Links to our RV Travels and Information
Norway Coast & St Petersburg 2013
Travel Costs
Actual Travel Itinerary
Trip Index
1. The Rhine Valley
Rudesheim
Strasbourg
Route du Vin
Wangen
Obernai
Switzerland
2. Ligerz
Interlaken
Lucerne
The Glacier Express
St Moritz - Diavolezza
3. Zermatt - Matterhorn
Lichtenstein
Austria
Arlberg Pass
Innsbruk
4. Salzburg
Vienna
Hungary
Budapest
5 Slovakia
Bratslava
Czech Republic
Prague
6. Germany
Munich
Fussan
Zurich
7. The Black Forest
Freiburg
Heidelberg
The Castle Road
Rothenburg
Stuttgart
Nuremberg
Wurzburg
8. Berlin
Amsterdam
9. Antwerp
Brugge
Brussels
Luxembourg
Freidberg
Acknowledgement:- The following trip was planned using as the basis, the linking together of four suggested short tours from a book "RV and Car Camping Vacations in Europe" by Mike and Terri Church.
We would like to express our gratitude for the detail they provided. As it was first printed in 2004 there were of course, a few changes that we encountered.
1 - Frankfurt, Germany to Strasbourg,
France & Ligerz, Switzerland
A big day, up at 4.30 to get the 8am plane
from Helsinki to Frankfurt, via Copenhagen. A reshuffle of the baggage to get
the weights right for the airport and we had transferred some tools into the
carry on baggage. Well, it was detected at the scanners and confiscated , so we
lost a couple of pairs of pliers. A
transfer bus operator had us at the motorhome depot by 2.00pm. Whilst the
address of the place is Frankfurt, it is actually in Freidberg, at least 60 kms north of Frankfurt, most of the trip was at 135km/hr, giving us a taste of the
Autobahn system and thinking the driver has a relative in Atlanta by the name
of Jan.
At McRent we were sat down and shown a video
all about the McRent motorhomes so we watched with great interest as we needed
to know how everything works. Eventually when we were shown over our RV
everything was different to the video as it really applied to other models.
Offered us a cup of coffee, we said thanks, just hot water would be fine, “Hot
water, never heard of it” but if that’s what you want OK. It never turned up. An hour later we got into the RV and put the kettle
on ourselves, still running on empty after our 4.30 start and no breakfast.
The RV we have is a little smaller than the
one we had in USA, although there seems to be as much room inside, but very
tight on for bench space, but it is a 2012 model, Fiat Ducato diesel, manual
with 25000kms on the clock. Keep finding
I am looking for the gear stick with my left hand, still, early days, we will
get used to it. A bicycle rack on the back, works well to carry the wheelchair.
We spent the first night in the yard of the
rental company, “McRent” to allow us to unload all of our gear into the van and
get settled. To their surprise, we fitted it all in. Woke in the morning to -2
degrees and icicles hanging off the RV. Thankful that we had bought our own
Doona, which had served us well in Alaska and it certainly paid off with a warm
first night here.
Suburban streets here are only a bit wider
than our lanes, sometime there is areas marked out where you can park, to allow
two way traffic to weave in and out, between parked cars and those traveling in
the opposite direction. Can be a bit hairy, but that’s why we went for the
smaller RV.
For our first day on the road, we were a bit
out of sorts, not the least because we were 60 kms away from our anticipated
start. Eventually we found our way to the East side of the Rhine River and
followed it up to our first campsite at Koblenz, our site looked over the
junction of the Rhine and the Mosel rivers. A great view of the incessant flow
of river traffic, barges, ferries and even had an APT cruiser go past, it was
huge (in length). The flow of the river is going South to North and at one heck
of a pace, can only imagine it starts in the alps and is headed out to the
North Sea. As it is the start of Spring, the melting snow would certainly be
feeding it.
It is
interesting to watch the long barges and ferries and tour boats manipulate the
current without hitting the banks.
The drive up the Western side of the Rhine
passed though many small towns, with some magnificent old hotels and buildings.
Stopping areas for an RV can be a problem with the narrow roads, so the camera
gets a bit of a rest, some castles even miss out.
We traveled down the west bank of the Rhine,
again through some amazing little towns, nestled in at the bottom of the steep
hills and sharing that with a train line and a road. Being the Rhine Valley, of
course there are vineyards, but the slopes that they have grown them on are
unbelievable, They work patches of ground on 45 degree angle and they will miss
out areas that are non -productive, so plots are all shapes and sizes. There
are castles too, most of them we have seen so far have been turned into hotels,
understandably, as the upkeep would be horrendous, you can usually see at least
one castle from any point along this stretch of the Rhine, usually high up on
top of the hillside. We passed one small building in the centre of the river,
in years past they would string a chain across the river on both sides and
charge boats a toll to have the chain lowered.
Our GPS has a habit of giving very little
notice of a turn off, consequently we end up being lost for a while, although I
must say our worst diversions have been because a road is closed for repair and
the GPS can’t accept that.
Our next camping site is again on the bank of
the Rhine, at Rudesheim, with the same constant flow of barges.
A chance to test out the waste disposal
systems on the RV. Nowhere near as
efficient as the US system, but it worked.
From Rudesheim we traveled south through a
major wine growing area, famous for “Riesling”. A turn off to Kaiserslautern
and then further south towards Strasbourg, which by my reading of the map is
surprisingly on the west side of the Rhine, which in this area, puts it in
France.
The drive from Kaiserslautern was through a
dense forest on highway 48, a very pretty drive.
Strasbourg has been a hotly disputed area
over the years, having been in both German and French territories at different
times, this has left the city with a very mixed culture. Currently it is in
France and they make great crepes.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame inn Strasbourg is
one of the main tourist attractions. What a spectacle it was too, side access
for the wheelchair and no restrictions on photos, so we made the most of it. The
front of the Cathedral was started in 1284, they stopped work in 1365 and
restarted in 1439, The city itself was a picture and the RV park most friendly.
It snowed lightly overnight.
Our next day we traveled through France’s
“Tour du Vin”. (wine trail). A trail that lead us through some pretty hairy
narrow streets, vineyards all along the way, on hills, between houses, very old
houses at that. Occasionally the road would go through an arch of a building
which we had to baulk at and find another way as at our 3.3m height, not worth
the risk. One of the towns, “Obernai” was just out of a picture book, it
demanded a park and walk back through the town for a closer look and of course
some photos. The town Tower is what is left of the “Virgin’s Chapel”, which was
built at the end of the 13th century and removed in 1873. The tower
has since served as the city steeple and watchtower. Two of the bells still
operating date back to 1430. We moved on into Switzerland, crossing the border
at Basel, the border checkpoint was not concerned about passports, they just
wanted to extract 40 Swiss Francs (about $55) that would allow us to use the
Swiss roads for 2013, anyone else who may hire the RV this year will also
benefit. When you consider the tunnels
that they have bored through the mountains, it is worth it and would rather pay
this way, than get caught up at toll booths all the time.
At our first stop in Switzerland , which was
a freebie, in a roadside work area at
Delemont , where we woke to find the fields and houses all white with snow. We
put our next destination into the GPS and off we go. The GPS doesn’t know we
are in a motorhome and what the heck, if there is a road on the map it will
send us there. We traveled 64kms, it took about 3 hours and we did find that
we can fit under a tunnel 3.3m high and 2.3m wide. The drive was magic though,
winding through small country lanes so narrow that there would be little
pullouts, should another vehicle venture the opposite way. The trees were all
laden with snow and looked a picture, a real winter wonderland, the road would
wind through small villages and at times the road seems to go between the house
and their sheds.
After we eventually got onto a real highway,
we went through about 8 separate tunnels, the first being 2.2kms long, others
ranged from 500m to 1.5km. This is all in the 64kms and on day 1. So the $55 is
cheap. To reach our camp site for the
night at Preles, was to climb up a mountain from Biel, again testing the 2.3m
width, we got there, to find the camp ground was too muddy and soft , they had
had 2” snow the previous night, but we could camp outside in the carpark, with
power, for 30 Franks, plus an extra 5 Franks for 1hr on the internet (gave that
one a miss, the family can wait a bit longer).
Gee that road cost is looking good.
So far we have had to deal with Norwegian
Krona, then Euros in Finland, Rubles in Russia, Danish Krona in the airport at
Copenhagen, back to Euros in Germany and France, now Swiss Francs, It all
starts to look like a game of monopoly when you open the wallet. When you change from one to the other, no one
wants the other’s coin, only the notes.
Also, by day 6, we have had three different
electrical connections for the RV, fortunately there were suitable adapters in
the RV’s bucket of bits. We also found out how the gas system works, as we ran
out, just needed to change the supply to the second bottle. Fortunately we had replaced the confiscated
pliers in France the day before and needed them now. They are huge bottles by
our standards, our large bottles are 9kg, these are 11kg, no way of knowing how
much was in the bottle, they either work or they don’t, and they need to be
exchanged at a depot. A bit different to the USA system where you have a large
fixed tank and can fill them at a service station.
We arrived to a warm welcome by Lisa & Kasper Mettler-Teutsch,
at Hotel Kreuz in Ligerz on 1st April, a couple of
days earlier than expected, as being restricted with the wheelchair, some of
our walking plans have been curtailed.
Only 920kms traveled so far, even considering the numerous times we
have been bushed.
Photos
Photos
2 - Ligerz to St Moritz, Switzerland
A side trip from Ligerz in a smaller vehicle
lead us through some of the pretty parts around the area.
The Old Medieval Walled City of Murten which
seems to having a rather special milestone this year, it seems that is was
first Started in 1013, 1000 years ago, although it is classified as 800 years
old. This is the only remaining, completely walled city left in Switzerland.
The shops are all stocked with modern gear and a plethora eating houses and shops
to tempt the palette. Stores other than the food shops, close between 12 and 1.30 each day. There are
several fountains along the main street which is lined with four and five story
buildings, and obviously, still very much a functioning enclave. Some
interesting shops are located in the cellars and access to them is through
double wooden doors at an incline of 45 degrees. When opened the doors expose a
set of concrete stairs which lead down to the cellar shop.
