East Europe and the Baltic States
Travels around Central and Eastern Europe
Twelve weeks away in our beloved motor home, what a difference from the usual 2 weeks holiday spent dashing around the continent before returning to work in need of another rest! Early retirement and redundancy made it possible and we decided to try out those countries usually thought too far away for a fortnightly jaunt. We planned to visit Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and then head north to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, to see them before the rest of the world discovers them. A lot of planning and research later (with some really useful information from www.magbaztravels.com/ and www.joysofeuopeancaravanning.co.uk ), we set off from Dover one mid-April evening, braving the choppy crossing – seasickness did mean we spent less in the shop though!
We usually stop overnight in the aire on the Calais seafront, it does get quite busy but it means you can get an early start. This time we were reminded of the perils of staying in a public place as soon after we set off the back wheels starting making a terrible noise – stopping as soon as we could, we realised that someone had loosed the wheel nuts and one had come out, either stolen or fallen out! After tightening them up, we tracked down the nearest Fiat dealer for a replacement – we dread to think what would have happened if the wheel had fallen off.
Our itinerary was first to make for Lake Bled in Slovenia where the only booked campsite was located – we booked through the CC and were happy with the cost as usual. We’d also got an ACSI card which allows you to get good value at their participating campsites out of season (12, 14 or 16 Euros) – Lake Bled wasn’t one of these however, they are so popular that they don’t really need the custom.
We stopped along the way at Neckargemund (Camping Friedensbrucke) near Heidelberg, a largish campsite by the river and handy for the town. Cycling into Heidelberg was not recommended by the very helpful young man in charge, so we bought a 24 hours bus ticket and used it for a day trip into town and again the following morning. The castle was well worth a visit; you can either walk up to it, about 20 minutes, or take the funicular railway. The railway continues up to 2 other stations, the top being Konigstuhle (King’s Chair). We took this option on the second day – taking a picnic with us as we were going to be walking back to the campsite along the well-marked footpaths (8miles). It was a relatively easy walk as it was mostly downhill; we did print-off a map of the footpaths from the Heidelberg city website which was really useful.
Waving goodbye to Heidelberg (we’ll be back in the future); we carried on to Austria, to Abersee on Wolfgangsee, close to St Wolfgang. We’d debated long and hard on whether to go to Austria, we’d heard all the horror stories about Go Boxes (we needed this as we’re over 3.5 tonnes), but we really wanted to visit Salzburg and it was a quick way to get to Slovenia through the fantastic tunnels. Before we got to the border the vignettes and Go boxes were advertised for sale on the motorway service signs so we parked up and headed for the garage shop, along with our motor home registration documents (V5). A very helpful English-speaking assistant explained we could only pre-pay to charge up our Go box as we didn’t have an Austrian credit card and he estimated that it would cost about 69 Euros for the motorway and tunnel tolls to go to Slovenia, but the least you could pay to charge the box was 75 Euros, plus a 5 Euro handling charge. You could hand the box back as you left the country to have a refund of any left-over Euros (in theory, more of that later!). Having stuck it on the windscreen and crossed into Austria, we were relieved as it began to “beep” when it passed under the gantries – once was good, twice meant you were running out of credit, there seemed to be an awful lot of beeping going on as we skirted round Salzburg and finally leaving the motorway we arrived in Abersee.
Wolfgangsee is a lovely place, even better on a sunny day and we found the ASCI campsite “Romantik Camping”, a few hundred yards down the Schwand, along with quite a few other sites, all very quiet and full of seasonal caravans covered in tarpaulin or wooded roofs – apparently to protect them from hail! As it was so quiet the lake boats hadn’t started yet and we decided to break out the bikes and cycle around the excellent cycle path which led around to the tourist trap that is St Wolfgang. It is very quaint, but was full of road works, Japanese tourists and tacky souvenir shops. There’s also a railway line which goes from here to the nearby peak (not yet open as the summit had snow!), but we saw it practising on the lower slopes a couple of days later from our side of the lake. As husband is a Geocache fan we found quite a few caches around the area and if you’ve never tried it, it’s a great way to find out interesting facts about the area you’re visiting and good walks. A handheld GPS or smart-phone with App downloaded is needed and you can either be a basic member for free or become a premium member for about $30 per year. There are millions of caches around the world and men seem to love the way their statistics build and the British (or world) map fills in. The last day we hopped aboard the Post bus to Salzburg (23 Euros for the two of us) and toured the major sights, recognising film locations from “The Sound of Music” as we went – you can even go on a city tour if you wish! Not sure what the locals think of this as the film was never generally released in Austria and Germany at the time because of its war-time setting. It was a freezing day and driving rain finally sent us home early, but we loved the city and may return for a city-break in the future.
