Saturday 27th October 2007

The bad weather has finally caught up with us and there was a lot of rain during the night. The morning dawned with grey overcast skies and showers. We had planned to walk around the Babin Kuk peninsular on which the campsite was located and, as it was not actually raining when we met Ann and Nick, we decided to go ahead. Luckily, although it continued to be dull and overcast, it didn't rain on us and we had an interesting walk including watching a large cruise liner arrive and dock under the Dubrovnik bridge. We then continued our walk round the bay to Gruz and its fruit, vegetable, flowers and fish market. The fish market was closing but the other parts were in full swing.
We chose a small restaurant next to the market for lunch. We all chose fish in one form or another and it was excellent.
We then caught a bus from Gruz into the old town and visited the War Photos Ltd exhibition. The current exhibition was about Lebanon and Israel during the recent conflict. The photographs, all taken by American journalists, were haunting and thought provoking. Not a word was said as we toured the gallery.
Our last evening of the holiday was spent at a small restaurant in the centre of the old town near the church of St. Blaise. The meal was good and we then wandered around the old town and harbour, all looking very pretty in the street lighting.
Photos: Interesting figurehead in Gruz harbour.

Friday 26th October 2007

We wanted to go to see Montenegro and in particular the town of Kotor recommended by our guide book. As Nick didn't have an international driving licence and I did, we went via the airport and added me as an additional driver on the hire agreement. The first part of the drive in Montenegro was somewhat tedious as the urban speed limit there is 40 km/hr (25 mph) and that means that you cannot even get into 4th gear. The coastline here is fjords, which means that there are lots of twists and turns but the views are great and that helped to pass the time on the longer than expected journey to Kotor. Kotor, similar to Ston, is a fortified town with long walls encircling the town and the fort on the hill behind it. We parked just outside the old town and walked in to find a restaurant. Luckily, we were all happy with a pizza restaurant because every restaurant in Kotor was a pizzeria! Then we walked up the walls towards the fort (but didn't make it to the top) and admired the very good view of the old town and the fjord coastline.
The old town of Kotor has preserved many of the mediaeval buildings but there are many more modern intrusions than in Dubrovnik. There was a considerable amount of conservation work being done in the town and I am sure that this will increase over the next few years.
On the way down to Kotor, we passed signs to some Roman mosaics but didn't find them, so we looked out for them on the way back. The signs ran out as soon as we left the main road and we had a fruitless search up a narrow road. I then spotted some construction work close to the main road with a sign saying 'USA Aid' – a new roof to protect the mosaics, perhaps? And it was. There was a project meeting going on when we arrived and we were welcomed by the people and shown the mosaics. Very little was visible as they were under protective covers whilst the construction was continuing. However it was clear that they were in a good state of preservation, surprisingly so given the fact that the Roman villa had been known about since the 12th Century.
I was glad to get back over the border into Croatia so that we could travel at a more reasonable speed. The Croatians have a simple rule on urban speed limits – once you pass a town or village name sign, you are in a 50 km speed limit unless otherwise indicated. It is very easy to miss the signs and I had warned Nick of this when they first arrived. Unfortunately, I missed one. They had positioned the speed trap carefully – on a downhill slope, just after a long fast section of road, close to the airport and just after a confusing set of signs. I was pulled in, taking the place of another poor victim who was pulling away. I had to hand over my passport and was then taken to see the picture showing my car clearly breaking the 50 km speed limit. I wouldn't have minded if I had been braking the speed limit all day, but I had been so careful! The police were very pleasant and even surprisingly sympathetic but it still cost me 500 kuna (£50) and I pulled away a wiser and poorer man.
Photos: Island viewed across the fjord near Kotor; Kotor old town and fjord.

Thursday 25th October 2007

Today we decided to visit the peninsular of Ston, an hour's drive north of Dubrovnik. The peninsular juts out 65 km from the mainland but is only a maximum of 4 miles wide. Known in Roman times as Stagnum because of its shallow waters, it has been an important area for salt production for many years. It became part of the Dubrovnik Republic in 1333 and in the same year, the 5.5 km walls were completed. They claim that, at that time they were the second largest defensive walls in the world after the Great Wall of China. However, I can only assume that this means walls that were still intact given that the Romans built much larger ones e.g. Hadrian's Wall in England and the Limes in Germany. Anyway, it was a very impressive wall and we walked one small part of it above the town of Veliki Ston.
The reason for the defensive walls was the salt production of the area. Dubrovnik made a huge amount of money from Ston's salt and was not about to let anyone else take it over. The salt pans were still intact and looked quite impressive from the walls behind the town.
Ston has two other claims to fame – its extensive production of oysters and mussels and its wine. We saw much evidence of the seafood production in the waters between the mainland and the peninsular and all the restaurants in Dubrovnik and the surrounding area advertise that they have Ston oysters. It was too early for lunch, so we headed up the peninsular in the sure knowledge that there would be plenty of other restaurants.
We passed a huge number on vineyards on the way and it was obvious that a number of different varieties of grapes were being grown. There were also many wineries to taste and buy the wine but, given the strict drink driving laws, we resisted the temptation. Half way up the island, near Janjina, there were lovely views across to the mainland and more evidence of seafood production. We were now looking for a restaurant, preferably on the side of the sea, in the sun and with local seafood. Needless to say, we couldn't find a single one that was open. Still, I was confident that when we reached Orebic, the port for ferries to the island of Korcula, there would be plenty to choose from. After all, there are always restaurants at ports. Of course, I was wrong and it was now gone 14:00 and we were hungry. After walking around the town for some time, we went into a café and had a coffee, expecting to have to get something from the local supermarket. I asked the owner of the café whether there was a open restaurant nearby and this prompted a great discussion between the locals, the result of which was that there was one (only one!) about 300m down the road. Nick, being a hero, set off to find it and returning some time later confirmed that it was open but much further away. After finishing the coffee, we set off for the restaurant that was at least 500m away but it was very good (but no mussels) and excellent value. We were amazed that a place of that size only had one restaurant open at that time of the year.
Photos: Looking over the town and walls to Ston's salt pans; The walls at Veliki Ston; Fishing view at Mali Ston.