Brick arched walkways along the front of the shops give a protected
area for dining and the display of clothing racks.
A short drive through the countryside and
villages where farms seem to be mixing it with the suburbia, barns built with
huge overhanging eaves give protection to the stock, machinery and the row upon
row of cut firewood, earthen ramps appear to give stock access to the higher
level in the barn. The small town of Aarberg has a particularly interesting
feature, a 200 metre long, medieval covered wooden bridge, spanning the Aar
River. With a height limit of 2.9
metres, fortunately we were not in the motorhome. The only sacrifice to the modern era that the
bridge has made, is an asphalt covering on the one lane road and traffic lights
each end to share the traffic flow. Our
next stop was Bien Railway Station to arrange for tickets for our train trip on
the Glacier Express from St Moritz to Zermatt, with the booking made we were
advised to apply for a 1 month Swiss 50% Rail Pass, the cost of the pass will
be more than saved by the reduction in the fare for the Glacier Express, and
with Jungfraujoch also on our agenda, it became more important to get the pass.
A requirement was that we had to present our passport to get the pass, as they
were not with us at the time, we deferred the purchase until later.
Back in the motorhome, after leaving Ligerz
we headed for Lausanne, organized our passes at the station there and moved on
to Grindelwald a very impressive Swiss Alpine village, at the base of the Alps,
we found a van park and settled in, with the Eiger Mountain, virtually hanging
over us. The occasional thunderous roar, we found to be avalanches, which you
could see cascading over the rocky outcrops, looking like waterfalls. Fortunately, we are far enough away, and they
do not seem to have enough snow to become dangerous.
The following morning we woke to a clear blue
sky, so it was all systems go to get to the top before the weather changes. The
cog railway from Grindelwald Grund runs
every 30 minutes starting at 7.30am . At this time of year it is loaded with
skiers as there are some magnificent runs on the slopes here and there are
several stops on the way to the top at Jungfraujoch, (the top of Europe) at
3571m. The Cog Train takes 25 minutes to reach Kleine Scheidegg 2061m , at which
point the skiers get off and the tourists change trains to the Jungfraubahn. This section has two 5 minute stops to allow
the passengers to acclimatize as they ascend, the first is at Eigerwand at
2865m and the second at Eismeer at 3160m. Both of these stops, allowed the
passengers to get off and glassed windows in the cliff face give views of the
surrounding mountains, glaciers and valleys. For at least 20 minutes of this
trip the cog train is traveling through a tunnel carved out of the mountain, It
was begun in 1896 and took 16 years to complete. The brain child of Adolf
Guyer-Zeller. Adolf died in 1899 and the work was carried on by his descendants
and was opened in February 1912.
It was within 150 metres of one these gallery
openings that the “Drama on the Eiger North Wall” played out in 1936. Four
climbers were attempting the climb to the top when the weather deteriorated and
one sustained an injury, they tried to retrace their steps , rescuers tried to reach them from the gallery opening, but were turned
back by the conditions, three fell to the deaths and the fourth tried to join
ropes to lower to the rescuers, his rope jammed in the carabineer, 5 metres above the rescuers , he froze to
death while suspended on his rope. I think a film was made of this.
The system at the top was great, signs
directed people along the route stopping at the various view points and
facilities, a lift takes you to the top of the Sphinx and the viewing
terrace. Our luck had run out with the
weather also, as clouds had come in and made visibility from the top almost
zilch.
We reckon this would be a good time to visit
Japan & China, there can’t be many people left over there, they are all
here on group tours to Junganfrau.
Down from the mountain we headed around to
Lauterbrunnen, only about 20 kms away but it was the alternative departure
point for the cog railway, it is also a well known Swiss Alpine Village, The
system works the same as at Grindelwald , with the train still reaching Kleine
Scheidegg, but from a different direction.
A tunnel lift to the Trummelbach Falls, with
several cascades within the mountain, was on our agenda, but alas, closed for maintenance,
so we moved on to Interlaken for the night.
One of the famous cheeses made in Switzerland
is the “Emmentaler” We visited a cheese making dairy at Schaukaserei, in the
village of Affoltern. Here they have a display set up of cheese making dairies from 1741 up to a functioning modern
unit where great cheese wheels are made. Part of their claim to purity of the
brand is that Swiss law insists that cows be outside for at least 20 days per
month and not be fed silage during that time.
Traveling to Affoltern lead us through what
seemed the back blocks of Switzerland. Many small villages along the way, some
with maybe 15 houses, others with a few more. The distance between villages was
sometimes only one large paddock. The houses with their great wide eaves, for
protection from the weather, often a large combined house and barn, where an
earthen ramp leads to the top floor of the barn area. Some of the larger houses
are 4 and 5 stories high and very ornate.
Lucerne, is obviously a very beautiful city,
placed on the shores of lake Vierwald-Statler and surrounded by steep mountains,
but for us, we will have to rely on the advertising brochures, as the weather
had clouded in again, either low cloud or fog, who knows, but visibility was
down to about 1.5 kms, We had planned a boat cruise to Vitzanau and the cog
rail to the top of Rimi, but it would have been a waste of time and money.
Instead we chose to travel around the lake by road. The Northern and Eastern
shores could be mistaken for Lake Tahoe or the French Mediterranean coast,
fantastic scenery, but mainly lost to us by the fog.
Day 12 and we again woke to a blanket of fog,
feeling quite depressed with missing out on so much of the Swiss scenery, we
could see that there were mountains on both sides of our route, but only just.
On our way across to St Moritz, our chosen
route was through Andermatt. We began to climb slightly and then in earnest,
just before Andermatt, we exited one of the many tunnels and wow the sky was
blue and clear, the Swiss Alps there staring at us. We had just passed 1300m
elevation, so excited forgot to bring the camera out of the car, we could see
the carpet of fog that was in the valleys and had been evident in all but our
trip to Junganfrau. All of a sudden the fog closed in on us. We moved on and at
1400m it had cleared again, magnificent. We were almost at Andermatt so stopped
for some pictures around this beautiful town and setting. 2 kms out of town towards our next
destination and the road was totally blocked with snow. A local resident
advised that we should take the other road and head towards Oberwald, 5kms out
of town and the same thing, a wall of snow across the road, Another local
confirmed that both passes were closed and the only option was to take another
road to the next town, Realp and catch a train to Oberwald
As we approached Realp a sign advised that
the next train left in 10 minutes, This train has 22 carriages and each takes 2
cars, we lined up ran in and paid the $30 for the ticket and we were then
ushered to drive the motorhome onto the last flat top carriage, we then had to
drive the RV the full length of the train and pull up behind the car in front. So narrow that we had the
mirrors folded in all the way, seemed to be about 6” clearance on each side.
Eventually we were sat up like Jackie in our motorhome, where we stayed for the
entire trip, waiting for some action. Apart from the end carriages all the
others have a domed roof and open sides above 1 metre. Right on schedule the
electric train started to pull away and head into a tunnel, at quite a pace. After
15 minutes the train stopped, we could see the walls of the tunnel pretty close
to the carriage, we sat there in the dark for a while, then all of a sudden we
heard a train racing passed us. It was beneath us, at this point the tunnel is
two story, once that train had passed we moved off again for another 10 minutes
until we reached Realp, then the unloading began, all cars exited off the front
flat carriage, so at one end or the other everyone has to drive along the
entire 22 carriage tunnel that is the
train. The trip took 30 minutes. The train holds 44 cars and the trip is 15kms
through the tunnel in the alps. Best $30 experience we have had.
Back on the road and we headed for Brig. This
in itself was an incredible drive, we are high up in the Alps and driving
through tunnel after tunnel, some open sided tunnels are to protect from
avalanche and rock fall. When not in a tunnel we were winding through small
villages, very close together and each a picture book on its own, Snow thick on
the roofs of the old buildings added to the image, often the road would wind
between the houses, with hardly enough room to pass if a car is coming the
other way.
From Brig we turned towards the Simplon Pass
(2005m) as our route forward, the road was open, apart from a few sections of
road works and was another incredible drive.
Coming down from Simplon Pass we soon entered
Italy. The condition of the insides of the tunnels were evidence of poor
maintenance, the roads as well. We noticed
many old houses that are deteriorating
and left to fall apart, roofs caved in etc. We settled for a roadside spot in Isella for
the night after what turned out, after a gloomy start, to be a spectacular day.
We are told that the weather this year
is very unusual, it is usually much warmer at this time. They expect the
ski season to finish at the end of
April, and that’s only 3 weeks away.
The drive through this section of the Italian
Alps area was quite daunting, very narrow roads, tightly winding around the
mountain face and in places the roads virtually hanging off the cliff face, keeping
us on our toes, watching for the ever likely on-coming car from the other
direction. Still it was spectacular scenery. Not long however and we were back
in Switzerland, the roads improved and the tunnels were much cleaner Our approach to St Moritz was a bit daunting,
as we did not know what roads, if any, would be closed . The freeway soon
reduced to a highway and occasionally narrowing down and weaving between
buildings as we went through villages, mirrors are placed on buildings to try
to give the motorists some warning of approaching traffic, The highway was also
a series of tunnels and bridges, lost count of how many, but the longest we
encountered was 6.6kms, some incredible engineering gone on here. Turning off the
highway, we had to encounter “Juliar Pass”(2284m). The pass was in total cloud
and a light dusting of fresh snow was evident. Rising up to the pass we went
through countless hairpin bends, or switchbacks, at one point you could look up
and see three or four levels of road with cars going both ways. Once over the pass we moved down into the
valley where St Moritz is located, as you can imaging, very highly developed,
with multi story hotels, apartment buildings, many apartment complexes seem to
be closed for the season, although there are still a lot of skiers around.
After a lot of chasing around we eventually found a campground not too far out,
actually, we resorted to asking a taxi driver. Which of course is the next best
thing, when the GPS does not perform. Visibility in St Moritz and the surrounding
mountains was great.