Slovenia beckoned as we’d booked our place at camping Bled, so we returned to the motorway and headed south. The road is a fantastic feat of engineering and the tunnels made the recently opened Hindhead tunnel, near our home, pale into insignificance. Nearer the border the box began to “beep” twice, meaning we were running out of credit – but how much did we have left and was it enough to get us through the Karawanken tunnel, four beeps and we would have to pull off and pay more money! We never did find out as we were so relieved to find we still had enough credit at the tunnel toll booth that we didn’t look where to stop and hand in the box. When you get through the tunnel and stop at the Slovenian service station, they look at you blankly as you ask if they take in the Go boxes, so definitely stop before you enter the last tunnel!.
Camping Bled is on the southern end of Lake Bled, very close to the border and is situated at the end of the rowing course – very handy if a competition is on, such as the World Rowing Championships in August 2012. The campsite is quite big with fairly large marked pitches, though not clearly enough as one chap tried to park where there wasn’t one marked on the map - as this was VERY close to us we showed him the correct pitch. The toilet blocks were very smart and clean, though only 2 of the 4 blocks were open and 2 out of 4 showers in our block were out of order when we visited in late April. There was a good shop, bar and decent restaurant on site, with lovely views of the lake, with a cheerful waiter who could turn his hand to almost every language! There are walks galore around the site and we took one to the Vintgar Gorge one day – there were amazing wooden walkways and photo opportunities, along with Dippers feeding their newly fledged chicks on the opposite banks, all for 8 Euros each. It was quite a long round trip on foot, 10 miles, but very accessible if you have a car, only about 15 minutes drive away. A walk around the lake was very easy, only a couple of hours, so we popped up to the castle and had lunch in a little café in town and found a few Geocaches – day done! The temperature began to rise rapidly (mid 20’s C), so we had a quiet day in the sun and watched the site fill up rapidly for the weekend. It can be quite funny watching people set up camp and seeing how differently they do it to British campsites!
“You can extend your stay if you wish”, said the nice young man in reception, and we were tempted – However we decided we were all “Bledded out” and planned our next stay.
We’d read about Ptuj in eastern Slovenia, the oldest town in the country, full of history and attractive buildings, so we found an ACSI site just across the river and set off down the motorway – 30 Euros tolls later and we arrived to find the reception closed, but the site filling rapidly. The site is part of Ptuj Therme (spa), with apartments, bungalows and the posh hotel (Hotel Primus, named after a Roman governor). With instructions to book in at the posh hotel across the road, we did so and then found a pitch – unmarked and very tight. We were glad that we’d arrived early at 2pm as the site filled up rapidly and by 6pm was virtually full. It was the early May holiday however, with lots of families arriving to use the large water park next door. As we were on ACSI rates (16 Euros per night), we had to pay 5 Euros each to use the park, but we found it well organised, clean and fun – we lay in our rubber rings in the lazy river, being very lazy! Ptuj is picturesque, fairly small, but with some fascinating buildings, Roman history and a large Spar. The next day we cycled around the man-made lake (15 miles), spotting a pair of Black-winged Stilts on the shoreline and lots of pairs of Great Crested Grebes – we are avid bird watchers and keep a spreadsheet of all our spots.
