We dıdn't do much ın Thessaloniki, but for completeness' sake...
We went around the outsıde of the maın landmark, the Whıte Tower, whıch wasn't that whıte. Joanna bought sandals and made Ben stay ın a nasty hostel. We also topped up on campıng gas. That's really about ıt.
We dıdn't vısıt any of theır fıne Byzantıne churches (Thessalonıkı was the 2nd cıty of the Byzantıne Empıre, so I guess 2nd cıty of Greece ıs a bıt of a come-down for them). We made only skırtıng use of theır great cafes, and none of the apparently fıne nıght-lıfe. Ben found 6.95 euros for the cheapest beer and 4 euros for hıs 250ml Fanta a bıt much, but they were lovely cafes, and we probably should've looked at the prıces before goıng ın.
Sunday, 12 August 2007
Friday, 10 August 2007
Athens
We set off from Delphi early (ıf there are odd i's ın thıs post, ıt's the Turkısh keyboard), and got to Athens for lunch! We parked ourselves up in what seems to be Athens' only campsite, and the nıce lady seemed to have given us the best plot, wıth lots of shade.
It was too hot to do much after the exertıon of puttıng up the tent, so we dıdn,t make ınto town until later. Did some recon to set ourselves up for the next day, Ben had his Ouzo (see Mt Olympus post), and we spotted this dog on the way home:
Greek laws on transportation may be a bit more lax than we're used to.
We made an early start of ıt the next day, well early for us but we weren't the fırst to the Acropolıs:
The Parthenon ısn't the only thing on the Acropolis, there are a few temples. The one to Athena Nike is currently away being repaired, but the Erechtheum with its Porch of Maidens is still. The Maidens (now plaster casts, as 1 is in the British mueum, the rest in the currently closed Acropolis Museum) are one of the most photographed thıngs up there:
We went a bıt snap-happy lıke everyone else up there, so here's another Acropolıs photıe:
There are stunnıng vıews of the cıty, here's the Temple of Zeus whıch we vısıted later (yes those ants are people, the columns are massıve):
There are a couple of theatres at the base of the Acropolıs, whıch were very bıg ın theır day. Thıs one, the Theatre of Dıonysus, took 17,000 people:
İsn't Ben lookıng slım? Also note hıs new haırcut from the day before (see Ouzo photo) - Joanna dıd very well late the prevıous nıght ın the dark.
After poppıng ınto the Temple of Olympıan Zeus (started 515BC by the then tyrant Pisistratus - who seems to have been quıte a good bloke for a tyrant - and fınıshed ın 168AD by Hadrıan), we went by the Roman Stadıum. Handıly completed ın the 4th century BC, there were no worries getting the 1896 Athens Olympic bid together.
Over dınner in a nıce Noodle bar (okay; we couldn't face kebabs every nıght) we heard that the 2007 jugglıng festival was in town - and oddly we then walked past them on the way back to camp:
Oh, now we dıd mentıon that we appeared to have the best plot ın the campsite... Now as it turns out the fact that we were on the sıde that was ın spıttıng dıstance of a major motorway wasn't a problem. Nope, more of a problem was that we'd set up ın the middle of some stray kıttens' play area - and our tent was the new toy in town! This resulted ın trips in the mıddle of the night to remove guy ropes etc - anythıng moveable - from the outsıde of the tent. Still, they were very cute...
Next day we went to one of the world's top museums, Greece's National Archaelogical Museum. We largely turned our braıns to mush as there was far far far too much ınfo to take ın. Stıll, as Heraclitus says: "Everythıng Flows". Ben ıs endeavourıng to drop that ınto conversatıon regularly now. Here he is trying to spread this phılosophy to another kouros (young man):
We generally were amazed at how old stuff was (up to 6th millennia BC), and learnt lots about Mycenaens, sculpture, Greek hıstory... untıl our braıns went to the aforementıoned mush.
We managed to fıt ın an Agora (ancıent marketplace) before closıng. The Roman (or new) one:
Ben was very ımpressed by its Tower of the Wınds... typical:
That's that for Athens - we had very tıred wee legs from mıles of walkıng. And now fıngers from typıng...
It was too hot to do much after the exertıon of puttıng up the tent, so we dıdn,t make ınto town until later. Did some recon to set ourselves up for the next day, Ben had his Ouzo (see Mt Olympus post), and we spotted this dog on the way home:
Greek laws on transportation may be a bit more lax than we're used to.
We made an early start of ıt the next day, well early for us but we weren't the fırst to the Acropolıs:
The Parthenon ısn't the only thing on the Acropolis, there are a few temples. The one to Athena Nike is currently away being repaired, but the Erechtheum with its Porch of Maidens is still. The Maidens (now plaster casts, as 1 is in the British mueum, the rest in the currently closed Acropolis Museum) are one of the most photographed thıngs up there:
We went a bıt snap-happy lıke everyone else up there, so here's another Acropolıs photıe:
There are stunnıng vıews of the cıty, here's the Temple of Zeus whıch we vısıted later (yes those ants are people, the columns are massıve):
There are a couple of theatres at the base of the Acropolıs, whıch were very bıg ın theır day. Thıs one, the Theatre of Dıonysus, took 17,000 people:
İsn't Ben lookıng slım? Also note hıs new haırcut from the day before (see Ouzo photo) - Joanna dıd very well late the prevıous nıght ın the dark.
After poppıng ınto the Temple of Olympıan Zeus (started 515BC by the then tyrant Pisistratus - who seems to have been quıte a good bloke for a tyrant - and fınıshed ın 168AD by Hadrıan), we went by the Roman Stadıum. Handıly completed ın the 4th century BC, there were no worries getting the 1896 Athens Olympic bid together.
