainly wasn't warm. We hoped for better weather in the morning.
Photos: Orei ouzeri mezethes; Loutra Aedipsos faded elegance; And current elegance – the Sylla Thermal Spa Wellness Hotel established in 1879 and still looking good (it has probably had a facelift or two); Hot water from one of the thermal springs flows out onto the public beach.

Wednesday 4th May 2011 – Aghia Anna, Evia, Greece

2011-05-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

Sit Nav (Jane) had a difficult day today. She didn't recognise the place names that we wanted at a turning on the outskirts of Chalkis resulting in a tour of the congested streets of the city trying to find a way out. After a long drive through urban sprawl on the northern side of Chalkis we got out into the countryside, missed another turning and spent some time attempting to negotiate the narrow streets of a town and taking a diversion into the mountains before rejoining the main road. In Jane's defence, I must say that most of the signs were in Greek script and it takes time to transliterate into Latin script before deciding whether the towns are where we want to go. After that we had no problems and we enjoyed the drive through pretty forested countryside. We stopped at Prokopi where we visited a Russian pilgrimage church of St. John the Russian. We had followed a Russian coach on part of the journey and by the time that we got to the church, the pilgrims were filing passed the mummified remains of St. John and filling special small bottles with blessed olive oil. We know little about this saint or why he is so important to the Russians – we must look it up on the Internet.
We had passed thousands of beehives on our way and it was no surprise to find many honey shops in amongst the many tavernas, coffee shops and souvenir shops. We stopped at one and were given a friendly greeting by the lady owner without getting any hard sell. On the way back we stopped there and were able to try some of her honeys, specifically the pine and fir honeys. The pine was definitely the best and it brought back memories of the lovely Peloponnesian pine honey that we have had on previous trips. So that was the honey sorted and we bought 10 litres of olive oil this morning so we are building up our stock of practical souvenirs.
We drove on to Aghia Anna and down to its beach where the Aghia Anna Club campsite is located. It took us a while to find any of the staff but we were soon on our pitch and hooked up to the electricity. We were the only people on the site that copes with in excess of 1,000 people at the height of the season.
Photos: The St. John the Russian church in Prokopi; The honey shop in Prokopi; The Aghia Anna Club campsite also has air conditioned yurts for hire – they look rather comfortable.

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 - Eretria, Evia, Greece

2011-05-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

We didn't get far today! We had intended to travel down to the southern tip of Evia but had also spotted that there was an archaeological site in Eretria. I asked the campsite receptionist where it was and he explained that the museum and site were only about a kilometre down the road. We parked just outside and joined the five coach loads of children visiting the museum. Fortunately they had been divided into relatively small groups and we were able to view the excellent museum in a leisurely fashion. We hadn't realised how big a town Eretria was in antiquity and we were given a map of the main open site and other minor areas dotted around the modern town. After looking around one of the residential areas with some very large impressive houses, we set off in search of the 'House of Mosaics'. On the way we came across the Tourist Information Office (just east of the museum on the main road) and popped in to find out more about Evia. They were extremely helpful, told us much about where to go and what to see and loaded us up with very good pamphlets and an excellent map. They also helpfully told us that the House of Mosaics was locked but we could get the key from the museum. I went back to get the key and because I didn't have any identification with me, they came with me to open up. This was a good move as the lady struggled for some time with the second gate pulling and shaking it to get the key to work. It was worth the effort, the 4th century BC mosaics were really good and in an excellent state of preservation. They were housed in what was a very posh house with two courtyards. Apparently, this design of house started in Evia and spread across Greece. The house was effectively in two parts, a public section and a family section.
We lunched on some very tasty giro pittas before completing our round of the sites around the town and then returned to the campsite, completing a round trip of 2km! This time we found a nicer pitch right down by the water's edge with small waves giving us that lovely sound of the sea that would later lull us to sleep.
Photos: The Centaur of Lefkandi in the Eretria museum – his head and body were found in different tombs; The House of Mosaics; A baby tortoise in the Eretria archaeological site; A Shirley Valentine moment at the Milos Campsite.