Another day, another country – we hopped over the border into Hungary, to Lake Balaton. No messing with Go boxes here, we had pre-paid for our tolls online and got 9 days for the price of 7 (weekends were free!). It did mean we had to leave Hungary by a certain day, but there was no worry about where to drop off boxes. We stayed at Camping Zala just outside Keszthely, alongside the lake and the Lake Balaton cycle path. Very quiet when we arrived, it filled up by the time we left, mainly with Dutch caravans and motor homes. Another Brit couple, Sharon and Greg, had arrived just before us and we had a good chat about our travels, with a promise to keep in touch and let them know how we got on in the Baltic. We’d not met many British folk so far, so it’s a great treat when you do! The cycle path around the lake was very good and very flat! Our new friends also gave us a lift into the nearby town for a quick Tesco visit – one of many in Hungary (Slovakia, Czech Republic AND Poland!). It was interesting to see the differences – meat is not so well-packaged (loose meat was just wrapped in Clingfilm!), with limited choice and cheese seemed to consist of Edam, Gouda and Edam! The choice of meat is also very limited – pork, chicken and pork and chicken mince – not lamb and very little decent beef. We’ll also never complain about fruit and vegetables in British supermarkets again – we virtually lived on salad for 12 weeks as the quality and choice was very poor. We’ve decided that on future trips we’ll need to take lots of biscuits for cheese and curry sauce too as both are virtually non-existent.
We headed towards Budapest, planning to stop at a campsite in the country, with Dutch owners. We arrived at Aucost Holiday Parc in Vajta to find it shut (possibly permanently) and deserted, so headed north and found a site on Lake Velence – Panorama Camping. With a nice lakeside setting, it was empty again and we spent a couple of days chilling out – apart from the 28 mile cycle ride around the lake! The facilities were a bit primitive but clean and we had the place to ourselves in lovely hot weather.
Budapest beckoned – we arrived at Haller camping, in the south of the city, at lunchtime, to ensure we got a space, and there seemed to be plenty- though it will definitely be very crowded in the summer season. It’s an unusual setting, surrounded by flats and high-rise buildings, but so handy for the city, just a tram or Metro ride away from the tourist sites, with good security. We devoted two days to sight seeing, but only tickled the surface. The hop-on-hop-off tourist bus service was worth its weight in gold, especially as it was 32C on the first day! Budapest was an impressive city but we were sad to see so many buildings crumbling through neglect and many homeless people sleeping rough.
We also visited Prague, in the Czech Republic, staying at Oase Prague, one of the campsites bookable through the club. It was a really nice site with very good facilities and a good restaurant with cheap and tasty food – we were really impressed with the cheapness of eating out in many of the countries we visited! The only thing we disliked about Prague were the horrendous crowds in the Cathedral and on Charles Bridge in the old town, it seemed to be more touristy than Budapest and there were large groups everywhere.
Poland was a mixed experience and we had heard so many things about it from friends and relations that we were apprehensive to start with. Again, we had to get a Go-box because of our size and that took a couple of hours, firstly trying to find somewhere that sold them and then paying for it – the computer system was down and the poor girl had to ring up and then got all flustered and made a mess of the credit card payment – not an auspicious start! We hardly used the motorway on our way north and the roads were so awful that we begrudged paying for the bits that we did use. The section of the E67 south of Warsaw was particularly horrendous, road works for over 50 miles and very slow traffic as it was so busy. Entering Warsaw on the way to Camping Wok (no 90), we also encountered heavy traffic and we were so glad to reach that little oasis. The campsite is in the southern suburbs, very small but with great facilities, it was busy at the end of May so reservations are probably needed in the main summer season. Another campsite, Majawa Camping (no 123), also got good reports from the Camping Card ACSI, and is larger but also busy. We talked to a Dutch fellow camper who reviews city sites and he was impressed with both.
Warsaw was an attractive city – still being licked into shape, but with tourist areas to die for (though they have been reconstructed), and excellent shopping opportunities. It was an easy trip into town by bus and tram and we changed services next to the main football stadium, later in June it was the scene for violent clashes between Russian and Polish supporters at Euro 2012 – glad we weren’t there then! The old town and the Royal Park were both lovely and the large shopping mall even had an M & S, with the option of paying in Zlotys or Pounds!
