Travel Blog - Part 12

Moving on quite quickly now and a couple of nights at a site at Kirchheim where it would certainly have been an advantage to have a motorized bike or scooter as the pitches were at the top of a hill – fine to cycle down, but going back up was quite another story!  Had to cycle 5 miles to the supermarket which was O.K. but coming back…  well! Good excuse for one stop was to photograph a house with a lovely painting on one wall and a painting of a window and balcony which looked very real. 

Next stop was a favourite spot at Rodenkirchen just outside Cologne where we were fortunate enough to get a pitch right by the river again and there was plenty of river traffic to watch with barges going up and down as well as very sleek hotel boats and boats doing river trips – a boat with a disco kept us well entertained with its music for quite some time as it went up the river and again on its return a couple of hours later!

The barges are in a great variety of sizes and with varying cargoes – some piled high with containers (though at the moment they are restricted as the river level is so low), some carrying piles of coal or gravel and we saw one with a great number of green tractors and lorries.

Sometimes there is one barge pushing another and sometimes there are two abreast.  Very easy cycling on the path between the campsite and the river and when we cycled the 5 miles into Cologne we found that the path now goes right into the city whereas before we had to go up to the road for the last bit and use the cycle path up there. A favourite ride has been to cycle in the opposite direction to Surth, a little way down the river where there is a pontoon restaurant – a perfect setting for a nice meal.

Didn’t do the cycle bit this time, but friends who came to visit us took us by car and we had a lovely evening – plenty of activity to watch, and a very reasonable priced meal.

We do seem to have met the unsettled weather and its definitely much cooler – we are having to adjust after the heat of Croatia and Hungary – and when it rains – it rains!  Feel very much on the homeward stretch now having just arrived in Bruges. 

Travel Blog - Part 11

On our last evening in Budapest we again took advantage of the free tram travel and crossed to the other side of the river so that we could see the illuminated buildings on the Pest side, which really looked lovely. 

The bridges were also lit up and as it wasn’t too hot at that time in the evening we walked for quite some way just enjoying the sights. 

We had experienced some quite heavy rain and some thunderstorms and as we traveled towards Vienna we were in and out of wet weather. 

The campsite on the outskirts of Vienna was very easy to find and very convenient – just off the motorway which was the same one we which would take us towards Prague. 

Rain was even heavier in Vienna than Budapest and there was a violent thunderstorm late afternoon and it was almost like night-time, but the motor-home was water-tight and cozy, so just a question of waiting for it to pass over! 

Next day we were on our way again, this time to a little campsite in the middle of the Czech Republic, and in a beautiful setting beside a lake which was filled with carp (no fishing allowed as the carp are sold at Christmas time for the traditional Christmas meal). 

We often saw the fish leap out of the water and were delighted to watch families of ducks on the lake and also to see a black stork and ospreys. All very peaceful until night time when the frogs’ chorus began. 

Negotiating our way around Prague was quite straightforward with the help of the navigation system, though road-works and heavy traffic made the going very slow. 

Dresden was the next stop where we found the campsite very full, but still managed to find a place – we had forgotten it was a holiday weekend. 

Spent a day in the city where the tram system is wonderfully efficient and we took advantage of cheap travel to take another tram ride and seeing some of the area. 

Our friends in Dresden took us to a castle, Schloss Wackerbarth, which is famous for its vineyard and wines. 

A lovely setting with stalls selling wine, beer and the inevitable bratwurst, tables were set out under the shade of trees and under parasols on the terraces and music was played by different types of bands. 

The vines were on steep terraces with steps leading up to the different levels to the top of the hill – we decided that that sort of venture was for young people and we stayed firmly on the bottom level!  

It doesn’t seem possible that we have now been on the go for 9 weeks and have seen so many different places – at times it is difficult to remember where we have been and what we have seen. 

Keeping a diary has always been an advantage on these sort of trips and lovely to look back on an jog the memory.

