Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) is one country, Herzegovina making up the southernmost part with Mostar its largest town, and Bosnia making up the rest of the country. Sarajevo is the capital of both parts.

BiH is not in the EU, but, like Serbia, its neighbour to the east, it has applied and is awaiting acceptance. It has its own currency, the Convertible Mark, but everywhere we went they accepted Euros.2 Marks=1 Euro.

Religion and ethnicity are closely intertwined in BiH. Bosniaks (50%) are predominantly Muslim, Bosnian Serbs (30%) are predominantly Orthodox Christian, and Bosnian Croats (15%) are predominantly Roman Catholic. Protestants and Jews are minorities.

DAY 1
Our first surprise was the condition of the roads, they are smooth, free of potholes and many are new, especially the ones that are constructed in the mountains, including magnificent feats of engineering in terms of bridges over gorges and tunnels through the mountains.

The country is very mountainous with fast flowing brilliant green rivers, in places almost a mile wide. There are countless waterfalls providing cool oases amid the heat of the surroundings.

Our first stop was at Kravice Waterfall just over the Croatian border near Dubrovnik.

Mike was asked by a Russian tourist if he would take her photo…

Presumably she didn’t know we were in the Muslim area!

The road to our first campsite

Campsite at Blagaj

Campsite on the bank of the River Buna. The source of the river comes out of a cave in the mountain.

The Dervishers House at Blagaj

DAY 2 – MOSTAR

The famous Mostar Bridge which was destroyed during the 1990s War. These days young macho men get paid to dive off the newly reconstructed bridge into the icy river below. A far cry from their fathers 30 years ago.

Then there’s the other side of Mostar …

And an awful lot of these

DAY 3 On the road to Sarajevo

The houses in the mountains on the way to Sarajevo had an alpine appearance, although not as pretty and well adorned as in Austria. And definitely no yodelling!
Just the Call to Prayer by the Muezzin coming from the Minarets.

Our camper insurance doesn’t include Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo or North Macedonia, so we can’t drive our van in those countries. So we did a day trip with a company from Dubrovnik to the coastal region of Montenegro and visited Herceg Novi, Perast, Kotor and Tivat.

The first thing we noticed was the use of the Cyrillic alphabet used in south-east Europe, which we will need to learn …

And then we noticed the amazing scenery, the mountains rising straight up from the sea, leaving little room for roads or villages.

PERAST

KOTOR

The date of the city’s liberation from the fascists during WWII – Communist Star

This guy wasn’t letting anyone get past him! He’s standing in the doorway of one of the small Orthodox churches inside the old city of Kotor. When we turned around, we understood why …

The Orthodox Church does not acknowledge the Pope as the Head of the Church, instead each country considers its Archbishop to be the most eminent of the clergy. In Montenegro, the Archbishop of Belgrade is considered by some Orthodox Christians to be their ‘Pope’, and just as we arrived in the main square in Kotor, out he steps with his entourage.
Montenegro is a new country, only separated from Serbia in 2006, it also has its own Orthodox Church, but as a third of the population are Serbian, the Serbian Orthodox Church is more prevalent than the Montenegrin.

The Archbishop was approached and greeted by people all around us, including a hairy biker, a lady with very orange hair and clergy, one who looked like a young Ricky Gervais.

We aren’t religious, but this felt like a very special occasion to witness, all the more as we were told that the last time this happened was 30 years ago!

The rest of our time in Kotor seemed to pale into insignificance after this encounter.

Kotor is full of cats and kittens

Until we met this lady who sold her handmade jumper to Penny, plus olive oil and honey.

TIVAT – PORTO MONTENEGRO

A soulless place full of stinking rich miserable people who didn’t know what to do with their money – and it was more expensive than Montecarlo

£24 for two glasses of wine!

TROGIR

Views of the coast as we headed south from Trogir

DUBROVNIK

was a bit crowded

but we found some quiet alleys

Aahh Dubrovnik!

Our bike ride through Krka

We had intended to spend much longer in Slovenia, but the storms, heavy rains and flooding in Central Europe made us reconsider our options. We decided to head 250 miles south along the Adriatic, halfway down Croatia’s western coastline.

SIBENIK

Our first overnight stop was near Sibenik, between Zadar and Split. The old town was typical of an ancient Mediterranean port with a UNESCO Cathedral, fringed with expensive boats along the seafront, whilst the tenements of the locals looked disturbingly poorer.