Our first night sky here was clear and crisp,
the stars shone brightly, for the first time since starting off with the RV. In
the morning, water around the van park was now ice and a chilly -2. Then a day looking around St Moritz with a
visit to the Bernina Diavolezza aerial
cable car, near Bernina Pass (2382) the Diavolezza takes you from 2093 to
2978m. The cable car on the way up was loaded with skiers anxious to get to the
top where they then have access to several runs and ski lifts, or they can blow
it and take the major run all the way down in one hit. We figured it was
senior’s discount day, as the number of oldies with all the gear was amazing.
We cracked it for a day of snow and low visibility at the top, still what would
a visit to St Moritz be without it snowing. A neighbour at the van park has
been here for 110 days and reckoned he had sunshine on 98 of those, similarly,
talking to a local on the Diavolezza, claimed that St Moritz get an average of 320 days of sunshine each
year. So perhaps we were lucky to see it in both sets of conditions and crack
it for one of the grey 45. A browse through a hardware store was frightening,
the costs of everything over the top, don’t know whether that’s a St Moritz or
a Switzerland thing, but, by the cost of camping, inclined to think the latter.
Our park here is about 5km out of the centre,
but there is a bus stop and two rail line stations within 200 metres.
We were able to arrange reduced rate storage
for our RV, while we are away for 3 days on the “Glacier Express” train to
Zermatt. Photos
3 - St Moritz, Switzerland
to Innsbruck, Austria
Route Map
Tuesday, up at 6.30 for the Glacier Express, train trip to Zermatt, a clear day, so it should be a good trip. The train was the in three parts, 1st and 2nd class observation cars and the standard cattle class at the rear. The observation cars were all set with huge picture windows, earphones for each seat, from which a running travelogue of our position was broadcast in 6 languages. The journey was pegged as the slowest express train in the world. The trip took 8 hours and perhaps the term “express” is a bit of a misnomer, since we were to stop at some 20 or so stations to pick up or set down passengers. Some of the highlights of the trip include the Rhine Gorge, the start of both the Rhine and Rhone Rivers, the 2033m Oberlap Pass and concluding with a view of the Matterhorn. The route has 291b bridges and 91 tunnels, the longest being 15kms. Plus a few viaducts, the largest of these the Landwasser Viaduct is at a height of 65metres and a length of 142m. The viaduct also has a curved path and leads straight into a tunnel. At Disentis we dropped off the cattle class carriages at the rear and changed engines to take on one with a cog drive, to traverse the 12% gradient to get to the Oberlap pass the train uses the cog system on and off, for 34kms of the route. We experienced all the weather options during the trip, after starting in beautiful sunshine about 2/3rds through we had snow, then rain and then back to snow again as we approached Zermatt.
Tuesday, up at 6.30 for the Glacier Express, train trip to Zermatt, a clear day, so it should be a good trip. The train was the in three parts, 1st and 2nd class observation cars and the standard cattle class at the rear. The observation cars were all set with huge picture windows, earphones for each seat, from which a running travelogue of our position was broadcast in 6 languages. The journey was pegged as the slowest express train in the world. The trip took 8 hours and perhaps the term “express” is a bit of a misnomer, since we were to stop at some 20 or so stations to pick up or set down passengers. Some of the highlights of the trip include the Rhine Gorge, the start of both the Rhine and Rhone Rivers, the 2033m Oberlap Pass and concluding with a view of the Matterhorn. The route has 291b bridges and 91 tunnels, the longest being 15kms. Plus a few viaducts, the largest of these the Landwasser Viaduct is at a height of 65metres and a length of 142m. The viaduct also has a curved path and leads straight into a tunnel. At Disentis we dropped off the cattle class carriages at the rear and changed engines to take on one with a cog drive, to traverse the 12% gradient to get to the Oberlap pass the train uses the cog system on and off, for 34kms of the route. We experienced all the weather options during the trip, after starting in beautiful sunshine about 2/3rds through we had snow, then rain and then back to snow again as we approached Zermatt.
Our Hotel in Zermatt “The
Primavera” is a seven minute walk from
the station, given the snow and the unknown direction, we jumped into a
cab. Zermatt is designed as a car free
city, drivers need to park their car some fair way out and take the electric
train shuttle in. Consequently all of the cabs and shuttle vehicles in town are
small electric units. There are no private electric cars or even golf buggies
in the town. There are 45 taxis and a lot of tradies little tray units. They
must allow some bigger stuff in for the construction of the multi story
buildings. There are a few huge cranes set up at construction sites around town
The primavera had us in a
room with a balcony, facing north. So right there, clouds permitting, is “The
Matterhorn” in our picture window.
The following day we were
all, prepared to go up on the Gornergrat Bahn, the Matterhorn Railway. From our hotel
there was always cloud up there, but we took the risk, cab to the station and
the Gornergrat Bahn Electric Cog Railway
train to the top. Well it was a glorious day up there, very little cloud so
there were clear views of the Matterhorn and we both went crazy with the
cameras. An advertising company was up there doing a shoot for some make-up
cream, talking to the make –up girl they were there yesterday and could not get
a photo, it was a complete whiteout, They were preparing to have to spend a
week there to get a good day. As I passed the camera man he was saying how
happy he was with the day, everything was perfect. So too it was for us and
lots of panorama photos to stitch. The cog train takes 30 minutes to get to the
top, you can feel that it is a steep climb. There is a hotel right up there at
the Gornergrat train station, the top two floors are dedicated to it. As well
there are two Astronomy domes at each end of the hotel building. Outdoor
terraces up there were doing a brisk business with some pretty posh meals from
the hotel restaurant.
Again the train was full of
skiers, there were three stops where they could get out, with ski runs and
lifts all over the place, definitely a younger crowd than we encountered at St
Moritz, but still a few silver foxes amongst them. Back on the terra firma at
Zermatt we had a bit of a walk through the narrow streets of the main shopping
area. Certainly a very attractive town, where pedestrians rule, I should say
skiers rule, as they walk around with their skis over their shoulder and others
need to avoid being whacked by them. By
the time we were ready to head for home base we found we had walked in the
opposite direction, so hunted out a cab. We now find that the cab fare in
Zermatt is $12, doesn’t matter where from or to, that is of course apart from
the guy who took us from the station the first time and slugged us $18. (once
bitten)
We thought we would challenge the elements again,
by taking the cable car to “Schwarzsee-Matterhorn Glacier- Paradise” the top
rung of which is Klein Matterhorn at 3883m. We were advised at the ticket
office, that we would be wasting our time and money, as the top was a white out and the weather is
expected to get worse in the afternoon, so no point in waiting for it to clear.
We settled to go 5 out of the 6
stations, as far as “Trockener Steg” at 2939m which was just below the cloud,
winds there were 38km/hr and -2 degrees. The top was registering -8 degrees and
68km/hr winds, so it was a good option. There were skiers from all over, a lot
of Brits. Somewhere along the 30 minute trip we crossed into Italy, it seemed
that the Schwartzsee terminal was
actually in Italy. The views all the way up were spectacular, skiers and
snowboarders scattered over the many runs and a lot of smaller lifts, shifting
them back to the higher points. Back in the valley at Zermatt, we walked the
length of the town taking in the range of Lodges, Hotels and outdoor restaurants along the way. We
also witnessed an avalanche just above the town, minor, by the normal
standards, but managed a photo.
At 8am each day, there are a
few blasts that are fired off to set small avalanches off and stop them from
becoming dangerous ones.
The return trip to St Moritz
on the Glacier Express was to be in sunshine all the way, until we were off the
train and looking for a taxi, a fairly heavy snow fall greeted us. The train
ride was just as pleasant, we were allocated seats on the opposite side of the
train, which opened up new visions. We passed through the small village of
Nederite, which stands as a beacon for those who believe that wherever you
come, from the world can be your oyster. The late Sayarar Ritz came from this tiny village in the Alps
and later formed the Ritz chain of upper class hotels. Both he and his wife are
now buried in the town cemetery.
We passed through a region
which had suffered a massive landslide in 1991, roads and rail lines were cut
and new routes had to be made. Another
more devastating landslide occurred 10,000 years ago which effected a 13km
stretch of the valley, The landscape is such that it is referred to as the
Swiss Grand Canyon, a striking contrast to the snow covered peaks around. The
train was held up for 30 minutes while the tracks were cleared of the debris
from an avalanche at Oberlapt Pass near
Andermatt . To clear the tracks they send in the snow train, it has in the
front, two huge turbines that when driven into the mound of snow, sends it
flying, out to both sides. Apart from the tunnels, there are a lot of
“Galleries”. They are like an open sided tunnel, so it really is just a
verandah roof to deflect and snow or rocks that cascade down the mountain side.
Whilst we have seen a few wind powered
turbines and some house owners seem to think that a solar panel is a status
symbol and so cover the entire house with them. Switzerland is so well endowed
with water from the mountains, that 60% of their electric power comes from
Hydro Generators. It seems strange though, that while a liter of petrol costs
$1.90, a liter of drinking water from a shop costs $7.00.
Another learning curve, the
next morning , we woke to -2 degrees, jumped out to give the heater a boost and
lo, no gas, in changing to the other bottle which we had acquired in France
earlier with a swap & go system, found it to be leaking at the attachment,
so had to shut it down. It appears that
all countries have their own connections, well, they have gone part way with
the currency, with the Euro in many of the countries, but when it comes to gas
and electric fittings , they still need to get their heads together. Eventually we bought an adapter and got some
heat on the go. Currently wondering how many adapters will be required.
On leaving St Moritz, we had
a beautiful day to go back over Juliar Pass, which incidentally, was named
after Julius Caesar, not Alan Jones’s nickname for our beloved Prime Minister.
Retracing our steps back to the main highway was still full of great views of
mountains and little villages scattered all over them, sometimes only a
kilometer apart. After a brief drive through Lichtenstein, which is only 25kms wide
anyway, we began our travels in Austria with an overnight camp at Feldkirch. A Walk down to the local fair, all the same
as elsewhere, loud music and the same rides for the kids, fairy floss and all.
