Europe 2019

April - June 2019
A new trip by Motorhome in 2019
  • 51footprints
  • 19countries
  • -days
  • 288photos
  • 0videos
  • 47.4kkilometers
  • 37.8kkilometers
  • Flying away - day 1

    April 11, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    Our trip to Auckland went well. Jody took a plane on Thursday night and I took 2 buses and we were there in plenty of time. We had originally booked a plane that went through Bali and left earlier, but that got cancelled. We had selected our seats ages ago, but the new plane was a different design, so we didn’t get our 2 aisle seats that we wanted, tho I got one. Jody was more relaxed than I would have been about being 1 seat in, and there was a nice lady on the other side of her, and we ended up having a great flight. Both slept a bit, watched some movies, ate some food that was just fine. It was a bit odd tho that we got dinner around 10pm NZ time, and then they gave up breakfast at about 11am NZ time. We were both pretty hungry by then!Read more

  • Dubai arrival - day 2

    April 13, 2019 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We arrived at 5.30am feeling pretty good. Dubai airport took a long time to get through, but most of that was because we walked a long way. When we were supposed to arrive at midnight on our initial flight, we booked a non-cancellable hotel close to the airport. So we still used that to have a wee sleep before being able to check into our other one. They upgraded us to a 3 room suite with 2 bathrooms and a big bath. It would have been great to have that the whole time we were here. Neither of us slept for very long – maybe an hour, but it was great to have a lie down and a nice shower.

    Our 2nd hotel is around 800m from the Dubai Mall, but the room is much smaller being just one room with 2 single beds close together. But we chose it for the location which is great. We got all checked in around midday, and then really needed some food, so went off to the mall. It is still as huge as I remembered! Had a nice mixed grill thing for lunch, and found the supermarket for the yummy passionfruit that I had in South America. The aquarium is spectacular in the mall with sharks and lot of different rays.

    Before I came here I had googled different things to do. The global village looked good, but that was closing before I arrived. But, it had an extension so the last day was now today. So after recovering from our mall visit – feeling a bit jaded by then – we jumped into taxi and set off.

    As we were leaving the clouds were looking threatening so we put on light jackets, and my umbrella. It took 40 mins to get there, and by that time there was quite a bit of rain. The village was a bit like Epcot in Orlando. Lots of different countries had an entrances off the central area, and there were lots of culture specific foods and products. We went into several; Yemin, Turkey, Iran, South Africa but by that stage the rain was quite heavy with lots of thunder and lightening. Some of the cobble areas were a bit slippery, and lots of women walking around with their long black dresses getting wet at the bottom. I was surprised at all the honey stalls in Yemin, I had no idea that was a product from there, and loads of different varieties. The vendors were quite pushy about getting us to try the honey. I bought some dried fruit in Turkey, and at another stall just wanted a couple of figs, so held up 2 fingers. The man said 2 kilos? And I said no just 2. I think he was a bit disgusted about that, so gave me 2 figs and wandered off. They were very nice, maybe I should have got 2 kgs…. So after about 1.5 hours, we bailed. It was starting to get dark, and was getting harder to keep track of each other in the rain as it was mainly outside. We were pleased that we went to see it, and could have spent a long time going into all the countries, but in reality we had arrived that morning, hadn’t had a lot of sleep and weren’t really up to investigating it until the 3am that it was open to.

    So then took a taxi back to the mall because I seem to have managed to lose my cell phone charger cord. Very annoying as I am normally careful about that, and remember putting it into a snap lock back – just can’t find that particular bag. Lucky to have lost it when we were close to a mall that sells absolutely everything! We were feeling a bit wet – Jody’s denim shorts were soaked. So we watched 2 of the fountain shows, and then made our way back to the motel. I had vege sticks and watermelon for tea. Jody had a Macca's burger and chips (she could join our team in Tok!). She has been having trouble with cramp, so wanted some salt.

    We now have an exciting excursion planned on Monday which is different to what we were going to do, and we are both pretty excited about – must be for me to put excited twice in one sentence! More news about that later….
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  • Dubai - day 3

    April 14, 2019 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    After a nice relaxing morning just chilling out, we finally managed to get organised to take the hotel shuttle to the old part of Dubai at 10.45. We had thought we would need to take a taxi back, but the shuttle driver said he was coming back at 3pm, so that sounded great. We have had a bit of a problem working how much money we would need here, so saving some seemed like a mighty fine idea.