Wednesday 24th October 2007

Hoping that the forecast for today (showers, no sun) would be as inaccurate as Tuesday's, we decided last night that we would go to Dubrovnik today to do the wall walk. Sure enough, the sun was shining and there was lots of blue sky between the white clouds.
Dubrovnik was much quieter than on Monday, mainly due to the fact that there were only two small ships in port.
We called first at the Lovrijenac fort, used to stage Hamlet during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and admired the views over Dubrovnik Old Town. Then we set off around the walls. Dubrovnik's walls are very well preserved and there is a promenade around the whole of its circumference. The guide books tell you that it will take an hour to walk the walls but we must have taken at least three hours with a break for lunch in the middle. The weather was now perfect, sunny and no wind – Nick gradually stripped off ending up in shorts (walking trousers with the bottom parts removed) and a T-shirt. The views were also clear, both of the mountains and the islands. The view of the Old Town from the walls should not be missed, with all of the buildings, monasteries and many churches crowded in. It was sobering to see the number of roofs with new tiles and the repairs that had been done to many buildings. Dubrovnik was heavily shelled by Bosnian forces during the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991/2. Whilst in Dubrovnik, I bought Misha Glenny's book 'The Fall of Yugoslavia' so that I could understand more about the conflict.
Ann and Nick came to Henrietta for an aperitif before we went to eat at the restaurant of the local Yacht Club, recommended by the lady in the campsite reception. Not the most exciting menu, but well cooked food and large portions – very good value.
Photos: Dubrovnik old town from Lovrijenac Fort; Houses crowded into the old town; Dubrovnik landward walls; Galleon sailing towards Dubrovnik.

Tuesday 23rd October 2007

We had decided that we would take a trip out today using the free car that was included with Ann and Nick's holiday. Nick drove us to Cavtat just a few kilometers down the coast from Dubrovnik. Ann had a family holiday there over 40 years ago and we often asked “do you remember this” but 40 years is a long time! Ann hoped to be able to identify the hotel that she stayed in but that will have to wait until she sees her mum when she returns. With the aid of photographs, she may be able to help.
We spent a very pleasant day walking around the peninsulars with lovely views over to Dubrovnik, the Elaphite Islands and back to Cavtat. Curiously, Dubrovnik always seemed to be in the shade whilst we were often basking in sunshine. The weather really was much better than the forecast had suggested and when we sat drinking coffee in the mid-afternoon, we were all in shirt sleeves.
Given the problems of finding somewhere to eat last night, we decided to head into Dubrovnik where there is a huge choice. Following one of the recommendations of Ann and Nicks holiday rep, we went to a restaurant just outside the walls. The Orhan Restaurant was right by the sea below the Lovrijenac fort with wonderful views of the floodlit walls of Dubrovnik over the tiny bay. We could only appreciate the views if we sat outside so, with a touch of British madness, we sat in our coats (except for Ann who, for most of the meal, sat without a coat) and had an excellent meal. We were just finishing the main course and decided that we couldn't possibly have a desert, when a second litre of wine was delivered “from the house”. This ensured that we stayed much longer and given the old belief that you should never have a drink without food, Nick and I decided to have a pudding.
A very merry quartet made its way home.
Photos: Cavtat harbour; Even the smart hotels have problems with translations – raft or rough?; View from Orhan Restaurant; Entrance to Dubrovnik old town.

Monday 22nd October 2007

Today is our son Simon's birthday – Happy Birthday Simon.
Jane ironed the trousers to dry them out and turned the hairdryer on the coats to remove at least some of the moisture.
We caught the bus for Dubrovnik Old Town from near the campsite and Ann and Nick joined us at their bus stop. It was a day spent dodging the showers and moving between museums. Although we all really wanted to walk around the walls, we decided to wait for improved weather when the views would be much better. It was not a very pleasant day, being cold wet and windy but there were dryer interludes and we were able to use these to explore the back streets of the old town. You only need to move away from the main streets in order to lose all of the other tourists.
Our campsite on the Babin Kuk Peninsular is very close to the docks at Gruz on the other side of a small bay and this is where the cruise liners dock. It is even possible to hear the ships' PA systems, probably announcing the departure of the next trip although, fortunately, we are not close enough to may out the words. When we arrived on Sunday, an absolutely enormous Carnival liner was in and, as a floating city, it totally dominated the small liner beside it. This morning they had moved on and the Aurora had replaced it. Ann and Nick's apartment has a wonderful view over the same bay and the hills behind it and they are able to see the impressive Dubrovnik suspension bridge dominating even the largest cruise ships below.
We wanted variety, so we didn't return to the same restaurant as last night so we proceeded to walk further down the same road where there are many restaurants. Unfortunately, being out of season (and because it was a Monday?) all the other restaurants were closed. After a long abortive walk around part of the headland and paddling in mud through a dark seaside park, we still hadn't found an open restaurant. In desperation, I called into a hotel and asked if there were any restaurants in the area, receiving the obvious answer - “We have one here, sir”. It was a £14 three course eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet and was actually quite good. We left well satisfied with some of us (guilty as charged) more stuffed than others.
Photos: St. Blaise the protector of Dubrovnik; Back street in the old town; Detail on the church of St. Blaise.

Sunday 21st October 2007

Early start for the journey to Dubrovnik. We had paid for the campsite yesterday, so it was shower, breakfast and off.
We followed the directions that we had been given for the LPG and were surprised to find ourselves 2 km off the main road in a small village at a place that only supplied LPG. It was busy with 3 cars in front of us and another joining behind. We filled up with 11 litres at a total cost of £3.60 – very good for 4 weeks use. Although we were only using gas for cooking and hot water, it should mean that the tank will last a number of weeks during the winter months. This is quite important as we understand that LPG is not as easy to obtain in Spain.
On the way, near to Ploce we passed a very fertile area full of Orange groves with plots separated by large areas of water. Orange sellers lined the roads and, given the number of stalls nd lack of traffic, we were quite convinced that some of them didn't sell anything all day. As the road rose, we got an excellent view of the fertile delta – see photograph.
After arriving at Camping Solitudo in Dubrovnik, we attempted to find the holiday accommodation that our friends were coming to. The map provided on the holiday company website showed it quite clearly and it also had a photograph. However, despite our best efforts, we couldn't locate it. We had just set off for the motorhome when we got a phone call – they had arrived. The exact location was established – half a mile from where the map showed it!
It was great to see Ann and Nick again and they hadn't changed at all since we last saw them - 6 weeks ago! We were chatting over some drinks before going out for a meal when the holiday rep called “just on the off chance” that they were in. She was amazing. In the 45 minutes that she was there, she imparted so much information and with such enthusiasm that we were all totally mind-boggled at the end. She was originally from Liverpool but had lived in Dubrovnik for over 30 years (including during the war) so she had a vast amount of knowledge.
Nick had said that he was hungry before the rep arrived so, without delay, we set of for the local area of restaurants. There was no selection process, it was the first one that was open and very good it was too – the stuffed squid was excellent.
The evening was spent catching up with news from home – “How's .... oh good; Is he.... what does she think? Have they? So and so have sold .....where are they moving to? How is the school? When will we know about the fate of the Post Office?”. By the end of the evening we felt that we were reasonably up to speed.
When we left the restaurant, it was raining and by the time we went our separate ways, it was pouring down. We battled our way into the wind and rain back to Henrietta and arrive cold and soaked. Clothes were left strewn all over the seats in an (vain) attempt to get them to dry over night.
Photo: Orange groves in the delta near Ploce.

