Reset search
Europe take 2Europe take 2
SatelliteEdit route

Europe take 2

April 2018 - April 2024
Suddenly 15 degrees feels like the tropics, trying to keep cool for a change! Read more
Currently traveling
+1
  • 34footprints
  • 9countries
  • 2,202days
  • 159photos
  • 0videos
  • 2.2kmiles
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 26

    Ljubljana

    May 5, 2018 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Followed my GPS according to a site suggestion in my compendium of campervan sites and it took me to a horrible concrete yard surrounded by wire fencing. It looked as if it would have Alsatians on the prowl in the evening (to keep you in). Next stop by accident around the corner and not in the book, the Laguna park, rather nice, 5km from the city, good cycle distance nice facilities, that'll do...nicely. Took the scenic route here, and what route wouldn't be, the countryside is incredible green and fertile, trees cover virtually all of the hills/mountains surface all the way to the top and in doing so gives the landscape the appearance of a soft organic matter, rather than hard unyeilding stone and rock.Strangely the tree cover forms into pyramid shapes..I wonder if the Pharos of the tree people lie beneath? Another natural oddity is that in pic 3 of stripping a tall straight pine tree leaving just the top 2 metres growing then hanging hoops of branches below, oh and then stick a flag on top, saw a lot of these. Another very common site is the mini-chapel in every town and village, some no bigger than your average garden shed, the chapel that is not the village,but very ornate, this was often coupled with a life size recreation of the crucifixion complete with Mary beneath, often at a road junction or near a bus stop, Jesus!Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 27

    Ljubljana

    May 6, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Not entirely sure how I feel about this city, it is certainly the smallest capital I have ever been to. Today is flea market day along the side of the river Ljubljanka. There are plenty of statues of Christ on the cross, just in case you are down to your last one, and a great collection of up to date vinyl LP records, mostly British bands and artists but everything from Metallica to Samantha Fox. It is a real cafe society here and all the streets along the river are full of people having breakfast, coffee and cigarettes. The city itself has its moments in a kind of shabby chic sort of way, there are certainly plenty of photographers here who think so. I stop at a roadside cafe, as it is the only place not full of smokers, and order a local style meal of beef sausages and pancakes, a couple of beers help it go along. A tour guide with her pack of tourists pull up along side and the guide starts explaining the menu to them and gesturing to me by way of example, she is talking in Slovenian and I think roughly what she is saying is "look at stupid British tourist eating sausages made from dog food" or thereabouts.Everone laughs and moves on(they don't order any food).
    I don't want to put in too many gripes in the blog, but this is the most I have had to pay for a Vignette, a local road toll, 30 euro for seven days, and because of its location I may have to cross Slovenia more than twice, oh and 2.50 euro per person per night tourist tax, do they not realise that tourists are visiting of their own free will to spend money in their shabby chic city.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 28

    Postojnska Jama (caves) Slovenia

    May 7, 2018 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    It is in the title. Basically I can let the photos do the talking.The caves are 23km long, a little electric train takes you underground for 2km and then you walk for about 1and a half km. Extremely well maintained and lit, although they do put the lights of for effect for a short time and then you know what complete and utter darkness is. Three levels to the caves created over millions of years by an underground river constantly doubling back on itself. The final stop at a huge cavern where the river still runs was the showstopper, with millions of gallons of water crashing down and the mist full of the smell of coal. I wonder if Jules Verne had the benefit of this experience before penning "Journey to the centre of the earth". Now do staligmites go up or down?oh yes up, it's the tites that come down.Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 31

    Selce, Croatia

    May 10, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    GPS threw a wobbly on me whilst trying to find a site in Crikvenica, and as I was struggling to find a place to stop and reset, I kept going along the coast as I recognised another name on the street signs. These coastal towns, be they Italy France Spain etc all seem to have at one time to have slid down their respective hills untill they are all bunched up beside the sea, along with their roads that get squished into single lane one way streets. Europeans are of course masters in the use of the hazard warning light which overrides all rules of the road and indeed common sense, as used by the driver in front of me who uses it at a junction on a pedestrian crossing on a one way street, classic.I'll just wait till you get your messages shall I? Already witnessed a classic piece of Croatian driving today when an impatient driver overtook me on a winding mountain road only to immediately indicate he is turning once in front of me, but the trump card(s) go to the two motorcycles overtaking him as he overtook me. My stomach is already in my mouth looking down at the sheer drop to the sea. Still all is forgiven arriving at the camp, it lived up to it's reputation, it is beautiful.Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 32