Campsites outside the cities were very either closed or only just open, though we did find a nice site near the Lithuanian border in the Masurian Lake District at Mikolajki which was busy. The nearby town and lake looked interesting but as we were only using it as a night halt, perhaps we’ll come back again sometime. Another site in south Poland was not really open, but George the odd-job man welcomed us very warmly and we only paid £10 for a pitch with electric as it was very basic.
Girding our loins, as we really didn’t know what to expect, we set off for Lithuania, along the narrow E67 border road – the Russian enclave of Kalingrad to the left of us, Belorussia to the right. The road is the main highway to northern Estonia and then by ferry to Finland, is known as the “Via Baltica” and is heaving with vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Luckily we didn’t’ have too much trouble with lorries as we travel at the same speed, but cars sped past us at every opportunity. Our site was close to Vilnius and as we cut onto the A16/E28 we found the traffic much lighter.
We arrived at Rudiskes, south west of Vilnius, in one piece and after 3 kilometres of dirt road (what had we done?!), we arrived at the beautiful campsite Harmonie. It really was like the Garden of Eden – owned by the Brauns family (Dad is Dutch, his wife Lithuanian), it was hewn out of the pine forest and consisted of gorgeous camping areas, wooded glades, a large pond, flower gardens and small but perfectly formed toilet blocks. As there were no official pitches, we could pitch where we liked and there were only ever 4 of us there at the same time – if the site had been in a more accessible country it would have been full to bursting! As a service to guests we were driven to the nearby railway station to catch the Vilnius train (45-60 minutes journey), and collected later. Vilnius is in the process of being beautified, the central tourist area is quite attractive, but the backstreets are still in need of attention, especially the pavements. We had a good lunch in a café which our host had recommended - very cheap too! I even had a haircut as we’d been away from home for 6 weeks, and paid less than £10 for a very reasonable cut! There were the usual souvenir shops, especially amber and linen stores, and we bought an attractive amber necklace in one. Mr Brauns seems to be a busy man – he was a professional sportsman in Holland in his youth and later coached the Lithuanian cycling team. Now he helps disadvantaged children through sport and cycling, organises Christmas parcels for the local community with help from donations from his campers, and has a business helping people to realise their potential – all this and he is 71! He wished us luck as we left, and said that we’d be back for his showers!
We had decided to make our way to Riga and Tallinn first, as they’re not too far apart, and then slowly work our way south, spending more time in the country. The main roads were fairly good to both cities though you had to watch out for road works as they tended to leave large holes unattended and their standards of repair leave a lot to be desired. The road into Riga itself was being dug up and was a real mess, so we were glad to reach Riga City Camping which is on the western side of the river, behind the exhibition centre. Like a large car-park, but with very good security, we were interested to see a dozen BRITISH traveller families in situ, complete with their own washing machines, children and brand new cars. They were parked opposite the water taps (for their washing machines), so they must have arrived on opening day on May 15th to get a good spot. The campsite was very busy with other motor-homes and caravans too, and facilities were very stretched , so we used our own.
Riga was a 20 minute walk away over the bridge, as it was cold and windy now it felt much longer! Riga is a very attractive city, in better condition than Vilnius and full of souvenir shops and more recognisable shop brands. As it is quite a compact city centre, we didn’t feel the need to take one of the city tours, everything from little trains to rickshaws. After touring the main sites, we visited the Museum of the Occupations which is next to the renovated House of Blackheads. The museum was very poignant and heart-rending as we learnt about how Latvians suffered under both German and Russian occupations and the deportation of many Latvians to Russia after the Second World war, with no returns until the 1960/70’s. Like all Brits we needed a cup of tea after this and found a small but perfectly formed teahouse just behind the museum.
