taraabit

Saturday 19th October 2024.

Day 36.

Again a great start to todays journey on a smooth relatively traffic free A road when suddenly with no prior warning the road ahead was completely closed and a diversion was in place. Of course the diversion which wasn’t sign posted anywhere on route, took us miles out of our way on narrow unsuitable roads. We finished the journey on the autobahn which was very busy and I was glad to get to the stellplatz.

Although we are parked on the side of the River Main we are actually on the opposite bank to Wertheim in Kreuzwertheim, it’s an idyllic spot and as I’m sitting here writing the blog we have the lights of the town reflecting in the river and large barges and river cruisers have gone past.

Wertheim is a town in southwestern Germany and is located on the confluence of the rivers Tauber and Main, and is best known for its landmark castle and medieval town centre.

A few metres away from the river you enter the old town with its well preserved buildings, apparently so because as the Americans approached towards the end of WW 2, two citizens raised the white flag on the castle and the Americans entered the town with no opposition and caused no destruction.

Wertheim Castle is perched high above the town ( why aren’t they in valleys?) and was built during the 12th century and was residence to the Counts of Wertheim.Sadly in 1619 it was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion later being renovated and expanded. There is very little interior left although you can climb up the towers. As we had climbed over 100 steps and walked up a steep slope to get to the gateway we weren’t tempted to climb the towers. There is a thriving restaurant built into the castle. There were some fine views from the top in several directions.

One nice feature in the town was the continued use of the old signs outside shops.

As is traditional we stopped for refreshments and Michelle enjoyed a small glass of white wine.

Of course it wouldn’t be correct if at some time on this trip I didnt at least once ….

Friday 18th October 2024.

Day 35.

Today’s journey of 112 miles was achieved mainly on main roads a lot of it dual carriageway with no speed limit, cars passing us made it look as though we were in reverse.

Bamberg is a town in northern Bavaria laid out over 7 hills where the Regnitz and Main rivers meet. It’s old town preserves structures from the 11th to 19th centuries including the Altes Rathaus ( town hall), which occupies an island in the Regnitz reached by arched bridges.

Wandering off down a side street we came across the small church of St Elizabeth, third church was consecrated in 1354 having been built to attend to the needs of the “Hospice of the Holy Spirit” in the Sand district of the town. Michelle wandered in and was amazed at what she found, the original stain glass windows were replaced by eight stained glass windows in a contemporary design depicting the legend of Holy Elizabeth and her seven works of mercy.

Of course eventually thirst raised its head and we sat outside a restaurant where most of the people were devouring wurst (sausage) in all shapes and sizes. We had a beer each and I tried the local “brew”.

My beer was brewed a few metres away from where we were sitting in the brewery, pictured above, which is a smoked beer brewery Schlenkeria. The beer definitely tastes of smoke and I didn’t find it unpleasant. Michelle stuck to regular beer.

The historic part of the town is surrounded by a modern area with pedestrianised streets, modern shops and a market running the length of one street. I bought some roasted chestnuts, our daughter Emma’s favourite nut, and enjoyed eating quite a few whilst Michelle went in a shop.

Why a photo of a bendy bus at the top, well the first stellplatz we tried to get on near the town centre was full, there would have been room for more motorhomes but people had parked selfishly taking up a lot of space. So we drove onto a different stellplatz that had space but was about 2 miles out of town. No problem, the number 902 bus stopped outside the stellplatz ran every 15 minutes, on time, so we hopped on one. A new experience, different to yesterdays Czech Republic bus, as this cost €2.40 each one way and we had to buy a child’s ticket for Layla at €1.20. Twelve euros return, a little more than yesterdays 7p. The bus drivers were very helpful and gave advice on how to save money if we use buses again.

Thursday 17th October 2024.

Day 34

Karlovy Vary is the most famous Czech Spa, claimed to be one of the world’s most beautiful spas. It’s numerous thermal springs have made it a popular resort since the 19th century.

It’s impossible to get away from the fact you are in a spa town, water flows in many places and you can sample it free, it’s warm and I didn’t find it too sulphurous which I have in other spas.

