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Europe Trip 2024

aprile - giugno 2024
  • Karen Long
An 8 week driving, sailing, touring trip to France, the Greek Islands, Ireland, Scotland and London. Leggi altro
  • Karen Long
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Elenco dei paesi

  • Australia Australia
  • Inghilterra Inghilterra
  • Scozia Scozia
  • Irlanda del Nord Irlanda del Nord
  • Irlanda Irlanda
  • Montenegro Montenegro
  • Croazia Croazia
  • Mostra tutto (10)
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  • 43,9kchilometri percorsi
Mezzi di trasporto
  • Volo39,3kchilometri
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  • 63impronte
  • 57giorni
  • 588fotografie
  • 17Mi piace
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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Kotor

    16 maggio 2024, Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Sailing into Kotor today was just amazing. We sailed through a very long inlet almost a fiord with the scenery in both sides getting closer and closer. Pretty little villages and churches studded along the edge.

    The port is busy today there are three cruise ships in and we have to take tenders, apparently not many are available so they are getting off the lifeboats to use.
    Interesting to see inside the life boats. They hold 230 in an emergency but only 120 as a tender, so still quite roomy inside.

    Kotor town is another pretty little town, very crowded at the moment though so we headed for the back of the village where you can climb up to a church 15 euros for the pleasure of doing that. It was a pretty steep climb. Quite cold when we first started but that didn’t last long.

    What a marvellous view when we got up there. You could see right over the town and then down to where the resilient lady is anchored.
    We meet Chris, Tanya, Lan and Joc up there as well. Funny how we all headed for the hill. Oh course the church is only half way up the hill, Millie and Marl’s chests were feeling it after having this virus they are recovering from. The rest of us started off up to the top.
    Holy Moly it was a steep climb. Luckily the steps were the perfect height for me so it was pretty good on the legs but hard in the lungs.

    As well prepared as ever we had no water and the day was getting hotter and hotter, we all had long pants on. Luckily when we got to the top some enterprising soul had set up a stall there selling drinks. Only one bottle of water left which we snabbed.
    It really was an amazing view from up there. I’m glad we did it. Whoever gets the 15 euros though was making a killing. There were hundreds of people climbing that mountain.

    Coming down of course was harder on the legs than the lungs but we made it in one piece dispute a few slippery patches along the way.
    Met Marl and Millie in the town square and they had found a great little restaurant for us to have a late lunch in.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024
    Corn Custard
    Slow cooked SalmonBeetroot RollsRack of LambAsparagus icecreamStrawberry SurpriseVegan mandarin icecreamAnother extra. Mango icecream

    Test kitchen

    16 maggio 2024, Ionian Sea ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    Second time at the Test Kitchen tonight. We have had Menu A tonight is going to be Menu B. We really enjoyed it last time and are looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us tonight.

    First course is Corn. It is corn custard in the shape of a cob of corn and served with corn bread.
    Second course. Salmon. Slow cooked salmon with three types of cucumber.
    Third course. Beetroot rolls filled with kale purée and Bubble beetroot on top.
    Fourth course. Rack of Lamb. Beautifully cook with mint flavoured gravy.
    Fifth course. Asparagus Ice-cream with Champagne cream and ginger jelly and crystallised ginger on top.
    Sixth course. Strawberry Marshmallow with wasabi cream.
    Couple of extra desserts through in for us.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Corfu

    17 maggio 2024, Grecia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Our last stop of this Greek Island Cruise. No tenders today so much easier getting off and on the boat. Corfu is a much bigger island than I expected, we headed into the city on the shuttle bus, lots of traffic and narrow little streets.

    The Old Fort is impossible to ignore when visiting Corfu and, at only 6 Euros, or 3 if you ask for a seniors discount is a bargain. There are so many places from which to photograph the twin-humped former Venetian citadel, including the town's Esplanade, the breakwater, Lovely area to walk around and plenty of beautiful views from the top near the lighthouse.

    We wanted to visit a beach while in Corfu and after some consultation with the tourist information we headed off to find one about 15 minutes away. We are spoilt for beaches in Australia so we were all a little underwhelmed, but nonetheless we paid another 5 euros for a chair and umbrella. It’s probably not the best day to visit a beach, it’s hazy and a little windy but we are determined to have a swim in the Mediterranean.

    This nondescript little beach turned out to be a lovely peaceful couple of hours and the little restaurant attached that looked like nothing decent would come out of produced some delicious mussels and red mullet and some fairly decent Prosecco !

    We had our swim in the Med, it was freezing but lovely once we got used to it, so salty too. I never float in the water my feet always sink but I did here.