The following day we were to
cross the Arlberg Pass. There is a long
tunnel which goes through the mountain and saves heaps for the local freight
and transport industries, but as we approached the road markings gave the
choice “Tunnel” or “Pass” . to the dismay of the GPS we swung a right and chose
the pass. A good move, there is not much to see in a tunnel that just goes on
and on, the weather was great and clear and the trip over the pass was
fantastic. Ski lifts and skiers
everywhere, still heaps of snow up there for them, but the roads were open and
it was a great drive, with a few stops along the way to take some photos. After
resuming the main highway we took a phone call from Pauline, it lasted for at
least 6 tunnels ranging from 1 to 6 kms in length, to our surprise we had phone
connection all the way. We ended the day in Innsbruck, A great city with a lot
of heritage for Austria and they have adopted the same theme as Melbourne, to
make it a sporting mecca. They have hosted 3 Olympic Games, two Winter and one
Summer, there are sports stadiums and other facilities galore, a recent
inclusion is the latest Ski Jumping slope, which they call the Cobra as the
start section looks like the head of a cobra sitting up. A City Sightseeing
Tour Bus gave us a personalized tour as we were almost the only ones on board. On leaving the bus we did a walking tour of
the old town and included a visit to the Court Church which houses the tomb of Emperor
Maximilians I, one of the great leaders from Austria’s Tirolean history, In the
church, the tomb is surrounded by 28 larger than life size bronze statues of
the Emperor’s ancestors. A 450 year old
pipe organ made by Jorg Elbert, sits high at the rear of the church. The narrow alleys of the old town was a
festive area, many cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating , and of course the obligatory McDonalds set
into one of the heritage buildings. Photos
4 - Innsbruck,
Austria to Budapest, Hungary
Over the border into
Southern Germany, Bavaria, we arranged a tour of Herrenchiemsee, The Royal
Palace of King Ludwig II is set on an island in the Chiemsee Lake. When we
arrived they were in the process of removing the winter covering from the
external Bronze statues, a huge crane was lifting off the supports for the
covers. King Ludwig II also known as The
Mad King Ludwig inherited the throne at the age of 19 following his father’s
death. During his reign, 1864 - 1886 King Ludwig’s building projects included
the Neuchwanstein Castle (copied in part by Walt Disney at Disneyland),
Linderhof Palace and several other buildings before this, his last one
Herrenchiemsee . The cost of
Herrenchiemsse was more that the cost of his other buildings combined. 11 million hand made bricks were transported
across the lake to the site, 50 Crystal
chandeliers were especially crafted and most expensive, were the tapestries.
The King had a fascination
with the former King Louis 14 of France (The Sun King) and it was his intention
to build a duplicate of the Versailles Palace, compete with a copy of the
garden, fountains and statues, only to improve where possible with the more
modern technology available. The building was to have no practical function,
just intended to be a monument to absolute Monarchy. Ludwig who saw himself as (the Moon King) only
spent 10 days in the Palace. There being a parliament, Ludwig did not have the endless funds of an
absolute Monarch such as Louis 14th and consequently ran out of
money before the palace was completed. At the age of 40, King Ludwig II was declared
insane on 12th June 1886 and was found dead in the lake on 13th
June 1886, the only possible witness to his death was also found dead. At the time of his death, only 12 rooms of
the palace had been completed, some of the partly built sections were later
removed. The proposed main entrance was
left unfinished, it is in that state
that we can see the brick structure, without the rendering and the timber
ceiling panels. From the lavishness of the completed décor it
is not difficult to imagine running out of money. Five kilograms of gold was
used in making the gold leaf to adorn the fittings. The Gallery of Mirrors room had 2200 candles
in the 26 crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The bath was seven
metres diameter one and a half metres deep and required 6 hours to fill.
We were starting to see the
reasons for his being classified insane.
Certainly a fascinating tour.
Moving on to Berchtengaden
it was back into Austria and then Bavaria again. Berchtengaden is a touristy town near the
Koningsee National Park, another reason for it’s fame, is that it is the location
of “The Eagles Nest” Hitler’s Alpine Retreat.
Most of it has been destroyed, so as to not promote or glorify his
image. We were unable to make the trip
up, as the site is closed until mid May.
Berchtengaden is a very attractive village surrounded by the alps, which
still have snow covered peaks, it is located on a small wart like lump, on Germany’s
Southern Border, protruding into
Austria, So up in that retreat, whilst
still in Germany, one is surrounded by the Austrian Alps, Hitler of course was
born in Austria.
Salzburg, 30 kms to the
north is the site of the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . We settled in
art the RV park, again no Wi-Fi. “it’s not working”. Bloody frustrating, some of the parks want
exorbitant fees to use the internet, others will give you a code which lasts
for 15 minutes some 30 minutes. Have not
yet been able to find a public hotspot, without a security code being required.
Apart from Mozart, Salzburg’s
other famous feature, seems to be the 1964 filming location of “The Sound of
Music”. They claim that 300,000 visitors a year come to see the film sets of
the blockbuster musical. We took a “Sound of Music” Tour and there were 50 in
our bus and several other busses were noted at each site we visited and we are
in the off season. It was a fun 4 hours, we had sing-a-longs of all of the
songs, at appropriate stages. The city is in a very beautiful setting, with the
alps in the background, however negotiating the narrow and tangled city streets
looks an absolute nightmare. We soon found out, the central district is for
local traffic only, managed to find a parking meter on the outskirts so we
could visit the 900 year old Hohensalzburg Fortress / Medieval Castle, sitting
high on a hill on the edge of town, actually the Strasburg University is housed
in a lot of the old buildings around the base of the Fort, so our walk from the
RV to the Funicular for the ride up was a dodgem game with cyclists. Some
magnificent old churches are also at the base of the Fortress, Catacombs were hewn out of the rock below the
Fortress .
Once up at the top the
Fortress was a maze of rooms alleys and turrets, The torture chamber was a
popular feature for those with a penchant for the macabre, the guided tours
there were limited to 40. Certainly a great visit.
We moved on to Schonbuhel
where we could see the 12th century, Aggstein Castle, The ruins of
this castle have been painstakingly restored. Just down the road at Melk is the
15 century Baroque Melk Abbey, sitting overlooking the Danube. The Abbey has
been continually occupied and worked by Benedictine Monks, since 1089. The
Monks operate a school with 900 students and service 32 parishes in the
area. A rainy day, so we gave the castle
the flick, as it would have been mainly outdoors and headed for the Abbey, a
huge complex and as you walk through the displays and into the assembly hall,
tiled floor and magnificent brown marble columns, each trimmed with gold
ornaments, the entire ceiling covered with murals from there to the library,
even more impressive, floor to ceiling book shelves filled with old books a
balcony all around, for access to the higher shelves and again, ceiling covered
with murals. A Baroque spiral staircase lead down to the Church Proper and that
was just amazing . The colours were similar, with brown and grey
Marble heavily trimmed with
gold squareish columns and the curved ceilings covered with murals. The alter
area was breathtaking with it’s multitude of gold figures, all making part of a
theme. Still raining so we moved on to
Vienna, the capital of Austria with it’s 2.4 million people, 1/5th of all
Austria’s population. Booked into a caravan park and a city tour, as well as a
Mozart/Strauss dinner and show, for the following day.
Saturday and Vienna or Wein
as it is known here, was buzzing with tourists, we had a city tour which
culminated in a hour and half guided tour of the 1500 room Schonbrunn Palace.
This was the Summer home of the Hapsburgs, the family that ruled the Austrian
Empire from 1453 until it was dissolved in 1918 by the withdrawing from State
Affairs by Emperor Charles I. The former
population of 55 million separated out into their own countries of Hungary,
Poland, etc, leaving Austria’s population at around 11million.
Vienna was founded by the Romans in 1156
and at one stage it was the fifth largest city in the world, behind London,
Paris, New York and Chicago. Today it boasts 2200 pastry shops, 92 museums and
360 Catholic Churches, the St Stephen’s Cathedral spire was the tallest spire
in the world when it was built in 1433 and included an apartment for the Bell
ringer, it was also used for fire spotting until 1955. We took refuge from the
throng of tourists filling the many pedestrian malls in the city, by slipping
into the church, it was busier than the malls.
Looking for a lunch spot, we located a little Australian Pub, where else,
but right beside the Mozart Café, behind the Opera House. There is nothing like
a little bit of home, when you are away from it all. The barman at the Cross
Fields Pub was a young chap from Brisbane and doing a great job too.
The Winter palace is in the
centre of Vienna, on the Circle Route
which is an avenue with most of the important buildings, amongst other things,
the Winter Palace has been the location of the famed “Spanish Riding School” for
the past 300 years and nothing has changed. The “School” was established by the
Hapsburgs, who at that time also ruled Spain.
The Schonbrunn Palace tour
was a hectic affair, they claim to have 10,000 visitors per day go through.
This Palace was also built as a replica of the Versailles in France and whilst
the interior was not a patch on the completed sections of King Ludwig’s copy,
here, they had completed the gardens and they were magnificent .
Both the Dinner and the
Concert were great, the concert was held in the “Kursalon” a pavilion in the
State Park. Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) frequently played at the Kursalon and
apart from a fresh coat of paint nothing has changed , no microphones or
speakers, just relied on the natural acoustics.
5 huge crystal chandeliers, even the chairs felt like they had been
around for centuries. Certainly no second rate performers in this lot.
On the drive out of Vienna the
next day we drove past the Schonbrunn Palace, being Sunday it was even busier
than the day before. We continued on
towards Budapest, the capital of Hungary, a fairly uninteresting drive, 250kms.
The biggest excitement being when we reached the border it all seem chaotic,
eventually we were able to buy a 10 day Vignette (a pass to use their highways)
for $10.50, The countryside was very flat with large fields , lots of wind
turbines.