The Kornati archipelago, off the coast of Šibenik, consists of 150 islands in a sea area of 320km, making it the densest archipelago in the Med.

Our campsite is situated right on the Med looking out to some of the many islands, it’s in a quiet area. Whilst cycling along the coast we discovered the hotels were deserted in mid September.

We were intending to go to the Mediterranean to visit Piran, Slovenia’s answer to Venice, but the weather wasn’t looking good, and hearing about the flooding in Hungary, Austria and Italy we decided to head south into Croatia with a view to exploring Piran on our way home.

The Postojna cave system is 24km long, with 5km open to the public. Most of the public area inside the caves is covered by a small electric train which takes you deep inside the mountain. When you get off the train you continue on foot with a guide. The temperature inside the cave is around 10 degrees.

The Postojna Cave system was carved by the Pivka River over millions of years. The caves are home to the endemic olm, or salamander, the largest troglodyte amphibian in the world. The tour through the caves includes an aquarium with some olms in it. Our guide told us that they can go without food for up to 10 years!

The caves were certainly the best that we have ever visited and we couldn’t believe the intricate structures that had been constructed just by water over the past millennia.

BEAR WATCHING

There are 1,500 bears living in the forests in Slovenia and several companies offer the opportunity to go in search of them in the early evening. Other wildlife can also be seen in the forests, including wolves, lynx, deer, foxes and badgers.

We spent the evening sitting 50’ above the ground in a hide looking out for bears. It was very cold and Penny was petrified of the height of the hide. Each time we moved the whole wooden structure shook.

Unfortunately we didn’t see any bears, in fact we see more wildlife activity in our garden in Hythe than we did in the Slovenian forest!

We did see a nice sunset though.

And a rising moon.

And a bear’s arm!

Almost in the middle of Slovenia, Ljubljana is close to almost everywhere in the country. It’s just 40 minutes from Lake Bled near the Austrian border in the north, an hour from the Mediterranean in the west, 45 mins from the border with Croatia to the south and less than two hours from the far eastern border with Hungary.

We were rained off for the whole day on Thursday 12 September and holed up at a campsite just north of the capital Ljubljana. We’d heard that Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania had had very bad flooding, so we’re hoping Slovenia isn’t next. On Friday 13th we caught the bus into the city whilst it was still raining, but it cleared up by midday. 

Even in the grey damp, Ljubljana was appealing. The fast flowing River Ljubljanica forms a ‘back to front’ question mark around the centre of the city and is its beating heart. Grand architecture, cafes and restaurants line the river banks and even in the cooler weather it was easy to imagine them filled with people enjoying drinks and meals al fresco. By the late afternoon, when the weather had improved, the seats were filling up with couples, families and groups of students. 

During the day we visited the castle which sits high up in the centre of the city, we went up by funicular and walked back down through the gardens. Inside the castle walls it felt more like a ski resort, lots of metal steps and cold dark walls crammed with people trying to work out where to go and what to see first. It felt as if the castle had been souped up to provide the locals with somewhere to go as well as tourists. There were several upmarket restaurants and cafes, even a jazz club inside the castle walls. From the ramparts you could get a good view of the city below with the Alps in the background.

We were surprised to hear so many middle class English accents, not only at the castle but throughout Ljubljana. There must have been an advertising campaign for Slovenia in the Telegraph recently!

After the castle we went to the City Museum to learn the potted history of the country over the past two millennia. Strangely, the Tito period was absent apart from an advert from 1949.

From there we visited the university library, not for its books, but to marvel at the grey marble staircase designed by Ljubljana’s home grown architect Jose Plecnic who designed much of the city during his lifetime 1872-1957. 

The city lies on both sides of the river, there are a lot of bridges to get from one side to the other, including Dragon Bridge.

Other quirky statues and sculptures

We are starting our Slovenian adventure at Lake Bled which is in the north west of the country, close to the Austrian border.

LAKE BLED

Lake Bled is magical! From the moment we set eyes on it till we waved goodbye three days later, it took our breath away. The colour of the water appeared to have been taken from a David Hockney palette. The island, churches, castle and villas were painted on to the canvas by Arthur Rackham. Add to this a sprinkling of fairy dust, and abracadabra, Lake Bled is born. 