    Selce day 2 by

    May 11, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Didn't see a lot of this town, I was asked to lend a hand (or battery in this case) to a fellow driver in need, we had a couple of beers during the course of the attempted repair (professional required), however this turned into drinks, then dinner which turned into 2am. Next day Stephen and Beth and neighbours showed me a bit of the town, including a large house, once planned to be a restaurant before the unpleasantness between Serbians, Bosnians etc(sorry but don't understand what really happened or how it came about) anyway this neighbour returned after things began to return to normal, to find their property had been occupied and trashed.The husband was heartbroken, fell into a depression and subsequently died, and the wife has neither energy nor money to rebuild, and so this house remains a lingering derelict and sad reminder of terrible times. In the spirit of Irony Stephen shows me a run down property near to the main Street, which just happens to be the former headquarters of the Communist party when they were having a go at Croatia, or whatever they called it. If ever there was a time for a coffee break this is it.Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 34

    Bibinje

    May 13, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Now this is more like it, this coastal section of my trip was always going to be my summer holidays by the sea after my trip of culture cuisine and eh.. camping. More to follow but these pictures kind of say it all. Got to go dinner is on the table!Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 37

    Zadar

    May 16, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Classic old city centre surrounded by modern urban city. Sort of town you could actually see in most countries nowadays. Hard exterior with a chewy Roman centre, as they pretty well conquered and settled in most parts of Europe at some time. The old square is testament to this with examples of stone columns and remains kept under glass.The narrow streets are both a delight and welcome shade from the unusually hot May sun, and refuge at a bistro provides food and drink in the form of pizza and beer...see I told you there was a Roman influence here. Much of the old town is taken over by cafes, bars and restaurants as one would expect and the local specialty for souvenir shops appears to be bags of lavender.I have made the trip in by bus to see, or rather hear the sea organ, which is a hefty musical instrument made of marble some 70 metres long and kept in constant harmony (sort of) by the motion of the ocean. It is not exactly Handel's water music, more random and dare I say organic organ music. Still it pulls in the punters and every organ pipe has its very own Chinese tourist posing for a picture of an attraction that is principally auditory.The monument to sun is also located here which is a huge bank of solar cells that absorb energy by day and come to life at dusk. I am unable to attach a video, but look it up on YouTube. The bus station so called as it has two bus shelters is the origin of the expression organised chaos, despite all the buses having numbers they pull in at any point along the pathway and you have to search for your bus by constantly searching up and down a line of up to 8 buses, some have numbers on the front some on the side and some on pieces of card. I miss my bus as I can't find it and an hour later almost miss it again. Home at last, not quite I have a 2 km cycle ahead of me and it has just started to rain. There have been a lot of spectacular thunderstorms in the region lately and this is a doozy! ...still miss the worst of it.Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 40

    Stobrec, south of Split

    May 19, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Well this is as far south as I am travelling, Isabella arrives in Split in a few days so I have arrived early to get the lay of the land, find out the times of local buses, sort out any excursions and locate the nearest Lidl. Stobrec has some interesting history, but is really the little brother/sister of Split which I have yet to visit. This town is host to a very good camp site with terrific amenities. Sitting between the mountains to the east and the sea to the west it is an ideal seaside holiday destination. Been cycling, swimming and practicing a bit of Zumba ( hope to get to a local class on Monday night), although best practice session was in Bibinje where my stage was a concrete pier and my audience was the Adriatic, or so I thought until I spun round to see the actual audience hanging over the fence. Stobrec like so many coastal towns has morphed into what is standard fare these days, pizza restaurants and cafes, nice enough...
    I am currently parked beside a mobile home which is massive, larger than a single deck bus with sides that extend out once it is parked, the sort of thing Aerosmith would use to tour America, it must be worth £100,000 easy, oh and an Audi as the tow car. The family sit around a full size wooden dining table for meals and hang around there most of the day. Is that what camping is about? if I had that money I would also be sitting around my dining table which would just happen to be in the Azores!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 45

    Split

    May 24, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Dubrovnik, it aint. A modern city of strange and interesting high rise flats, The Diocletian palace at the hub of the city is very interesting not the least because people have been allowed to build and settle inside a UNESCO protected Roman ruin. We followed the sign to the "beach", a term which has been lost in translation as it is a concrete pier, and even the part which looks" beachy" is in fact fairly sharp gravel- a theme that is repeated throughout the country and its islands, there does not appear to be a gram of sand in the whole of Croatia, which is rather a shame (and self delusion) given the beautiful Adriatic ocean. Just remember to take wet shoes with you to walk into the water. Saw for the first a dog the other day for which the Dalmatian region is famous, or should I say I spotted it!Read more

  • TravelerEurope take 2
    Day 46

    Split (excursions)

    May 25, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Two fab, if exhausting, days out leaving from Split. Blue cave and five islands including an hour and a half transfer by (very bumpy) speedboat, and a day at Krka national park with the beautiful waterfalls.Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English