As we neared Budapest the
groups of houses became unrecognizable as villages, they seemed to have the
Aussie dream of a quarter acre block, so there was a lot more space between
houses and lots of private garden plots as well as trees between them. Budapest is another huge city, on the Danube,
with some very impressive historical buildings. What also hit home was the fact
that we are only 250 kms from, Vienna, like Melbourne/Wodonga distance.
The buildings lining the
approach to Budapest in general were in a bad state of repair. Pretty grotty
actually.
We eventually found an RV
park in Romai, like the rest of the are very run down and not really prepared
for the season yet, although the advertise open all year. Another shock came
when trying to buy some milk, yet another currency to cope with, in Hungary
they use the ”Forint” and 1 Forint has
100 Fillers, When we worked out the
values we find 1 Euro = 298 Forints. So on that basis there are 298fillers = 1
cent, talk about monopoly money. To buy the milk we had to find a supermarket
and buy enough stuff to put it on MasterCard. Photos
5 - Budapest,
Hungary to Prague, Czech Republic
The local train was close
by, made it to Central, where we found a travel agent and booked on the” Hop On
Hop Off” bus. They are well setup with head phones and a choice of 20 languages
to select from, top front seat on the double decker gave us plenty of
opportunities to take photos, as we did the 2.5hr circuit. There are certainly
a lot of impressive buildings in the city and they have a tough time since
being bombed in WWII then having Russian administrators after the war. However
whilst there is repair work still going on as well as new building projects, we
are still left with the view that really, no one cares about the place,
Graffiti is alive and well in all of the cities we have visited so far, but
none more so that Budapest. During the day we ended up traveling by train, Bus,
Tram, Boat and Funicular, a big day, but we saw what Budapest had to offer. The Palace Area, houses the Budavai Royal
Place, Built by Maria Therese of the Hapsburgs, The Matyas Temple, which was
the venue for the royal weddings and as well the Budovari Siklo Palace, the home of the current President of Hungary, with all the trappings of the
changing of the guard. Much of this area has been reconstructed after it was
destroyed by the bombings of WWII, along with four of the five bridges across
the Danube.
The Matyas Temple was in the
process of serious restoration, there were people all over, working. Visitors
were still allowed in, to mingle between the workers . The temple area was
great for photographing the city, as it looked down across the Danube to the
beautiful Gothic style Parliament House. A Funicular, 100 years old and still
operating, got us back to riverbank level where we boarded a boat for an hour
cruise on the Danube.
The name Budapest comes from
the two regions, separated by the Danube, the hilly Western side is Buda and
the Eastern flat side is Pest, (pronounced Pescht). The two areas are still
known as that.
Budapest’s history goes back
to 50AD, when as part of the Roman Empire the area was known as Pannonia and
the capital city was Aquincum was established on the “Amber Road” an important
trade route from Northern Italy to the Baltic region. A Roman barracks house
6000 soldiers by 87AD in the area. Aquincum
is still there and is now a suburb of Budapest.
The Aquincum Archaeological Park and Museum was situated a
kilometer from our campground, so we scheduled a look before we left the area.
It is one of the largest Archaeological Parks in Hungary and has been on
display for over 110 years and some of the older park facilities tend to merge
with the Roman ones, however a new modern museum houses a great display of finds from the area. An Amphitheatre, said to be the largest
outside of Rome is 8kms to the North, but we were unable to find it, probably
because we did not recognize signs to it.
We moved North following the
path of the Danube and found a quiet spot by the river for the night near Domos.
The Danube starts in
southern Germany and winds its way through several countries, emptying into the
Black Sea.
The flow rate of the river
would have to be about 10kms/hr, with the occasional tree or log floating
past. All of the boat moorings in
Budapest had a heap of debris caught up in the cables.
Esztergom, a small town on
the Danube near the border of Slovakia has as it’s main church the Esztergom
Basilica. This is Hungary's
largest Cathedral. A visit was a must
and we had again beaten the crowds and had a clear go at the inside of the
Basilica. We were most impressed, it is huge inside but not garish with the décor, a climbing tour to the Cupola and below into
the Crypt, where the remains of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty are interred.
Cardinal Mindszenty was a prominent figure in the post war turmoil in Hungary
and was referred to as “The Conscience of the Nation”, Preaching against the
Russian Communist Authority, he passed
away in 1975 in Vienna, eventually he was transferred to the Crypt of the
Basilica In 1991.
The eight columns in the
front of the Basilica are at least 6ft in diameter, a further 24 columns of the
same size support the dome.
We continued on along the
Hungarian side of the border passing through several small villages.
Unfortunately we were left with the impression that much of what we saw of
Hungary was in decay. Sure there were
some great and beautiful buildings, but they were dwarfed by the lack of upkeep
to the infrastructure of the country, The railways, trains and stations, the
roads, yes a few good ones, but in the main very patched up and pot holes. Roadside facilities were poor and the ones we
went to use were closed and obviously had been for some time. Many major
buildings in the city had concrete cancer, chunks missing, rendering falling
apart. General standard of housing and upkeep just looked like no one cared.
Maybe we are at the wrong time of year, but there was hardly a cut blade of
grass apart from the main square in Pest.
It was a much brighter outlook once we passed into Slovakia, for some
reason we were expecting worse and were pleasantly surprised. A sense of enthusiasm with the new buildings going up etc. We
bombed out on locating our targeted camp ground near Bratislava, the capital of
Slovakia, we ended up back in Hungary for the night. After a drive through and around Bratislava,
we opted to head for Prague for the night. Moving out of Slovakia and into The
Czech Republic caused another change of Currency, We had just disposed of all
our Hungarian Forints, traded them for Euros for Slovakia, now the Czech
Republic have Krona, worth about 3 for 1 Euro. So another currency swap and
another Vignette for $18 to allow us to use the road system, believe me they should
pay us for this lot, 250kms of bone jarring chur chunk, chur chunk, along the
concrete highway, reminded us of some of the freeways in California. Photos
6 - Prague, Czech Republic to
Zurich, Switzerland
In leaving Prague we opted to travel to Kutna
Hora to see some of the sights there. Kutna Hora is on the UNESCO World
Cultural heritage List. It was the source of much of the silver mined in
Europe. In the 13th century, one third of the total European silver
production came from the mines at Kutna Hora. The local mines had attained a
depth of 600 metres and were the deepest mines in the world. The city also minted much of the coins used,
including the Prague Groshen. The Cathedral
of St Barbara, the patron Saint of Miners, is one of the best examples of
Gothic architecture in Bohemia. The style of the church is unique from the
outside and certainly warranted a look inside, a local wedding had precedence,
so we went off and checked out another Cathedral in the neighboring town of
Sedlec, The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our lady and saint John the Baptist,
another huge Baroque-Gothic styled building which was started in 1290 as part
of a Cistercian Monastery, the monastery also included an Ossuary, beneath
another church, The Church of All Saints. A bit gory, as it contained more than
40,000 human bones, one of the most visited sites in Czech Republic. Perhaps
that says something about us tourists.
The wedding over, St Barbara’s was open for
business and we returned to have a look through before moving east to Zebrak
where we checked out the local castle, from a distance, then found a site for
the night.
Bohemia
is not a country, it originated as “The Dutchy of Bohemia” in the 12th
Century and incorporated much of what is now the Czech Republic, of the
10million Czechs, 6 million live within the area of Bohemia, the capital Prague
is central to the area. Famous for its Crystal and Glassware, small souvenir
shops try to cash in from it.
A severe thunderstorm overnight, followed by
a drizzly day, caused a change in our plans, we headed to Munich, with a brief
lunch stop at Regensburg and look around, it was a very interesting city, with
some very old buildings and bridges along the waterway. Munich seems a very
crowded city, a nightmare following the GPS though to the Camping Park. All the
brochures so far, seem to indicate that the tours in Munich are either walking
or cycling, all will be revealed when we use our day transport ticket tomorrow
into the centre of town and check out what is on offer.
Well there were 3 companies running City
Tours and we went Grey Line, which was great, most of 3 hours sitting on a bus
then a walk though some of the pedestrian zones (Malls) hunting a place for
lunch, We stumbled across the Jesuit Church of St Michael, in the middle of one
of these malls, apparently it was a shell after the war and has been rebuilt into
a magnificent Church. There are many Churches and the main Cathedral in Munich,
or Munchen as it is known here, and a city law was passed to ensure that no
building in the centre of Munich would be taller than the spires of the
churches. Other features of the city were the Nymphenburg Palace, Olympic Park
, the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics, a very impressive complex and
apparently one of the few Olympic venues that continues to return a profit from
the use that it still gets. Considering that “Meat Loaf” is playing here
tonight and “Bon Jovi” is somewhere nearby for his concert, it gets its share
of has-beens. Opposite the Olympic Park is the very modern BMW Complex,
including a museum and display showrooms for current items, next door was one
of their production plants. Munich was closely
tied to the beginnings and rise of National Socialism, the Nazi Party was
formed here in 1920. At the same time some resistance groups, recognized the
dangers of National Socialism and began to fight against it. One such group was
the ”White Rose” in Munich, the leaders of
which (two Brothers) were executed here.
Munich and Beer seem to also be linked, due
mainly to the “October Fest” held here each year in the Malls of the city, This
festival is also to recognize that Munich is a major beer producing city and
exporter to the world.
Interesting also, to see a taxi rank full of
cream coloured taxis, all Mercedes.
The transport system is very efficient, a
daily ticket cost $10.50 for a family and once validated allows travel on all
mediums, train, tram and bus. The subway system has 7 (S)lines going East/West
through the city, with another 13 lines going North/South on lower levels.
Three of the City Stations were interchanges
for the (U) lines. At the main
city stations there was a platform each side of the train, passengers would
exit the train from the right and those boarding would enter from the left side
of the train. It made for speedy movement of people, This is in a city of 1.4
Million, “Hello Melbourne”. Escalators
that would stop when no person was on it, then recognize the next traveler (up
or down) and start again in their direction as they approached the sensor.