Our campsite was on the west shore with its own beach, restaurant and bar on the edge of the lake. We cycled round the lake one way and walked it the other way, a distance of about four miles. The west side was much quieter than the east where the town of Bled was situated. This is where the day trippers spill out from their coaches onto the lake. We felt lucky to have chosen the quiet side.

Visitors to Lake Bled are multi national, with English the dominant language. Ages ranged from gap year early 20s to even older than us!  Everyone was quiet as they held the phones up to capture the perfect picture. 

In the evening, amid sundowners and picnics, young bronzed celeb-looking beauties took a dip in the lake whilst watching the sun set. 

Cycling into the Julian Alps, Triglavski National Park

The scenery was more ‘The Sound of Music’ than the film. Breathtaking by all definitions, scenery, altitude and incline.

 
We stopped at a bakers in Spodnje Gorje to buy lunch which we had next to the fast flowing River Radovna. The bakers were jolly and enthusiastic, they assured us in English that everything was ‘tasty’, so we bought one of everything, almost. To our dismay ‘tasty’ must mean ‘like cardboard’ as that’s how everything tasted. 

Despite the unfortunate lunch, we enjoyed the scenery, fresh mountain air and being active after four days of travelling.

Bohinj Railway

We took this scenic train ride through the Julian Alps from Lake Bled to Nova Gorica on the Italian border. The Transalpina train ride has lots of tunnels, one lasted 10 minutes, and a lot of tree covered mountains, vertical waterfalls and wide shallow white steams. Our journey took us along the banks of the River Baca and the emerald River Soca. 

The trees were still very green, the autumn colours yet to appear. Pale mauve crocus poked through the lush grass. Large cows were grazing, and there was the occasional horse and a group of donkeys. Large clouds of midges hovered in anticipation of a feast.

There were large Alpine houses in the valleys, each with their own vegetable plot surrounded by fences to keep the deer out. Houses with wooden balconies on each floor bedecked with red, pink and white geraniums hanging over. Huge neat log piles beside each house to fuel them through the winter. 

Rail works half way along meant we had to travel some distance by bus. The driver was expert around the hairpin bends. One poor motorhome driver coming the other way didn’t get the memo, he had to reverse downhill around bends in order to find a passing place. 

Due to the bus detour we didn’t make it to Nova Gorica, instead we got off at Kanal, a village a few stops before. There we had time for a coffee and ham and cheese sandwich which tasted like cardboard. Have I mentioned the food?! How can the food in Italy taste so wonderful and yet 10km east it tastes of nothing?

Being so close to the Italian border, we heard a mixture of Slovenian, Italian and English. The waiter who served us in the cafe at Kanal spoke all three, his English was beautiful, especially when he asked if we wanted to leave a 5%, 10% or 15% tip!

After four days travelling through France, Germany and Austria, spending a night in each, and covering more than 1,000 miles from home, we are nearly in Slovenia, the start of our BBA!

The Baltic Peninsula is made up of 12 countries including those that made up the former Yugoslavia – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The neighbouring countries make up the rest of the Balkan Peninsula – Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. We won’t have time to visit all of them on this trip, but we hope to at least visit those that were part of former Yugoslavia, the Western Balkans.

OUR EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

It’s not like us to have expectations of our travels, but this time we have. We can usually speak the local language of places that we visit, well at least a few words. But neither of us can speak any of the Balkan languages so we will be relying on Google Translate and Mondly (Duo Lingo doesn’t do Balkan).

Besides the language anxiety, our memories of Yugoslavia, as the 7 Western Balkan nations used to be, are tarnished by the war and the atrocities that took place during the early nineties. The TV pictures brought to us by the war correspondents were of bullet ridden buildings and starving or massacred people, including genocide, amid dialogue that told us it was the worst news since WWII.