Saturday 20th October 2007

A nervous awakening of the day of the big match. Walked around the bay to a marina that we could see from Henrietta and had an excellent view of Stobrec and the campsite. Once again the wind was very strong and we arrived back windswept and weathered. I had bought some frozen Red Snapper earlier and we had that for lunch – not the greatest success, fresh fish is so much better.
In the afternoon we set off for Split and headed for the Ethnographic Museum but, being a Saturday, it closed early. We then headed for a nature park called Marjan, north from the centre of Spilt. The path climbed up and then followed the coastline with views down and over the sea to the Dalmation Islands. It was beautiful but the temperature had dropped considerably and with the wind-chill factor, it was very cold. We headed back into the centre and were lucky to find a wedding happening in the Cathedral of St. Domnius (the former Roman Mausoleum). The doors were wide open and photographs were being taken, so I joined in. This was a real bonus as you are not allowed to take photographs when visiting the church. We then found a nice warm café and killed time.
Walking on towards the Rugby Bar, we found a pizza restaurant very close to it – excellent value and Jane's Spaghetti Carbonara was enormous! On then to the Rugby Bar expecting a large crowd, only to find that the room with the screen was totally empty and it was only 30 minutes to kick-off. We thought that we were going to be on our own but, as kick-off approached, the numbers increased – English, a few South Africans and one or two Croatians. What can I say about the match – the best team won and SA were excellent at the breakdowns. The way that they rucked and the speed at which they hit our mauls made all the difference. We played with pride and came the nearest to scoring a try. Nobody expected us to get to the final, so we should be really pleased but it would have been so good to be the World champions again.
Photos: Split Promenade and Diocletian's Palace; Wedding in the Mausoleum; Clock tower from Peoples Square.

Friday 19th October 2007

It was a somewhat disturbed night with violent, squally winds causing Henrietta to buck like a wild horse at one moment and then the wind died down to nothing the next moment. This continued all night and well into this afternoon, although thankfully there was no rain during the day.
We are meeting our very good friends, Ann and Nick, in Dubrovnik on Sunday and intended to make our way there today or tomorrow. However, given the rugby / satellite TV crisis and the fact that their fight does not arrive until the afternoon, we have decided to stay at Stobrec until Sunday morning. This will allow us to go to the rugby bar in Split to watch the match on Saturday evening. I am now at peace with the world knowing that we will be able to watch the match!
We walked around to the other side of the bay, sometimes blown by the wind and other time battling against it. The view over to Stobrec was very good, the rain and wind having cleared the air. In the afternoon we drove the short distance south to Omis and up the gorge of the Cetina river. We also attempted to fill our gas tank that we use for water heating, blown-air heating and cooking. The system, made by Gaslow, allows the gas cylinder to be refilled at fuel stations that supply Autogas. You simply plug the pump into a socket on the body of the van and push a button to fill it up. We found a station that had Autogas but the pump was out of order. The next station that had supplies is 25 km further south, so it will have to wait until we go to Dubrovnik.
Photos: View of Stobrec campsite from around the bay; Sunset colours the view from Stobrec campsite.

Thursday 18th October 2007

Unfortunately the bats didn't get all of the mosquitoes and one had taken shelter in Henrietta. In the dead of the night, it pounced and, choosing the tastiest meat, it bit me. Given that all of me was under the cover except my head, it bit me once on the mouth and once on the eyelid. In the morning I had a very large lip and my eye was half closed due to the swollen eyelid – I looked like a prizefighter. Our good friend Jackie may well disagree with this description as her father was a real prizefighter and, I suspect, often had far more injuries than me. However as a weak male, I expected and received sufficient sympathy from Jane to make me feel much better.
Caught the 09:35 bus from Stobrec and then a bus out to Solin, the site of Roman Solona. Jane was in a state of consternation when she managed to lose her ticket in the ticket stamping machine on the first bus. She was a little too aggressive when inserting it and forgot to hold on. It provided the other passengers with some amusement and elicited a 'what do you expect me to do about it?' shrug from the bus driver. I don't approve of travelling on public transport without a valid ticket but, of course, I wasn't. Fortunately we didn't have a visit from a ticket inspector. Trying to explain what had happened would have been quite interesting – I would have left that to Jane!
Solona was much larger than we expected and it took us three hours to explore it. One pagan necropolis (Kapljuc) on the site became a centre for Christian burials after the martyrdom of a priest and four of the imperial praetorian guard. They were executed during Emperor Diocletian's last purge of Christians in April 304 AD and their remains were brought there in the early 4thCentury AD, after Constantine (307 – 337 AD) issued the Edict of Milan that proclaimed religious tolerance. A small church was built on the site and this was expanded over the years and became a focal point for early Christian burials in anything from small urns to massive stone sarcophagi. It was notable that all of the sarcophagi that we saw had large holes cut into them where they had been plundered. In fact the archaeologists have only found one unlooted sarcophagus in the whole of Solona.
During the construction of a road two months ago in modern Solin, they discovered a number of richly carved sarcophagi, both pagan and Christian. They had brought them to Solona and it was intriguing to see them pre-conservation with the dirt still in evidence. There was also evidence that they had been hit by the bucket teeth of a JCB with scrapes and pieces of marble broken off. These damaged parts showed how bright white the sarcophagi must have been when first made – they must have been very impressive.
We also visited the amphitheatre where the Romans staged fights with animals, gladiators and, when the arena was flooded, mock sea battles. It was also the scene of the execution of the five Christian martyrs.
The weather was much hotter than we expected and after three hours we were glad to head for the bus back to Split for a very late lunch and then back to Henrietta. We used the site Internet Café to catch up on emails and update the blog. Unfortunately, they didn't have WiFi, so we had to use their PC, which seems always to give complications. Apart from the QWERTZ keyboard with the Z, Y and many special character keys in the wrong place, the email refused to let me send new mails (I could reply and forward) and the Blogger site refused to upload photographs (they are working on the problem). I managed to send new emails by forwarding another mail after removing the content and changing the subject. The blog photographs will have to wait until I get Internet access again, assuming that they have fixed the problem.
Jane cooked a dinner of cottage / shepherd's / something pie with some local mince. We couldn't find out what meat the mince was made from – the Croatian words for beef, lamb and pork did not appear on the packet. I suggested that it might be horse and got a filthy look from Jane. Whatever it was, it was very tasty.
Rain started to fall gently just before 10 pm but, by the time that we went to bed, the thunder had started and the wind was increasing.
Photos: Griffins on the recently excavated sarcophagus from Solin; Kapljuc church and cemetery; Solona amphitheatre where the five Christian martyrs were executed.