    It was nice walking through the old souks – some pretty amazing flowers, some of which were edible. Then I showed interest in some scarves – not always a good idea to show interest unless you want to be captured. So I bought 1 scarf there. Then we got stuck in a spices shop which had dried fruit – it was fun trying to guess what fruit they were, the avocado got us stumped. They also had various dried teas, so we had to buy some to test out in the motorhome. The price was 1 dirham per gram, ie about 40 cents. We decided then that we really did need to get some more cash, and found some ATMs by a bank. It took a while to persuade one to give up cash – didn’t like mastercard, but Jody had success with a Visa.

    Then we took the little boat across the Dubai Creek and headed for the gold souk. I did get some gold chains shown to me, but decided against them – around $500 NZ for the one I liked. But later on I found a nice gold plated chain, and Jody bought a cute little silver fish and necklace. Then it was back on another wee boat, and we had lunch river side. The lamb was really tender – I quite like this sort of food, nice spicy tender meat with rice, yoghurt and chutney.

    On the way back to the shuttle, we ended up in another shop as I wanted to buy some nuts. We tried more dried fruit there, and this shop owner was way less pushy and also sold scarves. We ended up buying 2 each, and liked the same ones, so just bought the same. Not likely that I will be going out to the same places as Jody with the same scarf.

    Back at the hotel we had a bit of a quiet time, and then went down to check out the pool. It was quite windy, and not super hot. Jody had a swim, but I didn’t bother. Then it was back to the Dubai mall again for dinner and watching the fountain show. We think by tomorrow we might have cracked the code for how to get out of the mall, and are getting better at finding our way around. Though this evening we ended up in the Fashion Avenue which I hadn’t seen before. That is the quickest exit to get back to our hotel.

    On the way our tonight there was a open top black rolls Royce with orange seats outside the hotel that we just had to admire. Then Jody asked if they were on their way to the mall? Hmmm, yep the answer was no!

    We have to get up at 3.30am tomorrow ready for our special excursion. Am hoping to have some pretty great pics to share with you all from that.
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  • Dubai - day 4

    April 15, 2019 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    We both had a pretty crap night’s sleep, but still had to wake with the alarm at 3.30am for our early morning pickup to go chasing the sunrise in a hot air balloon! This wasn’t something that we had intended to do, but I had a lovely present from a friend with instructions to do something special with it, and Jody was keen as mustard so off we went.

    The drive took about an hour, and then it was very exciting watching our balloon being inflated along with 3 others. Jody asked our pilot where he was from (expecting it to be South Africa), and he was from NZ, and from Hamilton of course – used to own a hot air balloon company there and is involved in the Flying High for Kids World Balloon Project in the off season. We got good instructions for how to get into the basket, and when it was time piled on in. There were 4 sections in the basket, and about 6 of us in each section. Jody did well getting in first as we were very close to the handler with the falcon who was joining us on the flight.

    Neither of us had been up in a balloon before, and it was every bit as good as we had hoped. It was a bit windy, and conditions were perfect for us to fly across the whole of the conservation area. We did that at different heights, and could see different animals running around below us. The view of the sun coming up over the mountains in Oman was spectacular, and we got some great pics of a balloon eclipse as one of the other balloons was between us and the sun. The falcon was released to have a fly around, and then came back to the handler – Peter. Peter owns the falcon company, and explained to us how it came about that the falcons were part of the flight – sounds like just in the right place at the right time with the ruling Sheiks brother. There were falcons on the other 3 balloons as well, but they couldn’t be let off to fly at the same time as ‘they don’t like each other!’. Apparently in the wild falcons only fly for a few minutes each day. They are trained when really hungry, and don’t have a sense of bonding or loyalty with their handlers, they just respond to the fact that that person gives them the food. After returning to the Peter, he fed raw quail from his hand for the remainder of the flight.