• So today, 30 years after the breakup of Yugoslavia into the 7 nations, we are expecting to see new buildings amongst the old, some maybe still showing signs of the war. And the people in the countries most affected, Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina, may well still show the scars of their losses, especially those who lost loved ones at the hands of their neighbours.
• However, some of the countries have become progressive, at the forefront in terms of research, development and ecology, now members of the EU and are tourist hotspots, whilst others are still virtually unknown to mass tourism. It’s going to be an interesting adventure.
• Slovenia and Croatia are EU members and have a thriving tourist industry, the long Adriatic coastline of Croatia is now one of the top European tourist destinations.
• The other 5 nations are some of the poorest in Europe, Kosovo has the lowest GDP, with North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia not far behind. Hence we are expecting these countries to be less developed for tourists and possibly more interesting in culture.
• Scenery-wise we’re expecting a lot of mountains (Balkan means mountain in Turkish, apparently), forests, lakes, rivers and waterfalls inland and a beautiful coastline on the Adriatic, especially the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.
• We are expecting to see evidence of a mixture of religions in terms of architecture, churches, mosques, synagogues.
• And with a bag full of luck, we hope to see wildlife including brown bears, lynx, eagles and wild horses.

Battle of the Boyne

It can be a bit crowded in Ireland!

Sunset at 11.30pm

THANK YOU IRELAND, WE’VE HAD A BLAST, SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!

Mussenden Temple & Co Derry Coastline

Enjoying the craic with Marjorie & Stephen at Cushendun & Glenarm on the Antrim coast

Heading for Game of Thrones cave

Cushendun Beach

Loo with a view of Glenarm Bay

Mt Slemish & view from summit over Irish Sea to Mull of Kintyre

Glenarm Bay

Gleno Waterfall

Mourne Mountains

Harkins are recorded as being church stewards at Clonca church

RATHMULLEN – where the Flight of the Earls took place in Sept 1607, arriving in Rome in May 1608. They were the last two earls of old Ireland who went into exile when they could no longer defend their lands in the north from the English; the end of the Gaelic nation of Ireland. One of the diarists on the journey was O’Cianain (Keenan today) was one of Mikes ancestors on his mum’s side.

His Dads house

His grandads house

Walking in his father’s footsteps

Charlie Harkins 1933 – an uncle?

The local Manor – Mote Park Roscommon

If you don’t like the weather in Ireland, wait 5 minutes…

Cliffs of Kerry, Skellig Isles, Puffin Island

Muckross House

Kilmakiloge Pier on Beara Peninsula

First wild camp at Cullenstown Beach County Wexford

Beach house decorated with shells

Tractor race Carlow – Cork on main road

Bantry House & Garden

Bantry Harbour – second overnight spot

Jellyfish with 👓

Third night wild camping on Bantry Bay

Walking Sheepshead Way above Bantry Bay

Flora along the wayside

View from top of Sheepshead Way – there’s our camper

Boat trip from Baltimore – southernmost town in Ireland – out to Fastnet Lighthouse and beyond – in search of dolphins & whales

Does my bum look big in this?

Third night wild camping overlooking Baltimore Harbour

Skibbereen

Two leading figures in the fight for Irish independence have wall plaques in Skibbereen

Now! We’ve seen Jesus Mary and Joseph, and the wee donkey, so we have.

Before

Now

Before

Now

Now and forever

Having spent our last day on the Mediterranean coast cycling the Corniche des Maures which links Le Lavandou and Cavalaire sur Mer, it was with heavy heart that we started the long drive home.

We drove west along the coast to Toulon where Penny had spent some weeks on a foreign exchange 50 years ago; she didn’t recognise any of it!

We then headed inland to Avignon, with just enough time to whizz around the C14th Papal Palace and have a dance on the Pont d’Avignon.

And then on to a chateau at Chateauneuf du Pape – one of the Pope’s XIV century summer palaces – for some wine tasting in one of the pebbled vineyards.

From there we headed further north, through the vineyards to the northern edge of Provence, to Orange. There we visited the Roman amphitheatre and Arc de Triomphe, both dating from the reign of Emperor Augustus.

William of Orange’s great-grandfather inherited the Principality of Orange in the south of France and, along with other lands in modern-day Germany and the Netherlands, he founded the House of Orange-Nassau. That’s the royal family of the Netherlands to this day.

William of Orange was therefore known as the Prince of Orange, though the Principality itself was lost to France in his lifetime. William married Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, and they became Monarchs of England – William III and Queen Mary.

BURGUNDY

Located between Lyon and Dijon, Beaune is the centre of Burgundy wine production. After visiting the C15th Hospital and the Wine Museum we felt obliged to do some tastings. Unfortunately we both liked the €100 a bottle Chardonnay but managed to bow out politely with a bottle for €30. Before we left, the Patron showed us bottles of Montrachet for €1,000 and two bottles from 1945 Victory vintage of Mouton Rothschild priced at €19,000. He said a Russian had recently bought one of these, and drunk it!