We carried on to Tallinn and the campsite at Pirita Harbour, east of the city. A review recommended this in preference to the City camping site, it is a bus ride away and though little more than a car parking area by the yachts, there were good views and we felt very safe. Tallinn was everything we had heard it to be, and it’s no wonder that so many cruise ships stop off here. The old town was quiet as we arrived but by 10.30am we were not alone, hundreds of tour parties descended and we were fighting our way round them. There is a lull at lunchtime as the morning groups return to their ships, so we found a nice little café for coffee and quiche. With afternoon souvenir shopping (and geo-caching for husband), we found the Matroishka doll we’d been looking for and posted our latest cards. We had free WIFI (Tallinn has city-wide free WIFI and is the home of Skype), and were overjoyed to be able to watch the Jubilee River Pageant on the BBC web-site. Our satellite dish hasn’t been able to pick up our usual channels as we were so far away, sometimes we were able to find radio channels, luckily, and news through the internet.
We moved along the north coast and found a small simple site in Kasmu , in the Laheema National park. The site was basically a large lawn in someone’s garden, by the sea and next to the car park for the Boulder walk trail. The nearby coast is littered with large boulders left by the glaciers and is popular with tourists. It was a beautiful spot, though the mosquitoes were HUGE! We invited our hosts to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee with us and Mum, daughter and grandson shared Pimms and cake with us (apart from Oliver who was only 2 and didn’t have the Pimms!). They seemed to enjoy it and we sent them a copy of the picture that we took to send to the BBC for their overseas Jubilee party pictures - we’d had a phone-call 2 days previously from “Matt from the BBC” after we’d posted our location and intent on their website! Unfortunately we didn’t get on the web-site as an Estonian family beat us to it! Never mind, the van looked great with its bunting and the Union Jack cup-cakes.
We left here reluctantly, moving eastwards to Saka Spa Hotel and Camping, to find it full to bursting again with British travellers, with very little room left. We prefer quieter sites so we carried on east we headed for Toila Spa hotel and camping – we were the only ones here, until a tour group of 18 motor-homes arrived on their way back from Russia! Perestroika Tours, from Germany, were escorting German, Dutch and Austrian campers and a Dutch lady told us about their experiences. It is really impossible for individuals to tour Russia as little English is spoken (and locals didn’t even look them in the eye), campsites were very few and far between, and security was a problem too and one of the tour organisers would stay with the vans during the day when everyone was out on a trip. The glint cliffs at Saka and Toila are well-known to geologists, we were able to walk to the beach down the 167 steps of the metal staircase and gaze out at the Baltic. Near the campsite we found a German cemetery from the conflicts with Russia during the Second World War, now tended by youngsters from many countries that come here for youth camps.
This was our last stop on the top coast as were just a few miles from the Russian border, so we turned southwards and camped at a lovely little site on Lake Peipsi, attached to Willippu guesthouse. These type of campsites were fairly basic, but in lovely locations and we found everyone so friendly and helpful – especially as English was sometimes a struggle for them and German (their second language) was a struggle for us! We watched the two resident storks in their nest on the electric pole, with no babies unfortunately and across the lake, but too far for us to see, was Russia. We cycled into the village and came across their version of a car-boot sale – mainly fairly tired-looking second hand clothes or fresh fruit and vegetables from their small-holdings. There was a small supermarket too so we topped up our fresh food – we thought that we would have problems shopping but there are plenty of small shops with reasonable selections, though we were soon fed up of chicken, and pork mince and chops which seem to be the staple meats!
Waving the storks goodbye we moved on to a recommended site in Voru, attached to a small spa hotel (Kubija). Although the camping area was just a lawned area near the reception, we were allowed to use the hotel toilets and showers and had some lovely showers in the solarium room, shame we couldn’t use that too! We cycled around the small lake the next day, visiting the town of Voru, which had some interesting old wooden houses, a very nice lakeside esplanade and beach, a lovely new footbridge across his op of the lake and a fantastic Tourist Information Office. As well as being open on a Sunday, the lovely lady gave us lots of information about Latvia AND Lithuania too.