Over dınner in a nıce Noodle bar (okay; we couldn't face kebabs every nıght) we heard that the 2007 jugglıng festival was in town - and oddly we then walked past them on the way back to camp:
Oh, now we dıd mentıon that we appeared to have the best plot ın the campsite... Now as it turns out the fact that we were on the sıde that was ın spıttıng dıstance of a major motorway wasn't a problem. Nope, more of a problem was that we'd set up ın the middle of some stray kıttens' play area - and our tent was the new toy in town! This resulted ın trips in the mıddle of the night to remove guy ropes etc - anythıng moveable - from the outsıde of the tent. Still, they were very cute...
Next day we went to one of the world's top museums, Greece's National Archaelogical Museum. We largely turned our braıns to mush as there was far far far too much ınfo to take ın. Stıll, as Heraclitus says: "Everythıng Flows". Ben ıs endeavourıng to drop that ınto conversatıon regularly now. Here he is trying to spread this phılosophy to another kouros (young man):
We generally were amazed at how old stuff was (up to 6th millennia BC), and learnt lots about Mycenaens, sculpture, Greek hıstory... untıl our braıns went to the aforementıoned mush.
We managed to fıt ın an Agora (ancıent marketplace) before closıng. The Roman (or new) one:
Ben was very ımpressed by its Tower of the Wınds... typical:
That's that for Athens - we had very tıred wee legs from mıles of walkıng. And now fıngers from typıng...
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Delfi, and the absent Oracle
We had aimed to get straight to Athens but our lunchtime stop turned into an overnighter! Delphi - or Delfoi - takes a while to get to, particularly when you start at lunchtime and go past the Leonidas and the 300 monument twice. Still, it was good to see they didn't make all of that movie up.
Starting of at the Archeological museum, it's easy to get way laid. There is so much information and history to take on board. One particular item and story caught our eye though; the twins of Argos. They helped their mum out by carrying her in her cart to a temple because the mule had gone AWOL. So impressed was she with their love and dedication she prayed for them to get what was best for a man ... they went to sleep and never woke up again. They may be remembered years later as heroes but what a rubbish way to go. Here they are (Ben wasn't allowed to pose with them, but he'll make up for it later):
On from there is the actual site of the temple (dedicated to Apollo) where the Oracle doled out her prophesies (appropriately interpreted by some priests).
Around the temple complex sprung up all the appropriate amenities, like an amphitheatre:
And treasuries, for all the big cities to put their gifts in (this one is Athenian):
And indeed other temples, this one the biggest, to the Goddess Athena:
Delphi is a bit of a one stop tourist shop, but what a shop...
Anyway, from there we went to Athens, but that's a big ol' post and it's late, so you're getting that next time. We're in Thessaloniki at the mo' by the way. Not many tourists, but a great place with lots of bars & restaurants and shopping - even Joanna bought some new shoes... well sandals...
Starting of at the Archeological museum, it's easy to get way laid. There is so much information and history to take on board. One particular item and story caught our eye though; the twins of Argos. They helped their mum out by carrying her in her cart to a temple because the mule had gone AWOL. So impressed was she with their love and dedication she prayed for them to get what was best for a man ... they went to sleep and never woke up again. They may be remembered years later as heroes but what a rubbish way to go. Here they are (Ben wasn't allowed to pose with them, but he'll make up for it later):
On from there is the actual site of the temple (dedicated to Apollo) where the Oracle doled out her prophesies (appropriately interpreted by some priests).
Around the temple complex sprung up all the appropriate amenities, like an amphitheatre:
And treasuries, for all the big cities to put their gifts in (this one is Athenian):
And indeed other temples, this one the biggest, to the Goddess Athena:
Delphi is a bit of a one stop tourist shop, but what a shop...
Anyway, from there we went to Athens, but that's a big ol' post and it's late, so you're getting that next time. We're in Thessaloniki at the mo' by the way. Not many tourists, but a great place with lots of bars & restaurants and shopping - even Joanna bought some new shoes... well sandals...
Monday, 6 August 2007
Mt Olympus
From the Bulgaria monastery we headed on down through Greece to try to find a Greek God.
Oop, sorry, that's Ben drinking his Ouzo in Athens, not sure how that got there.
We stopped at Litochoro, at the base of Mt Olympus, and tried to have our first real Greek kebab/gyros. But it turned out they were out of that, so the waiter came out with a piece of chicken and chips instead. Oh well. There's no camping in Litochoro (don't believe the Lonely Planet), but it was only 5km to the beach and a few campsites there. The first one we went to was full (never heard of a full campsite before...), so we went next door. We knew we'd stumbled on a real locals place when there weren't any dutch people there! A couple of Germans, but it was all pretty Greek. And somewhat established Greeks to - with caravans that didn't look like they'd move, patios and gardens with picket fences and watering systems! Still, it was a lovely beach, great views of the mountain, and they had real Gyros for us for dinner.
Next day we headed up the mountain. Well, more next afternoon. And due to our inability to get an early start we didn't make it up quite as far as hoped. The mountain is 2918m, so we weren't planning on reaching the top anyway, so not too much disappointment. The Clio took us 1/3 the way up:
We made it about 2/3 the way probably (we didn't take out altimeter to be sure). Great views!
Almost as far up as we got there were some horses/mules working on the path. Well, technically the men with them were doing the work, they were busy posing with Ben:
We got a bit further on from the mules but didn't manage to bother any Gods. Got back to the campsite and Ben had a great swim in the Aegean Sea which was more like a heated swimming pool. Joanna thought the wave machine was a bit much though. And finally, here's a wee caption competition from our walk, entries in the comments below...
Oop, sorry, that's Ben drinking his Ouzo in Athens, not sure how that got there.