These were two that we did buy

AND ON TO CHABLIS

AND LASTLY …

TROYES

We weren’t sure whether we liked Troyes (pronounced Trois, like number three) at first. We had left our camper at an Aire on the outskirts of the city and walked in, at first it felt eerily deserted and a bit spooky. We continued, thinking it was because it was Sunday afternoon, but the centre was deserted too.

All around us were these gorgeous medieval buildings, street after street after street, most of them in a poor state of repair, it felt like a film set, half expecting horses and carriages to come round the next corner with actors in period dress. But they didn’t. It was literally like a ghost town.

We found the Museum of Tools – Maison de l’Outil – where 12,000 handmade tools from 17-19th centuries were beautifully showcased in glass displays. The tools had been used by craftsmen involved in carpentry, ironwork, leather and stone. It was remarkable how well presented the items were.

Despite the eeriness, Troyes grew on us, the longer we were there the more we liked it, and we will certainly return.

The Var is the principle wine region of Provence, bordered by Toulon in the west, Frejus in the east, Draguignan in the north and the Mediterranean in the south. We explored by bike the area south and west of Draguigan, in particular Taradeau, Lorgues, Le Thoronet, Carces and St Julienne where we did a comprehensive wine tasting and turned the camper into a mobile bar – spicy whites, light roses and full bodied reds.

We then went down to the coast where the vines literally run right down to the sea, vineyards on one side of the road, olive groves on the other and occasionally camomile for variety.

In the areas that weren’t cultivated poppies, wild lavender and cork trees were abundant.

.

Our campsite, St Pons, in Le Lavandou provided an excellent base for cycling to surrounding beaches, including Cap de Bregancon which was a private residence of the President until2013. The town itself was awash with birds of paradise, and the town above it, Bormes Les Mimosa, provided views of the area for miles and miles.

This is by far our preferred area so far, fewer people, variety of scenery, authentic French villages, and to top it all, the warmest part of the country this week.

There aren’t any campsites on the coast between Villeneuve-Loubet – where we stayed just north of Antibes – and the Italian border, a distance of about 30 miles. So we stayed inland at Peillon, north of Monaco, a lovely little campsite, where our next door neighbours were a couple from UK, Pete and Wendy. Not only were they from UK, but Pete was originally from Folkestone, has an Irish passport, and they used to have a collie dog till last year, just like us. Oh, and they cycle.

From Peillon we used trains to get to Nice, Monaco and up into the lower Alps to Tende.

TENDE & VALLEE DE MERVEILLES – Valley of Wonders

Tende is a medieval village near the Italian border, 30 miles inland from the Mediterranean at a height of 1,100 metres. Nothing much has changed at Tende for centuries, other than it looked as if the population had shrunk as only about 10% of houses appeared to be occupied. The newest building was the wonderful museum which housed engravings found in the Valley of Wonders dated from 6,000 years ago.

NICE IS NICE

MONACO inc MONTE CARLO

The Blue Coast, so named for its blue skies and sea, extends from St Tropez to Menton on the French/Italian border, it includes Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and several Corniches.

SUBLIME ST TROPEZ

We found campsite Les Mures nestled between the sea and surrounding vineyards, between Sainte Maxime and Port Grimaud on the Bay of St Tropez, then walked to Ste Maxime and took the boat across the bay to St Tropez. It was the first time we’d approached by boat, our arrival into the marina was superb.

After lunch overlooking the marina, we strolled through the cobbled back streets, watched the men playing pétanque at Place des Lices and walked up to the citadel to take in the views. We were even treated to a sea plane training session with repeated landings and take offs.

PORT GRIMAUD

We took the return boat from St Tropez to Port Grimaud which was a village built in the 1960s, designed so that all houses had waterfront gardens/moorings for their boats. We pictured grand houses but in fact most of what we saw were modest terraced houses, but the waterside fronts gave them a prestigious feel. Only a few houses seemed occupied so presumably most were second homes.