Our intent had been to travel onto the Gauja National Park and stay at the only campsite, run by the park. The heavens opened and the trip became very scary when we crossed into Latvia – the roads were very rutted and pot-holed and we felt as if we needed water-skis rather than wheels! On arriving at Siguldas Pludmale campsite we found it deserted, little more than a car park with a strip of grass and VERY expensive for the extremely limited facilities. As the rain seemed set we decided to give It a miss as we’d come there to walk and explore the many natural and man-made sights. We ploughed on towards Riga and decided to stop at Jurmala (literally “seaside”), the beach resort area to the west of the city. The main problem was the state of the main road – dug up and reduced to dirt as they replaced it, with many stones and mud we drove gingerly, being overtaken by huge trucks and buses – we were sure our windscreen would take a hit! We checked out the campsite but it looked very scruffy and run-down and probably closed. Carrying on again westwards we stopped off at another campsite – again shut - and finally reached Ventspils on the Baltic coast – the campsite (Pejuras Camping) was open, attractive and full of other holiday campers! It is a few minutes walk from a lovely beach, through the pretty little park, and the town has miles of good cycle paths, with many more planned. The historic quayside has been nicely restored, with an attractive and informative small castle/museum, various tourist shops and cafes and the Tourist Information office tucked away in the ferry terminal. Although it is obviously a popular place, it has a very relaxed air – not at all like our seaside towns – no kiss me quick hats for example! We cycled to the breakwater too, which gives a good view of the sandy beach, and climbed onto the fishing boat perched on a cradle by the car park – looking for a Geocache of course!
We decided to carry on to Kuldiga which is a popular beauty-spot and historic town about an hour south from Riga. We found a hostel which advertised camping and contacted them by e-mail to see if they took motor homes as well as tents. They did but said that the road was “poor”, we chanced it and were really glad that we did. To reach the hostel we had to negotiate a scary dirt road up and down the river bank, but once we parked up in front of the building (there was just room for us!), we had a fantastic view of the Ventas Rumba – the widest waterfall in Europe. The hostel was full of children and their teachers (who all seemed to speak very good English too) and other campers with tents would arrive each night on their bikes. We complimented the grown-ups on the behaviour of their charges, 8-13 year old art students, and had a lovely evening chatting with the Canadian and German campers (in English thankfully!). Kuldiga is a fascinating town, more tourist-driven that other places we’d visited, but full of old wooden buildings with ornate doors and decorations. We even saw a wedding party visiting the falls one afternoon – the lady guest with the VERY short dress and huge 6” heels had real trouble with the rough path!
We wanted to visit the Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, in Lithuania, as it was on our way south, so we stayed at Grazina Camping in the northern suburbs. It was a very sweet little site; we bought strawberries from the owner’s small-holding and took a turn around her herb garden. We enjoyed a peaceful night alongside a Dutch couple, and then a not-so-peaceful night alongside 20 Belgium motor homes, on their way home! Some of the vans were huge, including one modelled on a MAN truck base; the owners had about 6 steps to get into it! We visited the Hill of Crosses and were amazed to see the thousands of large and small crosses, crucifixes and religious statues, all piled on a small hill a few kilometres from the city. The tourist office said that you could cycle to it but the cycle path was terrible, especially nearer to the city, and the road joining it from our campsite was too dangerous to cycle, so we drove there and parked on the road for half an hour (avoiding the 10 Lits parking charge!). It was quiet as we were there nice and early but we could see that weekends would see hundreds of visitors and the souvenir stall selling crosses would do a roaring trade!
Our next site was near Jurbarkas, close o the Kalingrad border. This was our joint favourite site (along with Harmonie Campsite) – owned by an enthusiastic bee-keeper and thatcher, Osvidyus, it was a beautifully manicured and attractive site with thatched roofs and landscaped ponds. Fairly close to a small castle and park – unfortunately closed for rebuilding, with EU help – and the wide river, we were able to spend a few days relaxing and exploring. There was a good cycle path to the town – reached by 3 kilometres along the main road – and a few Geocaches nearby! Again it was very quiet to start off, but another large group (Germans) arrived on their way north – the washing facilities then got a bit stretched as there was currently only one shower for each sex (more were being added at the time we stayed). As Osvidyus has only had the site for 6 years, we would love to return in the future to see what he does with it, he was a lovely young man too! On our way south we stopped off at Gelgaudiskis Manor, which was the ancestral home of Sir John Gielgud’s Polish/Lithuanian ancestors. It was nice to see it being restored (again with EU help) as it was ransacked by the Russians many years ago.
