Europe By Camper

Tafraoute & Taliouine

2012-01-26T01:08:00.000Z

Spot the Campervan

We knew from the meandering road on our Michelin map of Morocco that the drive toward Tafraoute from the coast was going to be a good one, this was our best so far. The route was lined with tiny Moroccan villages and mountain passes taking us up to 1900m above sea level. The scenery was just stunning and it was difficult to capture with a camera just how breathtaking and detailed the scenery is. More people use the road on foot or horseback then they do cars, with the women doing most of the heavy lifting while the men ride on donkeys.

Left: A donkey with its legs tethered to stop it straying to far.

Right: Women seemed to be doing all of the heavy lifting, but could only be photographed from a distance.

A Moroccan boy chances his luck

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, waves and smiles as you pass and we've yet to work out if they wave to everyone or just foreign campervans. The children are equally friendly but even more cheeky, smiling and waving hoping that you will stop and offer them a sweet or a pen. Children in groups start to become a little more daring and you need to be careful that they don't attempt to play chicken with the van but on the whole they're well behaved and good natured. Some little boys spotted us miles ahead and made their way from their huts onto the roadside where they waited patiently at the roadside in the hope of a sweet, thanking us in 4 languages when we gave in and passed over a couple of wrapped sweets - after we'd picked the lemon ones for Sophie! Laterally we took to passing out the odd satsuma trying only to stop for those children who appeared genuinely needy, we're still not sure on the gift giving etiquette and there is a lot of debate for and against.

Free Camping at Tafraoute

After a long drive we start to see campervans in the distance who appear to be free camping in the desert outside a campsite. Catherine approaches a Dutch couple who ask if this is allowed - "Black Camping!" they say, we ignore and find a spot anyway. We've not long stopped when we're approached by a friendly English speaking Moroccan who rides side saddle on his peddle and pop and enquirers as to the progress of Chris's beloved Bury match (Bury 3, Yeovil 2) which despite being in the middle of nowhere is happily streaming over our Moroccan dongle. We expect there to be a catch but leaves happy after pointing us in the direction of his shop in town. Later we're approached again and C&C get offers made on their bikes for the second time, it might have to go to sealed bids! The black camping is not so black after all, when an official looking guy with a receipt book comes and asks for 10dh (70p) each. Well, at least we're legal now.

Left: An Argon Nut growing in the wild Centre: A fortified settlement

Right: A village built both sides of in face of a deep gorge

Another day, another 200km drive to our next destination, Taliouine, with the views just as breathtaking and spectacular as the day before. We're more than ready for a rest when we arrive at Camping Toubkal.

The view from our most recent campsite, best enjoyed with a cold beer!

The weather is fantastic and we forget that we're still about 700m up and it doesn't take long before we've all had a bit too much sun and we spend a day just sitting around and admiring the fantastic view. Food is running low and there isn't a European style supermarket in sight so we have to shop like a Moroccan, trekking into town for supplies. There is one price for all fruit and veg and we fill a couple of bowls with produce but can't seem to buy anything that's over £1. The meat at the butchers doesn't look too appertising, it's all the same price and we're too late to get the best cuts - if only we can remember where they are.

Left: Fruit and veg, one price for all. Right: Shoes for sale, if you can find a pair that is!

Dinner!

We settle for chicken, but can only find eggs. The eggs on the counter, it transpired, means that there are chickens in the back and what better way to keep them fresh without refrigeration then to keep them alive. It's not often you get to look your dinner in the eye but in a few seconds the deed was done and in less than a minute it was beheaded, plucked, gutted and in a carrier bag still warm for 40dh or £3. Delicious cooked in Catherine's remoska, Campervan Cookbook eat your heart out - we're starting to see the virtues of campsites and hookups and in Morocco we can do so for £5 a day and still come in on budget!

Left: We bought fish, 20p each gutted and de-scaled. Right: A typical butchers, get there early for the best cuts!

Taghazoute and Aglou Plage

2012-01-26T01:01:00.000Z

The view on the way to Essaouira

Heading South and back toward the coast was the plan, driving down through the mountains we finally saw the vivid contrast of the sea against the sandy mainland as we made our way to Essaouira. We got to the campsite and slotted into the last two spaces much to the annoyance of two tag axel Burstner Elegance's complete with trailers who in the end had to park either side of the gate - what a spectacle.

Wild Camping at Taghazoute

Just before Agadir we found a wild camping spot right on the beach with guarded parking for £1.90 in the presence of 50+ other campers with stunning views over the ocean. A short walk along the beach took us into the small town of Taghazoute which seemed to be one of the main surfing hubs along the west coast, as the majority of the shops along the main street were surf gear related. Small winding alleyways took us back down onto a large terrace with a couple of local cafe's overlooking the windswept beach where we watched the surfers getting battered by the waves as we drank mint tea for a small sum of 50p each.

Sea Front in Taghazoute

Back at the van there were plenty of opportunities to haggle with the steady stream of locals who seemed to be selling everything from fresh fish caught that morning to brightly coloured carpets and rugs. We had no space for carpets so opted for fresh prawns, 4 bream and Sophie took a shine to a pink braclet offered by one of the sellers. In true Moroccan fashion the price which initially was 10dh (75p) became 20dh when it was on her wrist, emphasizing the point we didn't have any more change (we didn't!) we rattled the mixed coins in our ashtray much to the delight of the seller who took them in lieu of the extra 10dh he wanted!

Lamb for tea!

Enroute to campsite at Aglou Plage we were all nearly forced off the road, not by a crazy Moroccan but by an insane Frenchman in a nearly new A-Class Pilote. When we arrived Chris went to confront the maniac, but he had abandoned his van at reception and disappeared into the site. It seemed full when we arrived and it wasn't as close to the beach as our camping guide made out but after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we actually ended up staying here for 3 nights. Chris and Adam decided on trying a bit of fishing but, alas, no tasty fish for the barbecue that night, good effort though chaps! We settled for some lamb steaks from the local butchers, topped off with courgettes and C+C's famous dauphinoise potatoes.

After a couple of lazy days we felt like some exercise was needed, it transpired that a short walk along the beach and round the cove were numerous old fishing huts built into the side of the cliffs. Most of them still seemed to be in use to a certain degree, others were crumbling away and had seen better days, whereas a handful had been decorated in bright colours and transformed into holiday lets.

Having stayed for three days we began to have itchy feet and set off towards Tafraoute.

Stunning scenery heading toward Tafraoute

Marrakesh

2012-01-20T10:46:00.004Z

Djemaa el Fna - The Main Square

Our Taxi

From our base at Le Relais outside Marakesh we stay for three days lapping up the sun, relaxing and enjoying the company of Catherine & Chris before contemplating a visit to the city. We eventually call for a Taxi from reception and wait in anticipation for what is going to come and collect us. There are two types of Taxi in Morocco; the usual 1980's era Mercedes and a 'Petite Taxi' the majority of which seem to be Peugeot 205's of a similar vintage.

Koutoubia Mosque

The car that arrives is a Mercedes, with 950,000km on the clock and comically vague steering, Chris rides shotgun and we experience several arse clenching moments en-route to the center of Marrakesh. We disembark unscathed but disorientated and make our way towards the first notable landmark of Koutoubia Mosque. Being a mosque we can of course only view it from outside and so we press on with Chris leading purposefully to where he believes the main square is located.

When we stop to review the map we are approached by locals who speak to us in English rather than French and seem eager to help. They don't ask for money but the routes they suggest seem indirect and vague and we are wary of getting off course. We eventually make it to within a stones throw from the Bahia Palace when we were stopped by another friendly face. "The Palace is closed, do you want something to eat?". We decline and take a look anyway.

The Palace, it transpires, is not only open all day but only 74p to get in. Result. We hand over our money and are instantly transported into an oasis of calm, the bustling city streets inaudible from within the tranqual mosaic clad walls.

Bahia Palace

We emerge suitably relaxed and ready to tackle the city head on and make for a Souk next door where spices are sculptured into impressive cone shapes and we hover around like moths to a lamp. Within seconds the shop assistant has pounced and plied us with Berber tea which is refilled and reinvented with every sip. It becomes clear we are going to buy something and we make the most of it by photographing widely. Catherine and Chris are horrified to be referred to as our parents as we pose for a "family" photo and we haggle over our ground spices. No sooner has the money changed hands calm is restored and the shop assistant vanishes into thin air, a trick he has no doubt performed countless times previously.

With the pressure to buy something now reduced we wander around the incredibly authentic Souk's and back alleys clutching our purchases in a prominent position. There is none of the cliche tourist tat here and if it is its incredibly well disguised, even the ever present French seem to be in lesser numbers. Meat is cooked over coals, cigarettes sold singularly from stools and every now and then we dive for cover from kamakazi motorbikes racing down the narrow streets.

Somehow we are discharged into the main square and make a bee-line for one of the balconies so the we can watch the snake charmers at a safe distance. We order Tajines, Brochettes and inexplicably, Pizza, all while trying to snap a few cheeky photographs of the spectacles down below. The main square was already beginning its evening transformation where stalls are setup to sell freshly prepared and cooked food in the open air.

Back on the ground again we head back into the Souk's where we get involved in the heckling and banter with the locals in vivid technicolor. We head for the Ben Youssef Medersa, an Islamic College, where we are promptly abducted by a guide who spoke no more than five words in five languages and by the end of the tour were left in no doubt that they pray five times a day for five minutes.

With the light starting to dim we headed back to the main square which was by now transformed into a bustling food market, nobody mistakes us for French as we are heckled with British colloquialisms enticing us to eat at their stall. The truth is not much other than the Maitre d' separates them and we settle for "Lubbly Jubbley" as our favorite at stall 117.

To fully appreciate just how lively the main square is on an evening this short 360 degree video should go some way to communicating the atmosphere of the place.

To summarise an incredibly long post - we can't imagine a trip to Morocco that doesn't take in Marrakesh. Nearly all of the people we encountered were good natured and played their roles as token Moroccans with an almost theatrical flare. Certainly you need to have your wits about you to some degree and not allow yourself to be intimidated by a few who use questionable sales tactics. Take some money and buy something of low value just for the satisfaction of haggling, eat food from the market and enjoy the spectacle for when you return to your campsite you'll be left in awe of your experience. Enjoy!

You can read Catherine and Chris's account over on The World is Our Lobster.

Morocco 3G Internet Dongle - Maroc Telecom Pay As You Go Data

2012-01-20T10:24:00.009Z

What's in the box.

If you are heading to Morocco you're going to want to get online and the best way to go about this is to purchase a Maroc Telecom dongle.

Campsite Wifi has been, in our experience, unreliable and by contrast we found the dongle incredibly fast and easily quick enough to have a video Skype call back to the UK. Of course there may be areas where reception is limited but overall we have been very impressed.

Where to Buy

A Typical Maroc Telecom Shop

We would recommend purchasing one from a branded shop rather then a third party dealer for piece of mind, these look exactly like the phone shops we have back at home garishly decorated in blue and orange. The sign may be in 'English' or Arabic but the logo remains the same. We purchased ours at a Maroc Telecom shop within a Marjane Supermarket in Marrakesh. You will need your passport with you as a form of identification and you will receive a small box containing your modem and a shrink-wrapped credit card sized package which is your SIM.

The Cost
In January 2012 the cost was 199dh (£15) which includes a USB modem, most likely a Huawei 153, SIM card and also a months worth of unlimited internet use which begins when you first insert the dongle.

How to Use
Remove the dongle from the package and insert the sim card by sliding the white cover off the device. Take a note of the PIN code printed on the card as you removed your SIM from as you will be promoted for this each time you connect to the internet.

Simply insert the dongle into your laptop and allow it to install. If the Autorun install application does not begin, go to My Computer and there will be two new icons a Removeable Drive and and CD Drive Internet Moble. Click this and open the folder named 'Internet Mobile' and click Setup.exe.

Screenshots of the software once installed.

The Speeds
The connection speed is up to 3.6Mbps which is easily enough for Skype with video, although the speed is limited once you exceed 400MB in one day to 128Kbps which is still perfectly usable for general browsing. The software provided shows you how much data you have consumed.

If you think that 400MB/day is not enough then read the 'Other Providers' below, there are some alternatives but the coverage is not as good.

The Data Coverage
You should be able to get some form of internet in the majority of locations in Morocco. In reality we have almost always been able to achieve the fastest speed, HSDPA.

There are other providers available and the biggest competitor is Meditel but having spoken to some other people and having Sophie's phone connected to the network I am not convinced that the coverage is better than Maroc Telecom.

Topping Up
Once you have used your free allowance you will need to top-up your account by either purchasing a top-up card at one of the many outlets across the country or online via Maroc Telecom Website which will still be accessible without any credit.

If you choose to buy a top-up card from a reseller or store you need to text the code from the card using the software's built in SMS function to 555. Once your credit runs out your account is temporarily suspended and if after 3 months you have not topped up your account is cancelled.

Sending an SMS using the Software

• 1 day: 10 dh (75p)
• 2 days: 20 dh (£1.50)
• 1 week: 50 dh (£3.75)
• 2 weeks: 100 dh (£7.50)
• 1 month: 200 dh (£15)

You may find that, as in Jan '12, that retailers are running a 'double credit' promotion so that the prices above are in effect halved.

Tip: If you want to check what date your allowance expires, send a blank text message within the software to 580.

Improving Reception

By far the best way to improve your reception and chances of achieving a HSDPA connection is to place your dongle outside your van. To do this you will need a USB extension cable no more than 3 meters long and some method of attaching the dongle to an external surface. In our case we simply used a clothes peg to attach it to our roof-mounted Wifi antenna!

You could also consider removing the sim card and placing it in a different dongle with an external antenna point using the APN settings available on the internet but if you are considering this you probably already have a pretty good idea what you are doing!

Other Providers
Meditel is the second biggest provider of 3G in Morocco and is snapping at the heals or Maroc Telecom. Their dongle deal is presently 229 dh (£17) including 30 days worth of Internet or 22Gb whichever you use up first . If you don't want a dongle then the price is 99 dh (£7.50). Their pricing structure is slightly different to that of Maroc telecom in that instead of a daily 'allowance' it is priced by data used and by time, whichever is used up first.

24hrs / 1GB = 10 dh (75p)
3 Days / 3GB = 25 dh (£1.90)
7 Days / 5GB = 50 dh (£3.75)
30 Days / 22GB = 200 dh (£15)

However, compared to Maroc telecom I am lead to believe that the coverage is not so good. We have been on sites where we have 5 bars HSDPA on our Maroc dongle but our neighbour had only very slow GPRS coverage.Click here for a coverage map.