We were hoping to cycle south to the peninsula beyond St Tropez, but although there was a cycle route most of the way, there was a gap on a very busy roundabout which felt too unsafe to be on. Instead we cycled inland and uphill to Plan de La Tour. We had noticed that the air temperature was much warmer here and found it was a basin in the mountains. The vines looked more advanced here away from the sea breezes.

CORNICHE DE L’ESTEREL

North-east of St Tropez, between Frejus and Cannes, is the Corniche de L’Esterel, where there are spectacular views of rugged red rock formations contrasting with the many coves of the sparkling blue Mediterranean. Mike swung the camper round the bends unable to take his eyes off the road for fear of running into the many cyclists out on their early morning spin.

As we dropped down onto the road next to the sea at Theole-sue-Mer we caught our first glimpse of the snow covered Alps way off in the distance. It was breathtaking.

After the excitement of the Corniche and the view of the Alps, glamorous Cannes didn’t have the appeal we were expecting. Designer shops, one after another, lined one side of the busy main road and an artificial beach on the other, it seemed soulless to us, so we didn’t stop.

ANTIBES

Home of Picasso, with the largest marina in the Mediterranean, we expected more from Antibes than we found. Whereas St Tropez had retained its je ne sais quoi, sadly Antibes seemed to have lost it. The vieille ville was tourist shop, tourist restaurant, repeat; although the quieter alleyways looked and felt more authentic. However, there were more ‘a vendre’ signs outside the houses than we had noticed elsewhere.

The marina was indeed vast, but after the first 20 or so shiny white, navy or black colossus of fibreglass the wow factor evaporated. We realised we prefer old fishing boats to gin palaces.

We spotted something exciting happening as a police RIB sped out to a catamaran displaying a Maltese flag anchored in a bay, four men boarded and proceeded to search the boat, ripping up seats in the process.

At the end of the harbour arm was a huge sculpture made up of letters of the alphabet in the shape of a man sitting looking out to sea.

The beaches looked inviting.

VILLENEUVE-LOUBET PLAGE

Our campsite De L’Hippodrome, five miles north of Antibes, was a small well laid out site with heated pool, where some elderly people were staying long term in their campers, and who could blame them – a piece of the Côte d’Azur for €27 a night. A walk along the boardwalk on the beach to cafes, restaurants and another marina. A huge pyramid of apartments overlooked the marina, it looked like a smoking volcano.Then another pyramid – Giza-on-Sea.

The last couple of photos were taken not long before a hailstorm when temperatures fell 15 degrees in as many minutes.

As the weather in the Alsace returned to normal April temperatures we decided to head south. The rain and high winds made our progress slow, so we stopped overnight just south of Lyon at a small village called Beausemblant, where there was another free Aire, probably the most beautiful one we have stayed in, with far-reaching views towards the Ardeche mountains on the other side of the Rhone river. We strolled around the village, found a bakery with four different types of baguette and wandered up the hill behind the Aire to find the village pond where we relaxed in the warm sunshine.

CROZES-HERMITAGE

Vineyards line the banks of the Rhone for over 100 miles producing deep reds and spicy whites as well as roses. One of Penny’s favourites is Crozes-Hermitage, which was almost next door to where we stayed overnight. It’s a full-bodied red made from Syrah grapes.

A whole year without venturing outside the UK, unheard of for us! The past 12 months have been spent looking out for the three nonagenarians – Penny’s Mum, Dad and Auntie (92, 95 & 99 yrs ) and Mike getting a Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis and associated ongoing treatment. This was interspersed with Jessie our collie dying in August, then Dad having a stroke and Auntie moving to a care home in December.

With everything a bit more stable now, we have escaped for a month to France in our camper. We’ve no particular plan in mind other than choosing the warmest places where we can explore on our bikes and take in the scenery and fresh air.

CHAMPAGNE

On 3 April 2024 we set off through Le Tunnel and drove directly to the Champagne region. We chose a village called Trepail on a hilltop surrounded by vineyards for our first stop. It was chilly but sunny and a walk amongst the vines showed they were still dormant.

ALSACE

Using the Ventusky App we discovered that the Alsace region was forecast to have exceptionally warm weather over the next few days, so we headed there and found a campsite at Obernai which was perfect – flat, mountains in the distance, secluded pitches, hot showers, friendly staff, just outside an historic village with cycle routes abound through vineyards, all for €20 a night. Perfect.
https://www.camping-obernai.fr/

The warmer weather had enticed the vines to shoot and the blossom to burst, fields of daisies and long thick grass was everywhere.