We stopped at Litochoro, at the base of Mt Olympus, and tried to have our first real Greek kebab/gyros. But it turned out they were out of that, so the waiter came out with a piece of chicken and chips instead. Oh well. There's no camping in Litochoro (don't believe the Lonely Planet), but it was only 5km to the beach and a few campsites there. The first one we went to was full (never heard of a full campsite before...), so we went next door. We knew we'd stumbled on a real locals place when there weren't any dutch people there! A couple of Germans, but it was all pretty Greek. And somewhat established Greeks to - with caravans that didn't look like they'd move, patios and gardens with picket fences and watering systems! Still, it was a lovely beach, great views of the mountain, and they had real Gyros for us for dinner.
Next day we headed up the mountain. Well, more next afternoon. And due to our inability to get an early start we didn't make it up quite as far as hoped. The mountain is 2918m, so we weren't planning on reaching the top anyway, so not too much disappointment. The Clio took us 1/3 the way up:
We made it about 2/3 the way probably (we didn't take out altimeter to be sure). Great views!
Almost as far up as we got there were some horses/mules working on the path. Well, technically the men with them were doing the work, they were busy posing with Ben:
We got a bit further on from the mules but didn't manage to bother any Gods. Got back to the campsite and Ben had a great swim in the Aegean Sea which was more like a heated swimming pool. Joanna thought the wave machine was a bit much though. And finally, here's a wee caption competition from our walk, entries in the comments below...
Sunday, 5 August 2007
Rila Monastery, Bulgaria
After a couple of leisurely days in Sofia we thought we'd try a bit of hard graft at a monastery. Rila is renowned in Bulgaria as the place that kept alive their culture during the centuries "under the Turkish yoke". It's a wee hike up into the mountains off the beaten track but nothing the clio can't cope with.
As it turns out there was no hard graft in exchange for staying the night, just ten Euros each. The hard graft we could have had was getting up at 6.30 to go to this church, but on deliberation we felt we wouldn't get much out of the experience as our Bulgarian is limited to say the least. But we did get to stay in a monk's cell:
The monastery was founded by Saint John of Rila who was a hermit in the 10th century. In the church there was a small alter with a draw of relics; most people seemed to be a bit overcome so we didn't like to ask which bits of which saints were there!
It was our first day of rain in weeks which made the setting very atmospheric in the morning mist. Our new found serenity went well with our breakfast of donuts from the local bakery that was doing a roaring trade (helps to have a monopoly on brekkie).
Ben failed to shut the roof fully the night before so the rain not only gave the outside of the clio a much needed wash ... everytime we turned a corner, we got a little shower as well. Still we weren't as wet as these travellers on the road.
As it turns out there was no hard graft in exchange for staying the night, just ten Euros each. The hard graft we could have had was getting up at 6.30 to go to this church, but on deliberation we felt we wouldn't get much out of the experience as our Bulgarian is limited to say the least. But we did get to stay in a monk's cell:
The monastery was founded by Saint John of Rila who was a hermit in the 10th century. In the church there was a small alter with a draw of relics; most people seemed to be a bit overcome so we didn't like to ask which bits of which saints were there!
It was our first day of rain in weeks which made the setting very atmospheric in the morning mist. Our new found serenity went well with our breakfast of donuts from the local bakery that was doing a roaring trade (helps to have a monopoly on brekkie).
Ben failed to shut the roof fully the night before so the rain not only gave the outside of the clio a much needed wash ... everytime we turned a corner, we got a little shower as well. Still we weren't as wet as these travellers on the road.
Friday, 3 August 2007
The great Greek washer crisis and the Knights who say Ne!
Please send washers now - Greece appears to have a crisis. If there's a tap it's dripping, if not running. The EU cannot be pleased about the water wastage!
Also, something we meant to mention about Bulgaria - they shake their heads for yes, and nod for no - confusion awaits! Thankfully they still have a familiar 'no' word, 'Ne'. Unfortunately for neighbourly relations the same word (and head movement) means yes in Greece. We're not sure how they've got on all these years...
Also, something we meant to mention about Bulgaria - they shake their heads for yes, and nod for no - confusion awaits! Thankfully they still have a familiar 'no' word, 'Ne'. Unfortunately for neighbourly relations the same word (and head movement) means yes in Greece. We're not sure how they've got on all these years...
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Sofia
Exiting Serbia we got our first passport stamps - Fantastic! Ben was particularly excited. First stamp he's managed to get in his British passport. Getting into Bulgaria wasn't the usual hassle-free experience one expects with the EU, with about 5 stops to get disinfected, have passports checked, insurance checked, pay road tax etc... Bulgaria is also an hour forward, so as we drove off into Bulgaria it was suddenly quite late. And although the driving was on the improve, the roads weren't, with lots of pot-holes to negotiate.
So we got to Sofia quite late. The first reasonably central hotel looked good (Bulgaria doesn't really "do" camping), and we popped in there. The attached restaurant had a singer with an amazing mullet, a retro-synthesizer style, and the speakers turned up to 11. So dinner may have tasted nice enough, but the ears did bleed a little...
Next day we set out with a hiss and a roar... well, okay, we managed to get out of the hotel before midday at least. We popped into Sveta Nedelya, a church bombed in 1925 by communists trying to assasinate the king (failed, but killed lots of innocents). Orthodox doesn't seem so dissimilar from catholic, but we're no doubt missing fine points.
Next we found St George's Rotunda famous for hosting the Serdica conference on Christianity in 343 (okay, the theology geek comment is added purely for the Rev Dr David Clark). Sofia was a thriving city by the name of Serdica in Roman times, it changed names a couple of times until before settling on Sofia in the 14th century, after the name of its most famous church (we popped in there too). St George's Rotunda has some amazing (very old) frescos, but, like all their churches, you aren't allowed photos inside - so here's the outside:
Sofia's main picture-postcard is St Alexander Nevski Cathedral, with its gold domes. It's also the biggest cathedral in the Balkans:
That being plenty enough churches we got Ben his Bulgrian drink, Rakia. In contrast to the difficulty of the previous countries, in Bulgaria there are a long list of Rakias to have with your appetiser-salad. If you don't want milk, which seems a popular bar drink here.