Of course should you find yourself without a suitable drinking vessel there are numerous stalls selling them most of which appear to have a straw system in the handle.

For some reason plastic ducks seem popular!

The town manufactures an alcoholic drink, our friend Peter bought a bottle but didn’t enjoy the taste, as I have recently bought a few bottles of alcohol that taste as though they may be paint stripper, I resisted the temptation to purchase a bottle even though they made different flavoured versions.

The town displays its wealth in the buildings and the size and glamour of some of its hotels, maybe if I win the lottery.

The high end cars parked all around this area were a display of wealth of the visitors.

After a while we felt the need for refreshments , there were a lot of Italian/pizza restaurants a few only fast food outlets but we wanted something a little more traditional. Eventually we found a small restaurant where Layla was welcomed and they had a set menu of 3 courses for 200 Czech Koruna each ( about £6.50) which we opted for and with drinks and service charge the total was £16.

I took lots more photos but there are only so many you can add to the blog.

To get into Karlovy Vary we took the number 1 bus from outside the stellplatz, you paid by debit card as you got on and you could choose a variety of languages to help you. I couldn’t quite get my head around the system as it didn’t seem to ask how many people you were paying for, but the journey there cost 3pence for the two of us and the return journey 4 pence, I don’t know why the difference😵‍💫🤔 the journey was about 30 minutes each way.

Wednesday 16th October.

Stellplatz Hipodrom, Holdubek, Karlovy Vary.

Day 33.

This will be a short blog as no site seeing today😊

Last nights stellplatz was a parking area on a large car park used by local people who park up and walk the 800m into town for work etc. By 5 pm yesterday the car park was virtually empty but we had concerns it would fill very quickly and very early in the morning trapping us on the car park. So we were up early and away by 8 am and by 8.15 we were in the local supermarket which surprisingly was rammed at that time in the morning. True to our thoughts the car park was filling rapidly as we left.

The journey here today was 120 miles which we regularly do without much effort but this journey was a mixture of small main roads and even smaller lanes.

On two of the main roads we were travelling on there were road blocks as major construction was going on ahead and traffic was diverted, I estimate we must have driven at least twenty miles on roads very unsuitable for Homer. We were glad to arrive here and are staying two nights and tomorrow will be a leisurely site seeing day.

When we entered the Czech Republic we plotted a route in a north westerly direction designed to give us a taste of a variety of towns and countryside views. We chose Karlovy Vary for its reviews of the attractions to be seen, so we were amused and pleased to see that Alison and Peter who are travelling separately from us stayed at this town last night. You can see their blog on http://www.See-u-Later.co.uk we are staying at a different site as we had need to use campsite facilities.

Where we are staying is a horse race track with a 9 hole golf course and a driving range, there is a restaurant open to the public. The toilets and shower facilities are superb and you can even use the washing machine for free.

Tuesday 15 th October 2024

Day 32

This morning we walked back into Cesky to view the areas we hadn’t seen the evening before. The first load of coach trippers were there at the same time as us, they were from Hong Kong very pleasant but didn’t care about your needs to take photos and look at the buildings.

This is the gateway into the castle courtyard, with a few members of the coach party, sadly Layla wasn’t allowed any further so we didn’t get to walk over the bridge I mentioned yesterday.

We descended from this point and wended our way around numerous streets as I said yesterday the town is built around a river.

Pisek isn’t particularly a tourist town, it’s known for having the oldest bridge in the country, the historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law against any development.

In 2002 a great flood of the Octavia River severely damaged the bridge flowing completely over it destroying sections of the infrastructure and washing away statues.

Monday 14th October 2024.

Day 31.

After refuelling and doing a swift supermarket shop we headed in a northerly direction aiming for …

Whilst still in Austria on route we drove over a bridge with a lovely river view and for once there was stopping point for vehicles.

Just after we crossed the border I tried to stop in a small town called Nove Hrady as we hadn’t any CzechKoruna, sadly we couldn’t park and had to drive onto the next town Trhove Sviny which was much larger. The car parks in the centre were coin operated parking meters which wasn’t helpful but I managed to find a back street parking spot near to some schools.