Cycling along the wine route took us through small ancient villages with brightly coloured houses and windows decorated for Easter aux Hansel and Gretal.

Unlike other regions in France, the wines are named after the grape variety – Pinot Noir, Riesling, Gewürztraminer – Penny’s favourite.

The Alsace region, bordering Germany in the east where the Rhein is the frontier, has been annexed by Germany several times over the past few centuries. It was part of Germany during WWII, during which time the Jewish population was despatched to the safety of southwest France. We met an 84 year old man, formerly the Mayor of a village we cycled through, who spent the first 5 years of his life in the cellar of his home, where his family hid from the Nazis.

STRASBOURG

We took the train from our campsite village Obernai to Strasbourg where the modern buildings of the European Parliament sit on the outskirts of an otherwise ancient city.

COLMAR

A pretty town south of Obernai – we took the train to get there.

The Rio Douro forms the border between Portugal and Spain for quite some distance. Here at Miranda, in the north east of Portugal, the Douro has carved a deep gorge into the rocks.

That’s all for now folks, we’re homeward bound now. More adventures later!

Our home for 2 nights was in a small enclosure for 5 motorhomes, just outside Chaos village, each paved pitch had water, drainage and EHU, plus stone tables and chairs. All for 9€ a night. We were lulled to sleep with the sound of the wind turbines. The baker came each morning with fresh bread and rolls.

Tomar is a pretty riverside town with a grid of cobbled streets and a huge square with a black and white stoned floor.

Towering above the town on a hillside are the crenellated walls of the Unesco World Heritage–listed Convento de Cristo, which was the headquarters of the legendary Knights Templar nearly nine centuries ago.

The amazing 6-kilometer-long Pegões Aqueduct was built to direct water to Tomar and, in particular, the Convent of Christ. Comprised of two levels of arches, it is one of the largest aqueducts in Portugal.

South-west of Coimbra lie wonderfully preserved Roman ruins which were discovered, at the end of the C19th, purely by accident when a new road was being built. It’s Portugal’s largest and most impressive Roman site with elaborate mosaics, all dating from the first few centuries AD. We were dumb-struck!

These are all 2,000 years old! Phenomenal!

Coimbra (pronounced Queenbrough) sits on the banks of the Rio Mondego and has two parts, the lower and the upper. The top of the city is where the UNESCO-listed university is located and covers a large area, this is where the main sights are.

Coimbra was Portugal’s capital between 1139-1255, before it moved to Lisbon. The university is the oldest and most prestigious in the country.

The city is covered with steep cobbled lanes and alleys, where small electric buses hurtle down. The city is also renowned for guitar playing and Fado music and singing.

Patio das Escolas – a vast square surrounded by 16th-18th century buildings: the Biblioteca Joanina, Capella de Sao Miguel, Torre de Universidade, Paco das Escolas – housed in a former royal palace.

Tiles from 1500-1600

LAGOON

AVEIRO TOWN famous for its seaweed harvest, ceramics and associated tourism.

OUR CAMPSITE BEACH & DUNES

Porto, we did you proud. In 3.5 days we walked 27 miles around the city streets…

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal with a population of 1.3million – about the same as Glasgow.

Porto lies slightly inland from the coast, on the north bank of the Rio Douro, just before the river meets the Atlantic.

What you notice first of all are the red rooftops of the buildings which seem to be built on top of each other as the city slopes down to the river. Then you notice the azulejos, the decorative tiles that adorn the buildings, many in blue and white.

The city is divided into different parts, and as there are so many sights to see, we decided to focus on just three areas on the north bank: Ribeira, Aliados, Bolhao and Vila Nova de Gaia – which is on the south bank of the Douro.

RIBEIRA – the UNESCO area of Porto, which lies on the north bank of the Douro. Sights include:

Igreja de Sao Francisco

A bit bold and boring on the outside, but the inside wood was intricately carved and swathed in gold leaf. The adjacent museum has catacombs of the nobility dating back several centuries, and an ossuary beneath the tombs. No photos allowed in the church or the museum.

Cathedral – Se

Where Dom Joao I married Philippa I of Lancaster, and where their son, Henry the Navigator was baptised. Henry (1394-1460) was the pioneer of the caravel, the small fast Portuguese ship, who braved the Atlantic in search of Portugal’s empire.