We moved onto dinner, with which Ben inflicted more Bulgarin culture on Joanna. But enough of the yoghurt jokes. There was a stage show of Bulgarian music and dancing, which was...
In other achievements: into the 2nd trimester and Joanna finally manages to finish a plate of food:
Next stop: Monastery in the middle of nowhere.
So we got to Sofia quite late. The first reasonably central hotel looked good (Bulgaria doesn't really "do" camping), and we popped in there. The attached restaurant had a singer with an amazing mullet, a retro-synthesizer style, and the speakers turned up to 11. So dinner may have tasted nice enough, but the ears did bleed a little...
Next day we set out with a hiss and a roar... well, okay, we managed to get out of the hotel before midday at least. We popped into Sveta Nedelya, a church bombed in 1925 by communists trying to assasinate the king (failed, but killed lots of innocents). Orthodox doesn't seem so dissimilar from catholic, but we're no doubt missing fine points.
Next we found St George's Rotunda famous for hosting the Serdica conference on Christianity in 343 (okay, the theology geek comment is added purely for the Rev Dr David Clark). Sofia was a thriving city by the name of Serdica in Roman times, it changed names a couple of times until before settling on Sofia in the 14th century, after the name of its most famous church (we popped in there too). St George's Rotunda has some amazing (very old) frescos, but, like all their churches, you aren't allowed photos inside - so here's the outside:
Sofia's main picture-postcard is St Alexander Nevski Cathedral, with its gold domes. It's also the biggest cathedral in the Balkans:
That being plenty enough churches we got Ben his Bulgrian drink, Rakia. In contrast to the difficulty of the previous countries, in Bulgaria there are a long list of Rakias to have with your appetiser-salad. If you don't want milk, which seems a popular bar drink here.
We moved onto dinner, with which Ben inflicted more Bulgarin culture on Joanna. But enough of the yoghurt jokes. There was a stage show of Bulgarian music and dancing, which was...
In other achievements: into the 2nd trimester and Joanna finally manages to finish a plate of food:
Next stop: Monastery in the middle of nowhere.
Serbia
Well on we drove through Serbia, initially thinking that the insane Serb drivers had calmed down now that they were in their homeland. No sooner had Ben aired this thought than in the next 5 minutes 2 drivers separately were screeching and swerving as they sought to make an impression in the poor Clio's rear bumper. Unscathed we were much more circumspect about making such comments again.
Although we were enjoying all their new bridges (no doubt thanks to a little NATO air campaign), it was nearly 8, we were low on fuel, weren't going to make it as far as we hoped, and Lonely Planet had nothing on anything between Belgrade & Kosovo; so we decided to rely on our road map. It underlines "Places of tourist interest", so the only place anywhere near where we were with an underline we decided to stop at. Although there was a sign on the side of the road where we turned off for this place, it had seemingly disappeared, and been replaced by Zlatibor. We knew immediately we'd found a "place of tourist interest" though. There were a lot of people, an active market stall area with all shapes of grilled beef (okay, there wasn't much variety on the fast food front), candy-floss, dodgems, bumper boats, trampolines, and, yes, that undeniable measure of tourist interest: Latvian Folk Dancers. Unfortunately the information places had disappeared with the town on the road map, and what with the vast hordes of (mainly Serb) people, Joanna put her pessimistic hat on. Despite this the first hotel had rooms; albeit not at bargain-basement Montenegro prices. But then this did appear to be Serbia's top holiday resort (think a classy Blackpool, though miles from the sea), and it was for friday & saturday night.
Joanna had freshly returned to the "interested in food" bandwagon, and number 2 on her list of "foods she'd like to eat" that she'd been compiling for the entire car journey to Zlatibor, was salted corn-on-the-cob. Well, they weren't likely to have proper Miso Soup, like you can only get in Japan (being number 1), but they did have large amounts of heavily salted corn-on-the-cob. No corn forks, but she coped admirably.
Other than the Latvian dancers (who I'm not sure everybody was understanding when they were issuing their call to visit Latvian Folk Dancing Festivals), English doesn't seem to be that common in Serbia (or Montenegro for that matter), and signs are largely in the Cyrillic alphabet. Ben's 1.5 years of Russian at school have been coming in very handy.
Now, as a resort town there didn't actually seem to be much to photograph. There was lots of walking to be done, and we visited this monument to revolutionaries fighting the fascist insurgents in 1944:
There were men laying a new path up to it, although they largely seemed to be playing giant-sized Jenga with the cobblestones. We waited for quite a while, but the piles never seemed to crash down.
Unfortunately, for the 2nd country in a row, Ben failed the drink challenge. In Montenegro his carefully planned excuse involved only being there one night and Cetinje suddenly becoming far too loud with its 2 competing discos for Granny MacKenzie to stay out. Serbia - well Zlatibor seemed a bit too upper-class to have slivov vitz I think. They didn't even have domestic beer. They did have lots of sports people though, I think it might be a Serbian La Manga too.
After a nice relax, the next day we were off to Bulgaria. Joanna took to not watching the Serbian drivers passing on blind corners, and Ben made good utilisation of his defensive driving skills. We stopped in the place we'd originally scheduled for our Serbia stay for lunch, and were glad we'd found Zlatibor. After lunch the roads improved, and the drivers got more sane, and soon we were safely to the Bulgaria border, about to enter the EU.
In other stories, for those following the Number Plate Scrabble, we've clocked up Illinois & Ontario in Serbia; and Greece, about 20 metres before we reached the Greek border today... Yes, we're in Greece. Mt Olympus. In a very busy gaming cafe, feeling a little bit old with all the 10-year-old kids. Hope to go someway up Mt Olympus tomorrow, see if we can find Zeus. Although if he's at the top, we're not going to reach 2918m; that might be a bit too far.