Wednesday 17th October 2007

Decided against going to Roman Solona today and postponed it to tomorrow. Chores again, including washing Henrietta, her first full wash of the Odyssey. Most campsites have notices to say that you are not allowed to wash motorhomes, but this one actually has a designated area for it. It is also the place for dumping grey (washing not toilet) water. We had only just started the washing process, including me forcing my way up through the Heiki (fanlight) to access the roof when another motorhome, the only other motorhome on the site decided that they wanted to dump grey water. So, after a short interlude, Henrietta got her wash and looked much better for it!
Using the site's washing machine and tumble drier, Jane did our washing but came back with the finished articles complaining that the tumble dryer was a waste of time- the washing was as wet afterwards as it was when it went in. Still, given that it was very warm (shorts and T-shirt for me and a dress for Jane – a very rare event), she improvised a washing line and everything dried very well during the day. We enjoyed the warm weather while we could, the waiter at the rugby bar had warned us the weather forecast for the weekend was predicting a cold snap with the outside possibility of snow!
I spent a great deal of time trying to get the satellite television working without any joy. I suspect that the coaxial cable to the dish may be damaged and I may need to replace it. However, without satellite TV we won't be able to see the World Cup Final, unless we can find somewhere to see it in Dubrovnic. This is no less than a crisis! We don't want to miss a glorious victory over South Africa and a second consecutive World Cup for England.
In the evening, we watched the bats swooping around the campsite and our van. They are fantastic creatures and they are nature's hoovers of biting flies, for which I am very grateful!
Photo: Bird Rock, Stobrec.

Tuesday 16th October 2007

Up early (for us) and prepared for the trip into Split when Jane mentioned that the biker camped by us must be travelling a long distance as he was carrying two spare tyres. I noticed that his black and white registration plate was only four numbers and thought that the only ones that I knew like that were ones from Guernsey, but he couldn't be from there, could he. Sure enough, on the way to the shower block I spotted the GBG sticker on the bike and had to find out more. It turned out that he was from Sark and as they don't have any vehicles on the island, the bike was registered in Guernsey. George was on his way overland to the tip of South Africa! Once he got to Egypt, the asphalted roads would disappear and he would be on rough dirt roads – hence the spare tyres. His bike was a hybrid designed to be able to withstand the tough conditions that he would encounter. He had taken the front wheel and handlebar assembly from another bike and strengthened the rear with extra struts. He said that he could have got this far in half the time if he had used his Kawasaki but it was designed for modern roads and would have fallen apart on the dirt roads. We had a very pleasant chat (nearly missing our bus as a result) and wished him the best in his adventure.
I gave George the details of the blog site and told him that I would post his picture on it. He said that he would tell his parents so that they could see his photograph. So, George's parents, here he is and I can assure you that he is fit, well and enjoying the trip!
Split was a revelation, an absolutely fascinating city and I would recommend it to anyone coming to Croatia. The centre of Split is very much lived in and not just a tourist trap. We have seen many Roman ruins but nothing like those in Split. Most Roman sites have been used as quarries after they fell into disuse and therefore there is very little left. Although this also happened in Split, they also built around the Roman buildings and reused them. Emperor Diocletian's Mausoleum, built in the 4thCentury AD was simply converted into the Cathedral of St. Domnius in the 7thCentury. The mausoleum has been preserved with an extra bit tacked on to the back to extend the church. Inside there are still the Corinthian columns looted from a Greek site in Egypt. Given that Diocletian viciously persucuted the early Christians, putting many to death, it is not surprising that his sarcophagus was removed. Once Christianity was embraced by the Romans, the bones of the martyrs killed by Diocletian were bought to the mausoleum and it was converted to a church.
Diocletian's Mausoleum is inside Diocletian's Palace (215m long and 180m wide) and an amazing amount of this is still visible. The Palace fronts on to the sea and the whole of the walls and corner towers exist, often converted into or incorporated into newer buildings. Hence the very chic cafés and restaurants are dominated above by the walls of the palace. All four gates and corner towers can be seen and the interior is full of buildings of all ages and architectures. The basement of the palace has been completely cleared of the detritus of many centuries and is open to the public. It was created to provide the palace with a level foundation and to ensure that the Emperor's apartments were able to catch the sun and breeze in the Summer. The walls matched those of the buildings above and helped to understand the layout of the palace. It was well presented with many finds and information boards.
Whilst in the centre of Diocletian's Palace we heard some wonderful unaccompanied singing and following the sound, found Klapa Sufit. Based in Split they are acapella singers and were extremely good. Acapella singing is very popular in Croatia and an international competition is held in Split every year and a festival is held annually at Omis just down the coast. I was so impressed, I bought the CD and very good it is too.
Unlike many other historic towns that have become full of tourists shops and expensive apartments, Split is full of shops and houses for the locals. Going through to the back of a Venetian mansion, there was washing strung across the inner courtyard from the very run-down flat. Another example of re-use was the bank we visited. It was on the main square in the palace, near to the cathedral and as we walked in through the door, we found ourselves walking on Roman paving and confronted by an extant Roman pillar. We were amazed that they were allowed to put the bank there but they had very carefully preserved the archaeology. The palace provided a fascinating mixture of archaeology, history, architecture and local life.
Wandering around the town and harbour occupied all of the morning and early afternoon after a very tasty lunch of Black Risotto (squid cooked in its ink) for me and Veal Risotto for Jane. Then it was on to the Archaeology Museum with a relatively small but exquisite collection mainly Roman find from the nearby Roman town of Solona. Wonderful intact delicate glass objects, coins that looked as though they were minted yesterday, a huge variety of brooches and a collection of beautifully carved Roman sarcophagi.
We were walking gently back to catch our bus when Jane noticed a bar that was titled 'Rugby Bar'. We had seen the pitch next to it and assumed that it was for football but, on checking, discovered that it was indeed a rugby pitch. We were a little thirsty, so w called in for a coffee and chatted to the waiter. Yes, there was rugby in Croatia and Split were the champions, in fact they were so much better that the other three teams in Croatia that they had little competition. They therefore played a lot of international games against Slovenian, Hungarian and Italian teams. They hoped that they may be able to join the Italian league some time soon. Unfortunately, they had played a home match last Saturday and wouldn't be playing another one while we were in the area. Still, there are two teams in Zagreb, so we might be able to see some there.
Photos: George's route to South Africa; George with bike and tent; Klapa Sufit singers; Front of Diocletian's Palace; An unguentarium in the shape of Bes or Silenus.