Palacio da Bolsa

Praca da Ribeira

Cais da Ribeira & Ponte de Dom Luis I – bridge over the Douro designed by a student of Gustaf Eiffel.

ALIADOS & BOLHAO

Librarian Lello

A book shop which has become world famous since JK Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter books here in the early ‘90s. The long queue outside put us off, so we didn’t go in.

Sao Bento Train Station

Avenida dos Aliados

Torre dos Clerigos

Rua Santa Catarina

Mercado do Bolhao

MIRAGAIA

Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis – the main sections were closed while displays were re-organised but there was a temporary exhibition of Aurelia de Souza.

The following dark pictures looked almost totally black until you took a photo of them.

Miradouro da Vitoria

Igreja das Carmelitas

Centro Portugues de Fotografia – a prison used until 1974 now houses a huge display of cameras and some photos of prisoners and school children. No photos allowed!

Jardines da Cordoaria

VILA NOVA DE GAIA

Jardim do Morro

World of Wine

Teleferico de Gaia

Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar

Port Tasting

Porto at Night

The Other Side of Porto – au Simon Reeve

https://www.travelwithwinny.com/porto-portugal-abandoned-buildings/

Although the Minho region is small – about the size of Norfolk in area – there’s a wide variety of scenery: two huge rivers – Rio Minho and Rio Lima; a mountainous National park – Peneda-Geres; the oldest Portuguese city and third largest – Braga; the largest weekly Portuguese market – Barcelos; a world renowned wine region – Vinho Verde; and a fabulous coastline – Costa Verde – with the significant port of Viana do Castillo.

It might be the same all over Portugal, but there are certainly a lot of cobbled roads in the Minho region. Not sure our bikes, or teeth, will cope with much more!

The people are always busy. In the rural areas there are many small-holdings which require a lot of labour. At this time of year it’s mostly vine pruning and burning. In the towns, you can usually see groups of men of a certain age hanging out together, in bars, or just on benches.

The average stature is small and petite, they look hardy and wear practical clothes. We’ve got the impression that they are well-mannered and conservative with a small ‘c’.

Unfortunately we haven’t seen many people smiling. Even on Valentine’s Day when we went to a restaurant in the evening which advertised a ‘romantic’ evening, there wasn’t any smiling or laughing amongst the diners. It was noticeable that the average age of the diners was about 60, which was a surprise on Valentine’s night!

Compared to the Spanish, the northern Portuguese are very quiet. We’ve not come across anyone talking loudly into their phones which is a main activity in Spain. Also, compared to Spain the dogs are very small, but they still bark all night like the Spanish dogs do!

Each Thursday, Barcelos, a town west of the city of Braga, which sits on the Rio Cavado, holds its weekly market, supposedly the largest in Portugal. We arrived late morning to find more stalls and stall holders than customers, which was rather sad. Each stall was beautifully laid out, some must have taken hours.

VILA PRAIA DE ANCORA TO VIANA DO CASTELO

We are still in the Minho region of Portugal, in the far north, as it is the warmest part at the moment and the scenery is varied: hills, mountains, interesting towns, villages with small-holdings, rivers, and the Atlantic beaches which we will visit in the next few days.

Ponte da Barca is the next town upriver, on the Rio Lima, from Ponte de Lima where we started our Portuguese adventure six days ago.

It’s Sunday so we had the pleasure of seeing some Portuguese village entertainment this afternoon. There was an event for young dancers, mostly ballet, which was held on a platform on the side of the road. There was a semi circle of proud mums and dads gathered around them. The dancers were very good, but unfortunately the guy doing the music kept playing the wrong piece, to the annoyance of the Prima Donna, (and to our amusement).

The other entertainment was mostly for our age group. Under a marquee on the corner of a street there was a group of accordion players and guitarists who were surrounded by dancing couples. The men had castanets and kept the beat as they danced round with their partners. It reminded us of a Scottish ceilidh.

The cycle routes along the banks of the Rio Lima were great, some flat surfaces amidst tree roots and sandy patches to keep you on your toes, literally! There were hardly any other cyclists so we enjoyed the serenity of the very green clear water racing downstream to the Atlantic. Occasionally there were small waterfalls and rapids, some white water rafting would have been nice.