Although we were enjoying all their new bridges (no doubt thanks to a little NATO air campaign), it was nearly 8, we were low on fuel, weren't going to make it as far as we hoped, and Lonely Planet had nothing on anything between Belgrade & Kosovo; so we decided to rely on our road map. It underlines "Places of tourist interest", so the only place anywhere near where we were with an underline we decided to stop at. Although there was a sign on the side of the road where we turned off for this place, it had seemingly disappeared, and been replaced by Zlatibor. We knew immediately we'd found a "place of tourist interest" though. There were a lot of people, an active market stall area with all shapes of grilled beef (okay, there wasn't much variety on the fast food front), candy-floss, dodgems, bumper boats, trampolines, and, yes, that undeniable measure of tourist interest: Latvian Folk Dancers. Unfortunately the information places had disappeared with the town on the road map, and what with the vast hordes of (mainly Serb) people, Joanna put her pessimistic hat on. Despite this the first hotel had rooms; albeit not at bargain-basement Montenegro prices. But then this did appear to be Serbia's top holiday resort (think a classy Blackpool, though miles from the sea), and it was for friday & saturday night.
Joanna had freshly returned to the "interested in food" bandwagon, and number 2 on her list of "foods she'd like to eat" that she'd been compiling for the entire car journey to Zlatibor, was salted corn-on-the-cob. Well, they weren't likely to have proper Miso Soup, like you can only get in Japan (being number 1), but they did have large amounts of heavily salted corn-on-the-cob. No corn forks, but she coped admirably.
Other than the Latvian dancers (who I'm not sure everybody was understanding when they were issuing their call to visit Latvian Folk Dancing Festivals), English doesn't seem to be that common in Serbia (or Montenegro for that matter), and signs are largely in the Cyrillic alphabet. Ben's 1.5 years of Russian at school have been coming in very handy.
Now, as a resort town there didn't actually seem to be much to photograph. There was lots of walking to be done, and we visited this monument to revolutionaries fighting the fascist insurgents in 1944:
There were men laying a new path up to it, although they largely seemed to be playing giant-sized Jenga with the cobblestones. We waited for quite a while, but the piles never seemed to crash down.
Unfortunately, for the 2nd country in a row, Ben failed the drink challenge. In Montenegro his carefully planned excuse involved only being there one night and Cetinje suddenly becoming far too loud with its 2 competing discos for Granny MacKenzie to stay out. Serbia - well Zlatibor seemed a bit too upper-class to have slivov vitz I think. They didn't even have domestic beer. They did have lots of sports people though, I think it might be a Serbian La Manga too.
After a nice relax, the next day we were off to Bulgaria. Joanna took to not watching the Serbian drivers passing on blind corners, and Ben made good utilisation of his defensive driving skills. We stopped in the place we'd originally scheduled for our Serbia stay for lunch, and were glad we'd found Zlatibor. After lunch the roads improved, and the drivers got more sane, and soon we were safely to the Bulgaria border, about to enter the EU.
In other stories, for those following the Number Plate Scrabble, we've clocked up Illinois & Ontario in Serbia; and Greece, about 20 metres before we reached the Greek border today... Yes, we're in Greece. Mt Olympus. In a very busy gaming cafe, feeling a little bit old with all the 10-year-old kids. Hope to go someway up Mt Olympus tomorrow, see if we can find Zeus. Although if he's at the top, we're not going to reach 2918m; that might be a bit too far.
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Montenegro
Not particularly prompt departure from Dubrovnik, but we're not famed for our early rises. There was quite a queue at the Montenegro border crossing, probably because most people, like us, had to buy car insurance and it wasn't possible to do it before the check point. All that bought and approved (and Ben having had to use the world's worst toilet, think Trainspotting but worse - lucky he's a boy) we were on our way.
First stop, Kotor. An amazing walled town nestled into a fjord ... yes they have them in southern Europe too! The town is overlooked by some impressive walls and fortifications:
Inside the town the streets are like a labyrinth; it's lucky the place is very small so you're never lost for long. This church, from the 1200s, was in a square at a jaunty angle which maybe doesn't come across in the picture:
After getting lost and finding ourselves reasonably quickly, we got on the road to the day's final destination: Cetinje. The route we took was non-direct to say the least as it snaked up the mountain. But Ben enjoyed the hair-pin turns and it meant we were able to get some fantastic views of the fjord and Kotor:
And for those who have been wondering how the clio is getting on ... here she is in all her dirty glory!
With all the winding and twisting we managed about 40km in a couple of hours! Cetinje is the former royal capital but has seen better days. Looking for somewhere to stay was a little tricky as there didn't seem to be any hotels, hostels or information. Luckily we asked the right people for help who invited to stay with them for the princely sum of 10 Euros. Tight old Ben was very impressed. They had a lovely little granny flat and kept trying to feed and water us; Joanna left with a couple of boxes of tea because they decided she must be missing it!
Not so much to picture here, but this is the monastary which apparently is home to St John the Baptist's mumified hand and a piece of the cross:
Got a bit caught up in the town's museums because Ben was keen to practice his reading of the cyrillic alphabet - show off! The museums were fascinating, charting the history and culture of a country we didn't know much about. So we didn't end up leaving Cetinje in the morning so much as after 4pm ...
Although it doesn't look far on a map, getting to the Serbian border took quite a bit of time because of the all the narrow, windy roads carved into the steep mountain sides:
The landscapes really are amazing, with the tunnels roughly hewn into the rock, and the steep, steep, cliffs on the box-like mountains.
Got to Serbia around 6, not sure if we needed a green card. Insurance offices still seemed to be open, but after a long time recording all our details and various forms of ID, we didn't turn out to need any. We're pretty sure we didn't anyway, as they certainly didn't make us buy it...
And so we drove on into Serbia, unsure where to spend the night...