Monday 15th October 2007

A long journey today, so an early start, well early for us at 09:30. A short journey along the coast was followed by a dramatic ascent of the mountains to a pass that lead us to the plateau on which the A1 motorway ran. The ascent was spent stuck behind a tanker and I didn't get out of 3rdgear. The steep twisty road gave absolutely no chance of overtaking and so I relaxed (Jane didn't) and admired the scenery.
We delayed going on to the motorway until the last moment having overtaken the tanker once we got to the plateau but had to join it eventually in order to cover the kilometres faster. And that it certainly did. We left the A1 at the junction for Sibenik and travelled to the coast through the Krka National Park. This was lovely and we have noted it for a potential future visit. Once on the coast, we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the very pretty village of Primosten occupying a peninsular surrounded by the blue sea – another potential visit for the future!
Finally we arrived at Kamp Seget near Trogir (a UNESCO site) and close to Split. Our intention was to visit Trogir and Split from this site given that it had good bus connections to both. The ACSI guide said that it was open until the end of October but, you guessed it, it was closed. We had also identified a site about the same distance the other side of Split, so we decided to push on and stop only if we saw another open site on the way.
We ploughed through Split aided by a reasonable ring road and I then spotted a sign to a campsite that had to be close to the road given that the sea was not far away. A miracle – it was open and much more convenient for visiting Split. Even better, it is extremely pleasant and very reasonably priced (Ł11 per night). It is set in a wood on the edge of the sea with views across the bay and over to nearby islands. All of the facilities are brand new and the shower block is immaculate. It even has an Internet Café consisting of a single PC and tomorrow I will find out whether it has WiFi. We asked when it will close for the season and we have been told that, if we want to return, they will ensure that it will be open! It is their first season and they will open all year next year but will close this year once they run out of guests!
Buses run regularly into Split and we even have the option of a campsite minibus to take us and retrieve us whenever we want. This sounded expensive but would only cost Ł6 each way for the two of us. Still, the bus sounds like more of an adventure, so we will give that a go tomorrow.
Photos: Krka National Park; Primosten.

Sunday 14th October 2007

Woke in the early hours to a number of realisations:-
1) Jane had turned over whilst clutching the quilt and I was totally exposed. This could have been considered as revenge for my spilling of the red wine, but it is actually a common occurrence and no malice was intended.
2) It was still very mild as I wasn't freezing.
3) The wind was very, very strong and Henrietta was being rocked violently. I was now wondering whether Henrietta would still be in position in the morning rather than being concerned about the dish. They certainly weren't going to be windsurfing in the morning!
In the act of repatriating the quilt, Jane also woke up (serves her right!). We tried for some time to ignore the roaring wind and get back to sleep but without success. So, being typically British, we decided to have a cup of tea and during that time I wrote this entry.
Well, we did get back to sleep and awoke gently at a sensible hour to find that the wind was still howling. However, Henrietta, despite being buffeted, had held firm and, much to my amazement, the satellite dish was still upright and locked on its signal. I decided that the rocks that we had seen when we arrived were not used for camp fires but were used to prevent everything (surfboards, kites, tents satellite dishes and motorhomes) from being blown away.
Well, I was wrong about the windsurfing. Only the experts took to the sea but they had a great time and the speeds that they achieved were incredible. This was nothing however compared to the kite surfers. Only two of them flew (under the circumstances, this must be the correct word) but they were really entertaining. They shot past the windsurfers as if they were stationary and the strength of the wind allowed they to jump even higher and gave them more time to do their twists and turns. I could have watched them all day! I took some photographs but it is difficult to capture the speed and agility of these very skilful athletes.
We had a relaxed start to the morning and then set off for our next destination – Selce on the coast just south of Rijeka. The ACSI guide showed that the site was still open and we hoped that it was correct this time as there were no other options in the area.
The drive took us all along the coast with fantastic views of the blue sea and lunch was taken in a small lay-by high above the sea with views over to the island of Cres with its ferry plying to and fro.
We then travelled through the large town of Rijeka but, being a Sunday, the traffic was very light. Much to our relief, we found that the campsite at Selce was open and would be open until the end of October, giving us an option for a stay on the way back up from Dubrovnik. The site had a real Mediterranean feel about it, especially when we parked under an olive tree and stepped out of the van to find mint and oregano growing around us. We used both in our dinner that evening.
We watched the second rugby semi-final in the evening and cheered for Argentina. Unfortunately, the odds were stacked heavily in South Africa's favour and although Argentina battled bravely, they were outplayed. England will have to play out of their skins to beat South Africa next Saturday.
Photos: Two views of kite surfing at Premantura. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Saturday 13th October 2007

Waking briefly in the night, the gentle rocking of the van and a low whistling indicated that the wind had increased and this was confirmed when we woke in the morning. Although it was windy, the temperature was over 20and it didn't feel cold. It appeared that the peninsular that we had chosen was very popular with windsurfers, indeed all around us were surfing dudes.
Our morning was spent with chores. Jane did the washing and was fully occupied with ensuring that the washing stayed on the improvised washing line. Every time that she came back into the van, it looked as though she was returning from an appointment with a mad hairdresser. I, meanwhile was working on the laptop PC with a view of the azure blue sea through the van door.
All around us was frantic activity – preparations for windsurfing. The conditions were ideal for the experienced windsurfer – a strong constant wind and, initially, a calm sea although white horses began to appear as the day progressed. There were also a number of kite-surfers (if that is not what they are called, then it should be!) and two just by us inflated the wings of their kites before walking to the sea with the kites high in the sky above them. The kite-surfers were very impressive, using the strong wind to travel at high speed over the sea and occasionally making huge jumps or performing spins in the air.
In mid-afternoon we walked into the village to the Internet café and spent three hours catching up with emails and updating the blog. An overheard mobile phone call in the café illustrated the use of many languages. After a conversation in Croatian, the call ended with "OK, no problem. Ciao".
Then it was on to a local restaurant for dinner. We thought that we had timed it well to return for the rugby but were delayed by a complimentary 'Istria Grappa'. Very pleasant but we did miss the first five minutes of what the press had titled 'Le Crunch' – England v France in the Rugby World Cup semi-final. We were not too disappointed given that England were 5 – 0 up. Well it certainly was 'Le Crunch' and England thoroughly deserved their hard-won victory. I suspect that the press will be full of Jonny Wilkinson and that name kept cropping up in the S4C Welsh commentary (just about the only words that we understood). However rugby is not a game of individual stars, despite the fact that the press like to portray it that way. We only won because of the performance of the whole team.
The victory was somewhat marred by an incident at half time – not on the rugby pitch but in Henrietta. I closed the blinds over the cab windows and backing out of the area, I bumped into the table and sent my one third full glass of red wine flying. Pandemonium followed with cloths and water being used in a hurry in an attempt to minimise the damage. Fortunately, all was done before the second half started and we were able to enjoy the glorious England victory.
When we went to bed we became aware that the wind had strengthened considerably and I was somewhat concerned for the safety of the satellite dish on its tripod outside the motorhome. However, I had already moved it into the lee of Henrietta, weighted down with rocks and the satellite reception had not failed during the rugby, so I decided that it should be safe and snuggled under the quilt.
Photos: The peninsular pitch at Premantura; the impenetrable forest of Camping Village Stupice.

