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Kraak caravanersai

September - October 2023
Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland Read more
  • 21footprints
  • 5countries
  • 32days
  • 349photos
  • 29videos
  • 4.3kkilometers
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  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 30

    auf Wiedersehen

    October 1, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Very sadly, more sadly than normal due to a crusher tackle that wasn't given a penalty 🐴😭, we leave beautiful Europe for home. We have been overwhelmed by cheese and friendship by the countries visited (apart from nasty Jafar 👺)

     Two turtle doves sat outside my window being cute and so Swiss in perfection. Not like the brown bear that sprawled herself out in the bear park nearby. Makes sense why my YouTube-d female bear noises played loudly from my phone, failed to wake her Majesty.

    "The world behind and home ahead"

    It's hard not to fix our thoughts on home and with home, our jobs and lives. Hoping that a new mindset and experiences give us a fresh outlook. We are so blessed and grateful to live in our great expanse of a country and so proud of all that has been achieved by our small in size but not in heart nation. And we can't wait to see our fur babies Doug & Ellie.

    From Heraclitus (Ephesus 500BC)

    "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."

    Stay safe x    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 28

    Caves , Castles and Kasse

    September 29, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    We are staying in a lovely huge apartment in Bern with 5 generous flatmates but it does not seem cramped.

    Away in the big black van for more adventures we went and drove to the border with France to see an engineering milling feat which was well received by my 3. From a warm sunny day outside the temp dropped to maybe 10 degrees: 30 metres into the belly of the earth. We learnt that the medieval Swiss ate 850gms of bread a day and not much else 😵

    Then we peered over the edge of Swiss Grand Canyon - very deep Ruinaulta and marveled at the stone walls.

    Friday night saw us boarding an impossibly cramped train full of Friborg ice hockey fanatics as we sardined to the big stadium for some violence on ice. The drums, dancing and chanting were loud but intoxicating and we joined in as best we could wishing we could transport such a crowd for the upcoming NRL final.

    We begged respite for Sunday and lazily slept in. Then went to view the city of Bern, but didn't get far past an Irish Pub where we sessioned with 3 x Brisbanites and ruminated about where to watch the Broncos win on Sunday, sports bars all with afternoon opens. The publican was approached and said he would open early if we had 20 people. A very lame attempt was made to collar Swiss passes by with no success and we accepted our destiny of watching on Eric's ipad and made our unsteady way home up very steep hills 😅.

    If we didn't think it possible to eat more cheese we were wrong with on our arrival home a 'Raclette' party was in swing. The last round was Schnapps-covered and very nice but I could only watch having pulled out of the serving way earlier and had to lay on the couch to stop the cheese and gherkins coming out my ears.

    In a cheese fog we slept fitfully interrupted by stomach rumblings, visions of running Broncs and thoughts of packing for the long flight home.    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 27

    Glorious death by Swiss dairy

    September 28, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    After a bit of a late night playing prince and pauper with our new addition, Rach's Swiss exchange schoolmate, 'Swiss' we left in a sleek big black SCOTT work van to scale the heights of the alps and smell the Edelweiss. Gruyére our destination where we savoured the cheese and over-caffineated on the laden trays of Callier chocolate slabs and truffles we were obliged to sample. Then we scaled Gruyére castle and village as well as Jaun pass and back down the mountain at break neck speeds.

    Dinner was a very cheery, cheesy affair with the 5 flatmates and 2 x families white wine added as much to the fondue as to our glasses. We kept mum of any lactose intolerances. The Aussie fondue 🫕 pot thickened and filled with bread and apple due to our total lack of skill. We were teased of punishments that would have been imposed had we been seriously fonduing.

    The Swiss excel in their hospitality and generosity and we slept warm and snug for another day of adventure 😱    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 25–27

    St Saphorin, Switzerland

    September 26, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Lovely Saint-Saphorin nestles between the lake and the vineyards. It boasts charming alleys and a Gothic church, which was built around 1530.

    The history of Saint-Saphorin goes back to Roman times. The village possesses a boundary marker whose inscription dates back to 47 A.D. In those days, Saint-Saphorin was often called Glerula.

    We swam in the very cold Lake Genéva, Bill making use of the diving board.

    The villa boasts a very grand German piano and a library of old sheet music and Rach soothed us with some Beethoven. We the spent 3 hours staring out at the view and gorging ourselves on Swiss cheese which unfortunately led to a very small dinner affair with the chilled local wine left unopened and Rach and Rhonda needing to lie down.

    Bill had to be brought in to close the 1.5m large timber shutters to allow a sleep-in. Such a large windowed villa that dates back to 1400's. No spirits made themselves know to my profound relief.

    Wine tasting tomorrow.

    Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monks planted the vines.    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 24–25

    Milan without the gloss

    September 25, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We were late leaving our medieval palace as busy stuffing our faces with delicious pastries. OMG!!! Still warm from the oven 🤪

    First big mistakes made by me. Eric did a marvellous job negotiating the crazy drivers and Autobahn speeds. I lost my money card at the lunch stop probably as was throwing a tantie 😒 but did not realize till much later. (I emailed cafe and they found it and chopped it up for me) 😱

    Mistake 2: It must have been a late night when I booked our accom in Milan. My recollection was 2 minutes walk from the Central train station in the city but instead found ourselves 25 minutes out in a very strange, dodgy area in a big black coloured hotel. Next door were a huge dilapidated ghetto style building that didn't appear very old. 😩

    Decided was safest to stay in our rooms and play 500 (card game) and drink our purchased wine. Bit of a scuffle ensued a few times with bickering over levels of poured wine and kitty hogging.

    Dinner was just plain weird.

    So no stomping on bull testicle in Milan square, no window gazing at flashy things, no Milanese food 😥

    Early to bed as early start as need to travel back into city to catch train into the mountains.    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 23

    Pilgrims Progressed

    September 24, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Sun-screened, shod and hatted our two pilgrims (minus colosseum-blistered Rhonda) set off earlyish as the church bells pealed 11am on the Via Francgenzio. The plan was to follow in the hire car and meet for wine and cheese along the way.

    With most venues closed after summer and being Sunday a mad dash was made to find vituals in the stone village of Gambassi Terme. After an hour of patchy internet and getting lost we finally found where the whole village was lunching, purchasing local goats cheeses, salamis, prosciutto, fresh pané and olives.

    Using our combined google map locations we bumped down dirt roads and, wouldn't you know it, landed at the best winery in the region 😇🥳

    Our parched pilgrims probably should have watered first but accepted the situation with equinimity and entered the tasting with gusto. And what a taste there was Gorgeous Bianco's, Chianti's, stickies and even the Grappa was brought out to Eric's delight.

    With the use of Google translate and lots of arm waving we made new friends and discovered Casaneuvas winery had been in the family since the 1100s and they were really good at parting tasters with their money. Lots of spent euros later we picnicked and prattled and were treated to espresso by our new friends/business partners 🤑😲

    The pilgrimage over we bumped over to our medieval castle like accommodation for a chilly swim and prosecco in the gardens, then wearing our travelling best we dined at the swanky onsite trattoria on boar lasagne, truffle ravioli and tasty pici. Was too excellent to photograph and too slopey due to the old flooring.

    Tomorrow we head on a highway full of lunatic drivers to Milano.

    Ciao Ciao!!    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 22

    Under a Tuscan Sun and Valium Haze

    September 23, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Oscar Wilde - Ravenna

    "Where flower and fruit to purple radiance blow,
    And like bright lamps the fabled apples glow.
    Full Spring it was—and by rich flowering vines,
    Dark olive-groves and noble forest-pines,
    I rode at will; the moist glad air was sweet,
    The white road rang beneath my horse’s feet,
    And musing on Ravenna’s ancient name,
    I watched the day till, marked with wounds of flame,
    The turquoise sky to burnished gold was turned."

    Okay so maybe we tasted a few honeyed wines and pushed our nostrils deep into the scented bushels but Tuscany certainly surpassed on all accounts.

    Driving to Tuscany.... in a manual left drive sardine can certainly didn't surpass anything. We scraped through medieval horse lanes, swerving to avoid "senza traffico" zones, performing 10 point turns in dead end lanes and white knuckled we wove up and down the oldest, steepest city centre in abject silence and horror, the stone walls just inches from our white Munst-like faces. The valium was reached for and calm was briefly restored.

    Our 15th century bnb was reached. Ghosts from old and war torn spirits could not be reasoned with and Eric was moved to sleep on 'that' side of the bed.

    San Gimignano has slept in a time warp since 1348 when the black plague took most of the town, and then shocked awake by Operation Axis that rubbled all but 7 towers.

    Now the streets throng with busloaded tourists and glamour filled shops and long queues for the worlds best and world record gelato.

    I'm hoping I can make use of at least one of the 1,000 quintessential photos taken for some artworks.    Read more

  • TravelerKraak caravanersai
    Day 21

    Forum & Villa Borghese

    September 22, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Kind of expecting to see half of Italy as a quarry such is the extent of stone monstrosities.

    Very thankful to Rick Steeve for his free podcasts allowing us to do our own free tour of forum.

    FRIDAY

    We said bon voyage to the honeymooners today before Eric and kids set out to see the wealthiest museum, art gallery and safe harbouring for ... the Vatican and I went to find the other Van Gogh in the city.

    The 80,000 steps we took yesterday have had an impact on my poor feet and I limped 10m before hailing a cab. Nightmare driver yelling and remonstrating at noone in particular and then cursing all in our path.

    Villa Borghese my destination was sold out for the day so after checking my maps I limped to the National Gallery which I have to say for the size of the magnificent structure had very few paintings . Maybe Eric and the kids were seeing all the 'procured' art instead. Vincent and Cezanne didn't fail me though and even a Pollock to shock.    Read more

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