There is also a provider called Wana (IMWI) which is a relative newcommer. A dongle currently costs 290 dh (£22) which includes 2 months unlimited internet with as far as we can tell. The coverage, however, is not so great so check before you buy (click here for coverage map). Top ups are:

1 day - 20 dh (£1.50)
1 Week - 70 dh (£5.25)
1 month - 180 dh (£13.50)

Sharing The Internet

We don't have an iPad so can't comment on if the data SIM will work in there or in a mobile phone or tablet, however by far the easiest way to share the internet connection is to use a bit of software called Connectify which turns your laptops built in Wifi card (which is not being used) into a wireless hotspot. You will need to purchase the 'pro' version in order to share a 3G connection, I will be writing a review on it shortly.

See also: The Maroc Telecom Website - PAYG Dongle (Translated)
The Meditel Website - PAYG Dongle (Translated)
The Wana (IMWI) Website - PAYG Dongle (Translated)

We're in Africa! Hello Morocco & Asilah

2012-01-14T18:15:00.010Z

Asilah

You may well have picked up by this point that we've had some vague plans for Morocco for a while now. Those plans came into fruition when fellow bloggers Catherine and Chris of The World Is Our Lobster expressed an interest at a joint effort and the plan eventually came together in a Lidl carpark just outside of Algercias.

As every motorhome traveller will know there is no place more fitting and this particular car park was chockerblock with vans all returning from the legendary Carlos' ticket office equipped with a bottle of Brut and a slab chocolate cake and before long we were both armed with the same.

With tickets booked for the following morning, what followed was perhaps in hindsight ill advised; an evening fueled by 59c a litre Lidl wine as we enthusiastically swapped stories over Catherine's fantastic home cooked cottage pie.

The next morning, after discovering much to our disappointment that Mc Donald's in Spain don't open for breakfast, we headed for the lunchtime ferry to Ceuta. The crossing was naturally pretty rough and coupled with the night before C&C fared better than us, but at least none of us were sick!

The beauty of this crossing is you don't disembark into Moroccan madness, you're still in Spain complete with a Lidl and Spanish mobile phone coverage. Chris and Catherine are the undisputed motorhoming king and queen of border crossings, having exited and re-entered the European union on countless occasions; we are, by comparison, utter novices having only crossed nonthreatening minor European non-schengen borders.

Some of the huge loads on the road system.

As we approached we envisaged a scene of utter chaos at the border and we weren't far wrong. Adam and Chris stayed with the vans fending off various official looking Moroccans while Catherine and Sophie went off to get all of the official forms for both personal and vehicle immigration stamped and signed. We did in fact enlist the help of Mohammed and his friend, also Mohammed, for the pricey sum of €5 and we began the squeeze through the queuing traffic jumping to the front of the queue past about 20 vehicles and up to the border officials. There are mixed views on if you should do this, but in our case the help we received in jumping the queue was useful and greatly reduced our time at the border but you don't actually need any assistance with regards to the paperwork.

"Alcohol no problem, but no pistols!" he quipped in excellent English before the inevitable line "and a tip for Mohammed?". A few more flashes of passports and paperwork later we had crossed the border and stopped briefly to withdraw some Dirhams at a cashpoint we headed to the town of Asilah where the night was spent in guarded motorhome parking in view of the city walls.

The Murals in Asilah

Guarded Parking in Asilah

Morocco is everything you imagine it to be; overloaded trucks, impromptu shanty towns and shops and markets piled high with wares of all description. Our first stop was Asilah, the town famous for its painted murals on buildings and we enjoyed a well deserved and inexpensive tea in a street side cafe. This time it wasn't just the wine that was 59c a litre, we brimmed our Diesel tanks for not much more then that from a local Shell en route.

The excellent Campsite 'Le Relais' outside Marrakesh

http://www.lerelaisdemarrakech.com/

The following morning we made 550km trip down an excellent toll road system (costing £17.20 for the duration and well worth it) down to Marrakesh where we are now camped at 'Lobster By Camper' HQ enjoying beautiful weather and fantastic BBQ'd Moroccan meat. What could be better! We've even had time to make friends with the locals, giving Mustafa a lift back from the supermarket where he was promoting the campsite to shopping motorhomers.

The 'Lobster By Camper' HQ and our new friend Mustafa

Access to the internet has thankfully been no problem either, thanks to a Maroc Telecom dongle for the princely sum of £15 including two months unlimited usage. The connection here is so good it allowed streaming of the Bury match for Chris and a couple of hours work for Adam, it's safe to say the plan for the rest of our trip is coming together nicely!

Gibraltar

2012-01-14T18:06:00.001Z

We made it to Gibraltar after a couple of days of coin tossing and chin scratching we decided that since we were passing, we might as well have a look. We arrived and 'wild camped' on the wasteland outside the border in La Linea with around 30 other motorhomers, mainly English registered and the majority of those an eclectic (or should that be clapped out) array of home built contraptions.

Upon entering Gib you are faced with two options - walk in, or hop on the only bus that charges you for the privilege of taking you into the center; the number 5. We opted for the latter since we had left it a bit late and with our stomachs rumbling the only thing that was going to satisfy them was a visit to Morrisons Cafe.

Being sort of teleported to a mini-england was at this point beginning to play havoc with our senses, the prices were in pounds (including the Diesel @ £1.05 a litre) but as we wandered into the town the timing felt a bit like we had arrived 20 years prior. Fish and Chips, Marks and Spencer and TopShop all at prices far in excess of those we remembered from home - but we haven't been home for 9 months so perhaps our price barometers are broken.

After fighting off the taxi drivers en-route to the cable car we took one look at the grey and uninviting summit and did an about turn and headed for the bus. It looked truely miserable and we didn't really feel like dangling above the clouds being harassed by monkeys. Overall we just didn't think the place had a nice feel to it so are hard pushed to recommend anything except perhaps an over-inflated Morrisons for a few home comforts - in our case Country Life butter and Twiglets.

The following morning we bid farewell to my folks who are continuing on round the coast through Portugal and set off to embark on our next adventure...

Granada - We're back on the road!

2012-01-08T00:10:00.003Z

Bolnuevo

It's been over two weeks since we last posted a blog update on Europe By Camper but we decided not to bore you too much with updates of the family festivities and try and keep on topic and travel related. For those who are interested, we spent two weeks in Puerto de Mazarrón where the weather has been unbelievingly good and hit 20c on our thermometer every day, irrespective of weather forecasts. We've done practical things like empty and re-pack our van, wash and clean everything and do a few odd jobs but there has been plenty of time spent relaxing on the roof terrace also!

Cartagena

We walked 7 miles to Bolnuevo and back to visit Adam's folks who had a couple of days on the site there and also had day trips to Cartagena and Murcia to view the festivities and nativities and ate possibly the best Christmas dinner outside of England, cooked by a Dane with starters in a Swedish theme but the main course cooked to traditional perfection. The resturante was called Meson Madera and we'd urge anyone passing close by to visit (link to more information).

So the day before yesterday we bid farewell to Sophie's parents and went to catch up with Adam's at Granada before they set off for Portugal. With the cities aire being a no-go due to a new tram being put in, we headed for Reina Isabel who graciously accepted our 2012 ACSI discount card a day before the tariff was due to come into force saving us the books purchase price in just a two night stay.

Granada itself is only a short bus ride away and the city is easily the most pleasant we have visited so far in Spain. With snow-capped mountains in the distance and strong Moroccan themed architecture it certainly felt different compared to anywhere else we have visited. The walled Alhambra provided great views over the city and the walled gardens were filled with autumnal colours.

The Moroccan theme extends not just to the buildings but also in the impossibly narrow side streets which were adorned with seemingly authentic traders selling their wears, the colours of the materials were very eye catching from the cafes and restaurants in the main squares. It was also the first day of the January sales here in Spain, which comes after the Three Kings celebrations on the 6th of January, and the queues and piles of discarded clothes surpassed anything we've ever witnessed back at home.

Merry Christmas from Puerto de Mazarrón

2011-12-24T17:25:00.000Z

Puerto de Mazarrón

We have finally arrived at our Christmas destination of Sophie's parents rented villa in Puerto da Mazarron. The area is surrounded by hills and seems to exist in its own microclimate, there air is warm and dry and the temperature reaching 25c in the early afternoon - hardly feels like Christmas! The area seems popular with motorhomes and there are plenty of Wild Camping locations out and about which we will explore and report back on in the new year.

Guadalest

En route to here we visited Guadalest which is a pretty village but somewhat spoilt by tourist tat and several museums of miniatures touting bible on a pin head and such like, its unsurprising that the area is heavily geared toward day trippers from Barcelona and Benidorm.

Speaking of which, it would be rude not to call in at this notorious Brit hotspot to go 'Madge Spotting' and true to form they were out in force, women in their 70's clad in fur and Leopard print leggings.
Out of season the beach is stunning and clear to see why this place has attracted so many people to purchase property here. Parked on the front, our campers caused quite a stir with passers by looking through the windows, it was difficult to resist triggering the alarm to give them a fright!

A Panaroma of Benidorm

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

Sophie & Adam

Carcaixent and Calpe

2011-12-17T23:42:00.000Z

Calpe

The journey along the Spanish coast from East to West has been fun and games for us. A lot of towns and cities are heavily populated with apartment blocks and industry and require a great deal of planning in order to navigate to a suitable parking area in order to explore. This is made all the more interesting since we are no longer just navigating our narrow panel van but also for the Autotrail Tracker (affectionately named our 'support vehicle') which seemed permanently fixed to our back bumper and just like a trailer it makes turning around when you've made a wrong turn that bit more interesting!

Castello-de-la-Plana for example yielded hooded youths and industry and so we didn't really feel like stopping, similarly Segunte despite it's promising castle seemed equally uninspiring and we drove on through. Most disappointingly of all was Valencia where the city centre 'aire' had increased from €16 to €25 per day and was sandwiched between a busy motorway flyover and railway station rendering it in our view totally unsuitable for an overnight stay. Unfortunately too late in the day for us to consider parking there for a few hours and with the only campsite closing that very evening we decided that fate was against us and headed for Carcaixent.

Somewhere along the way we picked up a Dutch registered camper which became a temporary addition to our convoy, as the road narrowed with 7ft walls either side he became alarmed when the Autotrail in front of him straddled the middle of the road around blind corners. We let on to him later that we had been a little way in front and had been letting Adam's parents know when the road ahead was clear over the radio so they didn't have to creep around the blind bends. It transpired that he had no GPS at all and simply decided to follow us as it was getting late and thought we must have been heading for an aire that he didn't know about!

As it turned out we couldn't have navigated to a nicer spot, the free parking location (GPS: 39.07027, 0.40889) was sheltered by trees and is the starting point for three 5 mile walks. Given our rotten luck with cities we decided the next day we would rest from driving and attempt the red walk which involved a 300m accent through overgrown paths which provided breathtaking views.

While we try and avoid campsites unless you find a particularly good launderette there really is no alternative to getting your washing done. Calpe Mar in the ACSI discount book was paticually attractive to Adam's mum since the website showed an ironing board in the laundry room! It turned out to be a great little compact campsite with hard standing pitches, new facilities and a bargain laundry at €2 a wash not to mention a fantastic view of Penyal d'Ifac (that's the big rock to you and me). The town itself is relatively pleasant and we enjoyed a lunch of Shellfish Paella and Whitebait in one of the many restaurants touting for business along the seafront. It's warm at 18c and it's hard to believe it's only 8 days until Christmas!

Tarragona and Morella

2011-12-17T22:38:00.002Z

Morella

Tarragona yielded a fantastic and well used Wild Camping location right on the beach (GPS: 41.12935, 1.30455) where we stayed for two days to recover from our whirlwind tour of Barcelona. We were reminded of our weeks spent parked up on Greek beaches and were treated to several fantastic sunrises over the sea giving Adam's parents just a taste of what we experienced while we were there and we're pleased to report they have really taken to the concept, no more campsites for them!

We are starting to see a great deal more English registered motorhomes who are "here for the winter", these are on the whole a different type of traveler to those we have been meeting in places that bit further afield and we've had a few faces pulled when we've mentioned Eastern Europe! Perhaps we can educate them, or maybe not.

After tearing ourselves away from the coast we drove inland, navigating many hairpin bends before we arrived at the free aire at Morella (GPS: 40.62398, 0.09141). The town was virtually deserted and the lady in the tourist information office seemed a little surprised to see us but overall the town felt relatively authentic compared to similar walled towns we have visited. The 1000m difference in altitude yielded a 10c drop in temperature which meant highs of just 3c overnight, we couldn't wait to get back to the coast and another great little wild spot on a deserted pebbly beach (GPS: 40.20741, 0.25986) complete with weird rubbish trees with the remnants of summer rubbish made into art worthy of the Turnip Prize.

Barcelona

2011-12-13T10:01:00.000Z

For more information on the aires / motorhome parking in Barcelona Click Here

We had initially planned to spend a couple of days in Barcelona but the need of the group was to spend some relaxing time on the coast so we opted to try and pack as much as possible into one day. Sophie and I have grown a little tired of large cities on this trip but rest assured this is only a temporary condition!

The first sight on our list was the Sagrada Familia, one of the worlds longest running construction efforts spanning over 130 years and not scheduled for completion until 2026 at the earliest. Needless to say there were cranes and scaffolding from every vantage point so photography was interesting!

The Christmas markets which surrounded the church were packed with stalls selling logs with faces painted on one end and front legs of all different shapes and sizes. We thought they were Yuel Logs but on further enquiry they are in fact called 'Tió de Nadal' a charactor from Catalan mythology relating to a Christmas tradition and often reffered to as 'Caga tió' or.... Shit log! We like this name best. On Christmas day or Christmas Eve, a family puts their tió partly into the fireplace and orders it to "shit". To make him "shit", they beats him with sticks, while singing various songs of Tió de Nadal. There is more, but that's enough for now!

Back on the Metro we headed for The Rambles, the massive sprawling street which stretches down to the harbour in Barcelona and is famous for its 'living statues' which are all too common in European tourist hotspots.

There was a lively religious procession (we couldn't find out for what, but apparently is a very frequent occurance) and we enjoyed our first Starbucks since Stockholm. Adam's mum had spied her namesake turned into a Restaurant, 'Joan' seems a very popular name here in Spain.

We visited Montjuic to find that the fountains are only operational once or twice a week in season and of course we had missed the day on which to see them. It was now turning to dusk and Barcelona was beginning to take on a much more multi cultural role with markets set out selling Indian snacks and mint tea. It was all too much for us and our intentions of Tapas and Paella faltered and we ended up in an Indian Restaurant and after a mix up with Sophie's 'hot' Khari being delivered as a sickly-sweet hot Korma which was whisked away and replaced we were soon sweating and salivating having missed hot food for so long.