Monday 2nd May 2011 – Eretria, Evia, Greece

2011-05-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night in Greece on this trip that we have not heard the lovely call of the Scops Owl. It fact we heard nothing until well after dawn when the first pick-up trucks started to pass us. We had hoped that the view would be clearer today but the opposite was the case, we could not make out the coast of the Peloponnese.
We descended all of those curves down to the plain – nowhere near so much fun as on a bike and stopped in Thisvi at 'O Fournos' ('The Oven' - a bakers) for bread, tiropitta (cheese pie) and spanokopitta (spinach pie) for lunch. We saw the scant remains of the wall of Ancient Thisvi on the outskirts of the village before heading off to the Valley of the Muses. This is where, on the slopes of Mount Helicon, the nine muses (epic poetry; tragedy; comedy; lyric and love poetry; choral song and dance; sacred hymns and mime; harmony and instrumental music; astronomy and speculative thought) preferred to stay. We saw the valley from the village of Neochori (literally 'New Village' – there must be hundreds of these in Greece) where we also saw a disused watermill with a huge waterwheel. Unfortunately, we by-passed Thespiai whose ancient inhabitants honoured the god of love above all other gods. Phryne, famous courtesan and mistress of the even more famous sculptor Praxiteles (4th century BC) lived here and the beauty of her breasts was legendary. I had hoped to see whether any of the female residents of Thespiai were direct descendants of Phryne but was thwarted by my navigator who insisted that she was simply following the shortest route.
Our next stop was Orchomenos, a fascinating site occupied continuously from the Neolithic (possibly as early as 6,000 BC) through to the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BC). It was the capital city of the Minyans, a pre-Greek people who settled here next to the Kopaic lake in the middle of the second Millennium BC. The outflow from this lake disappeared down swallow holes on the periphery and eventually appeared at the sea opposite Evia. The Minyans set about draining the lake by enlarging the swallow holes and channelling the water down then. This was the largest lake in Greece and draining it was a massive project – the earliest known such project in Europe. What was left was a vast, highly fertile plain.
There is not much to see on the hill where Orchomenos was situated, just the remains of a tower near the summit but the views over the Kopaic plain are worth the walk. At the base of the hill are the remains of a theatre and the so-called Treasury of the Minyans – a tholos (beehive) tomb. The roof of the tomb has gone but the remaining courses of massive stones are impressive and the small burial chamber to one side is complete and has a beautiful decorated ceiling.
Much of ancient stones of the site are incorporated into the church of Panagia Skripou, the former Convent of the Dormition. It was built in 874 and a tour of the exterior found reused statue bases ans inscribed stones from the ancient site as well as beautifully carved friezes and a vertical sundial that are contemporary with the building. Much of the building in built from sliced-up columns from the ancient Temple of the Graces (or Charites) – the local cult. The church was locked but just as we were about to drive away, we saw someone go to the church and unlock it for a service. We were allowed in and were able to admire the 9th century frescoes in the dimly lit interior.
We drove on to Gla, another Minyan town, once an island in the Kopaic lake, but quite different from Orchomenos. Walls 2.8km long run around the edge of a low hill that sticks out of the plain. It is a wonderfully atmospheric site but it is huge and difficult to investigate. We picnicked below the Western gate looking up at those ancient defensive walls.
We took the motorway south and paid €6.25 (about £5.70) to travel the two junctions before we headed for the island of Evia. We really must stop travelling on motorways.
Although Evia is the second biggest Greek island (after Crete) it is so close to the mainland that it is joined to it by two bridges. We wanted to cross over the old bridge that is in the same place as the first ever bridge built in 411 BC. We managed it and then battled through the very busy Chalkis city desperately looking signs for southern Evia or Eretria before finding ourselves on the road to the new bridge with no way of getting off it. So, within a few minutes we had managed to cross both bridges and we were soon crossing the new bridge again back to Evia. Navigation was not much easier this time but we did manage to get on the correct road. It was a long time before we got out of the urban sprawl around Chalkis and this remind us of our only other visit to the island. This was many years ago before the new bridge was built and we were on a three week tour of Greece by car. We arrived in Chalkis and were very unimpressed by the industry (more prevalent then) and that urban sprawl. We turned around and headed back to the mainland and the rural Greece that we loved.
The scenery finally improved and we were soon at our campsite, the only one that we know of in southern Evia, Milos (Mill) Camping in Eretria. There were two German motorhomes already in the site both of which were towing Smart cars and shortly after we arrived, an Austrian couple arrived with their converted Land Rover. They were the same couple that had been at Meteora the whole time that we had been there. This is the second Austrian couple that we have met this holiday with converted Land Rovers, both very proud that they were British and so well built and they were both hoping to go to Syria but found that the borders were closed. Quite a coincidence. Why do Austrians want to go to Syria? I should have asked the question.
Photos: Disused water mill at Neochori; Kopaic lake from Orchomenos; Ceiling of tholos tomb burial chamber at Orchomenos; This British Marshall steam roller (serial no. 79896 for you enthusiasts) was outside the Orchomenos town hall.