A dull day as we left Munich, but probably
appropriate as we headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, which was a
very sobering experience, To represent
all of the Concentration Camps, the original Dachau campsite is still intact,
but with only two of the thirty four
barracks still standing , the other 32 are well outlined and numbered. The six perimeter
Guard Towers and fence still there, but only a sample section of the security
ditches inside the fence line have been retained. Photos, many taken by the SS Guards were on
display and a historical film was played showing many disturbing scenes from
the Camp and the Nazi regime, throughout the film you could have heard a pin
drop. It was pleasing to see the hundreds of school children and scout groups being
taken over the site and given the full details of its history, all with the aim
of “There Should Never be Another Dachau”.
The day before our visit was the 68th anniversary of the US
liberation of Dachau. The residents of Dachau at the time the camp was in
operation were told it was an internment camp for dissidents, to promote a fear
of opposing the Nazi Authorities, After the liberation, they were among the
first to witness the horror that had gone on at their doorstep. The camp was first
built in 1933 being transformed from a disused munitions factory from WWI, in
37/38 it was re-built by the prisoners, to house 6000, at the time of liberation
there were 32,000 prisoners crammed in.
If there are still any “Holocaust Sceptics”
around they should be encouraged to take the tour.
We headed south to Grainau, a beautiful
little Bavarian Village at the base of “Zugspitze” The Top of Germany, at 2962m. We
took the Cog train up and came down from the summit by cable car. The Cog Train
had a four and half kilometer tunnel through the centre of the mountain before
it reached its final destination, this was the hop off point for the skiers,
all of whom were ruing the fact that this is the last ski lift day for the
season, May 1st, a public holiday. The summit was a cable car ride
up from here. At the top the views were stunning, quite scary, close to the
railings. A little haze cut the clarity a bit but a fantastic experience. The
cable car went direct from the summit to the car park, there are two towers at
the bottom half but the first span going down is 2.6 kilometers at 46 degrees.
It has been operating since the 1920s and we were assured that the “German
Technology” was still good. Back on
terra firma we set our GPS to Linderhof Castle, the smallest of King Ludwig’s
three castles, but the most lavishly decorated.
In keeping with Ludwig’s fetish for the Sun King Louis 14th
of France, much of the décor was a copy or tribute to him. The rooms of the
Palace are considerably smaller than the other palaces but the over use of gold
leaf made it look garish, the gardens are also modeled on Versailles, but the
terrain here gives them a different look. Ludwig lived in this castle for about
two weeks each month for eight years before his death in 1883.
On the way to the palace we stopped off at
the 700 year old Ettal monastery, currently it is run by an order of
Benadictine Monks. The main Chapel was a huge circular affair with a great domed
ceiling, extremely ornate.
Being the May Day Holiday, it seemed that
every motorcyclist in Bavaria was out and on the same winding road, around a
lake, it was like the Great Ocean Road on a long weekend. We pulled in early, it
was just too dangerous traveling with them.
We headed for King Ludwig’s third palace,”
Neuschwanstein”, near Fussen. To our surprise there were two castles in the
same area, The other castle, “Hohenschwangau” was that of Ludwig’s parents and
indeed where Ludwig and his brother were raised. Following the death of his
father, Ludwig was made King at the age of 18 ½ . He set about building his
castle, Neuschwanstein, on the foundations of the ruins of two other castles
about 5kms from his childhood home, he was able to monitor the building
progress through a telescope in his bedroom . Hohenschwangau was actually a likable family home, albeit a
bit lavish. There are no paintings hanging on the walls in either castle,
artists were commissioned to paint the pictures directly onto the walls, each
room had a different theme. Neuschwanstein was never completed, at the time of
Ludwig’s death only 13 of the rooms had been completed and some sections of the
outside that were planned also were not started, furniture on order at the time
was cancelled, including the throne, by the family. It seems that the only
family left at the time, was Ludwig’s Uncle, who incidentally took over after
Ludwig’s mysterious death. The castle was opened to the public 6 weeks after
Ludwig’s death. It is said the Walt
Disney modeled his Disneyland Castle on Neuschwanstein, he may well have
modeled his ticketing system on it as well, by the numbers of visitors that
come through here. Tours were organized through a computer system. Groups of 50
were dispatched into the castle for a guided tour, every 5 minutes, that’s 600
per hour. Ticketing allocated you to the next tour in your language.
200 kilometers later and we were at a camping
park on a hill overlooking Appenzell a small village in North East Switzerland.
A short trip and through some very narrow
streets, twists and turns into Zurich the next day and we were back into the Luxury
level camp grounds of Switzerland,(twice the price anyway) just out of Zurich,
a very packed campground, it has internet for free, just as well because we
could not connect to it, one washer and one drier, to cater for at least 50
vans. which wouldn’t be bad, if it dried the clothes, at $3.20 a time and after
several goes, end up having to hang the clothes in the RV and turn up the
heater to get the job done. Asking about
tours of the city, No this is not London, we have buses, trams and trolley
buses but no tourist buses. So it looks like shanks’ Pony to see Zurich Photos
7 - Zurich, Switzerland to Wurzburg,
Germany
A local bus into the city was all that was
needed, there were only walking tours of the city and that made sense, because
it would be impossible to get buses around in the old city sections as that was
where the parts were. We walked the narrow cobblestone streets, checked out a
couple of cathedrals, Grossmunster and Fraumunster. Actually climbed the
hundreds of steps to the tower where I could take some great panorama shots of
the City. The city was loaded with tall church steeples all with their bells
that rang out in unison, rather deafening actually, but being Switzerland and
their fetish for clocks, they were all running at the same time.
We headed North into the Black Forest area of
Bavaria, but first we had to cross the Rhine. We are of course almost
completely dependent on the GPS (Karen) and when we encountered a bridge over
the Rhine that was closed for repair, we ended up in all sorts of circles,
before we were back on track.
Into the Black Forest and we called at St
Blasion, a pretty little village deep in a valley, with the most humungus
Cathedral, it looked huge from the outside, but inside it was a circular
building with 25 huge marble (Lookalike) columns around the pew area. The mind
boggles with how a community as this could justify such expense. We had a bit
of a problem with cash as we were now back into Euros and only had Swiss Francs
to our name. No such thing as a hole in the wall in St Blasion, nor did any of
the shops take card. So we made our own
lunch instead. From there on to St. Peter and yes another huge ornate Cathedral.
At Triberg, perhaps one of the prettiest of
the Black Forest villages, we found a site for the night just above the town a,
near their famed Waterfalls, which we visited first thing the following day.
The Black Forest area is more about the
little villages and their ornate buildings than the forest itself. The original
forest has been decimated by clearing land for farming but there are some
pockets such as the falls area at Triberg still in the natural state. The
winding roads provided a venue for the Sunday Motorcyclists zooming around. The
German Clock Museum at Furtwangen was good look before we drove through
Baden-Baden a resort town, said to have more millionaires per hectare than Palm
Springs in the USA.
We moved on to Heidelberg, settled into an RV
park and found that the public transport nearby was the best way to town, so we
put it to the test and went in for a look around, a walk around the old part of
town and along the river Neckar. An old Bridge, a poor copy of the Charles
Bridge in Prague, with its stone roadway and some statues along the bridge.
Back at the campsite we were right on the
bank of the Neckar River and watched the endless stream of barges going each
way. Back in 1886 there was a 70 mile long chain anchored to the bottom of the
river and was used to move the barges along, today with their diesel engines
the maneuver these 135meter long barges around the corners and into the various
locks along the way. We stopped at one of the locks and watched as one barge
went through the system, we noted that it was about a 4metre lift for the
barge. The next day we were Stuttgart by 3pm, in time to take a tour of the
Mercedes Benz – Daimler Museum. It was as lavish as their cars. They of course
have the full history of the automobile as Karl Benz made the first 3 wheel car
in 1886, in the same year Daimler produced his 4 wheel vehicle. Those vehicles
or replicas of them were on display along with the first Motorcycle (by
Daimler). Vehicles from throughout the automobile era were on display, up to
the modern hybrids and development models. An interesting fact as to the
introduction of the Mercedes to the name.
Their top driver wanted the engineer Maybach to build an engine that
would outperform the opposition, The car they built was named after the drivers
daughter “Mercedes”
The performance of the car had everyone
talking about the Mercedes.
We moved on to Honau for the night which is
in the valley below the Litchenstein Castle, a tour through there early next
morning, We found this to be a great castle as it has been in the same family
since 1388, there have been a couple of add ons and changes over the time, but
after this most interesting tour, we were
off to Ulm, to have a look at the Ulm Minster Cathedral. A massive gothic style
building with reportedly the highest church steeple in the world at 528 ft
(161m). No way could we park the Rv anywhere near the city, we ended up at the
car-park for the sports stadium and caught the local bus in and back out again.
Some wonderful wood carvings, particularly in the Choir stalls.
As
with nearly all of the cathedrals we have visited the Pipe Organ was of
particular interest.
We have concluded that one of the main crops
in Germany is “Solar Panels”, we see
them in 5, 10 and 15 acre paddocks, with panels lined up in row after row. Then of course, they are used on the roofs of
properties of all types, farm, domestic and commercial, we have noted farm
house/barns with up to 200 panels, commercial properties with 350 panels and
domestic with 150 panels. They must be
extremely cheap or they are getting a massive subsidy to use them. And big users of wind generators as well,
that goes for Austria and the Czech Republic, lots of wind farms in all these countries.
Dinkelsbuhl is a small village with a long
past, settlement goes back to 730, however the town as it is now has a walled
section which had its beginnings in 1188. Whilst the modern town has grown
around it, the walled township is still intact and maintains the character of a
medieval town. It the heart of the town is their Cathedral St George’s Minster
built in 1450. There are 4 gates or entrances to the town and as well as the
gate towers, there are a further 8 towers around the perimeter of the
wall. Whilst heavily dependent on the
tourist trade, it is a lived in town with iys schools churches and businesses
in full function.
We moved to a neighboring town of Rothenburg
ob der Tauber, well 50 kms apart anyway.