Barcelona in a day is perhaps not to be recommended, it would probably take 3 days at least to do the city justice but was fine on this occasion. There was, for us, one final highlight. On the short walk back to the aire from the metro we stumbled upon a huge Primark with prices that would put even the ones back home to shame, it would have been rude not to top up on clothes!

Barcelona Motorhome Aire & Parking

2011-12-13T09:41:00.003Z

For more information on our visit to Barcelona itself click here.

There has, certainly for us, been some confusion with regards to Parking and Aires in Barcelona and we wanted to try and clarify where it is that we stayed and what other information regarding taking a motorhome into Barcelona is available.

The site that we stayed at is located on Carrer del Taulat and the GPS Co-Ordinates for the entrance gate is GPS: 41.415589, 2.223723.

The site is able to hold 40 vans and the charge is €30 per 24 hour period so in that respect it is worth planning when you intend to arrive and depart. The cost is high but the proximity to the city is great with no need to get on a bus or train for an hour as with some orbital campsites, with a tram stop and ticket point just outside. The Metro station is just a short walk away passing a huge shopping centre ‘Diagonal’ with a large Primark as well as the Natural History Museum being just outside. In season it is also possible to pick up the Barcelona City Tour bus from just outside the shopping centre, the stop is named ‘The Forum’ Link to Barcelona City Tours depending on how you wish to explore the city.

The best ticket for travel using Metro, Tram or Bus is a T-10 ticket which costs €8.25 for 10 journeys lasting a maximum of 1hr 15. The ticket can be used for multiple passengers provided each passenger validates it in turn (so pass it back behind you before you enter via the gates).

The aire itself is essentially a truck / lorry park with an area in one corner sectioned off for motorhomes. There is electricity available in with the charge and there is a water / waste disposal point at one corner. There are also showers and toilets but the standard of these was average to poor and we didn’t see anyone using them while we were there.

The site does however seem to be very secure with regular high-visibility patrols and a CCTV system which could probably read your book over your shoulder when it was proudly demoed by the friendly guard when we rolled up late that evening.

This is not a campsite, it is fairly close to the road but given that you’ll be spending most of your time outside of your van this shouldn’t ordinarily be a consideration.

If you are approaching Barcelona from the West and are looking for somewhere to stay overnight before arriving early morning at the Aire with a view to visiting the city the same day I can recommend the aire at Sitges – GPS 41.25056, 1.81389: This is €5-7 depending on season but when we stayed nobody came to collect the money and we didn’t leave until 9am. We didn’t find anywhere suitable to stop on the East of Barcelona.

There are a number of other options for Barcelona which we can’t comment on as we didn’t use them personally; these appear to be cheaper at €20/day if booked online. I have listed these below in the Google Map – the large Green logo is where we stayed. The rest of the sites have information available if you click on the P they will give you a link to the relevant information either on Camping Car Infos or the Barcelona booking site.

View Barcelona Aire's in a larger map

Finally here is a video of a walk around of the aire at night, the sound is poor until after 1 minute as I had my finger over the microphone but gives you an idea of the noise from the motorway on an evening:

For more information on our visit to Barcelona itself click here.

Girona

2011-12-07T21:37:00.001Z

Girona

We got up incredibly early and were on the road by 8am in time to watch an impressive sunrise over the Mediterranean as we headed to Cadaques. The town turned out to be fairly unfriendly for parking and the large out of town car park charged 20c per 6 minutes, we didn't feel like staying as there wasn't anything that we particularly wanted to see there.

Our first proper walkabout on Spanish soil was Girona with its impressive walls and tall pastel coloured buildings rising above the Riu Onyar. The large cathedral stands prominently at the start of the old town and the main street; Rambla de la Llibertat, is lined with shops and busy cafes. The walk along the old walls gives magnificent views of the city and surrounding snow topped mountains in the distance.

The intention had been to try and somewhere to free or wild camp along the seafront on the approach to Barcelona and make the journey into the city in the morning in order to make the most of the city centre aire. As it transpired this was not an easy task made more difficult as the train track runs along the coast effectively cutting the road from the beach in many locations. We exhausted a number of our GPS locations and we decided that, with a new Autotrail in tow, we were going to head straight for Barcelona and spent the night there.

Collioure

2011-12-07T21:15:00.000Z

Collioure

Duilhac-Sous-Peyrepertuse provided us with a dramatic and refreshingly free overnight stop before heading the short distance to the next aire at Port Vendres so that we could visit the town Collioure a short distance along the coast. The aire here is quiet and the fee of €4.90 collected by the Police Municpal at 8:30am.

Duilhac-Sous-Peyrepertuse

We piled into the Adria to make the short 4 mile drive along the coast and the added advantage of being able to squeeze pretty much anywhere a car can came into its own in the narrow car park inside the maze of rooms within the Castle was a Christmas Market which was pulled off in an incredibly modern fashion with all kinds of foods, wines and upmarket crafts which made a refreshing change from the usual Christmas market 'tat'.

We were inundated with samples of the local produce and even purchased some olive and sundried tomato pate!

Outside of the castle and courtyard the town itself was sleepy but felt measurably warmer than the days we had spent further inland and certainly not like any December I can remember back home in blighty!

Beziers and Carcassonne

2011-12-07T20:40:00.002Z

The journey into France from Italy passed without incident with the unmanned border now being reclaimed by motor homers as an impromptu aire. The coastline of the south of France is nice if a little manic and our route took us up and over behind Monaco rather then through it as on our last trip here in 2008.

However just outside Nice a dramatic set of events occurred in quick succession. The van proclaimed it was low on oil which was strange because I had only checked it a few days prior. After immediately stopping and topping up a quick look underneath confirmed that oil was indeed pouring out of somewhere and had coated the whole bottom of the engine in oil. Contemplating getting recovered we noticed we were right next to a Fiat Professional agent, so we limped the van in and tried and failed to explain what we needed. "Catastrophic!" said one mechanic as he got into the passenger seat to move the van into the workshop, before switching to the correct side "No guarantee!". It transpired that the oil filter had somehow come lose spraying the whole undercarriage in oil and despite being in the workshop for over an hour we were charged just 30 minutes labour and €40 to fix - including jet washing the engine clean and refilling with oil we were on our way incredibly relieved at what could have been game over for the rest of our trip.

Later that day we met up with Adam's parents in Arles in their new Autotrail Tracker which seems a world away from our beloved Adria Twin. It was great to see them after 9 months away and they will now join us on this leg of the journey as we travel to meet Sophie's parents in Spain for a Christmas reunion.

In our new roles as tour guides (for an area we ourselves haven't visited!) we set off for Beziers before stopping at a quiet beach location near Sete with the shores awash with giant shells you can't help but to collect and then wonder what it is you are going to do with all these shells when you get home. Beziers itself christened the Tracker with it's first 'Wild' camping night, however nothing is truly wild in France when it comes to motor homing.

The following nights were spent at the recently relocated aire in Carcassonne (GPS: 43.2056, 2.37499) which while the old town is charming enough you can't help but feel it is missing something after visiting the likes of St Mont Michel or Monemvasia but nevertheless worth a visit (late evening being better since the aire is free 8pm - 8am with the first 'paid' hour free).

We will leave you with a photo of our miniature but perfectly formed Christmas tree which is now resident in our van until boxing day!

A Week in Italy

2011-11-28T20:42:00.000Z

Ferrara

After a whole 7 weeks in Greece, Italy has been a bit of a culture shock for us and it’s taken a little while to get back into the swing of things in Western Europe. For a start, we saw more motorhomes in 7 minutes then in 70 days in Greece and the abundance of free Aires with all the services laid out for you seemed a little alien at first.

We knew that this stretch of east coast of Italy holds little of interest off season so we made straight for San Marino which as it turned out was enveloped in fog. Having already visited in 2008 we decided we’d stay in the comfort of our van rather than brave the positively artic temperatures and begrudgingly packed our shorts and t-shirts away and pulled out our micro fleeces, scarves and gloves which have been firmly boxed up since Nordkapp.

At this point we could go on to tell you about the Italian architecture or the culture but the thing that has been the biggest interest to us since arriving has been the shops! Not only is Italy at least 30-40% cheaper than Greece for food (even like-for-like in Lidl) but the range and choice available in iPer La Grande is mind blowing. We pushed a trolley overflowing with speciality Pastas, Coffee, Gnocchi, Breads not to mention three types of Fish, Bacon and Beer (although we’re well stocked on Mythos) for less than an equivalent sized shop in Lidl just two weeks earlier. Craving our mid-afternoon coffee fix we purchased a new Moka Pot so we can have espressos which are slightly less messy and bitty then the Greek coffee we have been used to. Diesel and LPG is cheaper here in Italy also which is just as well as our gas usage has increased threefold as our heating is running through the night.

One of the best things about our blog is when people get in contact for help when they are planning to embark on a similar trip and in Bologna we met up with Matt and Laura who are following a similar route to us but in reverse. Bologna transpired to be larger than we anticipated and after ruling out all of our pushpins for the central area we ended up at a Train Station aire on the outskirts of the city joined later by Matt and Laura. Their van was cavernous compared to ours and Laura had done a fantastic job of putting their stamp on it with homemade curtains and knitted throws – their van has a special story behind it so I’d recommend visiting their blog – Matt & Laura

After a nearby Pizza and an evening sitting up talking which served to remind us just how early we have been going to bed since the clocks changed, we bid them farewell and began our trip North. At this point we’re on our way across the South of France to meet up with Adam’s parents who are travelling down with us to see Sophie’s parents in Spain for a family Christmas reunion. I must apologise therefore if for the next month our blog covers more well-trodden paths but rest assured in January we shall be embarking on another adventure – so watch this space! We did however have time for another encounter with fellow traveler Ric from Vantastic Journey although our meeting was brief we hope to catch up with him in Spain at some point

Our last week in Greece

2011-11-21T12:48:00.000Z

Our days in Greece were running out and our pace slowed right down as the port of Patras became ever closer. We found ourselves parked in the cruise ship port town of Katakolo because the marina offered electric hookup to campers, Adam had some work to do and the batteries could use the free boost.

The town itself revolved solely around cruise ships, initially deserted as soon as a ship rolled in the shops would extend their wares well into the street. You could tell the nationality of the passengers that day by the greetings the shop keepers gave us as we walked down the street – “Bonjour!”, “Ciao!”, “Hola!” on three separate days. The shops themselves sold largely fake handbags, shoes and clothes, “Replicas!” replied one woman while I was commenting on the poor quality of one such item. Not quite sure how Greece gets away with it, maybe its something to do with the Faky Lacky.

As we got ready to leave we filled our water tank and as we moved onto filling our bottles the water revealed itself as a murky brown colour much to our horror and we suddenly knew why we had been refused water with our coffee. We lined up over a grill and let out 90 litres of off-white water and used the opportunity to give our fresh tank a good wipe out from the inside before filling up with fresh clear water from a nearby fuel station.

After a visit to Chlemoutsi castle a campsite beckoned to deal with the 4 weeks of washing, bedding and towels and we found Ionion Beach Camping was highly recommended. Aside from 5 German caravans and one motorhome the site was deserted so we picked the best spot right on the beach and proceeded to use all three large washing machines simultaneously, before stringing a line on the beach for some of the larger items to dry, the whole process which taking most of the day.

Just one more beach stop between us and Patras we managed a length of the beach before retreating inside from hordes of mosquitos, this is one aspect of Greece we won’t miss. The journey into Patras reminded us why we don’t like large cities, ports especially, as the roads were lined with immigrants looking to find their way under a lorry or passing vehicle.

We pulled into the new south port and Sophie checked the prices online while Adam went into the ticket office armed with a pad to get prices from the three different carriers. The process is straight forward and it’s an ideal opportunity to pitch one against another, except in our case Minoan was already cheapest by £100. While the ‘Camp On-board’ service finishes on 31st October the price remains the same but you are offered a cabin and a free meal instead, we managed to knock the price down to £215 which for a 23 hour crossing didn't seem too bad; a return would have been only £300.

After the most thorough search we’ve ever had by the Greek army who guard the port, we boarded and were greeted to the usual frantic Greek arm waving and eventually slotted into a tiny space under a ramp and plugged into the on-board hookup with just one other camper; our batteries won’t know what’s hit them.
The ship itself was largely deserted and on-board prices inflated to all but the truckers with their 50% discount cards, our free meal was limited and we settled on meatballs while the truckers opted for three main courses each. I can’t imagine a cruise being relaxing because when we arrived to a grey Ancona we were truly knackered and ready to be back in control of our own destiny.

Lousios Gorge & Olympia

2011-11-14T14:05:00.000Z

We have seen some of the most impressive beaches in Greece, Voidokilia included, however with the weather turning a little colder we decided to head inland to view the magnificent Lousios Gorge. The route was adorned with charming villages perched on impossible slopes and we managed to stay almost in the center of three and nobody batted an eyelid, such is the laid back culture of Greece.

Karytaina

Our first stop was Karytaina where we stayed in the town square and made the short journey up to the ruined castle which overlooked the village. Having drunk our staple Greek coffee we departed to explore some of the Gorge area which as it transpired was accessible by road starting at Elliniko. We've been a little wary of minor roads in Greece and with good reason!

While generally good in some parts the road was down to half width with the other half having disappeared down into the gorge while a bust pipe cut another road in two.

We were flagged down by two Polish walkers at Kokkoras Bridge who had walked the length of the gorge but hadn't left enough time in which to return along its length.

Fortunate for them we were there since we didn't see another car for the whole day, we gave them a ride to Prodromou Monastery saving them a couple of km's and a 600m climb. Wedged into a palisade on the canyons east flank, the 12th century monastery is the gorges most spectacular sight - although we must have arrived on wash day as grey underpants were flapping in the wind from every balcony and the monastery itself was closed.

Two further nights were spent in the village of Dimitsana which offered ample parking, free wifi and good opportunities for hiking into the gorge. Adam was keen to visit the Museum of Hydroelectricity which was unfortunately closed, much to Sophie's relief.

The trip through the Gorge finished at Olympia which was totally deserted except for 4 4x4's which had traveled overland from China apparently en-route to France. The Olympic games were first held here roughly around 776 BC and was originally a grand venue, more of a temple than a sporting site. Today, there are only a handful of columns and ruins which exist such as the circular Phillippeion dating back to 4th Century BC and the Temple of Hera which is one of the oldest temples in Greece.

It was one of the rare occasions when it might have been nice to have a guide since, while impressive in terms of scale and historical significance, the fact that we had the place to ourselves detracted from the sites sense of importance. A worthwhile experience, but perhaps we've just had our fill of ruins for this trip?

Just a couple of other photos which we took whilst travelling through the little villages of the Louisos Gorge.