    We decided we couldn’t be bothered going back into the city so got a taxi back to the cruise terminal, had a nice relaxing few hours on our balcony listening to the music p, enjoying the view of the old and new fortress and watching everyone come back on board.

    Joc and Lan had gone on a tour and only just made it back with a few minutes to spare.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Last day at sea!

    18 maggio 2024, Aegean Sea ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    It’s our last full day on the boat and we’ve had a pretty chill morning.

    Tanya and I went to Zumba, then I met Graham for a drink and lunch followed by Karaoke with the whole family as well and Jan and Tony. We thought we killed it but the scores didn’t really reflex our opinion.

    Last drinks with the whole Blue Shirts crowd on the back deck was nice and then some music in the roundabout to finish off a lovely 10 days.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Arriving in Athens.

    19 maggio 2024, Grecia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We’re off the boat after a lovely last breakfast.
    So many taxis here and it still took a while to get one. We lucked out with our taxi driver. Charged us a fair price and offered to do a tour for us tomorrow. Five hours for 150 euros. Some of the others had huge fairs with dodgy drivers.

    The room at the hotel was not ready of course so we dropped our bags and went for a walk down to the markets. Reminded me so much of Hong Kong markets. We bought a few souvenirs from our time in Greece.

    Back to the hotel for a rest. It is blazing hot now. Then a look at the roof top bar. It’s very nice up there.
    We are meeting everyone at another roof top bar a bit closer to the acropolis at 7.

    Lovely evening having a few drinks and watching the sun set on the acropolis. Wow you pay for the privilege though.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Taxi tour of Athens.

    20 maggio 2024, Grecia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Spiros arrived right on time at 8 o’clock. First stop was the acropolis, think he was a bit disappointed we weren’t going in. Too hot and too many people. We were happy to walk all around the outside.

    Then we visited Zeus”s Temple, Changing do the guards, the old Olympic stadium and The National Library. The Beautiful University and the Plaka district. It was good value for a five hour tour.

    We had the job of posting some stuff back for everyone. My god what an exhausting experience. We did finally get it done and hopefully it will turn up in Australia sometime.

    One last meet up with everyone for dinner and we are all heading in different directions tomorrow.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    Ireland bound.

    20 maggio 2024, Irlanda ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today we are setting off for Ireland. First we need to get through all the tediousness of air travel, huge queues, security, passports, cattle class etc etc.

    Landed in Ireland at about 3.30, and a pleasant surprise to see no line for customs. The first interaction was with the passport control. “Are you all together then” he says to me, “ Well bring your friends up here then too”. He wanted to hear all our plans for the rest of the time we have here.
    Got our hire car and the shuttle bus driver told Graham he was crazy to be going on holidays with 3 women. Then gave us some tips for getting on the freeway and getting into Dublin for the day tomorrow.
    So good to be driving on the left side of the road again. Feels way less stressful. It took us about an hour to get to our accomodation in Sandyford. We’re staying above a pub and after driving down some narrow little roads when I’m sure we all thought the GPS was leading us astray we finally arrived at the Blue Light Pub.
    First impressions left a bit to be desired and there was quite the party going on already. After a hunt around for the landlord we were shown to our rooms above the pub. It’s really a big two bedroom apartment and after we came upstairs really roomy with a kitchen and sitting area with a lovely fireplace.
    After getting our bags sorted we headed downstairs for a drink and dinner. A wine first and then the first Guinness for everyone. We had the best fish and chips I’ve had for a long time. Cod apparently although not like the cod we get at home. We finished off upstairs with a pommeau and a cup of tea.
    They have music most nights at this pub and we heard them start at about ninish Millie and Marl had gone to bed so Graham and I headed down to listen for half an hour.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024
    Trinity College
    The long roomLovely old buildingsBewleysHa"penny Bridge.

    Day trip into Dublin

    22 maggio 2024, Irlanda ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today we are off to a Dublin for the day. Marl and Millie are going on the hop on hop off bus and visiting the Guinness Stonehouse and Graham and I are going to visit Trinity college and wander around the city for a bit.
    The train ride in was a bit of a squeeze but didn’t last too long thank goodness. The girls went off to find were to catch their bus and Graham and I found the college. What beautiful building they have here the college is so pretty. We bought tickets for the long room and the book of Kells. There was an audio app you could download which was good, gave you a run down of every point along the way. We didn’t have any headphones so we had to go hide in the corner and listen to each chapter, luckily they only lasted a couple of minutes.