    The flight took an hour, and we travelled around 20kms. The landing was pretty interesting though – apparently when it is under 10kms, the basket will stay upright on landing. With the wind at 20kms today, that was pretty windy apparently. Our pilot did a great job, we bounced a couple of times and were pleased we had obeyed the instructions for how we should stand ie knees bent, pulling back on the handholds, but it was quite rough. Then we stayed upside down for a while until we all eventually managed to extricate ourselves. So we missed the sight of the other balloon that didn’t land as well and ended up draped over a fence, and nearly on a building.

    Then we were taken to a camp and had breakfast which was just ok. I didn’t try the caviar, but the eggs and rice were quite nice. Then we were off in 1950’s jeeps for a wildlife safari. Our guide told us a bit about the plants in the area, and we saw quite a few onyx on the way. But this was pretty low key after the excitement of the ride. After that we were back in car on the way to the hotel – very surprised to realise that it was only 10am and were back at motel by 11.30.

    So then it was packing time as we have an early flight in the morning. We managed to do that and then chilled out for several hours until it was time for the hotel shuttle to take us to the beach. That was a great decision. I tried out a step paddle board, and was surprised at how hard it was. With a normal paddle board you use all of your body to power it, and can stop and have a rest if you want. With the step paddle board, you only really used your legs, and had to step constantly. The handlebars were a bit wobbly, so it didn’t pay to stop. I didn’t quite last out the full 30 mins (actually quite a bit less….). I had a nice swim after that, and then we went for a walk along the lovely boardwalk. The whole beach area had a great boardwalk and heaps of eateries. It would be a great place to stay with family. They also did gourmet gelattos which we couldn’t go past.

    After being at the beach for a couple of hours we caught the hotel shuttle back – it is very convenient having shuttles that go to the major places, and saves on taxi fares. The shuttle stopped at the Dubai Mall on the way back to the hotel, so we got off there and went to the restaurant that we had spied with a good view of the fountains. When we were seated I walked around the balcony a bit, and found that the next restaurant had an even better view. So we jumped ship and had a lovely meal at Todd English Food Hall. We watched 3 fountain shows which were pretty good, but it was a shame that in the 3 nights we had been watching, we only had one where we knew the song – Whitney Houston, I will always love you.

    So then it was time for our final walk back to the hotel – we have gotten pretty good at finding out way back by now. So a pretty big day after getting up at 3.30 am. Early tomorrow as well – 5.30am so can catch our plane to Rome.
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  • Dubai/Rome/Poggibonsi - day 5

    April 16, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We seem to both be a bit paranoid about being late for flights, so checked how long the taxi would take – possibly up to an hour. So we got up at 5.30, ready for the taxi on time at 6.15, and were at the airport by……..6.30! What time did we need to be there? 7.40. But, both of us were happy with that.

    Once on the plane we did have our 2 aisle seats next to each other. But when I went to sit down, the lady next to me asked if I would swap with her husband who had an aisle seat on the other side of the plane. I agreed to that (she got me on a nice Fiona day!), but then when I went to my new seat there was a kerfuffle about a double booking. So I said I am not interested in swapping a seat which is double booked. The cabin crew then got a bit confused as to who actually was booked in the seat, but finally solved it, and then I stayed nice Fiona and sat in the new seat. It was a 6 hour flight which went smoothly, and we arrived at Roma.

    Again because we don’t like missing flights or trains, we had factored in a possible flight delay, so we then had a 2 hour wait at the airport before we could catch our first train into Rome, then 20 mins to find our train to Florence, and then it was a very short 10 mins to try and find the platform for our final train to Poggibonsi. We weren’t quite sure how we would work out when we needed to get off the train, but the helpful train guard spoke English, and had an ipad with the route on it that Jody took a picture of. It was a short walk from the train to a restaurant, and we had our first authentic Italian meal which was really nice. Jody ordered a glass of wine which came in a little jug, and was 250mls for $3 NZ. I had bruschetta, and beef cooked with red wine and pepper and peas. Oh yes, Jody did have some food with that wine – lasagne.