Our Guide to Visiting & Driving in Greece with a Motorhome

2011-11-14T10:38:00.000Z

This guide has been written based on our own experiences in Greece and is published to provide you with some basic information on Greece to better equip you for your visit. For more information and pictures of the places we visited, see the links to our individual blog posts at the bottom of this post.

Visited By Us:
September - November 2011

Country Facts
Country Code (GR), Currency Euro (€), Capital Athens, Full EU Member. While it is a Schengen Country it is landlocked by non-Schengen country so there are manned border crossings, but no visa requirements for EU citizens.

Road Vignette Required?
No.

Toll Roads
YES. There are many toll motorways in Greece and they can be expensive, however there is usually always a non-toll alternative which is more scenic but perhaps not as direct. In 3 months in Greece we didn’t find it necessary to go on any toll roads, often finding the non-toll roads ran directly alongside.

Road Condition ★★★★★

Generally Good. Having driven in Eastern Europe and entering Greece from Romania/Bulgaria we found the roads are of a generally good standard however given the economic crisis it stands to reason that road condition could deteriorate somewhat from its present state. If travelling on a mountain road it is common to see rocks in the road and for the outer edge to be crumbling away so extra care is needed here.

Driving Standard ★★★★★
Below Average. The apparent roadworthiness of some of the vehicles are some of the worse we have seen in Europe and broken light clusters are so common it’s the norm. Add to that a liberal mix of non-locals in hire vehicles during season and you’ll want to stay alert behind the wheel. Vehicles often stop or turn without warning (or brake lights!) sometimes for a chat with a local and Stop signs are frequently ignored. The Greeks counteract the need for a rear view mirror with liberal use of the horn, two short beeps mean “I am here and about to overtake you” and is often met by a friendly beep and a wave in return. It would be wise to adopt this local custom and also to allow faster vehicles to pass so that they don’t become frustrated and attempt to do so on a blind bend.

Diesel, LPG & Autogas
We only found one fuel station willing to accept a card payment despite signs advertising that cards were accepted so it is worth carrying plenty of cash with you. Fuel prices varied dramatically from €1.39 and €1.60 for Diesel in August 2011 with some of the cheapest stations being ‘cash only’ and usually a RevOil, we practiced filling up whenever we found a station at our ‘target’ price. There are now nearly 100 LPG stations in Greece.

Useful Links: LPG in Greece

Winter Tyres Required
No.

Official Aires / Motorhome Service Points
None.

Campsites ★★★★★
Good. The quality of campsites varies greatly and it is worth doing some research first into the facilities as many primarily capitalise on their location. In three months in Greece we only used one campsite for Athens so we will contact our friends and update this section shortly.

One of many excellent free camping opportunities in Greece.

Free / Wild Camping ★★★★★
Excellent. We only visited Greece out of season and found it to be a Wild Campers paradise with endless opportunities and many of the main beaches and towns relatively deserted. However you could see from the seating and parking capacity that these areas can get incredibly busy during peak season and would make Free Camping more difficult and less appealing during these times. Out of season you have the pick of the bunch, with the obvious exception of Athens which was the only time we opted for a campsite. We felt totally safe at all times and had many friendly interactions with locals and other campers.

Useful Links: Our Wild Camping GPS page has over 30 locations for Greece

Availability of Fresh Water ★★★★★
Excellent. There are communal taps available in most towns, marinas and rest areas and not once did we struggle for water. It might be worth carrying a funnel and short length of hose / water container as on a handful of occasions we made use of the beach showers to obtain water when no tap was obvious.

Grey / Black Waste Disposal ★★★★★
Below Average. There are many toilets at popular beach and marina locations suitable for emptying your black waste but these are not commonplace.

Price Index ★★★★★
Generally Good.We found Greece relatively expensive in 2011 and the prices of most things are roughly comparable to the UK. This is however offset to some degree by the sheer number of free camping opportunities and the fact that Greece does offer a great deal in terms of natural beauty and historic sites. We had no difficulties withdrawing cash from our Credit Card in ATM's but be weary of Greek National Bank ATM's (and possibly others) which will ask if you would like to withdraw in Sterling rather than Euro's. The result is a poorly weighted exchange rate much less that what your provider would give had you have chosen to withdraw in Euro's and have it converted at source.

Food / Supermarkets ★★★★★
Generally Good. Greek’s are dependent on traditional butchers and fishmongers so it should come as no surprise that some supermarkets carry a limited selection of meat and fish. Lidl is commonplace however the stock was sometimes limited and appeared to be used as a ‘Cash and Carry’ with many apparent Greek business owners stocking up in bulk on water, feta, olive oil and such like. There is a large chain of Carrefour which we found to be horrendously expensive and instead opted for City AB which appeared much more middle of the road. Watch out for pickup trucks with loudspeakers and vans selling fresh produce especially in some of the smaller villages as well as fish being sold from boats these are a great way to mix with the locals.

Eating & Drinking Out ★★★★★
Good. Greek hospitality is generally excellent and out of season you will have the pick of the restaurants with the staple being grilled meats and fish served alongside a Greek Salad. Expect to be invited into the kitchen to see the specials on offer that day and perhaps taste the sauce to see if it is to your liking. If you want fresh fish then many restaurants have chilled display cabinets outside with the fresh catch of the day displayed so you know you aren’t getting a frozen offering. Average meal for two with a decanter of wine is in the region of €25-30. If you like a coffee it is worth looking for a coffee shop with plenty of older greek men present – here the coffee is usually better value and more authentic. A traditional Greek (or Turkish) coffee is a strong drink and served in espresso style cups along with a tall glass of water with sugar added at the time of brewing, you can only drink about two thirds since the grounds settle in the bottom of the cup. If you’ve paid in the region of €1 each then you know you’ve gone to the right place anymore and you must be in a tourist trap!

Availability of Open Wifi ★★★★★
Excellent. Many towns have communal wifi on offer with unlimited access and availability from cafes and bars is excellent, we had no problems obtaining fast and open wifi during our time in Greece.

Useful Links: Our Guide to obtaining Wifi in Europe

Our Summary and Posts on Greece:

Methoni & Pylos

2011-11-07T18:50:00.000Z

To give you an idea just how quiet Greece is at the moment, a whole film crew can set up in a town such as Methoni and nobody bats an eyelid or gets in the way. Nobody apart from us of course, shamefully ordered down from he castle walls citing that we were "too modern" to be in shot! Oops.

Pylos, our van far right.

Next stop was Pylos, I'm not going to tell you how it was quiet (it was) or that the whole town centered around a large roundabout with a in-season seating capacity of several hundred but for now home to just seven Greek men aged 65-105. We once again contravined the 'no camping' sign on the pier given that we're not driving a tent as pictured on the sign and were joined by the two other vans which have been following us round for seemingly weeks now.

Adam managed to pick up several cases of Mythos beer with the €1 discount promotion which seemed to have sold out everywhere weeks ago and we made use of the towns three bakeries, butchers, fishmongers and vegetable stall. He also managed to get a hair cut from a traditional Greek barber which included the obligatory slicked back gel - he couldn't wait to get back to the van to wash it off! Greek coffee for €1 a cup has also become an afternoon ritual for us and boy does your body soon remind you it's time for the next one. In season it is possible to rent a boat to get to some of the islands but we had to make do with a couple of impressive sunsets over them instead.

We wandered up and down trying to decide which restaurant to eat in given that every single one was empty but all appeared to still be serving food, we settled for the one we had warmed to earlier in the day with the Greek Maitre d who seemingly spoke English with a Yorkshire twang. We sat down on our own and as we ordered our drinks a young lad appeared at the door out of breath and disappeared into the back and re-appeared in a set of chefs whites, clearly summoned from home (or more likely a nearby boozer!) to cook for the only two patrons of the evening. We opted for the mixed Greek grill and after much banging and crashing from the kitchen we were tucking into a mouth watering plate piled high with various grilled meats and nearly had to be carried back to the van. The next morning we took advantage of the facilities to fill our fresh tanks and felt no remorse in emptying our toilet cassette in by far the worst public convenience so far of the trip.

We'd heard about the castle, dunes and famous curved beach of Voidokilia and set about trying to find it which was a little more difficult then we anticipated as access from the South isn't possible and you have to cut across inland through a couple of wing mirror-scraping villages before you arrive. It really is a sight to behold and we had the place to ourselves as usual, I can't imagine how busy it gets in season. We made the steep mosquito infested walk to the Castle and were rewarded with views overlooking the cove and nearby lagoons and contemplated a jump in the sea but the water was freezing so perhaps we've already had our last dip of the season.

Mystras

2011-11-06T11:12:00.000Z

We sort of missed Mystras out when travelling from Nafplio to Inner Mani but given that it was only a 70 mile round trip from Kalamata we decided to go and see it even though it would mean coming back on ourselves. As it turned out, while deserted, the roads were some of the windiest we've driven on and I don't exaggerate when I say that my hands were sore by the end of the day.

The area around Mystras turned out to be one of the least camper friendly areas in Greece, owing to the number of campsites in the area most of the carparks went further than the usual "no camping" signs but specified no motor homes at all between 10pm - 8am. We did find a quiet lay-by not far from the main sights which provided a comfortable overnight given that the site closes at 3pm (GPS: 37.073686, 22.412860)

Mystras was a rewarding visit because unlike many of the other ancient sites we have visited it was a little more challenging to walk around and therefore more rewarding. The site is divided into two parts and we were advised on entry to visit the lower then drive up to the higher but we found the whole site fine for exploring on foot from the lower part with the exception of a colony of large red ants flying about one of the walkways!

On our return we missed out Kalamata totally which looked like any other large scale town and opted to spend the evening on an amazing sandy beach which stretched as far as the eye could see although we were the only ones present, this time choosing to ignore the 'No Camping' signs (GPS: 37.005560, 21.972500)

As we continue to travel around the coast we are constantly finding even more charming coastal towns such as Koroni which on the approach signs warned that vans and motorhomes were not allowed in the center but the parking provided on the outskirts was closed, so we tucked in on the road just behind the last sign.

The town itself was a maze of tiny streets and steps up to a large castle and church complex positioned imposingly on the hill.

Foinikounta

Given that staying over night here is not possible, we moved on to the next village of Foinikounta where owing to the fact it was out of season and all the villas were closed up we were able to park right on the sea front outside the blue flag beach and wander freely around the sleepy town before it wakes up next season.

Guide to Visiting & Driving in Romania with a Motorhome

2011-11-06T10:02:00.000Z

This guide is the first in the new format of 'Country Guides' we will write to try and provide some of the information we struggled to obtain while researching our trip to Romania. It is based on our own experiences and is provided in good faith but your own experience and impressions may differ to ours. We hope that you find it of use and encourages you to visit.

Country Facts
Country Code (RO), Currency RON , Capital Bucharest, Full EU Member (Jan 07). Non-Schengen Country; there are manned border crossings, but no visa requirements for EU citizens. You may be asked for your vehicle documents, there are no import restrictions but there are export limitations for alcohol and tobacco.

Road Vignette Required?
YES. You are required to purchase a vignette for all roads immediately upon crossing the border, a camper van comes under a 'Goods Vehicle' unless and the cost for up to 3.5t was €16 for a month or €6 for a week. If you are over 3.5t then the toll will be €52 for a month and €20 for a week. We have heard of some people getting through as 'private cars'. As of 2011 you will no longer receive a windscreen sticker, instead your registration will be logged on a database. It is worth entering the office with your registration number already written down and ensure that you get a receipt and the details and dates printed on it are correct. The offices only accept Romanian currency and Euro, not Hungarian Forint despite being on the border and are unlikely to accept card.

Toll Roads
YES. Toll roads are rare, however there is one at the Giurgeni – Vadu Oii Bridge over the river Danube on highway DN2A at Vadu Oii and one at the Cernavodă Bridge, on the A2 motorway, a 17 km long section between Feteşti and Cernavodă which consists of two road/railway bridges.

RoadCondition ★★★★★

Generally Poor. While many of the mainarterial routes are on par with Western Europe many secondary roads deterioratequickly often without warning; the size of the potholes are not to beunderestimated! Main roads always pass through villages as there are no suchthings as ring roads or by passes and extra care should be taken here. Shouldyou stray off these roads then the tarmac quickly disappears and gravel roadsare common. If road conditions are a concern plan your route includingstopovers carefully, we didn’t allow roads to limit our exploration andsuffered no permanent damage.

DrivingStandard ★★★★★

Generally Poor. Expect to encountermany horse drawn vehicles, homemade contraptions and laughably overloaded ancient cars and lorries. Howevergiven the quality of the roads and vehicles the average speeds can berelatively low and with the exception of the Bucharest area the roads are notsufficiently busy to encounter widespread congestion. That said driving inRomania can be tiring and stressful and it is worth planning regular breaks andnot expecting to cover large distances in a single day.

Diesel,LPG & Autogas

Limited availability of LPG/Autogas. Wesaw an abundance of fresh new fuels stations being built all of which acceptedcard and fuel pumped by attendants. Average price of diesel was £1.08 and LPG50p in Aug 11.

Useful Links: LPG / Autogas GPS POI for Romaina (to follow)

WinterTyres Required

YES. The Romanian Ministry of Travel are looking tomake Winter Tyres compulsory between 1^st November and 31^stMarch however as of Nov 11 this law has not yet been passed. Given thecountry’s infrastructure and ability to keep roads clear it would certainly beadvisable to adhere to these guidelines.

OfficialAires / Service Points ★★★★★

None that we are aware of. Know different? Please get in touch.

Campsites ★★★★★

Many of the campsites you will find listed areusually gardens of residential properties purchased by European ex-pats andusually filled with people from the same nationalities. Prices usually between£10-£15 however the standards of the facilities can vary greatly but they canbe goldmines of information and links to the local community.

Free/ Wild Camping ★★★★★

While free camping is perfectly legal and apractice embraced by Romanians you are unlikely to be in the company of othermotorhomes while doing so. Locations vary from large open fields near touristlocations to the inside of hairpin bends on the Transfargen Pass, basicallyanywhere big enough to pitch a tent and light a fire. Rubbish in these areascan be a problem due to lack of infrastructure but don’t let this put you offsince Romanian’s themselves are very friendly. It is worth having some smalltoken English gifts to hand, perhaps a shot sized Whisky or ShortbreadBiscuits, as we were often on the receiving end of Romanian hospitality but hadnothing suitable to give in return. Ground clearance on access roads can alsobe an issue so it is worth carefully considering your entry and exit strategyif you intend to venture off the paved road. A better strategy for Wild Campingwe found was to plan each day to end at a camp site while looking for asuitable Free Camp en-route meaning that should be unsuccessful we were sure tohave somewhere to stay instead.