Sunday 1st May 2011 (May Day) – Near Thisvi, Greece

2011-05-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

The WiFi wasn't working this morning so I went down to reception to check on it. I used my many years of I.T. Knowledge to diagnose the fault and suggest a solution – switch the wireless router off and back on. Of course it worked and I was able to post the blog up to yesterday. During this time we had a chat with the campsite owners who had been running the campsite since 1983. They also said that many of the campsites between them and Athens had closed, including the Blue Bay campsite and the EOT (government run) campsite just down the road. Apparently the Blue Bay campsite was very good but it was run by three brothers who fell out with each other and it closed last year. We said goodbye and left with a free Greek campsite booklet (more comprehensive than our book) and a mini chocolate Easter egg each.
We intended to us a minor road that would take us south across the mountains but must have emerged too far west on the main road and missed the turn. We decided instead to use the main road
just west of Thermopylae and were travelling towards it along the main road quite happily when the road suddenly turned into a very wide dirt track. After a certain amount of confusion, we realised that if we continued along the dirt track we emerged on the eastbound carriageway of the motorway! We soon turned off south on the road towards Gravia and we climbed steadily up into the mountains. At Bralos we tuned east and passed signs to many archaeological sites, resisting the temptation to investigate. We cut off again on a minor road to Davlia before crossing the E692 and travelling through Distromo and on to Hosios Loukas.
All through this trip on lovely rural roads we saw people picking wild flowers. This is a tradition on May Day in Greece and the flowers are often made into a wreath that is hung on the front door of their houses. The wreath brings Spring's blessing to the house and is is left there until early June. As we approached Hosios Loukas we saw a family with their car bonnet covered in flowers that they had just collected. The woman was just creating her wreath from them and she waved and called out a greeting as we passed.
Hosios Loukas is a monastery and one of the best examples of Byzantine architecture in Greece. We came here over 30 years ago and remembered being impressed but we couldn't remember much more! The setting, surrounded by mountains is lovely and the architecture and frescoes are beautiful. We were able to enjoy it almost to ourselves, probably because everyone else was enjoying their May Day family meal. We had a picnic overlooking the site.
Returning a short distance we took a road that travelled down the fertile valley full of olive trees and vines below the monastery. On then using deserted roads to Kyriaki where we were encouraged to demolish some bunting (actually red and white roadwork tape) that was too low for the van. This was very lucky for us as we were then able to ask for directions to the next village, only to find that we needed to turn right (no signs at all) and had demolish some more bunting. Between here and Aghia Anna we passed, literally in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, we passed a park with a children's playground and temporary rides. Families were there picnicking and the children were enjoying the rides, all obviously celebrating May Day although I am sure that it is also very popular in the heat of summer.
We came to an amazing viewpoint just before Thisvi. Here the road descended in many curves down to the village far below. People had stopped their cars to admire the view and we couldn't resist the temptation to wild camp. Parking just off the road, we got out our chairs and had a drink whilst taking the view of the Gulf of Corinth, its many islands and the hazy Peloponnese beyond. Although the view was hazy, it was lovely. It must be a fantastic view when it is clear – make a note to return! Most of the people passing us (many of whom tooted their horns and waved) were in pick-up trucks, a sign of the agricultural nature of the area and one such truck passed us with two lads standing in the back holding on the roll-bar behind the cab. “Good evening” they called out as they passed and as they got to the bend one of the lads got out with his bicycle and set of to free-wheel down the hill. We watched him go – I measured it the next day as a fall of 500m over a distance of 6km (nearly 4 miles) – what great fun.
Photos: Hosios Loukas; Mosaic of Christ washing the feet of his disciples; Mosaic of Christ; Wild camping in Henrietta with her bouquet of May Day flowers.

Saturday 30th April 2011 - Agios Serafim, near Kamina Vourla, Greece

2011-05-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

We decided to stay another night and have a relaxing day planning and catching up on the blog. We started by investigating the local harbour exchanging greetings with an elderly couple cleaning and preparing their nets on a lovely old fishing boat. We also admired the tiny chapel by the harbour discovering that its interior was covered in beautifully painted frescoes.
Lunch was barbecued chicken consumed in the warm sunny weather. We were glad that we hadn't left the barbecue until the evening as by 17:30 it had clouded over, cooled down and were were being devoured by mosquitoes. We retreated into the van.
Photos: Fishing boat in Agios Serafim harbour; The Agios Serafim chapel and its interior.