Friday 12th October 2007

Woke to glorious weather – clear blue skies and a good few degrees warmer than yesterday, definitely T-shirt weather.
The site is right next to the salt pans that occupy the end of the bay along with a lagoon. These features attract lots of interesting bird life including Little Eagrets, a number of which we saw on a stroll around the area. We also watched people working on the salt pans but rather than collecting salt, they were working in a layer of silt or mud in the pans. Later we discovered that the local fishermen prized the mud shrimps as bait for larger fish and this is what they were harvesting. After extracting some shrimps they carefully smoothed over the mud with a special flat spade-like tool.
On then to Piran just along the coast, which was mentioned in our guide books and looked very attractive from Strunjan.
Parking at Piran turned out to be somewhat fraught and we were only allowed to stop in bays designated for coaches at a cost of over Ł3 per hour. We therefore visited Piran at speed, feeling like American tourists doing Europe in a week. It was very pretty and full of designer Italians posing like only Italians can. Italian is the second language in this area and the locals seemed to have adopted Italian fashion as well. Definitely worth a second visit some time but only if we can find somewhere cheaper to park Henrietta.
Lunch was taken next to the bay just South of Piran that was full of hundreds of salt pans. This was obviously being done on an industrial scale with huge piles of salt protected under tarpaulins.
On then to the Croatian border a very short distance away and this time we sailed through without incident.
Suddenly the countryside was looking very Mediterranean, with rolling hills, vines and many olive groves - our first sight of olive trees on the Odyssey. There were many newly planted olive trees and my cynical side made me suggest that these were in preparation for Croatia's entry into the EU and the subsidies that they would then receive. A very pleasant drive followed until we approached Pula when the roads became a little busier. We had identified at least 5 campsites in the area that were open at this time and had selected one, Campingplatz Pomer that was shown as being reasonably close to Pula, which we wanted to visit. However, the ACSI guide turned out to be wrong on a number of counts. The Pomer site was a long way outside Pula and was, in fact very close to a number of the other sites. It was also closed! We then did a tour of a number of other campsites that were either in the ACSI guide and shown as open or ones that we saw signs to. We finally found an open site at our sixth attempt – Camping Village Stupice at Premantura. We had decided that we would have to wild camp (banned in Croatia) if that site was closed. The site had 1000 camping places but was very quiet at this time. This gave us a huge choice of pitches but most of them were in thick pine wood and negotiating the trees must be quite interesting. We decided to head for the sea's edge and found a peninsula that stretched out into the sea and was devoid of trees. The next problem was that there was hardly a level pitch on the site, most of them were on a considerable slope and we spent a little while trying to find a reasonably level spot. We negotiated around piles of stones that I decided were the remnants of camp fires. We settled in this position with a wonderful view of the sea on three sides – including small islands and a view of Medulin across the bay. Set up the satellite dish in preparation for tomorrow's rugby.
Photo: Little Egret at Strunjan

Thursday 11th October 2007

Perversely, we decided not to visit the Postojna caves but head a few miles South to the Skocjan caves. We decided that the Postojna caves were very touristy – you enter the caves via a 2km train journey and the trip also involves a boat journey. We decided that the Skocjan caves would be more dramatic and quieter mainly due to the fact that it is a 1.5 hour walking tour involving over 500 steps. When we passed the Postojna caves just after 10:00 and saw 20 coaches in the car park, we felt justified in our decision.
We intended to go on the 13:00 tour of the caves and we knew that there was an 'educational tour' around the area so would have time to do that before the tour. Although the educational boards were only in Slovenian, I would strongly recommend anyone visiting the caves to also follow the trail. The underground passage of the Reka river caused huge erosion inside the hill and this resulted in massive collapses of parts of the hills called 'dolines'. The original cave entrance is in one of these, called the Velika dolina and the walk takes one around and down into this and the Mala dolina, some 160m deep. It really is spectacular and helps to put the caves into perspective before the visit.
The Skocjan caves are one of only three cave systems that have been given World Heritage status, the others being in the USA. The feature that makes them so special is the underground, 100m deep gorge through which the Reka river runs. The caves were known in antiquity - Posidonius of Apamea (135 – 50BC) wrote: “The river Timavus springs in the mountain, flows into an abyss [the Skocjan caves], reappears after the distance of 130 stadia and flows into the sea.”
The early part of the cave had the normal collection of impressive stalagmites and stalactites, although the 'Bat Stalagmite' was different, created by over 100 years of bat droppings from a small roosting area. However the magical part of the tour is the approach to the gorge from the 'murmuring cave' in which you start to hear the sound of the river. The gorge opened up in front of us with the small path lights glimmering in the distance. The original explorers had to use mountaineering skills, traversing the vertical cliffs 70m above the Reka roaring below. And all of that in virtual darkness. You can still see their precarious pathways and bridges in many parts of the cave. We were lucky that a lot of rain had fallen in the last two weeks (not on us!) and the river was quite high, making it even more impressive than usual. However, much more rain fell in 1965 and, due to a blockage further downstream in the cave, the water rose over 100m in a morning, flooding the gorge, nearly to the roof. Even this flood was small compared with that it the late 1800's when the water rose 160m.
As we approached the car park after the tour it started to rain, so we decided not to have a second walk as we had originally planned. When we got to the motorhome we found our fellow Hobby owners parked alongside. They had been to the Postojna caves in the morning, they were going on the 15:30 tour of Skocjan.
We decided that we couldn't face visiting Postojna after Skocjan so, rather than returning to the campsite, we decided to press on to the coast and the Autocamp Strunjan. This turned out to be almost entirely permanent homes with a very few places for motorhomes. We squeezed in alonside a German motorhome that arrived at the same time as us.
Photos: Velika and Mala dolinas; looking out of the original entrance to the Skocjan caves.