Useful Links: Our Wild Camping GPS page has some locations forRomania

Availabilityof Fresh Water ★★★★★

Fresh water is often available from Fuel Stationsand we had no problems drinking from the mains supply. There are occasionallytaps or pumps in villages. Bottled water is available everywhere and in aslarge as 10L containers from Supermarkets.

Grey/ Black Waste Disposal ★★★★★

Very few opportunities to dispose of waste, publicconveniences were virtually non-existent.

PriceIndex ★★★★★

Owing to being a poor country Romania will appearincredibly cheap to Western Europeans with entry fees to tourist attractions very low at just £1-2. Typical pricesare: Loaf of Bread: 50p, 600ml Beer: 50p, 500g Meat: £2-3.

Food/ Supermarkets ★★★★★

You will find all of the Western Europeansupermarkets present in the bigger towns Romania, however some such as Carefourare expensive even by western standards. Penny Market we found gave a goodselection of Romanian food compared to Lidl which just seemed to stock theusual, albeit at less than half the price paid in Germany. Do not dismiss theroadside stalls selling fresh produce and kiosks selling bread, however, someof the fruit and vegetables purchased were excellent.

Eating& Drinking Out ★★★★★

As you would expect the cost of eating and drinkingout in Romania is incredibly low, Romanian cuisine focuses on simple homemadefoods although there are of course the usual outside influences. As a rule ofthumb less touristy the place the more 'genuine' the food. Romanian wine isexcellent however we found the Romanian beer an aquired taste.

Availabilityof Open Wifi ★★★★★

Surprisingly unsecured Wifi was often available inCafes and Bars and even more surprising was just how fast it was compared tothe UK!

Useful Links: Our Guide to obtaining Wifi in Europe

OurSummary and Posts on Romania:

Romania was an amazing experience and is without adoubt the most interesting country in Europe willing to reward anyone whowishes to take it on. In that respect a visit should be likened more to anadventure then a relaxing holiday.

Our Other Blog Posts on Romania:

Inner Mani

2011-10-31T19:22:00.000Z

Not such a landmark blog post, but just one to keep you updated of our progress around Mani since visiting Monemvasia as we have headed round hugging the coast.

We haven't seen nearly as many motorhomes here in Greece as we expected to, having heard the accounts from others, perhaps we are too late for the summer season and too early for the people who come to Greece to spend their winters. We keep seeing the same vans; A Polish Burstner, German Hymer, Finnish Hymer and two large French A-Classes with a Miniature Schnauzer in tow.

Our first stop was to see the Dimitrios shipwreck which is also an excellent Wild Camping spot (GPS: to follow). where we spent the night. After getting battered by the sea in Monemvasia our van was thick with salt which by this point had baked on hard as the sun beat down on us.

The next day we heard the Finnish couple leave fairly early and we slept in and left to visit the town of Gytheio. As we arrived the main road which goes through the town was blocked off so we followed a diversion which turned out to also be blocked. A Greek policeman in motorcycle leathers and trademark mirror aviators came and told us the road was closed for an Ohi Day parade to commemorate Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas' (in power from August 4, 1936, until January 29, 1941) rejection of the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on October 28, 1940. He also told us that we were too big and directed us passed all the traffic for a prime location right at the front of the parade!

We sat and watched as processions of school children, scouts, army and fire brigade (followed by a British campervan!) before taking up a position on the pier with 2 and eventually 5 other vans staying the night.

The town appeared to be made up largely of fish restaurants and the smell of fried squid lingered strongly in the air. The cafes were bustling with people following the parade and we were given a taste of what Greece must be like in season, since a lot of the towns we have visited have been very quiet and lacking much atmosphere.

The 'Road' in Porto Kagio

The next day we drove to Cape Tainaron which is the most southern point of mainland Greece and stayed in the tiny village of Porto Kagio where we had GPS co-ordinates for a place to stay but were greeted with a 'No Camping' sign, however underneath was a 'Campers this way' sign directing us along the beach to get to the car park.

Porto Kagio

Given the last time we drove on a beach it ended up with four different nationalities pushing our van out of the sand we drove very carefully and were welcomed by a Greek lady who owned some cottages who said we could stay in their car park 'No Problem' - clearly the village has mixed views on Campers overnighting there and we enjoyed a curious cappuccino (Greek coffee and squirty cream!) in her Taverna.

From the bottom we drove up the west coast, stopping intermittently to view fortified settlements, pebbly beaches and to usher the local wildlife out of our window when they became resident on our dashboard!

Monemvasia

2011-10-27T10:53:00.000+01:00

Monemvasia is the Greek answer to Mont St Michel but on a slightly larger scale. From the mainland it looks just like a large outcrop of rock with a small ruin on the top as the main town resides on the eastern side away from the mainland.

We arrived early evening and joined another van we had seen in Nafplio parked on the mainland since to park on the rock itself, signs informed us, would incur a €147 euro fine! The next morning we walked up the road and through the small entrance into the pedestrionised town with cobbled walkways and winding narrow streets with overhanging flowers and fruits.

Immediately we felt like we were back at Mont St Michel but it wasn't long until the Turkish influence became apparent from the long periods the town has spent under Turkish rule.

The lower town is awash with boutique restaurants, bars and hotels and an apparent mix of new build up and coming private residences. The builders appeared to be using traditional techniques, right down to donkeys laden with rubble lead through the streets.

The upper town affords magnificent views over the lower town and a chance to explore the largely ruined area, with the exception of a large Monastery named Agia Sofia which was restored in the 1950's after being adapted for various faiths during its existence.

We feel fortunate to have visited it out of season, since given the number of hotels and parking capacity at the foot of the rock I can imagine the place gets uncomfortably busy in season. We had the place largely to ourselves and spent a second night back on the mainland being joined by two large French units we had seen a couple times previous on this trip.

Nafplio

2011-10-26T18:28:00.000+01:00

Nafplio is one of the largest town we have come across so far in the Peloponnese and certainly seems to be somewhat of an upperclass / party scene in season. There are so many 'posh' looking restaurants and bars bustling for your attention on the sea front that it is difficult to know where is best to eat. We settled for a small restaurant in the main square for the reason it had the most comfortable looking seats!

There is a small castle seemingly on a tiny island in the middle of the harbour called Bourtzi which dates back to 1473 to protect the city from pirates. The only pirates we saw were the countless shops selling Ray Bans and Abercrombie and Fitch knock off clothing!

We decided as it was grey and overcast that today would be a travelling day and we would do the 100 miles to Monemvasia in one go; meanwhile I decided that it was Sophie's turn to drive for a change! As it turned out the road was a little more challenging then expected as we opted to travel inland rather then follow the coastal road, but I'm proud to say Sophie expertly maneuvered the motorhome through tiny cobbled streets with only a tennis ball's width either side. A coachbuilt motorhome would have become wedged, that is for sure! (Video to follow). There was a monastery cut into the rock which reminded us of Meteora.

It was a nice chance to be inland after spending so much time by the coast, some of the trees are starting to chance colour now although the temperature is still circa 20c during the day and we hoped it would brighten up for when we explored Monemvasia.

Ancient Epidaurus

2011-10-26T17:57:00.000+01:00

We left camping Athens relatively late on Tuesday after taking full advantage of the facilities and the blisteringly quick Wifi to download pretty much all of the things we wanted to watch for the rest of the trip! We had a few bits and pieces we wanted to get such as a new door mat and some duct tape and spotted a LeRoy Merlin on the outskirts, which as it turned out was an access nightmare with its underground car park. We found a safe looking side-street and managed to pick up pretty much everything we wanted, but an experience we were not prepared to repeat for the sake of a Carrefour - so we left hoping to find a Lidl en-route.

We opted for the coastal road to avoid the main toll road and were treated to some blue sky and sunshine which had been absent for the last 3 days, today might have been the better day to visit Athens but with the uncertainty that the strike action brings we were happy having the opportunity to visit at all. Before long we had arrived at the Corinth Canal and were soon joined by a French Family on their round the world tour. (See their blog here: http://family-berteau-on-the-way.blogspot.com ). It was interesting, while frustrating, to hear of their travels through Albania and Bosnia and down into Asian Turkey and the fact that being French meant they had no problem in obtaining fully comp insurance for these countries - impossible for an English registered vehicle. We wish them well on their trip and perhaps we will see them in Morocco!

Next on our list was Epidaurus which is both a pleasant town and an ancient site; we visited the town first and were greeted by a massive black charter yaught pulling into the small marina, a spectical which drew everyone out from their houses.

There are two wild camping possibilities here, the first being in the main car park (GPS: to follow) and the second located a through a extremely narrow road through the town and then onto a large open beach where we were joined by three other campers later in the evening. We took the opportunity to get 2 weeks worth of washing out of the way, since disappointingly there were no washing facilities at Camping Athens.

While we were washing we were adopted by a small puppy who was initially very scared but soon was chasing after a ball and alter followed us around the town, waiting for us outside shops. If you are a dog (or even cat) lover then Greece out of season will be a wash of stray and abandoned animals and while most of them seem happy enough at their independence you couldn't help but feel sorry for this little female puppy and she tugged on our heart strings for days afterwards.

After a couple of days in situe we visited Epidaurus and despite becoming a little numb to ruined archaeological sites you can't help but be impressed with the scale of the well preserved amphitheater.

We continued around the coast road ending up at Galactica where you can get a small passenger ferry to Poros, a small island a stones throw from the mainland with no road links. Being Saturday it was paticually busy and we were both tired so pressed on 10 miles to a remote location for a wild camp to spend a quiet night.

Athens

2011-10-21T08:15:00.000+01:00

We had been checking the latest advice on Athens and decidedthat Monday was the best time for us to visit; the public transport strike wasno longer in effect and the weather while overcast and cold seemed determinedto stay dry. We rolled up to Camping Athens at 9am, a strategy which we’veadopted since it means if we only spend one day in the city we only need tostay one night, tight gits that we are. Despite check in being 12pm we weregreeted enthusiastically and took up a pitch in the large campsite with only four other vans present. The information we were given included excellentdirections to the nearest bus stop and from there to the Metro Station to takeus into the capital, an 24hr day ticket costing €4 each valid on busses, trams and the metro.

We disembarked at the Acropolis and couldn’t find any obviousinformation with regards to entrance tickets; it transpires that a ‘ticket’costs €12which comprises of 8 tokens to get you into the various ancient sites. It ispossible to buy a single ticket and use it for two people for entrance to 4sites, but of course they don’t tell you this and it is only after the event doyou see people doing it! The tickets are also undated and appear to be validindefinitely.

We always try and visit a high attraction first as it gives you agood vantage point and allows you to get your bearings. We like to work out ifyou really need to use public transport to get between points or if you cansimply walk as we prefer. The obligatory scaffolding was in situe around thetowering Acropolis and large cranes obscured the best photo opportunities butit was never the less an impressive site to see both looking up to and fromabove looking down over Athens sprawling out beneath you.

Given the timing of our visit I suspect you might be moreinterested in what we saw pertaining to the unrest and subsequent riots thathave been reported in the days following our visit. The first most noticeablefactor that all is not well was the amount of rubbish piled up on the streets and binsoverflowing everywhere with the obvious stench that this creates.

Many of thetourist sites seemed to us quiet and the restaurants and Taverna’s seemed deserted here as they have done elsewhere in Greece for this time of year, therecertainly wasn’t the mixture of foreign accents that we’re used to hearing incapital cities by now. There were pockets of riot police in and around the streetsand while we did see a gathering of 1-200 people in Syntagma Square chanting we didn’tsee any real unrest or significant police presence or disruption.

Even the ‘Lookie Lookie’ men were feeling the pinch, with great linesof them selling their fake Louis Vuitton handbags from sheets laid out on thepavement right in front of Police and other reputable designer shops. Therewere plenty of other shops rife with fake Ray Bans and other goods whichweren’t on show to this degree in the tourist areas of Romania or Bulgaria soI’m not sure why Greece thinks it can flaunt counterfeit goods to this degree.

We heard some of the tourist site staff telling people that there may bea tourism strike called tomorrow (Tues) which sealed our already forming opinion that wewould only allocate one day for Athens. I think we’d like to re-visit once things have returned to normal and see the flea market in full swing andperhaps spend longer exploring the vibrant city but there were too many factorsagainst us on this occasion.

We finished off the day with a visit to an Indian Restaurant imaginativelynamed Indian Masala which was only our second this trip, the other being in StPetersburg, Russia. Adam enjoyed a red hot chicken Vindaloo while Sophie optedfor a Lamb Khari with rice and Naan – both cooked to perfection before our eyesand coming to a reasonable €29 in total.

Just a handful of various other photos we took throughout the day ....

Evia

2011-10-21T07:54:00.000+01:00

Evia is the small island which runs parallel to Central Greece connected by road bridge and several ferries. Given the timing to get to Athens, in one of the small windows between terrible weather and strike / protest action, we decided to spend a couple of days there.

Truth be told, there isn’t a great deal there. We had a handful of Free Camping locations but the areas were well worn from the summer season and the previous days rain and rendered them treacherous, so we instead opted for hard standings on or around marinas. The lack of visible taps lead to some creative engineering with a beachside shower in order to fill our depleted water tank!

We eventually reached the Islands most southern town Karistos which seemed lively enough and parked right in the centre. We opted to spend an evening in one of the many Taverna’s along the strip, enjoying some deep fried White Bait and Muscles along with the obligatory Greek Salad.

The next day we attempted to follow the coastal road but ended up literally in a maze of brand new roads surrounded by new pylons – but no houses. Obviously this area was expected to be developed during the boom years and has since taken on a new role as a trap for foreigners!

We eventually arrived at the small ferry terminal in Nea Styra, which had opened for the first time in three days due to strike action. We lined up in an orderly fashion between the marked lines, while the Greek cars proceeded to get into pole position each one pushing their way to the front of the queue with one even attempted to board before the cars had disembarked! The real fun began when it was our turn to board which caused a great deal of whistle blowing and arm waving since the ferry was not roll-on-roll-off, we had to board it in reverse!

We were now stuck at what to do, as we journeyed around the southern tip of the Athens region the weather further deteriorated. We stopped to visit the Temple of Poseidon which must be a popular excursion from Athens as the whole area was heaving which coach parties.

Then the heavens opened and we became conscious that we were getting closer and closer to Athens.

We eventually found a large beach area were we free camped on a cliff overlooking the harbour for three nights, taking advantage of the free Wifi on offer from a nearby closed beach bar in order to sit out the rain storms and watch some of our TV programs – back to back Motorway Cops, CSI, Spooks, Dexter, House for two days.