Rothenburg is on most visitors lists, when they wish to experience a
walled town in Germany, It is reputedly the most authentic, it certainly is
much larger than Dinklesbuhl, Our first visit was marred by a thunderstorm,
which had us holed up in their Cathedral, St Jakobs Lutheran Church until it
passed. St Jakobs is very like the many
Gothic style churches that we have visited. They boast some excellent wood
carvings, particularly the High Alter which was carved in 1466, a very detailed
piece.
The rich colourings of the 56 ft high stained
glass windows were also treat. A revisit
the next morning allowed a walk around the top of much of the wall, which
opened up to a cannon defence turret at one end. All very interesting to
explore.
Nermberg, or Neuremberg as we would recognize
it was our next stopping point, a brief drive through the centre of town. We
note that this too has an old walled section, but we didn’t hang around to
explore. Neuremberg is of course known for being the site of the International
War Crimes Court. Again it is a big
city.
Bamberg was on our list but for no real
reason other than the direction we wanted to travel, of course the GPS wants to
lead us to the Centre of Town so we obliged, got caught up weaving through some
pokey little streets, what we saw impressed, no chance of parking the RV in
close. We found a Camping ground, booked in for the night and got directions to
get into town via the bus system. Well this turned out to be one of the most
spectacular, of the old cities that we have visited . Probably we were lucky it
was Friday, the market square was abuzz with stalls, people everywhere, lots of
walking tours along the cobblestone lanes and around the churches. It must be
on someone’s tour sheet. One huge church
forms an island in the river, with a stone bridge either side for foot traffic.
We had to pay the Bamberg Cathedral a visit, a gothic structure with four tall
spires. It was first consecrated in 1012 and while it obviously didn’t look
like this then, in stages it has been around for 1000 years.
We chose a small town of Ebrach, between
Bamberg and Wurzburg, to make sure the GPS didn’t throw us onto a freeway,
which it always wants to do. The drive was great, going through small village
after small village with perhaps a couple of kilometers of farmed land between
each, eventually as we came into this little village of Ebrach, we were
confronted with the huge church and associated buildings , which included a
museum. The whole complex would do any major city proud. So another unexpected
stop for a couple of hours, we had to wait until the church service was ended
before we could go in. The inside was probably the most ornate and elaborate of
all of the Cathedrals we have visited. Whilst it is now the parish Church of
Ebrach, it was formally a Cistercian Abbey Church. It was built in 1200 by the
Cistercian Monks and the monastery functioned until it was abolished in 1803.
An extraordinary unplanned stop.
Eventually we got to Wurzburg, the item of
interest there was the “Wurzburg Residence” formally known as Weissenstein Palace. It was left a wreck after the bombings
of 1945, although many of the art works had been removed and stored. The
building has been restored and half of it is open to the public, the other half
seems to belong to the University. The town was abuzz with crowds, there was
huge open air market down by the river, and the Central malls were all busy, so
much so that we could only find a park 5 kms out of town, a tram in and a taxi
back to the RV gave us the opportunity to have a look around. Photos
8 -
Wurzburg, Germany to Amsterdam, Netherlands
Our next stopping point was the village of
Steinau an der Strasse, a small quaint
old village that was the home town for the Brothers Grimm, it was from here
that they wrote their fairy tales and many were based on the town and it’s
castle.
We had struck a rainy day but still were able
to appreciate the village. We moved on to Goseck where we inspected the “Goseck
Solar Observatory”. This fascinating site is where archaeologists discovered a
7000 year old observatory, set up by the stone age farmers to manage their
crops using the summer and winter solstice’s as their guide. This was many years before the building of
Stonehenge in England, interestingly both are on the exact same latitude. This
observatory has been thoroughly researched and then re-built in the exact size
and position of the original. A move through to Berlin completed our longest
day (600kms). A bit of driving to and fro through the main streets of Berlin as
we put our trust in the GPS to lead us to a van park. After bombing out on the first two attempts,
we reverted to checking the book and just got in to one before closing time.
A day tour of Berlin on the Hop on Hop off
Bus gave us a good look at the city. Still dwelling on the recovery from the
bombing in 1945, which left the city as a pile of rubble, and of course the
infamous “Wall”. But it was interesting, viewing it from their
perspective. After the war Germany was
divided into four sectors, The British, Americans, French and Russians, each
controlled a section. In 1948 conflict over currency reform and some other
issues triggered a Soviet Union blockade of the city. Berlin was kept supplied for 11 months by
allied airlift, until Russia lifted its ban in 1949. By 1960, some 200,000 had
fled the Russian sector for the west to escape the austerity measures being
introduced by the East German Officials. In July 1961 alone, 30,000 fled,
prompting Russia to start building the Berlin Wall in August ’61. The wall, some 134kms of 3 metre high concrete
slabs, divided the city. It was not until 1991 that the wall was removed and
Germany became reunified . There are
still a few sections of the wall that have been retained for posterity, in
other places, noticeably around the Brandenburg Gate area, the location of the
wall is marked by a double row of bricks set into the roadway.
The wall had been so positioned, that it left
the “Brandenburg Gate”, Berlin’s signature piece, in “no mans land”
Another relic of the “Cold War” era is “Check
Point Charlie” this was the US Army check point which denoted “You are now
leaving The American sector” a further
sign was on the other side announcing “You are entering the Non Profit Sector”. Check Point Charlie is maintained in its
original position and is still manned by the US Army.
Berlin today is a bustling city, on the river
Spree, with heaps of building work going on, one eyesore that kept cropping up
is the temporary water supply that seems to be all around in 10” diameter
pipes, above ground, in parts elevated above traffic height, painted Blue in
some areas and pink in others. The local
train had us back in Tegal at our campground in 30 mins. An even greater eyesore, was the fact that
Berlin seems to be a mecca for graffiti, even worse than Budapest.
One of the issues we have had to contend with
in Europe is payment for supplies etc. We have Visa and Mastercard , one of
those a travel card with Euros prepaid on to it, the other a debit card to a
bank with sufficient funds. Buying fuel, no problem. For grocery supplies, there is Aldi, Rewe,
Lidle and a few others, none would accept our cards, they only take “Gold Karta”,
Maestro” and “Girocard”. This was the same with the automatic ticket machine
for train tickets, which also would accept 5, 10 & 20 Euro notes but not a
50. So it becomes imperative to have some cash available and the “hole in the
Wall” is not as easy to find in a lot of places, best option there is in the
foyer of a bank.
An even bigger day was to follow, we left
Berlin at 8am and after 625kms, arrived in Arnhem in the Netherlands at 6pm
about 100kms short of Amsterdam. So now
to explore the land of the ” Moms”.
Before approaching Amsterdam we did a tour of the Zuiderzee
project, where, North of Amsterdam, a shallow bay which protrudes 100kms into
Netherlands and is about 50kms wide was cut off from the North Sea by two 25 km long causeways, then a series of
Polders, (pockets of land) were formed to create an additional 1500sq kms of
land, reclaimed from the sea, one of these areas known as Flevoland, was made
the 12th Province of the Netherlands in 1986. The whole project was
the brainchild of Cornelius Lely, an engineer who first proposed it in 1886,
however it was not put into practice until 1919 following a disastrous break in
the old dike system in 1916 causing massive flooding. Similar breaks in the in the old sea walls in
1287 and 1471 flooded villages and killed 50,000 and 10,000 respectively. Currently there is 27% of the Netherlands
that is below sea level, in fact one polder, the Prince Alexander Polder, North
of Rotterdam, is 7 metres below sea level.
Another item of interest was the Batavia
Museum, The Batavia was a Dutch ship built in the 1700s. it’s maiden voyage was
to escort a convoy of spice trade ships to the East Indies. The Batavia hit a
reef off the Western Australian coast and sank, nearly all on board made it to
an island. The captain lead a party in a row boat to Indonesia to get help. On
their return they found that 120 people had been murdered. The mutineers were tried, convicted and hung
on the spot. This is all on record in
Australia. We had read all about it
during our trip to the West some time back.
They
have reconstructed the Batavia and it is a fine looking ship, another similar
vessel is in progress of being built here at the Museum yards.
We were fortunate to see fields of Tulips,
all colours, rows and rows of them all out in full bloom. Could not understand how they would make
money from a field of flowers, since they do not cut and sell them, it appears
they sell the onion after the crop has flowered. We got tied up behind a major Cycle road race
that was going on here. A lot of international teams, by the look of the
support car. We had to hang in behind
them, for the 25kms of the causeway. No hill climbs in this race though, the
country is as flat as a poo carter’s hat.
A couple of other observations since arriving
in the Netherlands, brick houses, not rendered as they all are in Germany and
Switzerland. Thatched Roofs, haven’t
seen them since England, and cows, yes there are actually herds of cows here,
we looked but could not find them in Switzerland , Germany etc..
Amsterdam, a city of canals, there are 165
here at present, used to be to more, but the automobile took precedence and
about 70 were lost to revamping the system So it seems the best way to see the
city is by canal a tour. The city was started on an island in the Amstel River,
but now it is difficult to define the river. Apart from canals, Amsterdam is
also known as the city of bicycles, there are about 400kms of bike paths in the
city and 500,000 riders hit the road each day.
The two hour River Cruise was relaxing and
interesting, weaving in and out of the canals lined with canal boat homes.
Quite sure that not many of them would even have an engine, a lot are very run
down and rotting around the edges. It looks a bit like freeloading on the city,
but maybe there is a system of legal permits.
We passed “Anne Frank’s House” with a great
queue out front. Don’t think this modern looking building was the same as it
was, when the young Anne was secreted away in the attic to avoid the Nazi
persecution of the Jews, during the occupation.
After the cruise we inspected the Basilica of St Nicholas in the centre
of the city, then the Metro train to the RV park. We managed to give the “Hash, Marijuana &
Hemp Museum a miss.
It is
quite likely that Victoria’s Myki system was knocked off from the Dutch Metro
ticketing system. This one works on both trains and buses, with a swipe on,
swipe off principle. The swiping off certainly causes angst here, as it does in Victoria with the
time delay and frequent malfunction of the gates. However they do have the
advantage of being able to buy a 24hr ticket.
