Meandering East

Our family of three travelled in our off-grid camper, slowly making our way East, literally and metaphorically. Currently static in Al Andalus. For now. Taking in the history and learning a bit about natural farming. Read more

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Meandering East Traveler
Sheikh Mirleft
April 28, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We trekked to the coastal towns of Sidi Ifni and Mirleft, only to find it was foggy and raining. We drove along the amazing relatively unspoilt coastline and liked this fishing village, Sheikh Mirleft, with mosque on the beach, tiny boutique hotel, cafe and mountain-cave on the beach.Read more
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Tafraoute
April 29, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We spent a week in Tafraoute having some ‘petit reparations de campingcar’! We had been recommended a garage here: Chez Mohammed Farih who has spent years working on old Mercedes vehicles. We made a friend who was having his 508d restored, we got sick, spent the night at the blue rocks. Amazing journey into and out of the town, stunning landscape.Read more
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Taghazout
May 8, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
A fellow traveller suggested Taghazout would be a nice quiet place to stop for Ramadan, and bonus would be a beach which is somebody’s favourite. Winding our way through Aourir and Tamraght, we went to take a look. With a hippy surfer feel and some lovely beach coves, it made a nice change but it also came with a price tag. Plus they were digging up the entire stretch of coast to build a resort. We stayed a few days playing on the beach and enjoyed watching the fishing boats bring their catch in, then headed on to meet the parents.Read more
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Taroudant
May 10, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Named the mini Marrakech, we met my dad and his partner here and stayed in the lovely Riad Dar Dzahara for a few nights. The Riad was a calm oasis right in the centre of the bussling medina. We ate tagine, wandered the souks and explored the city in horse and cart, interspersed with screaming toddler tantrums.Read more
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Sidi Kaouki
May 18, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
On Vandogtraveller’s recommendation we made our way to Sidi Kaouki, a sleepy surfers’ beach with a few surf shacks and a couple of hotels and uninspiring campsites. Loads of winkles and mussels to be found in the rock pools. Saw a man who had been fishing in a rubber ring he had made himself. Tagan learnt to surf. He’s a natural.Read more
Traveler Yes that’s a donkey nibbling through the rubbish :(
5/21/18Reply
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Essaouira
May 21, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Driving up the coast we arrived at Essaouira which is a relaxed coastal port with camels and horses on the beach, fish market and a Spanish feel to the old medina. Shame the campsite was filthy.
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Marrakech
May 28, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Marrakech was difficult with a toddler, as we presumed but we braved the souk and main square and arrived in time to hear Call to prayer at Koutoubia mosque, where thousands gathered to pray at Ramadan. The Cyber gardens killed a good couple of hours as the little one was able to run off some steam in amongst the tropical plants. We headed to a campsite on the edge of the city the Relais de Marrakech which turned out to be a lovely oasis of tropical calm where H learnt to swim with two young Dutch ladies on holiday. We set off from here North to catch our ferry to Italy.Read more
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Assilah
June 3, 2018 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Assilah was where we said goodbye to Morocco. We played on the beach, wandered in the pretty medina and roughed our last minging campsite. We knew we would miss this country.
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Genoa
June 7, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 21 °C
After three days on a boat from Tanger we arrived in the luscious green of North Italy and cut straight through the mountains and headed for Lake Garda.
Traveler This melts my heart 💔
6/13/18Reply
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Lake Garda
June 8, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
We spent a lovely day in Desenzano on Lake Garda with Tagans cousin and family before making the journey to Venice.