Ancient Delphi

2011-10-12T11:46:00.000+01:00

Delphi is the place that seems to be #1 in all of the tourist literature about Greece, the surrounding area is certainly set up for it with a newly constructed cruise ship port in Itea where we stayed overnight and countless campsites on the way up to the site. We were very surprised to find that the whole site was very quiet and were able to take photos and wander round without the usual bus loads of tourists which must be present in season.

Delphi sits on the slopes of Mount Parnassus and is split over two sites, the main site where most of the well known remains are located costs just €3 each to get in. The "Sacred Way" winds its way up through the foundations, the first couple of monuments which you come across are the Treasury of Athens and the Temple of Apollo which dates back to the 4th Century BC.

One of the main features of the ancient site is a well preserved Theatre also built in 4th Century BC originally seating 5,000 spectators and giving them an amazing view of the site and valley below. From the Theatre the path continues to the Stadium at the top of the hill which is the best preserved in all of Greece but unfortunately the best vantage points for photographs were cordoned off.

The Gymnasium and Tholos are located at the other side of the road and entrance to this site is free. The Tholos originally comprised of 20 columns but only 3 stand today after being partly restored and re-erected in the 1940's otherwise there wouldn't be much to see apart from lots of piles of stones!

12km miles up the road from Delphi is the small village of Arahova which is renowned for its pasta, honey, red wine hand woven goods and animal skins. We wandered around the shops not entirely comfortable with the blankets made of out foxes, raccoon, rabbit... in fact any animal with fur that you have seen in the wild you can take home and drape over your bed! We did note, however, that some of the red wine was the same as what is for sale in Lidl but with a marked up price!

Overnight Location GPS: (38,43149, 22.42129) - 9 miles from Delphi at the marina at Itea. Free.

Nafpaktos

2011-10-12T08:30:00.000+01:00

The weather for us here in Greece has turned into a bit of a mixed bag, thankfully for us we love the sound of rain on our roof but we've not seen the 35c temperatures for a few days and on an evening the temperature has dropped to 15c - positively freezing by comparison to the last five months!

We arrived fairly late on in the evening and parked on the sea front, joined by a french registered Adria pulling an impressive quad bike and lattery by a dutch Hymer. Motorhomes are a magnet for other motorhomes it would seem.

We did a lap of the town and it was clear something was going on, there were police everywhere and lots of people milling about. From our spot on the sea front we were treated to a fantastic firework display complete with music and involvement from boats. When we asked what was going on we were told it was the Reenactment of the Battle of Lepanto from 1571 which involved over 450 ships (link to Wikipedia). Here are a couple of photos from the local newspaper who had a better vantage point (and zoom lens!) than us.

The next day the clouds rolled over and we were treated to 5 hours of blue skies and the temperatures peaked back into the 30's. We walked down to the habour where we wandered about the fortifications only to find that they are usually locked up and they were only open to allow the remains of the evenings fireworks to be cleaned up, the town official waited patiently while we took the panoramic shot at the top of this blog before locking the gate behind us!

The Venetian Fortress looks down imposingly from its position on the hill above Nafpaktos and despite being free to get in was deserted on the Sunday afternoon as we wandered around its unguarded walls in perfect sunshine. After heading back to the van and downing a liter of ice cold water from the fridge the heavens opened again and the thunder and lightening storm that ensued rivaled the fireworks from the night before!

Overnight GPS: (38.38707, 21.82092) Parking along side a pebbly beach just 5 minute walk from center.

Lefkas

2011-10-08T09:28:00.000+01:00

Porto Katsiki 38.602779, 20.548889

Lefkas is a small island accessible from mainland Greece over a long causeway and a strange floating bridge which happened to be floating off down the river when we arrived to let some sailing boats out of the harbor. We made straight for the Island's Lidl and were dissapointed to find that it did not stock any fresh meat - presumably due to it's Island location. Meatballs were on offer for €1 however so we stocked up and will remember Sweden when we eat them, we've still got some Loganberries but unfortunately no Swedish gravy.

We were approached by some English people in the car park asking if we wanted a puppy, given the fresh meat situation we half considered it but decided that we would make do. It seems part of the ex-pat package here in Greece is to take on a stray or abandoned dog, of all the campers with dogs seems to have been rescued from here. The German lady on her own next to us had found herself a Corgi and we fostered a lovely abandoned Lhasa Apso and a frightened mixed breed dog for three days while at Parga feeding them biscuits and some ambient stored meat pate we bought for 20c but haven't quite gotten around to eating but we'd never consider taking one home.

We attacked the Island in an anti-clockwise direction using both our nose and some wild camping POI's we've collected from around the web. We stopped at the first spot for lunch but it didn't have the wow factor we wanted, so we continued. The most southern point was down a 12-mile dead end but we decided we would go and take a look.

As we arrived with a gaggle of tavana's a Greek guy rushed out to collect a parking fee from us pointing to the hand drawn sign made from some scrap wood. €3 an hour, €5 a day or €10 for 'overnight'. We're not sure if this is an official charge or one imposed out of season or when then the tourist police aren't looking but we handed over €3 and when he left an hour later thought nothing of staying the night overlooking the beach.

The location certainly had the wow factor (panorama at the top of the blog post) and our location overlooking the cliff was breath taking. Sophie has quite gotten into using her snorkel and spent over an hour swimming in the clear blue waters looking at all the different fish in the water. This is post card Greece at it's best and something we expected to have to take a boat to the likes of Corfu in order to experience.

After making a swift getaway in the morning to avoid the makeshift car park attendant we made our way around the rest of the Island stopping briefly in Syvota looking at all the salingholidays.com chartered boats which we learnt were on their way to Corfu where they spent the winter. There was also a boat from nearby Whitby back home called Razzle Dazzle and some lovely cafe's and shops selling the obligatory knock off Ray Bans.

The rest of the Island was pretty but we ended up back at Lefkada, the first town you come to after the floating bridge, where we spent the night overlooking the beach with three other vans.

Porto Katsiki GPS: (38.60291, 20.54924) - Amazing location on top of a cliff overlooking beautiful beach
Levkas GPS: (38.8460, 20.71712) - Parking next to the beach with easy access to Lefkada

Parga & Ammoudia

2011-10-03T15:31:00.000+01:00

Wild camping is so easy here in Greece, we stayed for two days along with a couple of others vans overlooking a small island between Syvota and Perdika (GPS: 39.38594, 20.27390) before moving on today to yet another fantastic spot. There is something for everyone here in Greece - a deserted spot for those who like to park up on their own or maybe in the company or one or two vans or a really popular spot like our current location in Ammoudia.

We stopped off in Parga which has a lovely castle overlooking a bay of colourful houses. Unfortunately it is also popular with English tourists and knock off merchandise so we didn't spend much time browsing the many backsteets of shops. We did however pick Sophie up a snorkel, which she has been wanting since the waters are so clear here and there are so many fish to see, as well as two beach mats to save the traumatic experience of hand washing towels! The views however do belong on a postcard and we waited for a couple of clouds to pass before taking our photos.

Wild Camping In Ammoudia - GPS: 39.236256, 20.480188

So this evening we reside in Ammoudia which appears to be a Free Campers paradise, with 15 campers parked along the thin jetty and another 10 or so within the trees along the beach. We made our presence known by arriving and promptly getting stuck in the sand as we decided where to park! A couple of guys came out to give us a push and with the help of our Anti Slip Grip mats and a big push we managed to get out! Oops!

Ioannina & Dodona

2011-10-03T15:03:00.000+01:00

Dodona Amphitheater

We had passed the city of Ioannina on the way to the Vikos Gorge and from the outskirts it didn't really appeal, however after reading the Lonely Planet we decided to stay overnight on the way back through.

The city is on the shores of Lake Pamvotis which almost looked tidal as the wind was wipping up some pretty impressive waves onto the shores. The city itself is surrounded by a wall and the inner citidel contains a Mosque and the Byzantine Museum. We spent a couple of hours walking around trying to stay away from the countless restaurants offering some pretty meaty dishes since we had just made use of the towns large Lidl and we are trying to keep costs down while in Greece. While we were able to Wild Camp with ease in our 6m panel van, a 8m French Rapido decided to join us and drive in forwards rather then throwing is overhang over the grass behind, he seemed to sleep soundly enough though!

The following day we visited the nearby Dodona which is the oldest amphitheater dating back to 1000BC - older then the more touristy Delphi and only €2 each to get in! It was deserted and stone masons were well underway restoring some of its aging steps which made photography difficult. See if you can spot the marquee in the panorama below!

Ioannina GPS: (39.66891, 20.86053) - Carpark opposite fort by the lake, 5 minute walk to center.

Papigo

2011-10-03T14:32:00.000+01:00

In exploring the Vikos Gorge area of Zagoria we made our way up to the small village of Papigo, the tiny village with the free Wifi connection we made our last post from. From there we walked part of the 03 route up to Micro Papigo in the gorge and back down the main road. We encountered some brightly coloured murals and more stone bridges before we walked back through the tiny cobbled streets of Papigo.

We were soon joined by a French demountable camper and a Dutch couple in their smart Dethleffs van. They had been to Greece many times and as we talked we found we had lots of similarities - they had a dashboard mounted laptop like ours with Autoroute and pushpins from a German site called Womo which we had seen but had forgotten about. They had a Realtek Wifi antenna, dashboard mounted camera - the list went on! We stopped comparing similarities after a while! We will be following their travels over on their blog (in Dutch): http://mm2greece2011.blogspot.com or Google Translated into English.

On leaving we couldn't resist a picture of our van up on the tiny bridge which we passed over to enter the National Park which Sophie took from down below!

We drove as far Konitsa before heading to a Wild Camping spot recommended to us by Alex & David right on the beach near the Albanian border. We surprised ourselves by connecting to Wifi 18km across the water in Corfu, a record for us with our directional antenna. We stayed there two nights and got all of our washing done and had a campfire the second night as we were all alone.

The next morning we filled up with water from the shower using a funnel and hosepipe arrangement - much to the amusement of the Greek fishermen who arrived just in time to see the spectacle and to inform us that had we been German they would have charged us for the water!

Papigo GPS: (39.96783, 20.71753) - Large carpark in the center of Papigo
Sagiada Albanian Border GPS: (39.64103, 20.14108) - Small cove near border, very nice spot overlooking Corfu

Vikos Gorge

2011-09-25T19:39:00.000+01:00

We moved on from Meteora to the Vikos Gorge, billed as the largest Gorge in the world, where we have been exploring it from various access points over the last few days. Inland Greece continues to impress us and by all accounts our guide book informs us we haven't reached the best bit yet. It is largely deserted except for the occasional out of season coach tour forcing their way down the narrow roads, something we knew we wouldn't see any more of when we almost had to fold our mirrors in to cross a narrow bridge in the Vikos–Aoös National Park.

The Gorge itself is almost too big to comprehend and it took a good few minutes standing at Oxia view point at the top of Monodendri for it all to sink in. Wild Camping seems easily achievable and indeed tonight we are parked in a small village of Papigo enjoying a fantastic view and guilt-free internet since the village, despite being at the end of a dead-end road, has it's own free communal Wifi connection!

The villages around the region are known for their traditional stone buildings with slate rooftops and cobbled paths, all constructed from local stone. There are also lots of old stone bridges dotted in and between the small villages along the Aoos River. There are plenty of single arched bridges which can be seen from the road and there is one near the village of Kipi which has 3 arches.

It's hard to believe in glorious 30 degree heat, although we have had a few occasional drops of rain, that it is almost October. Nature has a way of reminding you and some of the trees are already starting to lose their leaves, so we'll leave you with an autumnal scene.

Monodendri GPS: (39.87834, 20.74323) Parking just outside village where Vikos Gorge walk starts, ramps needed - good access to viewpoint of gorge.

Meteora

2011-09-23T18:39:00.000+01:00

Just to let you know we have updated the Wild Camping page and we will be updating the country guide over the next few weeks to be in a much simpler format with all the information and experiences we have had.

It's hard to believe we've been in Greece two weeks and we've only just filled up with Diesel for the first time. Fueling our van has never been an issue however we've found that many large forecourts don't accept credit card (a first, since every eastern European one did) and many don't even bother to display the fuel price outside which can vary as much as 20c. Many stations situated in towns are two pumps with long hoses which reach out onto the road and getting someone to come out and fill up your van can be a challenge!

We've had 24 hours of storms so we battened down the hatches and had a couple of duvet days just outside Thessaloniki. We'd read some fellow bloggers Lesley and Rob having enjoyed a visit there and we were keen to make an attempt to get into the city which we did but we concur it was a nightmare and once we pulled up to see some of the attractions were surrounded in 'Looky Looky Men' with their fakery we bid a hasty retreat.

We instead decided to drive across to Meteora and we rolled up to Pension Arsenis which we had heard of from a number of tips for the area. The hotel has enjoyed some success in the German motorhome community after it was published in a guide or magazine there as allowing motorhomes to stay over night. We had thought that the 'catch' would be that you would need to buy a meal, however after a long drive we didn't feel like cooking. Immediately upon arrival, in the company of three other vans, a large guy rolled up on a Moped and was very friendly and asked did we want Chicken or Pork! It transpired that rather then walk 50m from the hotel to our van he had chosen the Moped as his preferred method of transport!

The food was delicious, a large Greek Salad and chicken in his mothers special sauce as well as a mountain of chips and local wine. We coined a new phrase, which he kept using after every item was delivered "Best for you!". Sophie didn't quite take to having her hair and her face stroked by the guy each time he walked past and so when the other guests had left and we were invited for Ouzo's we made our excuses and headed back to the van. Total cost €25 which I suppose isn't too bad as he said he was happy for us to stay two nights no further purchase required!

The Monasteries themselves are unlike anything we've seen as most date back to the 14th century. You approach from an otherwise totally flat landscape and see these huge rock faces appearing before you in all kinds of strange and narrow formations. It is only when you start to climb up to them do you start to see the small buildings that have been perched and cut into the rock. 20 Monasteries existed at the beginning of the 14th century, however today only 6 remain preserved and inhabited by monks and nuns but are mainly tourist attractions.

From what we saw today we would recommend an early start or perhaps doing them in reverse, the furthest one first, since even out of season as it is at the moment they were flooded with coach parties. We went inside the Holy Monastery of Rousanou but they are so small and not designed to accommodate the huge numbers of tourists that push through them and as photography is not allowed we decided not to enter any other ones, they are best viewed from the outside.

Meteora GPS: (39.70859, 21.65441) - Parking at Pension Arsenis catering for motorhomes, very friendly. Great access from here to the monasteries.

We're in Greece!

2011-09-17T08:48:00.000+01:00

Just two of our Wild Camping Locations so far.