Friday 29th April 2011 – Agios Serafim, near Kamina Vourla, Greece

2011-05-01T00:40:00.001-07:00

After the goats had been taken down to the farm, the dogs adopted Henrietta as a substitute goat and guarded us all night. In the middle of the night, something spooked them and they started barking very loudly – and it is very loud when it is just outside your window! It may have been an Albanian bandit but, judging by the time it took to scare it off, it was probably a tortoise. After that it was a peaceful night with some rain and we awoke to cloud cover with no view of the plain or of Kastania village.
Soon the clouds parted and by 10:00 we had full sun but it looked as though fresh snow had fallen on the mountain peaks high above us. We continued up the east coast of the lake on a road that was generally much lower and with more views of the lake than the road on the western side. Eventually away from the lake near a beautifully sited monastery with the snappy name of 'Holy Metropolis Thessaliotidos and Fernariofersalon' (closed on Fridays). The drive down from the mountains gave spectacular views across the plain where we were headed.
Just outside Karditsa we filled up with fuel and the very friendly lady wanted to know where we had been and where we were going to. She seemed to approve of our itinerary and was genuinely delighted to meet us – she wished us well and insisted that we had a few refreshing perfumed wipes for the journey. The Greeks are so welcoming and friendly.
Arriving in the village of Kallithiro we set about locating some archaeology mentioned in the Blue Guide. The village is sited on top of ancient (4th to 3rd century BC) Kallithera and recent discoveries made when building new houses have been displayed by building the houses on stilts, leaving the ruins below. It is quite intriguing to walk along the street and suddenly find a stretches of ancient walls and road underneath a house. What is now called the 'Kastro' was Kallithera's acropolis and walls, towers and gateways are visible. Of course, a church has been built on top of the hill but fortunately they chose to build it outside the walls leaving the archaeology undisturbed.
On our way back though the village I decided to buy some eggs. The first shop only had chocolate eggs and the second shop didn't have any either but I decided to buy some of their tomatoes. When I went into the shop, the lady was watching a large screen television mounted on the wall. And there were William and Kate just about to take their vows. We were offered a seat by the young woman who was amused to find that we were English. So we watched the vows and the giving of the ring and, most important said Jane, we saw the dress! We could not believe our lucky timing – who would have expected to see the royal wedding in a Greek shop. Having said that, the Greeks press has been dominated by the wedding for weeks. Every radio and television news programme covered it – it was the only part that we understood!
We were asked again about our trip and with many smiles and wishes for a 'good holiday' we walked on to the van. Here we met a lady on a bicycle who launched into a great one-sided conversation. We explained that we were English and didn't understand Greek but that didn't stop her. We worked out that she was asking why we were there – the archaeology, the Kastro, where had we been and where were we going to? She gave us advice as to where we should go. It should be remembered that the Greeks are very religious and most of their trips involve churches or monasteries. Sure enough, although we only worked this out afterwards, she said that we should go to the nearby monastery of Petras. Many good wishes and she rode away. The Greeks are so welcoming and friendly!
We made for the Blue Bay campsite at Agios Konstantinos and found ourselves on a new section of motorway near Thermopolae. This was a pay section and were disappointed to find that the charge for motorhomes is very high compared to cars – cars paid €1.10, we paid €3.90. This was more than the charge for transit vans and cars towing trailers and we can only think that it is related to the height of the vehicle. We left the motorway at the second Agios Konstantinos exit and looked for the campsite. We found it with the road to it blocked by bollards – it was closed. The campsite guide said it was open from April but, as is very common with Greek campsites, this date is only very approximate. We then took the old road back north, a much prettier road next to the sea and through attractive resorts including one with banks so we were able to obtain some cash. We found our next target campsite well signposted a few kilometres off the road at Agios Serafim. The Venezuela campsite is next to the sea and beach in a quiet position. The facilities are more basic than Vrachos in Kastraki but there was plenty of hot water and an extra bonus of liquid soap by the washbasins. We were the only touring van on the site but there was a restaurant and it was open. It appeared that there was WiFi on the site and the signal strength was excellent but I only got 'limited or no connectivity' when I connected to it. I went to reception and after much experimentation and a phone call to their son, the wireless repeater mounted under the eaves of the sanitary block directly in front of the van was brought back to reception. This worked a treat. My guess is that Henrietta was parked directly in line between reception and the repeater and this was blocking the signal. I was able to use the WiFi sitting outside at our pitch but it only worked inside if it was perched on the pillows at the back of the van, the closest point to reception. Still this allowed us to catch up on emails, check the rugby scores (Bath beat Newcastle but not by much) and watch the highlights of the Royal Wedding on the BBC website.
Photos: The Plastiras Lake in better weather; The long-named monastery; The inhabitants of Kallithera must have been very short when the Kastro church was built; A beautiful butterfly on Kallithera's Kastro.