    The book of Kells was very impressive. Well the actually book was in a dark room under dim lights but the story of writing it and the animations and reproductions of the pages was amazing. The penmanship of the monks is so beautiful and all the intricate designs and paintings in that book, incredible.

    The main chamber of the Old Library is the Long Room; at nearly 65 metres in length, it is normally filled with 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and is one of the most impressive libraries in the world. They are cleaning all the books at the moments so all the shelves weren’t full but such a beautiful room and so vast.

    Time for a coffee and the information centre recommended Bewleys which was just around the corner. Another pretty old building. Bangers and mash and an apple pie and coffee. All the pastries are made on site and they have a viewing room we’re you can watch the staff making them. Just while we were ordering an older made sat down beside us, he was up for a chat with anyone I think. Richard his name was, he keep us amused while we finished our brunch.

    Trip down memory lane then as we wandered along the Templar bar area. There is a football match on today between Italy and Germany and the crowds are filling up all the bars early, lots of police around too so they must be expecting it get a bit exciting.

    Graham is going to visit a Luthier this afternoon so we got ourselves back to Sandyford in time for that. Lovely old fellow who wasn’t feeling the best really but we had a nice chat to him for an hour or so.

    Back to Blue light for our last night there. Another great dinner and totally different music than the night before but just as good.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024

    On the way to Killarney.

    23 maggio 2024, Irlanda ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We’re leaving pretty little Sandyford today and continuing on to Killarney. We’ve decide to rotate drivers and today it is Marl’s turn. She had a baptism of fire as google maps sent us down some tiny little narrow roads before eventually finding at least one that resembled a main thoroughfare.

    Our first stop for the day was Kilkenny we’re we stopped to get some photos of the castle. A gorgeous castle and it’s a shame we didn’t have the time to spare this trip to tour the inside. Fortified by the famous scones from the coffee shop across the road we continued on to Rock Cashel another detour we thought we could fit in for the day.

    The sun is trying to come out today and has almost managed it but the wind has picked up and it’s freezing up on this rock. We joined the free tour they have and it was really enjoyable, apart from the cold wind that is. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the Castle and it’s history. Founded in the 12 century and then added on to in the 13th it was used by the Kings of Munster until the Norman invasion and the after that by the archbishops up until the 18th century when he probably decided it was too flipping cold and moved into town. It looks very magnetic sitting up there above the town.

    We were all so cold we had to go into town and get a bowl of soup for lunch. The most delicious seafood chowder any of us had ever had.

    We still had another 2 hours driving to do and goodness the roads weren’t getting any less windy, worse if anything. I’m in the back today and I had to bail with about half an hour to go. Everything was looking green including me.

    Our little house in Killarney is great, three bedrooms with three bathrooms, perfect! Went into town for some dinner after we’d settled in and then home for a nightcap.    Leggi altro

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  • Karen LongViaggiatoreEurope Trip 2024
    Torc Waterfall
    On top of the fortGorgeous viewsDerrynane BeachKerry Cliffs.At the very top.PortmageeAnother view of the cliffs.Dinner back in town.

    Ring of Kerry

    24 maggio 2024, Irlanda ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Last time we were in Ireland we drove the Ring of Kerry and the weather was dismal, we gave up half way and continued on to Dingle. Today is looking more promising so far.

    We started off with a little faux par when we pulled into the wrong car park for Torc Waterfall. We were all thinking it was a pretty poor excuse for a waterfall, soon realised our mistake when we came across a large sign and car park.

    Next up was Ladies view and Moll’s Gap, then onto Kenmare for breakfast. Lots of restaurants there but none open for breakfast until we found a little gem around the corner. Had a delicious full Irish and then a slice of lemon meringue pie!

    Next stop was Staigue Stone Fort. A little detour off the road, but we’ll worth it. Built in the early centuries AD. All the walls are still standing and you can walk around the whole fort on the top. Little scary for some of us, not for the kid running around the whole thing.

    Then came O’Connell Beach, Derrynane Beach and Coomakista viewpoint. Wow such spectacular views over the wild Atlantic, which is really rather tame today, flat enough that the fishing boats are out in force.

    Skellig ring led to the beautiful Kerry Cliffs which are actually on private land. It’s a steep 10 minute walk up to cliffs and viewpoints but so worth it. Spectacular scenery and so many birds nesting around the cliffs.

    Our last stop for the day was Portmagee. What a pretty little fishing village. Could have spent a lot more time there. We had a much needed cup of tea at the pub before travelling the 70k back to Killarney. Pulled into the Main Street for dinner before headed home.    Leggi altro

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