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Venice
June 8, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
We parked in an industrial car park in Port Marghera on the mainland and got the train to Venice. Venice was beautiful and quite fantasy like and we spent the day getting fed up with lifting the buggy up bridge steps. After ferrying up and down the grand canal on the water bus we found a much needed kids play park! We stayed another night on camping Fuseta an architect designed campsite built in 1960 with views of Venice over the lagoon. MosquitosRead more
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The Lim, Rovinj and Preluk
June 11, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We did some shopping in Koper in Slovenia, where everyone was very stern and took themselves very seriously, before heading down the coast into Croatia. We camped the first night at the Lim, a fish farm inlet, with bat cave, where we got eaten alive by mosquitoes. We then spent the day in Rovinj (a laid back Venice) before parking up at dusk at Preluk, a beautiful bay of crystal clear waters, watching the twinkling lights of Volosko over the bay. First impressions of Croatia: beautiful lush green scenery, too many rules.Read more
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Nin beach
June 14, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
We spent the night on a very windy Nin beach: a marshy landscape with sandy spits, long stretches of shallow water great for paddling, with an unbelievable snow topped mountain range in the background. It felt like those pictures you see of Norway. We didn’t stay long because the wind whipped the sand in our faces, but we watched some epic kite surfing in the huge bay before we headed to Zadar to get on a boat to one of the Islands.Read more
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Dugi Otok
June 15, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
Dugi Otok is one of the more remote islands - it took nearly two hours by boat from Zadar. We arrived in the afternoon and headed straight to camp Kargita at the north of the island by the famous lighthouse at Veli Rat. It was a beautiful setting, with camp ground right on the rocky beach and only a handful of campers there. Hayyan got very brave in the water, swimming under and going out of his depth. We stayed a night before setting off to explore the island in the camper. Apart from a few small harbour towns the island was very uninhabited yet from the middle of the island you could see beautiful untouched beaches along all the coastline. We spent the night parked up near the church in Sali where we had a pizza and bought fishing equipment, and then discovered online a remote beach: Mala Voda. When we drove down the steep hill to the beach we found only a few fishing boats and a few mainly Croatian families on holiday who frequented the beach. It was truly desert island stuff and we camped here for two nights swimming, sunbathing and looking for treasure.Read more
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Broderica
June 19, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
We stayed on Camp Sani here in Broderica for a one night pit stop to wash bodies, clothes, and fill up and empty water before meeting uncle Tony in Split. This was a lovely small affordable family run campsite, five minutes walk to a little harbour and beach with beach bar guesthouse. The bay was calm and the water crystal clear and we discovered sea urchins and giant muscles and H learnt to use a water gun and nearly mastered the pedals on an old go-Cart. We loved the stretch of coast and fairly empty beaches and coves between Rogoznica and Vinisce- a bit of a backwater as the main highway cuts off this corner.Read more
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Split
June 20, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Uncle Tony was staying in Split for three nights in a hotel then we had planned to drive down the coast and he to leave from Dubrovnik seven days later. We stayed in various car parks in the the Marjan Hill area of Split in the archaeology museum car park, Jezinac beach and Kasjuni beach, while Tony stayed in the old town. We wandered the old town together, explored the Diocletian Palace and attempted a city beach swim which got disrupted by the throngs of beach goers as it turned out to be a public holiday celebrating Anti-fascism. Strangely we bumped into two separate Croatian people who remembered us from Los Canos de Meca in Spain.Read more
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Makarska riviera
June 23, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We drove with Tony on board along the coast, next stop Camping Makarska Riviera. We stopped and shopped in the picturesque town of Omis on the river, before pitching up at the large campsite among the pine trees on a fairly commercial stretch of beach. We enjoyed eating ice-cream, watching the sun set and riding the train in the evening along the 4km stretch of coast to the centre of town and back. The following day we attempted to trek to Nugal Beach from Tucepi but found the coastal path was not suitable for a toddler or a 70 year old so we sped on and were glad we did as the next stop was awesome.Read more
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Luka, Trpanj
June 24, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We planned another stop between Makarska and Dubrovnik and quite randomly decided to try somewhere on the peninsula and picked a reasonably priced campsite on a beach near the town of Trpanj. The quickest way to get there was car ferry from Ploce on the mainland so we boarded the three o’clock. We had a hunch it might be less crowded, commercial and built up on this peninsula but we were blown away with this choice. The ferry arrived in the small harbour of the pretty town of Trpanj and we drove narrow streets for a few kilometres until we saw a caravan through the olive trees. Luka - a secluded palm tree lined beach cove with views of the mainland mountains and was our favourite spot in Croatia. Camp Vrila was German run, understated and had a lovely chilled vibe. We were sad to be staying only one night. Tony’s apartment was five minutes walk away and had a balcony with views of the sea. We left the peninsula via road- an awesome drive, through the valley stopping at the Great Wall of China-style fortified town of Ston.Read more
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Dubrovnik
June 25, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Tony’s last stop was Dubrovnik and we dropped him at his hotel before trying to park for the night ourselves. Dubrovnik is an epic place - a fortified city where higgledy piggledy houses, forts, castles and churches seem to nestle between mountains and islands with winding roads perched on sheer drop cliffs that seem to hang above the city, before tunnelling into mountains and pirate ships sail by between the islands. Great location for Game of Thrones. Nowhere to park a 20ft Motorhome. We managed to park illegally briefly to say our goodbyes and saw Tony off from here before setting off to Bosnia. Or Montenegro. Which ever country would take us with the least hassle.Read more