First stop, Kotor. An amazing walled town nestled into a fjord ... yes they have them in southern Europe too! The town is overlooked by some impressive walls and fortifications:
Inside the town the streets are like a labyrinth; it's lucky the place is very small so you're never lost for long. This church, from the 1200s, was in a square at a jaunty angle which maybe doesn't come across in the picture:
After getting lost and finding ourselves reasonably quickly, we got on the road to the day's final destination: Cetinje. The route we took was non-direct to say the least as it snaked up the mountain. But Ben enjoyed the hair-pin turns and it meant we were able to get some fantastic views of the fjord and Kotor:
And for those who have been wondering how the clio is getting on ... here she is in all her dirty glory!
With all the winding and twisting we managed about 40km in a couple of hours! Cetinje is the former royal capital but has seen better days. Looking for somewhere to stay was a little tricky as there didn't seem to be any hotels, hostels or information. Luckily we asked the right people for help who invited to stay with them for the princely sum of 10 Euros. Tight old Ben was very impressed. They had a lovely little granny flat and kept trying to feed and water us; Joanna left with a couple of boxes of tea because they decided she must be missing it!
Not so much to picture here, but this is the monastary which apparently is home to St John the Baptist's mumified hand and a piece of the cross:
Got a bit caught up in the town's museums because Ben was keen to practice his reading of the cyrillic alphabet - show off! The museums were fascinating, charting the history and culture of a country we didn't know much about. So we didn't end up leaving Cetinje in the morning so much as after 4pm ...
Although it doesn't look far on a map, getting to the Serbian border took quite a bit of time because of the all the narrow, windy roads carved into the steep mountain sides:
The landscapes really are amazing, with the tunnels roughly hewn into the rock, and the steep, steep, cliffs on the box-like mountains.
Got to Serbia around 6, not sure if we needed a green card. Insurance offices still seemed to be open, but after a long time recording all our details and various forms of ID, we didn't turn out to need any. We're pretty sure we didn't anyway, as they certainly didn't make us buy it...
And so we drove on into Serbia, unsure where to spend the night...
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Driving Table
Well here it is, my table of our actual driving. Now it's up, I'll try to keep it updated. As it shows we're in Serbia at the moment, aiming to head to Sofia, Bulgaria tomorrow. That obviously means we're still a couple of updates behind, but we'll get to that asap.
Also updating our Flickr album, adding some photos there (including some back in Spain...). The link to our Flickr page is on the side bar. The map stuff all gets a bit hap-hazard east of Italy, so my Montenegro locations are necessarily a bit of guess-work.
Also updating our Flickr album, adding some photos there (including some back in Spain...). The link to our Flickr page is on the side bar. The map stuff all gets a bit hap-hazard east of Italy, so my Montenegro locations are necessarily a bit of guess-work.
| Date | Trip | Country | Distance (miles) | Total Clio Trip Miles | Distance (kms) | Total Clio Trip kms | Total Clio Miles |
| June 11 | Calais - Rambouillet | France | 214 | 214 | 342 | 342 | 131258 |
| June 12 | Rambouillet - Bordeaux | France | 342 | 556 | 547 | 890 | 131600 |
| June 13 | Bordeaux - San Sebastian | Spain | 183 | 739 | 293 | 1182 | 131783 |
| June 15 | San Sebastian - Bilbao - Llanes | Spain | 184 | 923 | 294 | 1477 | 131967 |
| June 16 | Llanes - Vila Real | Portugal | 386 | 1309 | 619 | 2094 | 132353 |
| June 17 | Vila Real - Porto | Portugal | 108 | 1417 | 173 | 2273 | 132461 |
| June 19 | Porto - Tavira | Portugal | 372 | 1789 | 597 | 2870 | 132833 |
| June 22 | Tavira - Alcala de Guidaira | Spain | 142 | 1931 | 228 | 3097 | 132975 |
| June 23 | Alcala de Guidaira - Sevilla | Spain | 26 | 1957 | 42 | 3139 | 133001 |
| June 24 | Sevilla - Granada | Spain | 167 | 2124 | 267 | 3407 | 133168 |
| June 27 | Granada - Valencia | Spain | 363 | 2487 | 582 | 3989 | 133531 |
| June 30 | Valencia - Barcelona | Spain | 237 | 2724 | 380 | 4369 | 133768 |
| July 3 | Barcelona - San Remo | Italy | 515 | 3239 | 826 | 5195 | 134283 |
| July 4 | San Remo - Verona | Italy | 272 | 3511 | 436 | 5632 | 134555 |
| July 8 | Verona - Postojna | Slovenia | 259 | 3770 | 415 | 6047 | 134814 |
| July 9 | Postojna - Ljubljana | Slovenia | 35 | 3805 | 56 | 6103 | 134849 |
| July 11 | Ljubljana - Maribor | Slovenia | 136 | 3941 | 218 | 6321 | 134985 |
| July 12 | Maribor - Ely | UK | 0 | 3941 | 0 | 6321 | 134985 |
| July 17 | Ely - Maribor | Slovenia | 0 | 3941 | 0 | 6321 | 134985 |
| July 18 | Maribor - Plitvicke Jezera | Croatia | 159 | 4100 | 255 | 6576 | 135144 |
| July 20 | Plitvicke Jezera - Trogir | Croatia | 197 | 4297 | 316 | 6892 | 135341 |
| July 22 | Trogir - Split - Bosnia Border - Gradac | Croatia | 139 | 4436 | 223 | 7115 | 135480 |
| July 23 | Gradac - Mostar (Bosnia) - Dubrovnik | Croatia | 166 | 4602 | 266 | 7382 | 135646 |