Wednesday 10th October 2007

Not only was the site expensive (€34), but you had to check out by 09:00 rather than the normal 11:00 or 12:00 at other sites. This was not very sociable and we then discovered that our electric cable was locked into a cabinet and we couldn't retrieve it. So, off to reception in the hotel to check out and ask how we got our cable back.
We then discovered why it was so expensive. The overweight, unfit guests (mainly, Austrians, Germans and Slovenians) had all come for 'the cure'. Apparently, bathing in thermal waters here will cure you of everything and, magically, make you fit. This means that you can eat and drink anything that you like, take no exercise and it doesn't matter. We passed the steaming camping thermal bath (36 - 38°C), full of campers standing in it up to their armpits. We went on to the hotel where there were 11 different pools with temperatures between 27°C and 39°C, including waterfalls, Olympic-sized swimming pool, children's pool etc. The campers had access to all of these included in the camping price. Not to mention the optional spa treatments – winegrower's bath, aqua detox, parafango (a mixture of parafin and mud – lovely!), blossom bath and countless forms of massage. Given that we arrived so late and had to leave so early, we had no time to try any of the facilities – next time perhaps.
So with our power lead released from captivity, we set off for western Slovenia.
Both our Garmin satnav (sadly lacking in road detail in Slovenia) and our ACSI Campsite computer package suggested that our route should be via the Eastern extremities of Croatia and so we decided to take their advice. With retrospect, a slower but more direct route on minor roads in Slovenia would probably have been more interesting and relaxing.
We at the Slovenia / Croatia and had to sit on the Slovenian side for some time. The Austrian car in front of us was kept for a age and when they eventually passed back their passport, they moved them forward to the barrier and insisted on checking under the bonnet. The car was a very fancy Audi and, I suspect, they just wanted to have a look at the engine! It was then our turn. I approached the officer proffering our passports. He glanced at them in my hand, looked away in an arrogant fashion and raised the barrier. I assume that that was the signal to proceed (as it had been at other border crossings, without the arrogance) and I started to accelerate away. This however was just part of his game – with a loud grunt, I was summoned to a halt and had to pass over the passports. After close inspection and gazes in our direction, he finally returned the passports and waved us on with the slightest gesture of his hand. Whilst watching his hand closely and listening out for another grunt, I hesitatingly pulled off. The Croatian border guard was, in contrast, very pleasant and efficient and we were on our way. The journey was rather tedious and uninteresting until we re-entered Slovenia and arrived at Ptuj. We made a welcome stop there and viewed the pretty town from the castle above it. We also roamed the streets as usual admiring the architecture. The town archaeological museum was well worth the visit with some very fine stone age, bronze age, iron age and Roman finds. There was a Mithra cult in the area with a number of shrines to the Roman god. There was a good display in the museum but there was also a site on the way out of town that sounded interesting, so we decided to go there. Unfortunately, the signs to the site were very poor and we missed the turning. It would have been very difficult to turn Henrietta around and with no clear indication of the turning that we needed to take, we may still have missed it on the way back. We decided to forgo the visit to the Mithra shrine.
Motorways tend not to be the most interesting of roads but we had to cover the miles quickly and that was the only option. So, it was on to the Motorway and €11.15 (in tolls) later we arrived at Campingplatz Pivka Jama near the famous Postojna caves.
The site is in a forest and is very large but was virtually deserted when we arrived. We parked close to another Hobby motorhome and had a somewhat limited chat with them given our very limited German and their non-existent English. We invited them to look at Henrietta and we then had a look in their Hobby. It was a 2007 model bought in December last year and was very impressive. It was well under 6m (Henrietta is 6.4m) but still had a fixed bed and the layout was excellent. It was a two berth and was very well designed with a very efficient layout. The only compromise to allow for the shorter body was that the shower was not separate. This results in the toilet getting wet when showering and showering is a little more awkward given the restricted pace. The 4.4l turbo diesel engine (compared to our 3.2l), in a smaller body must give a lot more power. All in all a very impressive motorhome and certainly one that we would have given serious consideration had it been available second-hand when we were looking.
Photos: The rather crowded site at Lipa Terme; the campers' bath at Lipa Terme; Roman lamp in the Ptuj museum.

Tuesday 9th October 2007

Reading the tourist information leaflets last night, we decided that we would like to go part way up the west coast of Lake Balaton before going off to Slovenia. We wanted to visit the Tihany peninsula and a Roman villa, just a little further North.
As normal, we left later than intended after being let through a locked gate to get the the grey water dumping point on a stretch of grass between the campsite fence and a drainage ditch. On an otherwise very well organised campsite, this was bizarre.
On to Tihany and its Benedictine abbey with a crypt that was originally part of an earlier Roman building and now houses a grave of a King Andrew I of Hungary, the founder of the abbey. The site also had wonderful views over Lake Balaton.
Lunch was taken on the shores of Balaton and then it was on to the Roman villa (Nemes Vamos) - it was closed! Only open from May to September said the notice. It would have been helpful if the Tourist Information staff in Keszethely had told us that but, given that they didn't know where the villa was and had to look it up on Google Earth, it wasn't surprising that they didn't know about the opening times. However, the site itself was effectively open and we were able to wander around unhindered. The parts that were closed were the museum and the reconstructed buildings, but it was easy to gain a good understanding of the site. Definitely worth a visit if we are in the area when it is open.
Before we started on The Odyssey, we agreed on a rule – never intentionally arrive at a site in the dark, preferably arriving before 17:00. We broke that rule this day and regretted it! The rule was very sensible as it allowed for unexpected delays and gave a chance for us to find an alternative site should our intended site be closed.
The journey started OK until we went beyond Balaton towards the Slovenian border. The road was the most sustained stretch of bad road that we had so far encountered. It was badly maintained with a very uneven surface as well as being twisty – slow and uncomfortable driving. However, we reached the border without incident, but later than we intended and it was well and truly dark.
There was construction work on the Slovenian side preparing extra customs lanes but this was nothing compared with the Croatian side. They were building a new motorway and it was total chaos. We were expecting to be able to go into the town of Lendava directly from the border but were instead forced to go onto the unfinished motorway over dirt tracks and one enormous pothole that made Henrietta's body twist in ways that she did not like! We then went for miles down the unfinished motorway in what appeared to be the wrong direction. Finally, with great relief we came off that road and found a temporary sign that mentioned Lenvada. We followed it over fields, or so it seemed! The road was simply dirt between kerbs that were to border the new road and in the pitch black (no street lights), no road markings and lorries heading straight for us, it was quite unerving. I suppose that going round roundabouts in a clockwise direction (as in Britain) should have felt comforting but it didn't, especially when there was barely enough room for the lorries to pass us. Fortunately, we soon found a sign to the campsite that we were looking for – 'Campingplatz Lipa Terme'. Very few sites in Slovenia are open in October and, given that the next site was many miles away, we were praying that this one was open as the book suggested. We went down the unlit, partly constructed road, finding the Hotel Lipa Terme but no sign of a campsite. The only road that went further was in an even worse state of partial construction and appeared to have a barrier across part of it. At this point I decided that we would ask at the very posh hotel. We parked in their car park and went into reception to join the many wealthy, bejewelled guests. To our amazement, they said that the campsite was down the road that I had rejected and that the hotel was the reception point. We thankfully booked in and were despatched with their man who would turn on our electricity. When we arrived at the site, we were again amazed. Far from being closed, or nearly deserted like the other campsites we had stayed at, this site was heaving and we had difficulty in finding a space. By this time, we were knackered and after a simple meal and a bottle of wine, we thankfully retired.
Photographs show the Roman crypt in the Tihany Abbey church with the grave of King Andrew I and the ceiling of the church.