    After our meal we asked for a taxi. I had thought it might be a bit of an issue to get one, so was great for the restaurant owner to try for me. He rang 4 different individuals to try and get one, and we had a choice of 20 euros with a 40 min wait, or 30 euros for now. Of course we chose now! So off to Hotel Semifonte which was a bit average, but lovely and warm. Quite a bit chillier here than it was in Dubai.
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  • Nico and San Gimignano - day 6

    April 17, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Today was a very big and exciting day. We were picked up from our hotel (after a mediocre breakfast) at around 9am and got introduced to our motorhome for the next 30 days which we have called Nico. Nico is supposed to be a 6 berth, but Jody and I will be very happy that there is only 2 of us as we can’t quite work out how everyone could get past each other if there were 6 people staying. Nico is quite a bit bigger than my last motorhome hire, and I have to be careful when going around corners.

    First stop was PAMS where we loaded up with some shopping. Italian supermarkets are quite interesting, and it took us a while and a couple of extra trips back for things we had forgotten. We loaded up with water – around 20 litres, and got 1 pack of fizzy water for Jody. Of course later on we realised I had made a mistake and it was all fizzy, bummer! Lunch was strawberries and focaccia. Then we went to Decathlon in Sienna where we found a very helpful young man man who sold us bikes, and got them all set up. I love the colour of them – fluoro green, so easy to find. We might have both bought a few additional things in Decathlon, my jacket purchasing must be contagious as Jody bought 2.

    We had a bit of trouble trying to find the campsite that we wanted to stay at, but posted a message on the Justgo facebook page, and had several replies very quickly with links to the campsite. This campsite is near San Gimignano, and is quite nice tho it was a tight squeeze to get into the pitch – I think Nico is higher than Bob was as well with a luton at the front. We had a vague tidy up, and then went off biking into San Gimignano which is about 2kms away. Oh my golly what a lovely wee town this is. It is a UNESCO site, and I have wanted to visit it before, so pleased that I have now. It was good that we had the bikes with us, as it made it a bit harder to go into each shop and spend some money. We hadn’t taken our bike locks, so just watched the bikes for each other when we went investigating.

    The views over the valley are amazing. It is up on a hill, so we walked part of the way there with the bikes, specially where there were lots of people. But the bike back again was lots of fun with big downhills. Before we went out we were feeling a bit tired – quite hard work mentally navigating Nico on quite narrow roads – but by the time we came back we were both feeling invigorated.

    Jody cooked up scrummy chicken for dinner which we had with a salad. It is our intention to try and prepare most of our food, and the cooking facilities in Nico are pretty good.

    We haven’t quite decided what we are doing tomorrow. Jody has the map out which is a start. I am tempted to buy a leather jacket in Florence, and Jody wants a bag. We both love Florence, so may well get there. But, conscious of all the other places that we want to visit.
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  • San Gimignano and Firenze - day 7

    April 18, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Our day started with focaccia from the campsite restaurant with scrumptious tomatoes – why do they always taste better in Italy? - and doing our washing (I was down to my last pair of sox and knickers (just in case anyone wanted to know!). Then we got on our bikes, and headed back to San Gimignano. We went the long way up the hill, and managed to bike all the way. This time we remembered our bike locks, so chained them to a tree, and walked into the town. Jodie found a stunning wine glass in a ceramic shop – they had the most beautiful ceramic table tops. Then we found the markets, and got a wee bit carried away – who could go past pure linen tops for 10 euros? Not us, that’s for sure. We had to check out by midday, so didn’t spend quite as long in the markets as we would have liked, but that was probably a good thing. The ride back to the campsite was lovely again – biking around here certainly perks me up. Then it was up to Nico to carry us away again.

    Next stop was Pams supermarket again in Poggibonsi. We wanted to get some levelling blocks for Nico, but the shop next to Pams had lunch from 1 to 3.30 and was closed, so we lost our enthusiasm and went on our way after getting a clothes drying rack, washing bucket and some still water. We have a really good garage in Nico, the 2 bikes fit in easily if we want, and found today that we could leave an entire drying rack up. That will make drying clothes a bit easier. Then we set off for Lucca which is meant to be amazing.