We've arrived in Greece perhaps a little earlier than we originally anticipated, having spent six months travelling through Europe now is the time for us to relax and reflect on our journey so far. The purpose of this trip was not to see everything, but to leave something to return to and we have already begun thinking about future routes possibly taking into consideration some aspiring EU members.

Istanbul was high on our to do list, however we've decided to put that on hold for the time being. As the gateway to Asian Turkey we will have to pass through it to explore that part of the world in the future so we've put it on hold until then. Our current insurers don't cover us for the Asian side anyway and we are wary of our vans residuals if we do too many miles. That said we are considering spending christmas in Spain! With that in mind and with work picking up for me (Adam) we have been slowly travelling around the Greek coastline from Stavros to Porto Koufos in just over a week.

First impressions of Greece are that despite arriving in September to heat in excess of 35c it is very much out of season with many restaurants and villas closed up locked down. The beaches are deserted despite warm waters but we have had other motorhomes for company most nights - but typically no English!

Prices are also more then we anticipated, as loyal Lidl-ers we made a bee line for the first store. Lidl is largely the same wherever you visit but the prices in Greece are easily 40-50% more then what we have been paying with meat nearly double that of neighbouring Bulgaria. This explains all the Greek registered cars in the car park at Lidl in Petrich (just over the border in Bulgaria) selling Greek Feta and Olives back to them at prices cheaper then home. In fact the roads were lined with Olives and Cheese all the way. Diesel is also 20p dearer at £1.28 vs £1.08 in Bulgaria.

Our only real barometers of expense are Supermarket food and diesel and having spent several months in Eastern Europe we need them re-calibrating since I'm sure these prices are on par with the likes of France and Spain. The roads are certainly better and Wild Camps are easy once again. We've seen no resorts on the scale and madness of the Black Sea and the waters are warm and clear - we're not really beach people but its been great to be able to unwind. The only question remains - why aren't you here yet?

1st Panorama - Akti Koviou GPS: (40.19102, 23.68961) - Fantastic cliff overlooking amazingly clear blue sea and nice beach - lots of other campers - showers on the beach

2nd Panorama - Ierisos GPS: (40.41805, 23.85992) - Parking on the beach - level parking on some ground - strange rock formations in sea. Gravely beach, nice to swim in. Lots of fish.

Rila 7 Glacial Lakes

2011-09-11T17:37:00.000+01:00

We took the road from Sapareva Banya towards the start of the 7 Lakes Walk and initially thought we were on the wrong road. We had read about this fantastic new EU funded road leading up to a brand new Ski Lift which in peak season entertained coach tours and queues lasting upto an hour just to get to the top. The road was single track at best and giving way to oncoming traffic required on occasions the equivalent to bumping down a drop kerb. But, unexpectedly after several kilometers in this vain, the road widened to two lanes and brand new barriers for the rest of the way! There are plenty of free camping opportunities and we opted for one of the last pull ins before the ski lift car park.

There are several options for taking the walk, the most popular of which involves getting a 1.6km Ski Lift which takes around 15 minutes each way and is priced at 30lev return. This takes you up circa 600m and given the heat of the day we decided this was a sensible option to ensure we got down in one piece.

Sophie hadn't realised the ski lift would be of the open type, having previously traveled on enclosed lifts in Slovakia but she overcame her fears and only when we reach the top did she reveal she had hated the whole experience - but not enough to choose to walk down on our return!

The walk itself is a well marked trail and takes you a further 500 meters to the viewpoint from which you can see all of the seven lakes at the same time. I'm afraid to say we didn't make it quite this far as we were slowly being cooked to a crisp it wasn't really ideal to be trekking up mountain sides! But never the less the views we achieved were breathtaking and we managed to see 6 of the 7 lakes (although not at the same time).

Rila 7 Lakes GPS: (42.25408, 23.30440) - Small layby/carpark near chalets about 2 miles from the ski lift which takes you to the Rila 7 Lakes walk.

Rila Monastery

2011-09-11T17:01:00.000+01:00

Our route through Bulgaria, essentially travelling from the North East corner and exiting via the South West means that we are going to miss a couple of what would otherwise be the 'must see's' - those being Nessebar and Belogradchik. We've also decided on this occasion to miss out the capital Sofia - the first time we have missed a capital city in any of the countries we have visited. After nearly 14,000 we feel that we're ready for the second leg of our trip - which is to relax and unwind from the stresses that prompted us to embark on this trip in the first place. As much as we love touring around it is nice to have some down time also and for that reason we're ultimately making our way to the sun in Greece.

Bulgaria has presented us with a bit of a challenge. Unlike some of the other countries we've visited where you roll up and instantly absorb the culture and architecture by comparison Bulgaria is taking a little getting into. That's not to say that it's not a worthwhile place to visit, but it doesn't smack you in the face and a little effort is required to scratch the surface - but do as we did in Veliko Tarnovo and you will be rewarded.

After a long drive in our daytime rain storm of the trip and typically just after Sophie had taken over driving we arrived at Camping Zodiac. Typical of an Eastern European campsite it catered largely for wooden huts and motor homes have been a bit of an afterthought. With hindsight we could/should have wild camped but we were tired and everything looks a bit grimmer in the dark.

Rila Monastery was impressive and by this point we have seen countless places of worship. This one, like many others, has made it onto the UNESCO list and given by the amount of armed police present with their own little watch hut inside the main compound Bulgarian's take its importance seriously. We felt a little out of place admiring it for its architecture rather then it's religious significance. Fresco's adorn most of the exterior walls and the interior (no photography allowed) was equally impressive. We were also surprised to find that entrance was free, except for parking should you wish to park right outside the door.

On the road to Rila there is a small yard with some really interesting old cars stacked two high and other salvaged materials such as fire places and wooden carts, I daren't go in because I could have probably spent a day photographing the inventory!

Rila GPS: (42.14248, 23.35804) - Small campsite 1 mile up the road from Rila Monastery.

Camping Veliko Tarnovo - The Best Campsite in Bulgaria

2011-09-11T12:32:00.000+01:00

We finally left Romania and travelled a mammoth 270 miles down the Black Sea coast and towards the town of Veliko Tarnovo to a campsite we had read about on MagBaz. Probably one of the longest drives so far on this trip and we were having a bit of nightmare with both our dash mounted laptop and our TomTom GPS dropping signal and sending us down farm tracks!
Eventually admitting defeat we called the campsite and Nick came out to meet us in the village and escorted us back where despite swearing blind their GPS co-ordinates were wrong (they're not, sorry guys!) we were relieved not only to find a great camp site waiting for us but also a bar with draft beer and an outside terrace. We've never felt the need to endorse anything so publicly with our blog but credit where credit's due Camping VT is probably the best site we've stayed on at home or abroad.

After six months on the road with desperately few native English speakers it was a surprising relief to be able to have conversation with people other then ourselves! In that respect Nick and Nicky were the perfect hosts and have plenty of stories to tell of their own road trip around Europe and the journey that lead them to setting up a camp site which has got to be the best in Bulgaria. You find that the kind of English people who make it this far into Eastern Europe all seem to be of a similar mindset and we got on well with all the other campers we spoke to, often chatting late into the evening.

The site consists of a shower block which wouldn't look out of place in a luxury apartment, 40 pitches each with their own 16A power supply and drinkable water supply, a swimming pool built for the 2011 season not to mention breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. We paid £11/night out of season without electric but still enjoyed heat in excess of 35c. One of the biggest bonuses for us was the Cafe Bar which serves a mix of Bulgarian and English cuisine with local wine and beer at Bulgarian prices so there really is no excuses for not treating yourself.

I can't begin to tell you how good a full English breakfast tastes with real bacon after such a long time away from home! You realise just how welcoming Bulgarian's are when you see how the locals have warmed to both the Cafe and Swimming Pool which I can imagine can get quite busy in season but the pool is open to residents only in the evening if you fancy a quiet dip.

The nearby town of Veliko Tarnovo is a great place to explore and the campsite has a local English speaking taxi driver named Dimitar who is able to take you into the centre for a fee of just £4.40 and provide you with excellent commentary and recommendations en route.
We probably didn't see half of what the town had to offer since we were suffering a little in the heat and so retreated into a local restaurant where we stuffed ourselves for under £15. It's hard not to get side-tracked by the estate agents offering properties for next to nothing by UK standards and indeed a couple of the residents on the campsite were in the process of doing just that.

Sat here checking the bill I've noticed that I've not been charged for two portion's of Nicky's delicious chocolate cake! Keep the tab open guys, we'll try and be back soon!

For more information visit Camping Veliko Tarnovo's website and don't get it mixed up with another local campsite who's underhand tactics have seen it taking on a similar name to cash in on their reputation. Ask for Nick or Nicky by name and tell them Europe by Camper sent you!

Romania in a Motorhome - Summary of our Trip

2011-09-11T11:25:00.000+01:00

We ended up spending 16 days and covering in the region of 1200 miles through Romania in August 2011 and what an experience it has been. The intention of this trip was to provide us with a 'taster' of Eastern Europe as I think it's impossible to attempt to see everything on a single trip and indeed would leave nothing for future trips so in some cases we intentionally missed places which were too far from our planned route.

Romania has been everything we had hoped for and more besides - from the moment we crossed the border at Satu Mare from Hungary it was hard to believe we were in Europe at all, never mind still within the European Union. Horse and carts were everywhere, the villages were unlike anything we had seen in previous countries and in some places the roads were terrible!

If you are travelling in a motorhome of any value it is worth taking some time to carefully plan a route especially when the intention is to deviate too far from main roads. These can vary greatly in quality and in many cases do so irrespective of the grade of road which ranges from A, DX, DN, DJ and to DC. For us the worst strech was when travelling from the top of the Transfagarasan Highway towards the Virdu Dam - a video of which can be found on the bottom of our blog post here which is surprising given it's popularity with tourists.

Wild Camping is something which is practices by thousands of Romanian's who think nothing of pitching up a tent at the side of the roads or on a hairpin bend! Expect a few curious glances and walk pasts but usually friendly and we had many Romanian's coming up to us offering to share their food, home brewed whisky or asking to borrow a tow rope to pull their Dacia out of a ditch! We would recommend this for mixing with the locals and some of the spots we used are on our Wild Camping pages.

Our strategy for Romania and Bulgaria has been to plan a route to a campsite and then look for a free location en-route. This for us takes the stress out of ending up in an area with no free opportunities and in most cases camp sites were well under £10. Invariably a decent free camp will be a little way off the main roads and usually found next to water or more often a dam. This strategy always worked for us and we were always in company of other campers, usually Romanian's in tents but sometimes a small group of Spanish or German van's would roll up too.

The produce available at the roadside is fresh and a great way to interact with the locals, although we are yet to find out what the yellow liquid in recycled plastic bottles was - answers in the comment section please!

To read more about our trip, click here to see all our Romanian Posts.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

Bucharest

2011-08-30T21:04:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Bucharest on the Saturday but didn't fancy visiting the capital until the Monday, which posed the problem of where do we stay. We made our way to the campsite at the north of the city - Camping Casa Alba. I use the term campsite in the loosest sense of the word, since it is actually a 1970's holiday cabin type campsite with a carpark where caravans and motorhomes can stay. There was a large Belgian tour there when we visited. However, should the mood take you, you can park round the back of the restaurant Casa Alba in the large park area behind - we did so for two days, only moving to the security of the "site" to leave our van to venture into the city. Cost £16/day with EHU.

We were going to have a guide for the city, but we've misplaced his details (Michael, get in touch!) so we had to go it alone. We tried tried the bus for a couple of stops but decided when we had to change we would just get a taxi instead. Taxi's are all Dacia's (naturally) and are between 1.39 and 1.69 LEI per KM or about 60p a mile. Our driver was sipping whiskey and smoking for most of the journey but we arrived in central Bucharest in one piece, physically at least.

The traffic could be likened to that of St Petersburg and there is an almost complete absence of tourists of any kind. While we were getting our bearings Sophie spotted a modern looking hairdressers and stopped so we could both have a cut - Sophie's first since home and my first since Estonia. Being a trendy Toni and Guy type outfit we were both treated to a wash, blow dry and cut and finish for just over £20 for both of us - it felt good to have some TLC!

We made our way to The Palace of Parliament which is undoubtedly Bucharest's #1 landmark, a huge building of 1,100 rooms and 12 stories tall and costing over $10bn to build. It's construction was never finished and much of the interior remains empty after the regime change of 1989.

While we were stood admiring the Palace when we were passed by an open topped Sightseeing Bus. Definitely not our usual method of seeing a capital, we usually rack up at least 5 miles on foot but we decided to hop on and see where it took us. The fee was modest (£5 each) compared to some tours and we did a lap and a half around the sights. I'd love to get into the thick of Bucharest one day but I think we're a little tired of big cities and this trip has defined that we are very much country / outdoors people - if we didn't know that already.

We spotted a Hard Rock Cafe and, having never visited one anywhere, stopped off for some tea - a Legendary Burger and a Rack of Ribs for Sophie.

We also stopped off at Peles Castle in Sinaia on the way down to Bucharest which was built in 1873 and completed in 1914. The sun hasn't stopped shining for the past 2/3 weeks and the day we visited wasn't an exception.

Transfagarasan Pass & Vidraru Dam

2011-08-30T19:43:00.000+01:00

UPDATE 6th September: Scroll Down for HD Videos!!

A visit to Romania wouldn't be complete without a trip on the Transfagarasan pass, famed by Top Gear as the best driving road in the world we decided that we'd have to have a go for ourselves.

Probably not the best idea then, with hindsight, to do a big shop and fill our 90L water tank before attempting the assent. Had it not been for our remap I'm not entirely sure we would have made it up at all but as it turned out we gave a few Dacia's a run for their money that's for sure! We've made a video of the best bit - about 6min long and in HD but until we find some decent wifi that'll have to wait I'm afraid!

The road itself is in great condition, compared to some of the roads and passes we've driven on, aside from the barriers which are absent in many crucial places. The Romanian's had taken it upon themselves to setup tents in some various risky looking places, should anyone end up coming off I dread to think of the consequences.

Once you arrive at the top you are greeted by... chaos. Tat sellers and a choice of either pay for parking or do as the locals and abandon it on the road and wander off to look at sheep skins and bread! There was however a large glacial lake called Balea at the top of the pass with a zip wire which ran from one side of the mountain to the other (only for the brave ones!) We pondered over Wild Camping here and probably could have done but we decided to press on and put some further distance in to try and find somewhere to stay for a few days.

After Transfagarasan the next major landmark is Vidraru Dam also of Top Gear fame. However what Top Gear didn't show you is the road connecting the two which is without a doubt the worst road we have ever driven on, with cars abandoned with flat tyres and sump damage everywhere - except for Dacia's that is! We made a video of this road also and will update once uploaded.