Our last stop in the Baltic States was slightly eccentric looking site on Lake Visycytis, very quiet when we visited but it looked as if it would be packed in the main summer season. There were sculptures made from metal scrap dotted around the place, and wooden covered picnic tables and benches down by the lakeside – it looked a bit like a scene from “The Lord of the Rings”! Across the small lake we could see the Russian enclave of Kalingrad, but as the weather was very wet and misty we didn’t see it that often! To while away the day we had lunch in the café and filled up with dumplings and “greaves” – we found out later on the internet that they are the remains left when you boil fat – yum!.
We crossed the border into Poland again and journeyed west towards Gdansk, stopping overnight in a small CL-type site near Olsztyn. The site in Gdansk was in the beach-side suburb of Stogi, a tram-ride away from the city. The beach was lovely – a Blue Flag beach – and the site was very busy, with motor homes and caravans arriving quite late and tightly packed on the hard standing. It was useful for visiting the city but was a very noisy place; especially as the Euro 2012 championships had just left the city and a few German motor homes full of hung-over young men were still left! Gdansk was very nice, quite a small city but with many attractive buildings and museums. We also toured the many souvenir shops (nearly all amber shops!), visited the shipyard workers memorial and wandered down the pretty quayside. Luckily we didn’t have to stand too long on the tram home as we were ready for bed! We planned an early start the next day so were a bit perturbed when another van was directed almost in front of us at 10pm – a quick check made sure we could still get out!
With an overnight stop near Szczecin at Marina camping, where we had a very tasty and cheap meal, we then set off for Germany. As we had to hand back our Via Box we’d pinpointed a place on the motorway, using the web-site’s list of Distribution points. Unfortunately, to hand it back, we had to travel into Germany, turn round and return it to the Via Toll office in the service station going into Poland! This took a bit of time, with husband muttering about Polish inefficiency, but the clerk was very helpful and we got our money back and returned to Germany fairly soon after. You get any money left on the toll box plus your deposit which was £25 so we were determined to retrieve it!
Waving goodbye to Poland (nice country shame about the roads!), we travelled to Camping Sanssouci in Potsdam. This is a campsite you can book through the Caravan Club so we were interested to see what was special about it. Set in a forest the ground is firm but sandy and some pitches in the short-stay areas can be a bit small, but the toilet blocks were very good the restaurant served tasty meals with large portions. The site was on the R1 cycle route and there seemed to be plenty of cycle paths in the area and into Potsdam. The site offered a free shuttle service to the tram terminus, a few minutes away, so we visited both Berlin (by tram and rain) and Potsdam, which was just a short tram ride away. Berlin is a huge city and we decided that we’ll need to stay in a hotel in the city next time we visit, we just tickled the surface.
Potsdam was a pretty city, fairly compact with nice shopping and river trips. We decided to spend our day in Sanssouci Park, a huge landscaped park containing many prominent palaces and buildings designed and built by Frederic the Great. It was really beautiful, but it was an extremely hot day so we definitely needed the tourist bus to shuttle us from one end to the other – luckily we had purchased a Berlin welcome card so all public transport was free. If we return to the site in the future we’ll stay longer at the campsite – the longer-term pitches are larger further away from the lake, allowing more space for tables and chairs, we didn’t need our awning as it is quite shady under the trees.
We had noticed that there was a site in the village of Colditz, close to Leipzig and home to Colditz Castle, of POW fame, so we decided to say there for a couple of days. The castle was just 30 minutes walk from the campsite, on a lovely footpath through the old castle game reserve and we visited the next day. We took the extended tour (15 Euros each), as we had come so far to see the castle, and we had an amazing time with our very enthusiastic guide who spoke perfect English. We saw many parts not seen by the short tour, including the theatre where the prisoners would put on plays and shows, the French tunnel, the exercise field and the old chapel. Artefacts and evidence of escapes were being unearthed all the time, including hidden uniforms and radio sets; we bought a leaflet recording some of the successful (home runs!) and not-so-successful escape attempts. The campsite was fairly small but had good facilities and a very friendly owner, and was also next door to a public outdoor pool – handy for hot days!