    The drive went quite smoothly until we met our first toll station. I had warned Jody that these weren’t always plain sailing, but I don’t think she was mentally prepared for the trauma. We elected to choose the lane to pay by card, and that’s when the fun started. It wasn’t really that clear where to put the ticket, so Jody put in her credit card first. Then a man’s voice came over the intercom basically saying ‘what are you doing!’. Jody asked him if he spoke English, and the answer was no. But he managed to give a bit of help, and she managed to get the ticket in a place that just looked like a box to me, and then put credit card in the same box and then the gate opened. Needless to say at the next toll gate we chose the cash option, and there was a person sitting in the booth who could have helped us if we had problems. We did notice the wind a bit – Nico is pretty high and large in front with the luton, so hopefully we won’t be driving on any really windy days.

    While we were driving both of us lost our sense of direction, and wondered where the GPS was taking us – it felt like we were going closer to Florence than Lucca. So we stopped to check the GPS, and it was taking us on main highways, but yes we were going close to Florence. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we both decided that we loved Florence, and as we were so close then maybe we should stay there for the night, so we did!

    We got to our pitch about 3.45, and there was a shuttle into the city at 4.30. That was about the time I realised that I must have left my sunglasses somewhere, as they were nowhere to be found. But we put the washing in the sun for a while, got our bags ready, and were on time for the shuttle. It was fun walking around Firenze, and I got to see my favourite places. The lindt shop beside the Duomo is always easy to find, and we had a gelato there as well just taking in the lovely view. Just such an amazing structure. We had looked in a few shops for bags and jackets on the way, but I had in mind the road full of shops where they make their own jackets. When we found that road, I went into 1 shop and found a really nice jacket there for 150 euros. I asked him to keep hold of it and I might be back. Then I went to the next shop, and found the perfect jacket – similar to the style of my red one at home. The listed price was 445 euros. But by the time he had convinced Jody to get one as well, we paid 320 euros for 2 jackets. We were both very pleased with our purchases, and put them on straight away as it had got a bit cooler.

    Then it was off to Mercato for dinner. That is a bit like the Stables in Auckland, but much bigger, and much noisier. I have figured out why I like Italians so much. It is because they are never reserved, and larger than life. Earlier today we were in a shop, and the older man and woman were having an argument very loudly across the shop. A middleage man then asked them to ssssh, which they totally ignored. Then he started saying something like customers in the shop, but they still ignored that. I think it was their son, and found it hilarious. There is always something loud going on. We had a lovely meal of Tuscan stew with roasted potatoes and grilled veges. We shared the 3 plates which was plenty for both of us. After dinner we tried to catch a taxi, but ended up walking to the train station where there was a long line of people waiting. I then googled it cos there was something in my memory banks – and yes, you can’t flag down taxis in Italy, good to know.

    So now back in Nico at 10pm preparing for bed. We don’t have to check out tomorrow until 2pm, so plan to bike the 5kms into Firenze for breakfast. I mentioned biking up to Fiesole, and Jody thought she could be quite good support crew, ie waiting at the bottom for me to come back down and to take a video. After that we hope to get to Lucca! Being Easter weekend we are a bit concerned about finding a campground with a vacancy.
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  • Firenze and Lucca - day 8

    April 19, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    What a fun day today. We had tomatoes, avocado and basil on toast for breakfast, washed our towels (5 euros in the machine, and I had to ask for a bit of help, towels were very well washed as I put some washing liquid in, and it also added some automatically). Then we biked into Firenze on a lovely path by the river. I might have suggested we walk up the hill at some stage where it was really steep, but we managed it. We biked into the main centre, had to visit a pharmacy where I replaced the items I left in the shower in San Gimignano (though I have found my missing sunglasses). Then we headed for the Uffizi gallery to have a look at the David. Jody had stayed near this Piazza before, so knew there was a leather bag market around the corner, so of course we went to visit it. We did laugh a bit when we realised it was the same market that we had visited last night. And it was a sucessful trip – 2 bags and 2 glasses cases. Then it was off to raid a restaurant so we could use their toilets. So pleased to be travelling with a like minded person who is just fine with using the mens toilets – tho the man waiting for her didn’t seem to be so impressed.