Thursday 28th April 2011 – Kastania, Greece

2011-05-01T00:38:00.000-07:00

For all you motorhomers, I must start today's blog with a recommendation for Vrachos Camping in Kastraki. It is an extensive campsite with lots of space and excellent facilities. In the old part of the site there are two large public covered areas with tables and chairs and each one has three double gas burners and a large charcoal barbecue. There is also a refrigerated cabinet for campers to store food. The new section of the campsite has a similar facility next to its sanitary block. Talking of which, these facilities are also very good – plenty of very hot water in the showers and hand basins. The toilets have toilet seats and toilet paper (both unusual in most Greek sites) and you can put toilet paper down the toilet (almost unheard of in Greek campsites). There is a good restaurant on the site and free WiFi is available there. Together with its swimming pool (closed at this time of the year) and, most importantly, its location so close to the monasteries and the centre of Kastraki, it is an excellent site. When we left this site after our last stay three years ago we were presented with a small icon and a substantial book on Ancient Greek theatres. When we left this time I mentioned the icon and said that it had travelled with us in the motorhome ever since. We were then presented with a bag containing another icon (a different one, now also on display in Henrietta), another copy of the Greek theatre book (Simon, we will give you this one), a T-shirt, a postcard and an etching showing the Meteora monasteries. At €18 a day including electricity, this is a very good value site.
After shopping at Lidl in Kalambaka we cut across country on deserted minor roads until we arrived at Pyli south west of Trikala. Here we found the impressive Turkish-style bridge built in 1514 by Saint Vissarion. After a short walk and lunching overlooking the river, we set off to find the church of Porta Panagia (The Virgin of the Gates) that has unique mosaic icons. We found the church and hoped that it was still considered to be winter as the church would re-open at 15:00 but we seemed to be on the summer timetable and didn't want to wait until 16:00. However the church, founded in 1283, was still worth a visit and the architecture was intriguing, made up of a complete mixture of ancient blocks, pieces of masonry from old churches and more modern materials.
Our next stop was the Plastiras Lake, a local beauty spot very popular with the locals. What we hadn't realised was how high the lake located. We wound our way up on steep twisty roads constantly expecting to see the lake around the next bend. When we did finally reach it we followed the western side and found ourselves climbing again as the road took us high above the lake with occasional views across it. The weather was not good and the lake looked dark and cold in the overcast conditions. We reached a belvedere with, the Blue Guide told us, lovely views over the lake but just before we reached it, we drove up into the low cloud and had no view whatsoever! Descending at last to the lakeside at the dam, we were able to drive over it. Despite the Blue Guide stating that it was “cars only”, the limit was 15t and it was obvious that coaches were able to cross. On the opposite side were a row of wooden huts selling all sorts of tourist tat and the local ouzo and fire water. It must be said that the dam and the lake were underwhelming but obviously very popular with the Greeks given the number of tavernas that we saw. I suspect that the Greeks' love of water and the altitude (approx. 850m) make it attractive in the hot summer weather.
Many miles from the nearest campsite, we had decided to wild camp hopefully with a view of the lake and not in the clouds. As we started to travel up the eastern coast of the lake we drove past the small village of Kastania and came to a large flat area of land with enough space for 30 motorhomes. Access was easy and the ground stony so there was no danger of getting stuck. There was no view of the lake but there was a fantastic view down off the mountains onto the plain of Thessaly. A herd of goats and three sheepdogs were our only neighbours. Later a goatherd arrived and gave us a cheery wave as he persuaded two goats to stop sharpening their horns on Henrietta's bumper. Very powerful animals goats, they made the van rock violently! The swirling clouds alternately obscured and revealed the view until darkness fell.
Photos: The bridge at Pyli; Porta Panagia church; Goats on our pitch at Kastania.

Wednesday 27th April 2011 - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-05-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