| July 26 | Dubrovnik - Kotor - Cetinje | Montenegro | 91 | 4693 | 146 | 7528 | 135747 |
| July 27 | Cetinje - Zlatibor | Serbia | 177 | 4870 | 284 | 7811 | 135914 |
| July 29 | Zlatibor - Sofia | Bulgaria | 280 | 5150 | 448 | 8261 | 136194 |
| July 31 | Sofia - Rila | Bulgaria | 75 | 5225 | 120 | 8381 | 136269 |
| Aug 1 | Rila - Mt Olympus (Plaka) | Greece | 215 | 5440 | 344 | 8726 | 136484 |
| Aug 3 | Mt Olympus - Delphi | Greece | 229 | 5669 | 366 | 9093 | 136713 |
| Aug 4 | Delphi - Athens | Greece | 125 | 5794 | 200 | 9293 | 136838 |
| Aug 7 | Athens - Thessaloniki | Greece | 316 | 6110 | 506 | 9800 | 137154 |
| Aug 9 | Thessaloniki - Gallıpolı (Eceabat) | Turkey | 343 | 6453 | 549 | 10349 | 137497 |
| Aug 11 | Biga - Edremit | Turkey | 140 | 6593 | 225 | 10574 | 137637 |
| Aug 12 | Edremit - Bergama | Turkey | 68 | 6661 | 109 | 10684 | 137705 |
| Aug 14 | Bergama - Cunda | Turkey | 48 | 6709 | 77 | 10761 | 137753 |
| Aug 15 | Cunda - Yanova - Istanbul | Turkey | 269 | 6978 | 430 | 11191 | 138022 |
| Aug 19 | Istanbul - Burgas | Bulgaria | 228 | 7206 | 367 | 11558 | 138250 |
| Aug 20 | Burgas - Varna | Bulgaria | 93 | 7299 | 149 | 11707 | 138343 |
| Aug 22 | Varna - Bucharest | Romania | 258 | 7557 | 414 | 12121 | 138601 |
| Aug 24 | Bucharest - Sinaia - Brasov | Romania | 109 | 7666 | 175 | 12296 | 138710 |
| Aug 26 | Brasov (Bran roundtrip) - Chernivtsi | Ukraine | 318 | 7984 | 510 | 12806 | 139028 |
| Aug 27 | Chernivtsi - Lviv | Ukraine | 193 | 8177 | 310 | 13116 | 139221 |
| Aug 29 | Lviv - Kosice | Slovakia | 240 | 8417 | 385 | 13501 | 139461 |
| Aug 30 | Kosice - Levoca | Slovakia | 62 | 8479 | 99 | 13600 | 139523 |
| Sep 1 | Tatras Roundtrip | Slovakia | 88 | 8567 | 141 | 13741 | 139611 |
| Sep 2 | Levoca - Zakopane | Poland | 65 | 8632 | 104 | 13845 | 139676 |
| Sep 3 | Zakopane - Krakow | Poland | 98 | 8730 | 157 | 14003 | 139774 |
| Auschwitz & other day trips | Poland | 150 | 8880 | 241 | 14244 | 139924 | |
| Sep 10 | Krakow - Warsaw | Poland | 218 | 9098 | 350 | 14594 | 140142 |
| Sep 11 | Warsaw - Olsztyn | Poland | 138 | 9236 | 221 | 14815 | 140280 |
| Sep 12 | Olsztyn - Kaliningrad | Russia | 156 | 9392 | 250 | 15065 | 140436 |
| Sep 14 | Kaliningrad - Siauliai | Lithuania | 222 | 9614 | 356 | 15421 | 140658 |
| Sep 15 | Siauliai - Riga | Latvia | 93 | 9707 | 149 | 15570 | 140751 |
| Sep 18 | Riga - Tallinn | Estonia | 210 | 9917 | 337 | 15907 | 140961 |
| Sep 21 | Tallinn - Turku | Finland | 115 | 10032 | 184 | 16091 | 141076 |
| Sep 23 | Turku - Helsinki (and the end of the road) | Finland | 131 | 10163 | 210 | 16301 | 141207 |
Saturday, 28 July 2007
Dubrovnik, Croatia
First day in Dubrovnik was a beach day. We were staying in Kupari 6km south which we think may have been a swanky resort in its day, but has seen much better days. The "Homeland War" obviously took its toll on the sea front hotels:
Still, it's freed up what was a private beach for the locals and us! So we had a lovely sunbathe and swim in the incredibly clear waters of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik's sea must be seen; it brings new meaning to crystal clear.
Don't think we've forgotten the drink challenge, oh no! In the old town that evening, Ben got his grubby mitts on some Pelinkovac, the official Croatian drink on the list. And bitter only goes some way to describe it!
Day 45 of our travels was spent in Dubrovnik's old town, again in quite sweltering heat. Spent a couple of hours up on the city walls learning about its history and how it too has largely had to be rebuilt after the war. UNESCO coming to the rescue with the cash and new roof tiles. The old walls were so well built, they still managed to protect the inhabitants from modern artillery.
And after being up there in the heat, it was ice cream o'clock:
As an extra note, ice cream o'clock comes from Slovenia where the natives are rarely to be seen without one. How do they stay so slim?!
We also dropped in on Europe's third oldest pharmacy. It's been in continuous operation since the 1300s, unfortunately we didn't need any drugs.
When we returned to our tent it had developed a bad case of dandruff, on later inspection this turned out to be forest fire ash. The clio was also covered, but some seriously strong breezes in the night (all of which were warm) meant everything was clean (by our standards) by the morning ready for Montenegro!
Still, it's freed up what was a private beach for the locals and us! So we had a lovely sunbathe and swim in the incredibly clear waters of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik's sea must be seen; it brings new meaning to crystal clear.
Don't think we've forgotten the drink challenge, oh no! In the old town that evening, Ben got his grubby mitts on some Pelinkovac, the official Croatian drink on the list. And bitter only goes some way to describe it!
Day 45 of our travels was spent in Dubrovnik's old town, again in quite sweltering heat. Spent a couple of hours up on the city walls learning about its history and how it too has largely had to be rebuilt after the war. UNESCO coming to the rescue with the cash and new roof tiles. The old walls were so well built, they still managed to protect the inhabitants from modern artillery.