With the weather unsettled we moved on, stopping at a small site near Wetzlar. Unfortunately the owner had recently died and one of the residents was standing in for him, so we were able to stay overnight – we are not sure if it will stay open in the future as he spoke no English and our German is very basic.
We carried on to Trier, near the Luxembourg border, which is one of the oldest towns in Germany and proud possessor of many Roman sites as an amphitheatre and 2 baths! There were quite a few sites in the area; we ended up on Camping Konz about 6 kilometres from the town centre. The owners were friendly and facilities clean, if limited, but there was very little space for tourers. We cycled past Camping Treviris the next day, about 2 kilometres from the town, and spotted a motor home Stellplatz next door, perhaps that might have been more convenient for a short stay but the cycle ride was enjoyable anyway – it was all flat! Trier was a busy little place, with good shopping, and we toured the Roman sites, bumping into a very nice British coach driver who had his hands full with a coach-load of school children and was desperate for a chat with an adult!
Trying to get out of Trier was a bit of a trial – more road-works had shut the very road we needed to use – but we set off for our penultimate stop at Vianden in Luxembourg. We’d plucked this out of the air (husband needed a Geocache in Luxembourg), and were pleasantly surprised as to how nice both the site and town were. The site was beside a river, with no extra charge for a change, and had very nice facilities (though no loo-rolls!). Vianden had a gorgeous castle perched above the town, lots of history and plenty of cafes, as well as a Victor Hugo museum (Les Miserables – can’t wait for the Hugh Jackman/ Russell Crowe film coming out next January!). We spent a day looking at the castle and sitting out in the sun having lunch, and another walking around a circular footpath up in the hills and around the river and reservoir - the footpath map (3 Euros from the Tourist Information centre) was well worth it. The town was very popular, especially with motor-bikers; in fact we spotted a group of Hell’s Angels we’d followed in Trier!
A longer drive to our final stop in Bruges, where we stayed at Camping Memling. We’d used this a few times before and were interested to see how it had changed – a new toilet block was being finished off when we stayed in mid-July (badly needed!), and there seemed to slightly more organisation, though motor homes are put on smallish hard-standing pitches unless you upgrade. It is handy for Bruges though, with a regular bus service around the corner and near enough to cycle if you wish. A couple of days mooching around Bruges, including the obligatory moules and frites, and we were ready for the trip home. Where had the 12 weeks gone – time to read through this again and remind ourselves of all our adventures!
pictures attached were:
Lake Bled - beautiful!
Tallin old town - beautiful too, though full of tourists!
Our Jubilee celebration wih our campsite hosts
Kuldiga waterfall - the widest in europe
Colditz Castle - poignant and fascinating
Comments
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Phew ! thats quite a read ! but enjoyable. Sounds like you have had a great adventure. We have done some of the more southern eastern block countries, they really are an eye opener, the way people live, the sights sounds and smells.... and the food can be
wonderful ......
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Glad you enjoyed reading about our extended trip - we wrote it as we went along, so as not to forget anything! We'll definitely return to Slovenia, and hopefully the Baltic states, in the future, and explore farther south too..
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Many thanks for sharing your experiences. I printed it off and read at leisure. It's very well written and very informative. Being fairly interested in travelling further afield to those parts - we are well acquainted with western Poland, Hungary, Slovenia,
Croatia and Czech Rep - I searched Tallinn on here and came across your story.A great experience for you despite the odd hiccups - for instance, being confronted by hoards of travellers (of any country) always fills me with dread. As a caravanner, though, I am wondering if the hit-and-miss nature of site availabilty - and suitability
- in some parts makes caravanning rather more tricky. It's somewhat easier for a motorvan to hide somewhere for an emergency night halt.
Thanks again
Paul0