We had very light showers during the day yesterday but it started raining harder just before we went to bed and continued for a large part of the night. Fortunately, by the morning we were back to very light rain.
This is our last full day in Kastraki so we decided to do some more investigating. There is yet another hermitage cave on the outskirts of the village, Agios Giorgos Mantillas (St. George of the Kerchief). There is no hermit in residence now but the cave is still much visited by the locals who decorate the cave with colourful kerchiefs. The map showed a track leading from the village square but in fact it was a residential asphalted road lined with houses on both sides. We climbed up some steps to a small chapel above which was the cave that was full of colour. I was hoping to be able to get up to it but there was no obvious route and certainly no steps cut into the rock. When returning from our early morning visit to the monasteries on Monday, I saw a group of people in the cave and a rope hanging down from it. This may well have been a late name day celebration (all Greek churches celebrate these) as we had read that if St. George's day (April 23rd) falls in Lent, the day is celebrated after Easter and Monday was the first possible day. However it was clear that they had used a rope to get up and unless you are a climber, that is probably the only way.
The campsite map showed the track continuing and a footpath leading off around the rock mastiffs but given the 'footpaths' that we had attempted to follow before, I didn't have a lot of confidence that it would be walkable. However, we were pleasantly surprised. Not only was the footpath there but it was easy walking and interesting. It went through woodland dotted with knarled trees giving it a rather eerie feel in the damp overcast conditions. Due to the overnight rain, the grass and leaves were very wet and so we we after we had ploughed our way though them.
The map of Meteora displayed on a board in Kastraki showed a 'Monk's Prison' in this area but we had no information about it. Was it a prison from naughty monks or naughty lay people? And where exactly was it – the map only showed a vague arrow? We never knowingly found it but we did find the impressive remains of the hermitage of Agion Pnevma (Holy Ghost). Built into a natural cleft in the vertical cliff, there are scant remains of some walls and many post holes cut into the rock at the bottom of the cleft and hollows line the walls deep into the rock. Many metres above and now inaccessible (at least by me), an intricate series of beams and posts form a skeleton of the original extensive hermitage which must have had many floors.
We returned to Henrietta and spent the rest of the day catching up with the blog, posting it using the WiFi connection in the campsite restaurant and planning for the next few days.
Photos: Agios Giorgos Mantillas; Agios Pnevma; Beams and posts from high up in Agios Pnevma.

Tuesday 26th April 2011 - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-04-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

We woke to light rain and occasional light showers and overcast skies were the order of the day. We sat and read and listened to CDs until we heard some chanting, loud enough to be heard above the music in the van. We both had the same thought – a procession. We had our shoes on and were out of the van in no time hoping to track down the route. Jane said that they would have to return to the church and she was right. As we approached the main street we saw the procession heading up to the church and square. I ran on to get ahead of it, passing many people carrying icons and relics and a tall wooden cross. As we approached the church, the bells rang out but the procession continued past the church and into the square where the priest gave a short service before wishing the congregation 'Good health' and 'Many Years'. After the priest had blessed the icons and icon carriers by sprinkling them with holy water, the congregation queued up to be similarly blessed before they processed round kissing every one of the many icons and relics. I found out that these icons and relics had been brought from every church in the area for the blessing.
The rest of the day was spent reading and catching up on the blog.
Photos: The procession approaches the church; Blessing the icons (and the photographer and camera!); Blessing one of the icon bearers – he kisses the silver cross whilst being sprinkled with holy water.

Monday 25th April 2011 - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-04-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Simon had said that he wanted to take some early morning photographs of the rocks and monasteries and we all readily agreed to meet at the relatively early time of 08:00. Simon drove us in his rental car up to the rocks above Kastraki and we spent an hour and a half admiring the views in the lovely early morning light. The low sun casts wonderful shadows and the contrast between the sunlit rocks and the dark background gave some great photographs. We returned to Kastraki for a well-earned late breakfast.
Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye to Simon and Katie who were moving on to Zagoria to do some walking. It was sad to see them go but we had a fantastic Easter weekend – sunny, warm weather, Greek Easter, wonderful views and, above all, great company. We hope that they enjoy the rest of their holiday and that the weather holds for them.
Jane's cough has improved significantly so in the afternoon I took her up to the rock pinnacle of Adrachti. We took it very slowly in order to prevent coughing fits but we made it to the top. It had clouded over so the views weren't quite as good as on Friday but the scenery was still dramatic. Strangely, Jane decided that she would rather return to Kastraki using the same path rather than pressing on to Kalambaka!
Photos: Agios Nikolaos and Rousanou monasteries; Rock formations with no visible monasteries, although I am sure that there will be some ruins; Rousanou.