And after being up there in the heat, it was ice cream o'clock:
As an extra note, ice cream o'clock comes from Slovenia where the natives are rarely to be seen without one. How do they stay so slim?!
We also dropped in on Europe's third oldest pharmacy. It's been in continuous operation since the 1300s, unfortunately we didn't need any drugs.
When we returned to our tent it had developed a bad case of dandruff, on later inspection this turned out to be forest fire ash. The clio was also covered, but some seriously strong breezes in the night (all of which were warm) meant everything was clean (by our standards) by the morning ready for Montenegro!
Mostar, Bosnia
As we were trying to leave our hotel in Gradac, we got waylaid by the owners for coffee and stilted chats in English. Turns out a lot of their family are living in New Zealand and have been for about 50 odd years - making wine in Auckland. Which proves Joanna's point that no matter where you go, everyone has a New Zealand connection ... well maybe not everywhere, but a lot of places!
And we were back on the open road (with mole and toad - guess which is which), retracing our steps to the Bosnia border. Much simpler process on Mondays than on Sundays and we were waived through with our new insurance papers. The main road to Mostar wasn't at all bad, despite Lonely Planet warnings.
On the way into the town we started noticing lots of buildings had signs like this:
There are still a lot of abandoned buildings that need mine clearance / demolishing so the signs of war haven't been totally eradicated yet. However, at Mostar Bridge it's all shiny, new and very touristy:
It was destroyed in November 1993 during the war and rebuilt in 2005 as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. As we learned in the museum, it was originally built by the Turks in 1566 and UNESCO got them back to rebuild it in 2003/4.
Also rebuilt was this mosque on the east side of the town - the before and after pictures were amazing:
Our route out of Bosnia was not quite as well trodden as the way in. We decided to take a back route to Dubrovnik ... which turned out to be a long way for a short cut. Ben enjoyed the windy, single track road with bonkers Bosnian drivers playing chicken coming the other way. We always lost.
On the way we saw a number of forest fires, some of which the aged fire engines were having difficulty getting to:
Our back route meant we had to disturb a lone Croatian border guard who was very disgruntled at having to leave the shade to deal with us! But we made it safely to our campsite outside Dubrovnik.
And we were back on the open road (with mole and toad - guess which is which), retracing our steps to the Bosnia border. Much simpler process on Mondays than on Sundays and we were waived through with our new insurance papers. The main road to Mostar wasn't at all bad, despite Lonely Planet warnings.
On the way into the town we started noticing lots of buildings had signs like this:
There are still a lot of abandoned buildings that need mine clearance / demolishing so the signs of war haven't been totally eradicated yet. However, at Mostar Bridge it's all shiny, new and very touristy:
It was destroyed in November 1993 during the war and rebuilt in 2005 as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. As we learned in the museum, it was originally built by the Turks in 1566 and UNESCO got them back to rebuild it in 2003/4.
Also rebuilt was this mosque on the east side of the town - the before and after pictures were amazing:
Our route out of Bosnia was not quite as well trodden as the way in. We decided to take a back route to Dubrovnik ... which turned out to be a long way for a short cut. Ben enjoyed the windy, single track road with bonkers Bosnian drivers playing chicken coming the other way. We always lost.
On the way we saw a number of forest fires, some of which the aged fire engines were having difficulty getting to:
Our back route meant we had to disturb a lone Croatian border guard who was very disgruntled at having to leave the shade to deal with us! But we made it safely to our campsite outside Dubrovnik.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Split
We got up early and broke camp. Seriously, we were driving by about 9.15! We had plans to spend the night in Bosnia, and wanted to see Split first.
A short drive down the coast later we headed straight for Diocletian's Palace. For those without an in-depth knowledge of 3rd century history he was a Roman Emperor from the point at which they decided to have 4 emperors. He chose Split as his retirement place, and built a rather large garrisoned palace there, which has to some extent survived. He was one of the last to persecute the Christians so it is with some irony that not only are there lots of christian marks on the building blocks, but his mausoleum was turned into a cathedral in the 7th century.
We had a good wander around his basement as well:
Ben tried to make Joanna go to the Archaeological Museum, but it was shut due to being Sunday. So we just had to poke our heads through the bars.
Also shut on Sundays is Bosnia. Well, to those who need to buy special car insurance on the border. Bugger. We were trying to get to Mostar where the men of the town were doing their annual jumping off the famous bridge to impress their lady friends. Ben'll have to wait till next year. So we back tracked a few miles to a lovely seaside resort by the name of Gradac which really wasn't too much of a hardship. We thought there was going to be no room at the inn, but in the end we didn't do too badly with one of the last rooms in town:
For kiwis reading, yes, Joanna has been listening to a little too much Fred Dagg.
Next day, to Bosnia & beyond...
A short drive down the coast later we headed straight for Diocletian's Palace. For those without an in-depth knowledge of 3rd century history he was a Roman Emperor from the point at which they decided to have 4 emperors. He chose Split as his retirement place, and built a rather large garrisoned palace there, which has to some extent survived. He was one of the last to persecute the Christians so it is with some irony that not only are there lots of christian marks on the building blocks, but his mausoleum was turned into a cathedral in the 7th century.
We had a good wander around his basement as well:
Ben tried to make Joanna go to the Archaeological Museum, but it was shut due to being Sunday. So we just had to poke our heads through the bars.
Also shut on Sundays is Bosnia. Well, to those who need to buy special car insurance on the border. Bugger. We were trying to get to Mostar where the men of the town were doing their annual jumping off the famous bridge to impress their lady friends. Ben'll have to wait till next year. So we back tracked a few miles to a lovely seaside resort by the name of Gradac which really wasn't too much of a hardship. We thought there was going to be no room at the inn, but in the end we didn't do too badly with one of the last rooms in town:
For kiwis reading, yes, Joanna has been listening to a little too much Fred Dagg.
Next day, to Bosnia & beyond...
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