    Then we went back to our bikes and realised we had chained them right next to a chocolate shop that I hadn’t been in before – Venchi. There was flowing chocolate running down one wall, and the chocolate was possibly even better than Lindt. We might have had an icecream as well as purchasing just a couple of chocolates (who am I kidding, who could get just a couple?). Then it was back on our bikes to get back to the camping ground. After getting ourselves organised packing away washing, having chicken wraps for lunch etc, it was 3pm – close to the required checkout of 2pm. I introduced Jody to the fun of filling water, emptying grey water, and the toilet cassette which went off without a hitch.

    Then it was on the road to Lucca, but we had to make a stop at IKEA first. I hadn’t been to that store before, and am thinking it is worth another visit. We bought some chairs, and a duvet for me. Oh and a stool, key holder, and could have bought so many other useful things. We intended to stop at a store like a mitre 10 on the way out of that shopping area, but only had a right hand turn, so couldn’t go back. I just stopped on the side of the road waiting for a decision point between 2 motorways while Jody got googlemaps. organised for where we were supposed to be going – that should have made me wary for the future! Then at the 2 toll stations we went through, Jody handled like a pro. Not sure that she is going to choose the card option any time soon tho.

    So about that future,….. Jody initially put in Lucca has the destination, and then when we were on the motorway she put in the actual address for the camping ground. Googlemaps sent us through the city walls of Lucca, and I stopped there for a few minutes cos it looked like only vehicles under 3m should go through, and Nico is 3.2m high. After a fair bit of car tooting behind us, we folded in the wing mirrors, and went through. Oh my golly, was that a bad decision. There wasn’t really anywhere to turn around, so we just kept on going, narrow streets, loads of tourists, gesticulating italians, and tight corners. I was just hoping that we weren’t going to find a height restricted exit, and that we were going to have to reverse the whole way back! Jody was watching the people around, and saying we were lost. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone, and just kept driving – though pretty slowly, why wouldn’t the tourists just get out of the way? We ended up in the main Piazza, so stopped in the middle and checked googlemaps. It seemed that it was still directing us to the middle of Lucca. So we set it for the campground address, and finally found out way out of the city centre – that was just such a relief! It took a while to get to the campground through some more narrow streets, but at least there were other vehicles around so we thought we were allowed there. I have googled ZLTs since then – Zone Limited areas, and will be expecting some sort of ticket in the mail in the future.

    The campsite is pretty basic, but there are lots of motorhomes here. There are 6 mhs owned by Danish people, and they have set up tables in a line. They invited us to join them, but really after that experience, we were heading for the wine, limoncello and chocolate! Jody cooked some sausages for dinner which were nice with salad. Then we reviewed the videos that she had taken, and after a bit of alcohol they just kept getting funnier. We really should have taken the most of the opportunity with lots of pics, but at the time we just wanted to get out.

    While I am typing this, Jody is reading people’s comments on her fb posts, and I am a bit worried that she will be wetting her pants – lucky we have a mine and her side of the table… she can do what she likes over there!

    We have booked 2 nights here – need to get over the trauma of today before I drive again. And with it being Easter, we knew there might be a bit of an issue finding places to camp. Lucca is supposed to be wonderful, but another Just Go camper had theirs broken into in a public carpark here which is why we have chosen to stay in a camp ground instead of just passing through and using the public carpark for the day.
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  • Lucca and opera - day 9

    April 20, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Fine and 23 degrees

    Well I kind of prefer a clean towel, but…. so we washed all the towels yesterday except for Jody’s. Last night she kindly handed me a new towel. When I showered this morning I thought it smelt a bit off, and then when Jody was searching for her towel realised that yes, she had given me her manky old one that she had been using for days. Good times! Not a great morning for her in the cognitive stakes. She boiled the kettle, so I made her a cup of tea. Then she got a bit confused at the number of cups on the table – yep, she had already made herself one! Am hoping the day gets better…..

    After handwashing some clothes and doing our dishes and mucking around a bit, we didn’t head off on our bikes until around 10.30am. First stop was riding around the walls of Lucca – 5km circle. Lots of people walking, running and riding around the walls. On the outside of the walls was a huge area of grass with walking/biking tracks. Lots of people were walking their dogs there. We spied a market from the top of the walls, and thought we would head for there. But sort of got distracted by realising that we were by the entrance that we took Nico through last night. So we retraced our steps on the bikes – by golly we were lucky not to meet cars coming the other way with Nico. We found another market and had a look around there. And then were a bit hungry, so found somewhere to eat. Roz keeps telling me I have to try fresh pasta, so thought this place might be good. Hmmm, no-one else came in there to eat while we were there, and the pasta took forever and something went in the micorwave. Well it was edible, and not too bad, but won’t be going there again!