Sunday 24th April 2011 (Easter Sunday) - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-04-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

It is Easter Day and once again the church bells are ringing. When we opened up the van we could smell the charcoal fires, a sign of what is to come today.
When Simon and Katie arrived, Katie had been counting the number of lambs that she had seen spit roasting – 30 in the short distance between their hotel and the campsite. Everyone was roasting more than one lamb, some had three – they were going to have a big party! The roasting is done over very long barbecues (lamb size!) and these days the lambs are normally turned on their long spits using electric motors however Simon and Katie saw three women turning one lamb each by hand in the tradition method. This must be very tedious, which is probably why the men had generously left the women to do the job.
We had spotted a footpath sign opposite the campsite and decided to follow it. We could see that it was going towards two abandoned monasteries and we wanted to see if we could get to them. The first was an ancient hermitage with extensive skeleton wooden structures in a series of caves. The second, more distant and more substantial was a walled-in cave complete with doors and windows.
As we set off across the fields, we spotted a small tortoise and then another and another – we had never seen so many tortoises in such a small area. Katie is very fond of animals (she works as a volunteer at Whipsnade Zoo) and she couldn't resist the temptation to take a closer look at one of the tortoises. She sat on the grass, gently placing the tortoise on her leg and asking Simon to be ready with the camera for when the tortoise emerged from its shell. We all watched and waited. Eventually we saw the tortoise's head move partially out and it stuck out its tongue and waved it around, perhaps to sense what was around? And then things happened rapidly. There was a shout from Katie, the tortoise was placed rapidly, but gently, on the ground and Katie jumped up. Has she been bitten, or scratched by the tortoise's feet we thought? The large wet patch on Katie's leg told the story. Gentle though Katie had been, the tortoise had been frightened! Still, I assured Katie that I had read in my 'A Travelogue in Greece and a Folklore Calendar' book that in Thessaly it is considered very good luck to be peed on by a tortoise on Easter Day. Apparently, it ensures good health and keeps away the evil eye!
We had arrived at Aghios Grigorios with its wooden constructions in the cave when we found that they had completely rebuilt an ancient monastery in one of the caves. I think that it is called Aghios Antonios but I can't be sure. It must have been a huge amount of work but it looked very smart with new new doors and windows, electric power, mains water and sewerage. Potted plants lined the balconies. The remains of the old access ladder were still in place but it was obvious that they had built a more modern and convenient entrance. Walking around the pretty chapel of Panagia we came to a gate that clearly stated 'Monastery of Aghia Trias and Asketerion of St. Nikolas – Entrance is Prohibited'. So the restored building must be Aghia Trias and the cave dwellings must be the Asketerion of St. Nikolas but we weren't going to get a closer look. We couldn't find a route to the higher monastery as the way was blocked by the fences of Aghia Trias but it appeared that it has also been recently restored with new windows and doors and even a radio aerial. I am almost certain that these monasteries have been restored since we last visited Meteora three years ago.
We took the small road to the top of Kastraki and walked down through the town and watched the Easter lunch preparations. The smell of roasting lamb filled the air and we greeted people with “Christos Anesti” and “Kronia Pola”. I took pictures of the roasting lambs and on one such occasion I was invited in and presented with a fork full of Kokoretsi, spit roasted lamb offal – sounds awful but actually delicious. I chatted to one of the men who could speak English and asked him how long it took to cook the lamb – about 6 hours. That is a long time to turn the lambs by hand but these two had electric motors. It is important that the whole family group watches the cooking, just to make sure that goes well and it gives time for much chat and the odd drink or two.
We popped into the 'O Fournos' (the bakers, literally 'the oven') to buy some bread. Yes they were open on Easter morning, it is a hard life being a baker in Greece. In the bakers there were two small lambs that had been cooked in large trays using the residual heat from the bread ovens. This was the traditional way of baking food when most villagers did not have their own ovens.
We walked back to the campsite and prepared the gas barbecue for the lamb souvlaki (kebabs) that had been marinading over night. The lemon potatoes took an hour and a half in the oven, so we had time to enjoy some mezethes (starters) before the main course.
It is a tradition that everyone has red eggs on Easter Day and we had bought a packet of six. However, Simon and Katie had been given one each at breakfast, we had been given four as we left the campsite this morning and we were given another two when we visited Simon and Katie's hotel in the late afternoon. Here the owner insisted on giving us coffee and Easter biscuits as well as the eggs – genuine Greek hospitality – whilst we used their WiFi Internet connection. We bashed some red eggs in the traditional way – Simon was the winner as his egg remained intact and all of ours cracked against his.
We returned to Henrietta for a small snack and a game of cards before wishing Simon and Katie 'Good Night' and 'Kronia Pola'.
Photos: Aghios Grigorios; Aghios Antonios in the same cliff face just a few metres away; The calm before the storm, just before the tortoise incident!; Kokoretsi.