Haarlem is one of the older areas of
Amsterdam, it has a few claims to fame, a couple of famous artists, one being
Van Gogh, it also has the Grote of St Bavo’s, a huge Cathedral. Constructed in 1370, the floor of the church
consists entirely of gravestones, about 1500 of them. The church has a Pipe
Organ by Christian Muller which was p0layed by a 10 year old Mozart in 1766 and
also by G.F.Handel. The organ is 30 metres high and has 5068 pipe in it’s
arrangement. We were fortunate in the timing of our visit, it coincided with
some school children, they (and us) were given a special recital by the
organist. The little brick surfaced
lanes and the canals around the Haarlem area was a special insight into the old
Holland. A particularly attractive craft
tied up in the main canal in Haarlem was the “Nellie Dick” from Sydney, flying the Aussie flag on the stern and the
Boxing Kangaroo flag on the bow. No one
around to greet, but gave a little sense
of home.
Being May, we were also fortunate, in that it was the
perfect time to see the Keukenhof Flower Gardens in Lisse, just South of
Amsterdam. Claiming to be the most
beautiful spring garden in the world, it takes up 32 hectares, displaying some
7 million Tulips, Daffodils and Hyacinths, spread out in garden beds among the
trees, lakes and canals all with perfectly manicured lawns. It certainly was a
picture and well worth the couple of hours wandering through.
Kinderdijk a bit further South is a small
village on a pretty large and busy canal, actually it is the Rhine River. Its other feature is that there are
is the biggest group of the most original windmills in Holland in the local
fields. Consistent rain prompted us to
seek shelter in a local RV Park and try to get a better view of them the next
day. Photos
9 -
Amsterdam, Netherlands to Freidberg, Germany
After leaving the Keukenhof gardens, we moved
on to The Hague, the formal capital of The Netherlands, seemed a pretty modern city and although the hub of
Dutch politics and other international Judicial duties, it didn’t appeal to us
to investigate further, another modern city Rotterdam, locally known as the Manhattan
of the Netherlands, was less appealing and by now it was raining so we moved on
to Antwerp, just over the border in Belgium, we managed to get a park close to
the old city centre and go for a stroll, lots of buildings apparently from the
1600s cobblestone streets and laneways and plenty of tourists, of course there
was the Cathedral, which just happened to be in our walking route. A huge
affair “The Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp”, Building started in 1124, and the massive tower has
been a landmark for the city for 5 centuries,
originally adorned with painting from several Masters of the day,
including Rubens. Under French Rule in the early 1800s, several of these
masterpieces were spirited away to Paris. A number have since been returned and
some are now in the Antwerp Museum.
After returning to the RV it took us more
than an hour to get free of the city, the GPS had us doing all sorts and with a
lot of the streets closed for repair, we seemed to be going around in circles,
eventually we broke free and headed to Brugge.
An old city, well, it’s roots lie in the fact that it was first settled
in Julius Caesar’s time in the 1st century BC. It is an obvious
mecca for tourists, there were tourist buses galore parked around the town, and
walking through the cobblestone streets was quite a problem, with the volume of
tourists, us among them of course.
With Brussels, only an hour and a half away,
we decided to head there for the night. In
arranging transport to the city the following day we find that Sunday, the
first bus is at 11am and the bus stop is about 2km from the RV park. We are
told that there is good parking around the Atomium and the Hop on Hop Off bus
stops there, so we took the RV, found a park with a few other RVs and went off.
After the Bus tour we did a tour of the Atomium, a huge structure built for the
1956 World Expo and has since become an Icon of the city of Brussels. On
returning to the RV we found the RV had been broken into, we had lost out GPS
and a couple of pairs of sun glasses. Suppose we were lucky, it could have been
worse. We had packed a spare GPS and they had not found that one, so we were up
and running in no time, just shaken by the experience.The following day we noticed that the User Manual for the motorhome was missing, could not understand why anyone would take that, then it dawned on us that it was in a similar case to a computer, so they must have thought they had scored a laptop. This seems to have been the case as it was discarded and the finder handed it in to the police and returned to the renter in Germany.
The Koekelberg Basilica, in Brussels is the fifth largest church in the world and we could
not pass up the opportunity for an inspection, A massive brick building, not
very ornate, but serves as a museum and is used for many expositions throughout
each year. But less than impressed with
Belgium after our break in, we headed to Luxembourg for a couple of nights, by
now it was raining again. Our chosen RV
park had closed off quite a few sites because of the soaking rain and had a
“Closed” sign at the gate. Some heavy appealing and the Australian accent won
her over and we got in.
Heavy rain all night and by morning the place
was flooded, however it eased and at 1pm we headed into town on the bus. Caught
up with the Hop On- Hop Off Bus, we had a pleasant hour being driven around
some pretty scary lanes while we were front row up top of the double decker
bus. After the tour we had to check out
their Notre Dame Cathedral, which was next to the bus stop, it was built in
1613, or at least that is when it was started.
An American Country and Western Group was
putting on quite a performance in the town square, they were no spring chickens
but they were good, all of their music was in English and the crowd loved them.
Most Luxembourg people are multi lingual,
French, German and the own Luxembourgish.
Apparently if you buy a local
newspaper, the articles can be in any of those three languages, at the choice
of the writer.
Luxembourg is one of the three EU Capitals,
along with Brussels and Strasbourg. The
EU Court is here which adjudicates on problems between EU countries and so they
get a lot of international delegates, English is not much of a problem either.
The country seems to have a huge international
banking involvement, by the size and number of new banking complexes along JFK
Drive. Far too many to be supported by the Luxembourg economy alone.
The country is rich is Iron Ore and Coal, as
such it has become one of the world’s biggest steel producers. Specializing in
large architectural steel beams and added value specialty steels.
The country is a “Grand Duchy” and has its
monarch, The Grand Duke, there is also a Democratically elected parliament.
Until 2009, The Grand Duke had the power of veto over parliament, however after
exercising that power over a bill allowing euthanasia, his powers have since
been reduced.
Fuel costs are very favorable here, at 1.20eu
per litre, other countries have been around 1.40eu and camping costs also at
the low end, and the locals are very welcoming of guests. The country looks
very enticing as a camping holiday destination, so we will try to fit a bit in
before we finish our journey.
We traveled north to a small village of Esch-sur-Sure
about 50 kms from Luxembourg.
The village is surrounded on three sides by the River Sure and is built in the
shadow of the Castle Esch-sur-Sure. The castle was built in 927, a lot of it
started to deteriorate in the 16th century and much was dismantled .
A restoration was started around 1900 but after the chapel was restored funds
dried up. It is now a feature above the town and is floodlit each evening. It
must attract a heap of visitors in the season and the right weather, going by
the number of restaurants and hotels in the village. A rainy Tuesday was not their day, but we
managed to clamber all over the ruins.
The country side here is quite pretty, hilly and very lush. There seems
to be a different species of trees in the area. The different shades of green
contrasted with the yellow fields of Canola (Rape Seed) looked a picture. We
crisscrossed the country going through many of the small villages, not always
by choice, road works caused so many detours and had us arguing with the GPS
again. We settled for a spot in the village
of Vianden on the banks
of the swollen “Our” River. High above
the town is Vianden
Castle, built between the
11th and 14thth centuries on the foundations of a Roman
Fort. After falling into disrepair the
Grand Duke had it gifted to the state in 1977, since then much has been
restored, and it is now ranked as a monument
of European importance.
We
followed all of the royalty of Europe and several other heads of state to
be a visitor to the Vianden Castle,
only we do not get our photos on the VIP galley wall. The castle has been
restored, to display the reality of life in a castle and fitted out with
furnishings amour and tapestries from the 16th century. Very
tastefully done and a interesting visit. We felt that Vianden and Litchenstein
were the best two of the castles we visited. The others were used as prop to
display wealth and power. Vianden itself is a pretty town , only 5 or so kms
from the German border, and surprisingly the whole town was in French, we would
have thought that seeing Luxembourg
had German as one of its languages, it would have been more prominent
here. Many of the buildings are from
the 16 and 1700s, some front doors maybe 5ft high. A religious monument in town
was dated 1305. The “Our” River was running high, to the point where the
campground restricted placement of vehicles, apparently flooding had caused
major problems at a couple of other campgrounds further up the river.
We
worked our way across to Cochem, where we met up with the Mosel River,
which was also running at an unusually high level and flowing very fast. Some of the boarding ramps for the cruise
boats were under water. We followed the Mosel Valley
for several kilometres and it certainly lived its reputation of being a prime
tourist drive, less commercialized than the Rhine Valley.
We could visualize all those bottles of Moselle,
just starting out on the vines, which are growing in every nook and cranny, in terraces on the valley walls on both sides of the
river. The Mosel runs into the Rhine at Koblenz, where we camped
at the join of the two.
It was interesting to see the fast flow of the
Mosel meeting the normally fast flowing Rhine, it was a battle of the giants
but after the join, the Rhine flowed with a
very muddy left side running considerably faster than the other.
Our
last day before we return the motorhome to the renter, another rainy day, and
we were searching for a car wash and car vacuum to tidy up before
returning and a change over gas bottle
to replace the empty one. Stumbled on to the carwash and vac in Bad Camberg
. A new venture, Tanus Mobile Camp just
being set up in Altweilnau, gave us our last campsite for the trip, with 35kms
left to get back to base the next morning. Spent the afternoon packing. Photos
The
basic statistics for our trip in the motorhome were :-
60
days on the road
We
traveled 9160kms, through 12 countries
13
nights Free Camping
Average fuel cost per day 20.50 Euro
(Diesel)
Average
Camp Ground cost 26 Euro
Our
average travel costs per day, Fuel and camping was 40 Euro (Compared with $80 in USA)
Switzerland was notable for the high
cost of camping (double the cost of other countries) and fuel.
Luxembourg was notable for its low
cost of camping and fuel.
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