Life with Henrietta – Part 1 – Satellite Television

This is the first of an occasional series that will explain aspects of living in our motorhome, Henrietta.
Television is not very important to us but, given that we were going to be away for 12 months, we wanted to be able to keep up with what was happening in Britain. We also felt that we may want to have some British culture once we had little or no contact with British people or the English language. We therefore purchased a satellite receiver, meter, 60cm satellite dish, cable and tripod stand from 12v TV and a 17” flat screen television from Currys.
Henrietta has a TV turntable cunningly concealed in a cupboard between the bedroom and the kitchen / lounge, which means that the TV may be viewed from either room. I used my very limited DIY skills to create a vertical stand that I attached to the turntable and by using self adhesive Velcro, the TV is attached on one side and the satellite receiver on the other. This minimises the space taken by both devices, still allows the turntable to rotate and allows either device to be easily detached if required. The Velcro has proved to be very effective in keeping the devices in position despite some very rough roads.
Setting up the satellite to receive a signal is not as easy as you may think. Finding the required satellite (there are 3 very close together) can be a real pain. The technique is as follows:-
1) Set up the dish on the tripod, ensuring the tripod is level.
2) Attach the meter to the dish and the coax cable to the meter and satellite receiver.
3) Point the dish due south at an elevation dependant upon your location e.g. 24 degrees in London or 31 degrees in Vienna.
4) Pan the dish slowly towards the East until the meter shows a single and then adjust the dish horizontally and vertically until the signal is at maximum strength.
5) If you are lucky, you will have located the Astra 2 satellite and the satellite receiver will burst into action. More likely, you will have located Astra 1 or Hotbird and you will have to move the dish further East and reduce the elevation to locate Astra 2. This means going through the same process of maximising the single, and praying!
6) If this isn't complex enough, if there is anything in the way of the single (trees, buildings, power lines etc.), the satellite box will refuse to 'lock on' to the signal and you can't watch television. Strong winds that move the dish, can have the same effect.
7) Things are further complicated by the fact that many of the British broadcasts only have a small satellite footprint, meaning that they can only be received in part of Europe relatively close to Britain. This means that you can find the correct satellite, get the receiver 'locked on' and still not be able to receive BBC.
You can imagine that this can result in a certain amount of frustration and, in the early days, it caused me a great deal of frustration!
The good news is that, in addition to the television, you can pick up many radio stations including BBC. Being a BBC Radio 4 fan, this is really good news.
Being very keen rugby fans (“Come On Bath!!!!”), we were keen to watch the Rugby World Cup (covered by ITV) and this worked fine until we got to Eastern France when we went outside the satellite footprint. However, we were delighted to find out that we could receive S4C (Welsh ITV) and they were also covering some of the World Cup. They didn't cover at least one of the England matches but we saw quite a few matches involving the home nations. The drawback of S4C is that it is all in Welsh, but beggars can't be choosers!
It came to the end of the pool matches and I discovered that S4C were covering all of the quarter final matches – perfect.

Monday 8th October 2007

A more autumnal morning with mist and no views, so the planned morning boat trip was postponed until this afternoon. A stroll around Keszethely with an early lunch of Giros Pitta (Greek kebab in pitta bread). Although we are in Hungary, we couldn't resist our favourite Greek snack when we found the Greek decorated hut near the main square. I surprised the owner by ordering in Greek, which I explained was far better than my Hugarian on the basis that I know at least 10 words of Greek! It turned out that he had married a Hungarian lady and moved to Lake Balaton. I have to say that Lake Balaton is beautiful and not such a bad alternative to Greece. The Giros Pitta was very good but lacked the patatas (chips) that are normally included in the authentic Greek version.
The boat trip was very pleasant, although Balaton is huge (the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe) and the trip simply meanders around a very small part. Still, the views were lovely, if hazy, and it was very pleasant to be on the water. There was also a connection with Vienna in that this was one of Sissy's favourite haunts. The Hungarians are very fond of Sissy, as she was of them and they appreciate the influence that she had on her husband Franz Josef of Austria in the granting of more autonomy to Hungary.
We had an evening meal in a small locals' restaurant close to the campsite. I had cream of garlic soup, which I would not normally choose on the basis that I would be told to sleep in the spare room. However, given that we don't have a spare room in the motorhome, I thought that I would be safe. For the main course, I ordered carp as the pike-perch on the menu outside the restaurant did not appear on the menu inside. It was a miss-translation. It was definitely eel. The fish was round and came in two sections each of which looked like a piece of the Loch Ness Monster (U-shaped) and was deep fried. It was very soft and had curved bones – it was definitely eel! Jane was a little more conservative and had turkey. This turned out to be deep-fried turkey twizzlers, hopefully not supplied by Bernard Matthews! This was all washed down by some very cheap (and it tasted like it) local wine. Not the most successful of meals! However I did learn from the proprietor how to pronounce Keszethely – 'Kest-hay'. I am ashamed to admit that this is probably the only word in Hungarian that I can pronounce correctly.
Returning to the campsite at the incredibly late hour of 21:30, we discovered the gate to the campsite firmly locked and the guard was nowhere to be seen. He was supposed to be in attendance until 22:00 but obviously decided that, given the very few people in the site, he could sneak away early. There was nothing for it, we had to climb over the gate. Fortunately it was quite low but anyone who has seen Jane attempting to get over a high style will know, this was stil quite a challenge. A few minutes of pushing, pulling, groans and a lot of laughter later, Jane was over.
The photographs show the trip boat on Lake Balaton at Keszthely and a railway signal operator raising the level crossing barrier by hand near Keszthely station.

Sunday 7th October 2007

A beautifully morning and breakfast was taken outside in the sun with T-shirts being the order of the day – a real bonus for early October.
Balaton in the largest resort for Hungarians and in the Summer it is absolutely heaving with tourists. Fortunately, at this time of the year it is very quiet and all of the resorts except Keszthely have effectively closed by the end of September, certainly in terms of the campsites. We decided to perform the standard tourist ritual of wandering around the resort.
A short walk from the site, over the railway lines took us to a park and the shore of Lake Balaton. Pleasure boats sail from the tree-dotted pier and the restored, very attractive, 'Island Bath', a 19thcentury pier with changing huts had steps down into the lake for therapeutic bathing. There were some lovely photographs from the early 20thcentury showing the segregated bathing.
On then, through the centre of the town up to the impressive 1880's schloss with beautiful grounds. The grounds were open to the public without charge and we spent some time wandering though them. The schloss itself was also open at a charge and showed typical (for the aristocracy) 19thcentury living and also had ecclesiastical and coach (horse variety) museum. Well, having been to many Greek ecclesiastical museums, I have developed an aversion to them and we had seen the 19thcentury aristocratic life in Vienna. The coach museum sounded more appealing but we had an appointment with the next rugby quarter finals, so we decided to plot a different route back to the campsite.
A very late lunch was taken in front of the TV watching South Africa v Fiji. Fiji played extremely well but were finally beaten by a stronger South Africa – a very good match to watch and Fiji can be proud of their performance in the World Cup.
A short bike ride was followed by dinner and the last of the quarter finals. Argentina have been playing exceptionally well and this was always going to be a difficult match for Scotland. In the end, Scotland could have won, particularly if they had been more adventurous earlier in the match. It is great to see Argentina in the semis but sad that it had to be at Scotland's expense.