Saturday 23rd April 2011 - Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-04-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Bells dominated once again today during the long church services. We thought that this would be a good day to visit some of the monasteries. Driving past Agios Nikolaos and Roussanou, both perched on the top of seemingly inaccessible rock pinnacles, we turned right towards the two active monasteries that Jane and I have not yet visited – Agia Triada and Agios Stefanos. There were many stops to admire the fantastic views of stunning rock formations and the 'monasteries in the air'.
Agia Triada, reached by 130 steps cut into the rock was in use in 1438 but may have been established one hundred years before that. It is one of the smaller monasteries and has a cosy feeling to it. There is a impressive smoke blackened chapel cut into the rock with its walls covered in paintings but the most interesting area was the winch room. Before the steps were cut, the only way to access the monastery was by being hauled up in a large net. The monks turned a large capstan and this pulled up the net attached to the rope. This method was obviously also used to bring up supplies and construction materials. Much of the equipment, including the capstan are still in place.
Most of the monasteries were uninhabited for many years and this was the fate of Agios Stefanos until it was taken over by nuns in 1961. They have completely renovated and modernised the buildings but this does mean that many of the buildings are now off-limits. Another Easter custom was notable in the monastery church – lemon leaves were scattered on the floor. The monasteries are interesting but I must say that it is the views of and views from the monasteries that impress me most.
We relaxed in the afternoon, planning what we were going to do after Meteora and also preparing the evening meal. We had barbecued pork chops that had been marinaded in lemon juice, oil, garlic and herbs. We took our time over the meal and then had a game of Scrabble before walking to the church just after 11 o'clock.
The service had been going on for some time but was building to the climax. People strolled around the square outside the church and we listened to the chanting broadcast over large speakers. And then the congregation spilled out of the church, filling the square and grouping around the lectern where the priest continued the service. Somewhat before the appointed hour of midnight, the priest announced “Christos Anesti” (Christ is risen) and all Hell (an inappropriate word perhaps) broke loose – the church bells rang joyously, firecrackers went off everywhere and the firework display started. It is traditional that the priest lights a candle at this point and then passes the flame around to the whole congregation but they had done this in the church before they came out, probably because they were concerned that the candles would blow out. We lit our candles from other peoples and Simon demonstrated the problems of doing this by putting out six people's candles before succeeding in lighting his! Everyone in the square greeted all of their friends and relations with the traditional greeting 'Kronia Pola' (Many Years).
Photos: Agia Triada; The winch room of Agia Triada; Kristos Anesti and make sure that the candle doesn't blow out!

Friday 22nd April 2011 (Good Friday) – Kastraki, Meteora, Greece

2011-04-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

Jane is still recovering from a bad cough that I generously shared with her so she decided to stay with Henrietta whilst we walked. We took what the map called a 'narrow ascent' to the slim pillar of Adrachti above the village and between two of those massive cliffs. The morning light on the sculptured rocks was fantastic and the whole of our walk was accompanied by the sound of bells as the churches of Kastraki, Kalambaka and the monasteries held their Good Friday services. Is was a very easy walk up and we were full of confidence that the second part of the walk, described as a 'footpath' on the map, would also be easy. We changed our minds when we reached the Adrachti rock and looked south where the footpath should have been. We walked/crawled up the steep hill until we could see that we would need climbing gear to continue. We tried an alternative 'footpath' up to the north but gave up when a squeeze ended with a near vertical section that we couldn't get up. The only option left, apart from returning to Kastraki, was to head down the steep Adrachti Gorge to Kalambaka. It looked much easier than the other routes but if we had realized quite how difficult it was going to be, we would not have tackled it. There were quite a few hairy moments and much team work was needed to get down but we made it and were elated when we got down. “We made it” I shouted and then realised that a funeral procession was passing us, wending its way slowly to the nearby church. The walk back from Kalambaka to the campsite was a doddle – we ignored the short cut using another 'footpath' marked on the map.
The mountaineers are slow starters but by midday they start appearing and by mid afternoon they are dotted over all of the vertical rock faces. There does seam to be a written or unwritten rule that they do not climb on any rock where this is an occupied monastery. This seems reasonable as at times when your monastery is not being invaded by tourists, you wouldn't want a group of mountaineers to appear at your window.
After dinner at a local taverna we stumbled across the Good Friday procession where the Epitaphios (the bier of Christ) is paraded around the village. The Epitaphios is beautifully decorated with fresh flowers such as carnations and lillies and the white sheet that covers Christ's body has been sprinkled with petals. When they reached the church the bearers held the Epitaphios up and the whole congregation clutching lit candles filed underneath it, many kissing it on the way. According to my book, this is for good luck.
Photos: Sourloti Rock over Kastraki – there is at least one abandoned hermitage in a cave part way up the rock; The three intrepid climbers on a very steep descent.