    One of Jody’s friends had suggested a Puccini opera that was on every night in Lucca. Puccini was born here, but it was only 80 years after his death that he was being celebrated here. We asked a number of places where this place was for the opera, and got sent all around the place. A couple of people said there are a hundred churches in Lucca, so we can’t know where they all are. In the end, we just had enough and decided to go and find the first markets that we saw from the wall. Lo and behold, the markets were beside the info centre that sold tickets to the opera – phew! So we bought them, and then went back to Nico – about a 3km bike ride.

    Jody retreated to her bed for a wee rest, but I thought I should go and investigate around the area on my bike seeing as we will be leaving tomorrow. About 400m down there road there was a stopbank, and a river on the other side. I rode the wrong way down the one way street by the river (bikes just go anywhere here!), and then round various tracks. I found a gorgeous spot by a bridge with the river going over a wee dam. Lots of people were walking and swimming dogs here. Then I went further and found the enormous carpark that we had been warned against. There were quite a few motorhomes parked in here.

    Then back to Nico where I made a yummy salad with bacon and egg in it. Then back on the bikes and off to town for the Opera. It isn’t something that I would normally do, but was rather interesting. There were a male and female singer with just 1 pianist who was amazing. It was held in a church, and it was rather cool in there but with great acoustics. It was just over an hour long which was good. And when we came out at 8.20pm it was only just getting dark, so we hightailed it back to Nico as we only had 1 bike light between us.

    So tomorrow we are intending to leave Italy – it has only taken us 5 days, we thought it might take a lot longer. We both love Italy, the shopping and scenery is amazing. But I am looking forward to going places that I haven’t been before. We have about a 5 hour drive, and will be going through lots of tolls, but Jody seems to have that pretty sussed now – as long as we use cash anyway!

    Ciao ciao ciao!
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  • Big drive and Visp - day 10

    April 21, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Fine, 22 degrees

    We got up early – ie around 7am, but by the time we changed the water etc in Nico, picked up our fresh warm ciabatta and ate it, we didn’t leave until 9am. We were keen to stock up on supplies before we left Italy, but hadn’t factored in it being Easter Sunday and everything was closed. We do have a reasonable amount of food and water, so should be fine. Then we were off for our 5 hour drive to Visp – hmmmmm, how come we didn’t arrive until 5pm? The first part of the drive was on motorways that weren’t straight, and had loads of tunnels. We went up the west coast a bit, past Genova, then past Milan and the motorway got a lot better then, and I could use cruise control. We stopped for gas twice, and once in an Aire for lunch. After we drove past Lake Maggiore (which looked stunning), the roads got a lot narrower, and were pretty bumpy. Going through the Swiss border was a non event, we stopped as it looked like we should, but then had to ask a guard whether we needed to do anything, and he said no just go.

    I was a bit nervous about driving in Switzerland in case I got caught up a mountain. Jody did point out earlier today that we would have to go over a mountain pass, and we certainly did. It was sooo picturesque and I would have loved to stop and take some pictures. But we were both feeling rather tired, so just kept going. The road wasn’t too bad, but I did pull over many times to let cars go past. It was more of an issue going down, with a 10% gradient at times. I was very aware of how heavy Nico is, and how wide he swings on the corners, so was pretty careful.

    Our campground in Visp is just amazing. The pitches are on grass, and it is a short bike ride to the town centre. When we arrived, we were both very tired – I even had a wee lie down which is not like me, but I had been concentrating very hard for most of the day. Jody got keen though and hooked up the electric, took our bikes off the back, and encouraged me to go out for a ride. We sussed out where the train is that we will walk to in the morning, and found a Coop that was open for us to buy some meat, veges and fruit for dinner. Jody whizzed up some yummy hamburgers and we should be in bed early.

    Tomorrow we are intending to take the train to Zermatt which is a non car town at the foot of the famous Matterhorn. We should have loads of wonderful photos from that.
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