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Risan
June 26, 2018 in Montenegro ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We decided to head straight for Albania and spend some time relaxing there with cheaper food and cheaper campsites. We spent two days driving through Montenegro which we loved. It was rainy and grey but the country was rugged and green and lush and wild. Buildings got scruffier, vehicles got older, things felt free-er. We much preferred this feeling to the polished regulation of Croatia. We drove through Kotor, Budva and Podgorica, stopping the night by an abandoned house on the water at Risan. Kotor was epic: a fortified busy port town on the tip of the water inlet. The inlet is shaped like a butterfly and feels more like a lake so it feels surreal to see giant cruise ships moored up looming over the town.Read more
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Lake Shkodra and Theth
June 27, 2018 in Albania ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
When we entered Albania we headed to the nearest campsite on our map which was Lake Shkodra resort. It was a strip of land like a run-way where at one end your eye was taken up to snow capped mountains and at the other end a wooden jetty jutted out into the still lake with the mountains of Montenegro beyond. A restaurant on the lakeside served lovely food and children played racquet sports. We stayed for four days to recoup and did some canoeing on the lake. We then decided to drive to the ‘blue eye’ of northern Albania which was near Theth in the mountains. We drove the narrow windey mountain road for an hour or so where nearly at the top it became a dirt track with no crash barrier and no passing places - only 4x4s passed us. We parked up and slept at the top for the night and then drove back down in the morning. We drove through the busy market town of Shkodra headed for Krujë next.Read more
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Kruje
July 2, 2018 in Albania ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
The mountain town of Krujë was recommended as a day trip from Shkodra so we decided to make it our next stop. Krujë Camping was a lovely, small rustic campsite and we arrived to find it empty. We mused to ourselves that maybe the owner had gone to buy bread, or to mosque, and indeed he had done both, and soon returned to greet us. H had great fun rambling around the hilly stepped site blooming with olive trees, fruit trees, herbs and flowers, chickens roosting in the old concrete bunker, a duck and a guard dog. Shputim, the host gave us a lot of his time and told us a lot about Albania. We spent an hour in the town the next day which had a castle and a recently restored artisan market in the centre but H was too tempted to touch all the handicrafts so we cut our losses and moved on. Tagan was keen to find halal meat and found a halal butchers in Fushe-Kruje at the bottom of the hill. For some reason, butchers seemed to be attached to petrol stations.Read more
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Llogara National Park
July 3, 2018 in Albania ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
We re-remembered that cities unfortunately were not easy for us so we drove through Tirana, headed for the coast. We hit Vlora, a large beach town which had an American feel to it- like a cross between Miami and San Francisco. Wide boulevards, palm trees, and 1970s villas perched atop huge craggy cliffs. We continued along the built-up beach resort coast line, which felt quirkier and shabbier than Croatia. Also in Croatia it felt like people lived along the beach, here it felt like just holiday makers. We camped on a basic beach site in Orikum and had the worst mosquito attack yet. We moved on quite depressed. We headed for the next beach only to find a massive mountain in the way- llogora. It was a stunning drive, and when we got to top we were above the clouds. We stopped at an epic parking place and took in the view: mountains tumbling down to beaches, and bright blue sea below. The layer of cloud between us and the beach made it feel like we were upside down. It was totally surreal and vertigo inducing. The photos don’t do it justice. Our breaks failed on the way down the other side, but we were safe and two Albanian men came to the rescue and delivered us safely to Dhermi beach.Read more
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Gjipe beach
July 5, 2018 in Albania ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Gjipe beach is a hidden beach in the gorge of a densely wooded river valley. It can only be reached by foot, just about by 4x4, or by boat. We parked at the top of the gorge and trekked the kilometre walk down the coastal path. The view of the coast and the beach was absolutely stunning. Despite its remoteness there were still fifty or so people there, and three beach shacks selling food and drink. There was also a simple ‘eco’ campsite set back along the river with makeshift showers, communal meals, a few solar panels and hundreds of butterflies. we decided a rent a tent here for the night and hike back up in the morning when it was cooler. H enjoyed the noises of the forest and the silhouettes of the spiders, beetles and bugs on the tent as the morning sun shone in, and petting the litter of puppies that the campsite dog had just birthed. Somebody cried all the way back up the hill and we arrived at the bus to find a puncture needed changing. Gjipe beach should stay this way forever, but it won’t. There was already talk of the land being sold.Read more
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Livadhi beach
July 6, 2018 in Albania ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We were looking for a beach where we could wild camp in the shade of a tree for weeks on end, but none of the beaches had been suitable so far. Livadhi was a long stretch of beach near the town of Himare. It had a couple of hotels and bars at the top end and then the dirt track continued into olive groves peppered with campsites and the odd beach shack. Horses and donkeys roamed around and Albanians trying to make money for the season selling umbrella shade camped in tents and caravans along the beach. We liked that this beach was not so developed. We spent nearly a week here at a Nasho’s Greek run campsite where we got the brakes fixed, ate like kings, swam in the sea twice a day and made some friends. H played for hours on his own in our camp building empires, learnt to swim and made friends with two Italian girls. We were sad to leave.Read more
Traveler Nasho’s Camping
8/6/18Reply
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