I would sincerely recommend that, unless this road improves you don't take a motorhome of any value down it or if you do take it very, very steady unlike like the convoy of 4 Spanish vans we saw. If you see a motorhome body on the back of a horse and cart with Spanish plates on it I can tell you where it came from! The dam itself is impressive although the power ranger statue (Prometheus, a greek titan) was a little odd, but we were getting pretty tied by this point. Just around the corner is a large camping area where we pitched up and were joined by the Spanish vans. 'Tourist Tax' of 5LEI (£1) was paid willingly and we stayed there for two days to recover!

However, after the Pass the roads deteriorate quite significantly!

Cetatea Poenari GPS: (45.34383, 24.63515) - On the way down the pass (south side) there is a small designated camping area next to the river which is £1 per night which goes towards keeping the area clean ie: free rubbish bags etc.

Sighisoara

2011-08-23T22:38:00.000+01:00

Sighisoara was our first 'proper' Romanian village, having driven through many smaller villages and a few medium sized which held no real interest Lonely Planet lead us to the wonderful village of Sighisoara.

Sighisoara is a medieval fortified town, during the 12th Century merchants and craftsmen occupied the town and the famous Clock Tower was built in 1280 - it has now been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. Behind the clock tower there is plate honoring Vlad Dracul which marks the house where "Vlad the Impaler" was allegedly born.

There is also an old staircase leading up to the Church on top of the hill which was built in 1642 and was used to ease the rush of students heading to what used to be a school on top of the hill.

The first challenge of the day was parking, we found a good central road side spot but the signs said we needed to pay but we weren't sure how. Eventually we found a guy in a high-vis handing out tickets which looked like lottery scratch cards. Did we want an hour (30p) or a day (£1) - we opted for a day!

Once again another scorcher of a day - easily topping the 30's today I'd imagine without so much as a breeze. We began to explore Sighisoara, the birthplace of Dracula. It was surprisingly un-touristy and the Citadel old town with it's maze of streets and the clock tower with it's views over the town held our interest for considerably longer then many places we have visited.

We took a gamble on the roads towards Sibiu which paid off and we were treated to villages full of Romanian's, or Roma's, in their traditional red dress. We took a few photographs but owing to the sun and our windscreen caked with flies none of the shots came out too well!

Once back on the main road we spent an hour or so looking for a Wild spot but didn't find anything that took our fancy, so we ended up on a small Dutch run campsite for the night.

Bicaz Gorge and Lacu Rosu

2011-08-23T22:37:00.000+01:00

We ended up staying 3 nights at our Wild Camping spot the Voronet Monastery as the weather was (and still is) fantastic here in Romania. When we left we headed towards the Bicaz Gorge first passing over the Bicaz Lake Hydroelectric Dam which gave some dramatic views to the surrounding area.

Bicaz Gorge initially felt very similar to Cheddar Gorge back at home, however once we entered it was clear it is on a much grander scale with the windy road and overhanging rocks adding to the effect. There is also much more 'tourist tat' here then had Cheddar but then this is one of the main sights here in Romania so it is to be expected. On request we took a short video, but the sun and our mounting arrangements weren't in our favor - promise we'll try and do better for the Transfăgărășan Highway!

Afterwards we visited Lacu Rosu which means "Red Lake" in Hungarian, was in fact more of a muddy brown colour when we visited. The tree stumps, however, were still clearly visable peaking out of the water. The lake got it's name when a landslide happened causing a natural dam but at the same time crushing a group of pick-nikers who were nearby at the time, or a variation on this theme depending on where you read it.

Determined to continue with our Wild Camping theme we headed for another dammed lake and found that it was surrounded by fellow campers mostly in tents but there was a couple of VW vans. We pitched up for the night in a location overlooking the water.

Sangeorgiu de Padure GPS: (46.41040, 24.88269) - 2 miles drive up a gravel track to a reservoir - free place to wild camp, lots of other tents on both sides of the water. Bad road leading up to it.

Here is the video we took, look out for the home made camper van at 2:25!

Microsoft Autoroute 2011 (Europe) Review

2011-08-23T19:01:00.000+01:00

I'm usually pretty sceptical when it comes to upgrading software, to the point that the laptop I use to make this post is still running XP because I find it to be much faster then Vista for Windows 7. Usually an upgrade means an upgrade in turn to your processing power or suffer from a reduction in performance and / or a lot of additional features which you probably will never use.

However, I was very surprised to find that on upgrading to Autoroute 2011 there were many changes and in some cases the difference between the 2010 and 2011 mapping versions is night and day. The upgrade could not have come at a better time for us - we were entering Romania just as we downloaded the free 60 day trial version from Microsoft and you'll see further down this post just how big a difference there is between 2011 vs 2010.

I've only been using the software for less than a week, so maybe a little premature to write a full review but I wanted to detail some of the pretty big (for us) changes between versions. If you've found anything else - please use the comment section below to tell us!

UK / Western Europe Mapping
For the UK and I suspect most of Western Europe there wasn't anything 'lacking' in the 2010 version, but never-the-less the update map data is a welcome addition. The map information comes from a company called Tele-Atlas who physically drive most of the routes (or at least they did) in a similar fashion to what Google Streetview - but also recording information about the routes.

The updates are so subtle that I have highlighted the changes in red boxes for my home town of York, if you want me to do any other comparisons for your home town or a section of road you know to have changed recently let me know and I'll post them up here.

York Autoroute 2010 York Autoroute 2011

Increase in Green Spaces and Water Courses

Many areas also appear to benefit from updated water courses which makes navigation while on the road (we have Autoroute mounted on our dashboard when driving) much easier. You can see the differences are subtle here, but not so much that I have had to highlight them, the green spaces are pretty visable and the water is about 6 o'clock on the pictures below.

Guben (DE/PL) Autoroute 2010 Guben (DE/PL) Autoroute 2011

Massive Increase in POI's

Using the same example as above, Guben which is on Germany's border with Poland, it is possible to see the massive increase in POI's that are now available - from 722 to 1,430 for the same region.

POI Autoroute 2010 (733) POI Autoroute 2011 (1,430)

Eastern Europe - What a difference!

The biggest difference in the mapping information that is available between versions comes when you venture into Eastern Europe. Two places we have visited recently we had struggled with, firstly when we visited Lithuania we found that while the mapping was generally good a lot of the water courses were missing which can make navigation and orientation difficult. We're glad to see that in 2011 these are back!

Kaunas Autoroute 2010 Kaunas Autoroute 2011

However, by far the biggest difference I can show you is a place we visited today in Romania called Sighisoara - I don't think you need any further waffle from me - the map pictures speak for themselves!

Sighisoara Autoroute 2010 Sighisoara Autoroute 2011

Conclusion

In terms of functionality there appears to be very little difference between the 2010 and 2011 interface, although there appears to be some slight differences in the way data saved for 2010 is imported. The main difference appears to be the mapping information, POI's and business information and therefore the routes which Auroroute plots are slightly different and possibly more accurate.

Download a free 60 Day Trial of 2011 from Autoroute by Clicking Here - You can keep your 2010 version (if applicable) installed along side it while you make a decision if it is worthwhile to purchase.

Romania - First Impressions

2011-08-19T20:18:00.000+01:00

After Slovakia we headed into Hungary for a couple of days, mainly to re-charge and to do a little bit of research before entering Romania. Our time at the Dutch campsite had been spent frantically trying to wash 3 weeks worth of clothes with mixed weather which resulted in us blasting our heating into the bathroom - but we eventually got everything dry.

On approach to the border we realised we had no money, we hadn't bought anything in Hungary and we needed to buy a Vignette in Romania. It was at this point that Adam realised that Romania was not a Schengen country and the usual pre-border crossing anxiety began - we call it Switzerland Syndrome due to a traumatic border crossing there back in 2008. With out 5,000 HUF note withdrawn (£16) we headed for the border along 49 towards Satu Mare. The border guard was happy with a quick look round the van and we were through, stopping to purchase our Vignette using our MasterCard since Hungarian money was not accepted. Looks like we'll be changing this on the ferry for Duty Free on the way home.

While buying the vignette we were approached by some young boys begging for, we thought, money. We didn't have any to give them and as a rule we don't anyway - but it transpired they in fact wanted some food which was given to them by the Italian car in front of us. We felt a bit bad, but we weren't to know.

We never cease to be amazed how much a country changes at the border and Romania is no exception, we can't have got more than 5 miles before we saw our first horse and cart. Romania is +2 GMT so we lost an hour and it was getting into early evening as we made our way deeper into the country. Every village we passed was full of people, out the front of each house was a seat and older people were sat gossiping - some even got up to see us and gave us a wave - something we've never experienced.

The other slightly strange thing is that every third car was Italian registered, in wedding processions there were convoys of Italian cars - I can only assume these are in fact Romanian's returning home for the summer / wedding season. You'd expect the houses to be small, but in fact many of the houses are reasonably sized and many are being renovated or modernized.

Armed with a few tips on places to stay, we headed towards Borsa where we ended up staying at a Belgian run campsite come guest house (link) where a Dutch and German caravan were essentially parked on their front garden. We were too tired and it seemed too busy to Wild Camp and this was a good way to orientate ourselves.

Today we've driven on some of the worst roads imaginable but since traffic is very light we were able to take them at our own pace about 60 miles to Voronet monastery where we are currently wild camped (GPS: 47.53990, 25.87054) along with lots of other Romanian's with tents and one in a caravan. We pulled alongside a family and exchanged a few hello's before they came over with some gifts for us and asked us if this was our first time in Romania. We then spent half an hour with maps for Bucharest and Romania marking places to do and to see and sampling home made Romanian whiskey! Hospitality like this we haven't experienced in our time away and it certainly goes a long way to making us feel welcome in this beautiful country - we can't wait to see more.

Slovensky Raj National Park

2011-08-16T19:22:00.000+01:00

We've sort of ended up doing a big C around Slovakia and from our Wild Parking place we can once again see the Tatra's where we spent our first night. Slovensky Raj is renowned for its 'Gorge Walks' - well, after doing them I can tell you they are much more like Go Ape! but without the nets!

After spending a quiet night wild camping at a small car park off a terrible road (GPS: 48.94267, 20.34808) the sun through the skylight woke us up early to go and start our walk. Not early enough however, the little man in the hut was delighted to have caught us and we duly paid our €3 plus €1.50 each towards the "infastructure". If only we'd got up 15 minutes earlier! There was an optional 20c per person per day 'Mountain Rescue' insurance which should have given us a clue for things to come.

The first part of the walk is unassuming and positively relaxing, following the path of an impossibly clear river flowing over white stones. You don't see many Slovakian's carrying bottles of water, they all drink directly from the streams.

There were a few stepping stones, wodden slatted bridges and then there it was... a 100m high ladder! Not quite what we were expecting and I'm sure there was a few choice Slovakian pharses from the couple behind us also. But, with Sophie going first, we made it to the top when we were confronted with our next obstical with no chance to turn round! The 'path' continued up the waterfall in the form of a wooden slatted walkway which appeared to be wedged into the rock with wooden posts and so it continued until we reached the top. Sophie, again, did incredbly well not complaining once except when I bounced on the beams (by accident of course!).

The views here were not as spectacular but we did manage nearly 11 miles in a little under 6 hours which goes to show just how steep our last walk was. We were treated with a dramatic view of the Tatra's and as tempted as we were to go back and spend some more time there we must crack on with our tour.

The next day we headed for a Laundrette and while parked outside deciding if it indeed was what we thought it was (it wasn't) a Russian registered Fiesta pulls out in front of us and a guy jumps out and is stood by Sophie's open window. "Are you Camilla and James!?" he asked. "Err, no" we replied. It turns out Camilla and James have volunteered to work on his farm for a few weeks as a break from traveling around Europe in a van and were supposed to be in this village this week. So if you're reading this, there's a Russian guy looking for you!

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Overnight Location GPS: (48.94267, 20.34808) - Hrabusice small forest carpark with access to the gorge walks.

Bratislava

2011-08-16T17:10:00.000+01:00

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was going to be a challenge to visit. There are no Campsites that afford a sensible commute and the second best option of guarded parking lots seemed to come at the pricly sum of €2 per hour. Ouch. The only option, therefore, was to get there first thing and park in one of the guarded car parks and leave in good time to get out and find somewhere free to spend the night, which is exactly what we did.

Our parking location was a stones throw from the centre and we set about exploring the sights. The first stop was the Castle which was also the furthest from us. Once again, as has been the case for the last few big cities we have visited, the heat was searing and we drank a litre of water each just getting there, stopping for a smoked salmon bagel for €2. The castle sits imposingly above the Danube which runs through so many eastern European capitals but is actually best viewed as you drive out of the city and onto higher ground.

The capital itself can easily be explored in a couple of hours, such is the size of it's own town, although I doubt you really get into the nitty gritty of it. American tourists were everywhere no doubt either taking in day trips from nearby Vienna or on one of the many Danube cruises, the yanks seem to love to travel by water!

Once back at the van and with the aircon set on full, we navigated to Devin Castle which to our delight had a excellent large free car park (GPS:48.93548, 20.23742) and was sensible money to explore at just €3 each.

Western Tatra's, Bojnice & Trencin

2011-08-16T16:26:00.002+01:00

Oops! Over a week without a blog update, we're sorry! We've been out in the sticks and spending a lot of time walking and hiking in the mountains here in Slovakia and as such Wifi has been hard to obtain (or we've been knackered when evening has come round!).

The Western Tatra's were just as impressive and the fact that so many excellently marked trails and maps exist make them incredibly accessible to walkers and hikers and we've tried to do just that. Climbing over 1200m in height and with some sections a scramble over rock faces and ledges where chains had been fixed to help you navigate we took about 10 hours to complete a 9 mile route. Sophie did really well, having never done anything like that previously and I think secretly she really liked it - aside from the blisters on her feet!

We spent two nights parked opposite a 'Pension' or hotel / chalet (GPS: 49.24270, 19.71391) which no doubt comes alive as do the mountains in winter. Beer was €1 a pint and had we not had a fridge full of fresh food to eat we certainly would have sampled some of the menu, with nothing over €5 to choose from.

Before traveling to Bratislava we stopped off at Bojnice & Trencin both of which had a castle complex. Although Bojnice was nice enough and the fairytale castle was impressive, it did turn out to be a bit of a tourist trap with lots of tat on sale in and around the castle. We did however stay for free in a grassy carpark opposite (GPS: 48.89425, 18.03845)

Trencin has a medieval fortified castle which is situated high on a rock above the city which dates back to the 11th century. The town square was pretty and as we sat with a beer in hand we admired the view of the castle above. We also got a great view of the surrounding area from the top which cost us about £6.