Travel Blog - Part 10

Well, we have been in Budapest for a week and have seen a lot of the city and the surrounding area having travelled on trams, buses, metro and trolleybuses – what it would have cost if we had had to pay fares I hate to think, and no-one has asked us for proof of age for our free travel – we must look old!

There is a wonderful market which has dozens of stalls on the ground floor – some heaped with fruit and veg., some selling meat of all descriptions (they sell every bit of the chicken and we saw bags of heads and some of claws!), sausages hanging very decoratively on various stalls and some with lovely displays of chilies and paprika in all sorts of containers.  It is also possible to buy packs with a recipe and all that’s needed (except meat and veg.) to make Hungarian goulash.  On the upper floor there is a restaurant where, amongst other dishes, you can get a big bowl of goulash at a very reasonable price.  Other food stalls sell typical Hungarian fare and the rest of the upper floor is devoted to colourful souvenirs of all descriptions and wonderful displays of embroidered items, table-cloths, table runners, tray-cloths, blouses and children’s outfits, and beautiful coloured glasses in all shapes and sizes.  Very tempting to buy, but you can really only have so many glasses in use!

There are some very impressive buildings, including the Parliament building on the Pest side of the Danube which we saw from the Buda side, looking wonderful in the sunshine, then a matter of 10 minutes later it was almost obscured as a thunderstorm and cloud burst swept along the river.

As well as seeing so many beautiful buildings we have also seen the contrasting run-down areas and high rise apartment blocks.  One strange sight was seeing a coach floating down the river.  Fortunately we weren’t too surprised as we had read about the amphibious vehicle which did a sight-seeing trip around some of the city roads, then down a slip-way, splashing into the water and doing a river tour. The large City Park is definitely worth visiting and really needs more than one visit to see it all – at one side there is a fun fair, somewhere else a zoo and a beautiful lake with a restaurant on the edge of it – all very picturesque.

Having visited Budapest 3 years ago when we did cram in a lot of sight-seeing, we have been able to take a much more leisurely approach this time and see some things that we didn’t see last time. It has also really been much too hot with digital displays in the city showing up to 33 deg.

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Travel Blog - Part 9

The Balaton Lake is certainly a lake of contrasting colours and moods depending on the time of day and the weather and we had seen some fantastic sunsets.  We had several swims, though I don’t think ‘swim’ is the right word as it is hardly deep enough!  You can walk out for a long way on the sandy bottom, sometimes knee-depth, then up to arm-pits then a few yards further out back to your knees!  However, it is warm and very pleasant on a hot day.  We also had a couple of days when it was so windy that there was almost more white foam than coloured water – that brought the sail-boarders out in profusion!

There were very few people on the campsite which isn’t surprising as there are so many sites around the lake and it is still low-season – good for us with regard to the price and the special offer was stay for 4 nights and pay for 3 – we stayed for 8 so only paid for 6.  Its worth checking the campsite books for offers and choosing a site accordingly. 

We left Siofok reluctantly as it had been a lovely time of relaxation where our pitch was big enough for us to have the option of sitting in the sun or the shade and we were able to see the lake.

Our next stop was Budapest, only just over 60 miles further on but the best route is on the M7 motorway which entailed getting a vignette from a fuel station before going on the motorway.  There was a Tesco with a fuel station very near the motorway junction so we were able to do a shop, then fill up with fuel and get the vignette when we finally found our way into the petrol station (going round the block a couple of times before going down a narrow entrance which looked as though it led nowhere).

In Budapest we made our way to Haller Camping, a small but very convenient site in the city, a 2 minute walk to the tram stop (if we could climb over the fence it would only take about 30 seconds!), and about 10 minutes to the Metro. We are doing a lot of traveling on public transport as it is free for over 65’s.  Very useful and it gives us the chance to explore a lot of the city at leisure as we have given ourselves about 10 days here. This also the first site we have come across where there is no charge for using the washing machines.  Internet is also free, but sometimes difficult to get on to if too many people try to use it at the same time.  However, at €15 a night with ACSI card its good value.