After using an ATM thankfully, with English translation I withdrew some local currency, 1,000 czech koruna is worth approx £30.

It was stressful driving today where the tractors in the fields outnumbered the vehicles on the road and villages were rammed.

We arrived mid afternoon in Cesky Krumlov and after a break went for a walk into town, it is quite a tourist attraction and easy to see why. We are only travelling a short distance tomorrow so we fully intend to spend some time in town tomorrow . After about an hour wandering around it began to rain so we walked back to Homer.

Sunday 13th October 2024.

Day 30

We started the day slowly with croissants ordered the night before, they were quite large but sadly not as tasty as many we have had.

The morning continued with domestic duties but after lunch we walked into Krems,the centre was only about a mile away.

Outside city life shops appear to close at 12.30pm on Saturday and not re-open until Monday morning, so sadly we couldn’t go shopping.

This morning I had a message from my brother in law to say that when he and my sister were on a Danube cruise they visited Gottlieb Abbey that we can see from Homer and the monks make apricot liquer from locally grown fruit. Then when we were in Krems we came across a shop selling such items.

There are several large churches in the town centre but out of respect being a Sunday we didn’t go inside them.

We enjoyed wandering around the side streets leading off the main pedestrianised way, there was quite a range of different buildings.

When we arrived back at Homer another large cruise boat sailed past.

Tomorrow upwards and onwards and a new country to experience.

Saturday 12th October 2024.

Day 29

Today we only drove 25 miles and it took us approximately 4.5 hours as we were travelling alongside the Danube and experiencing wonderful views.

SPITZ.

This town on the Danube was our first stop.

Spitz is a market town in the midst of the UNESCO World Heritage area of Wachau.

The Hinterhaus ( Spitz Castle) is a ruin perched atop a hill overlooking Spitz and the Danube, it’s free and open to the public, there are several paths leading to the top I think we took the steepest one but at least it gave us magnificent views, even if it made us puff.

The path was rocky and exposed in places but we made it.

You couldn’t say the castle was fascinating as it would need to be restored a little to achieve that but it was all about the views.

We took a much longer descent path which wasn’t quite so steep but it allowed us a view of people harvesting the grapes., which were growing in terraces high up the hills.

WEISSENKIRCHEN.

This was our next stop just a few kilometres further on.

Wiessenkirchen is surrounded by vineyards and the town is dominated by the mighty Gothic Church of Wiessenkirchen, together with other local villages it forms the largest wine growing community in the Wacheau.

Wiessenkirchen means white church the church was built in the 14c as a defence tower and is interesting because they built a larger church around the smaller white tower.

The access to the church is via a wooden covered staircase where tributes to it’s wine growing are on display.

The streets were steep and narrow and residents had developed their own way of getting around.

Another interesting item is the ferry which crosses the river here ferrying people, cycles and small cars, it has no engine and is powered solely by the current of the Danube. There is a steel cable spanning the river, another cable is attached to the ferry and the pilot moves the rudder one way or the other to propel it across the river.

Whilst walking Layla this morning it became evident that at some time in the recent months the whole of the stellplatz would have been approx 1 metre under water. As we drove along the Danube there were numerous large diggers moving silt and reconstructing the banks of the river, they are also installing flood barriers that can be erected as the water rises.

We had intended to stop at another interesting village of Durnstein, they had recently built a large car park but sadly motorhomes were denied access even to park for a short time.☹️

So we drove onto Krems where we are staying for 2 nights at Donaupark Camping with a pitch overlooking the Danube where we have been entertained by large barges powering their way along. We are using this stop to catch up on a few domestics, using the mains electricity to charge up items and take advantage of the laundry facilities.

Friday 11th October 2024

Day 28

It rained heavily overnight but thankfully as we drove here to Melk the weather dried up, we only drove 31 miles today so no stress or fatigue.

Melk is an Austrian town on the river Danube west of Vienna. It’s known for the 11th century Melk Abbey a vast monastery built high above the town. Gold statuary adorns its domed Abbey Church.

Early evening we went for a walk to the edge of the Danube and looking back there was a fine view of the Abbey.

Thursday 10th October 2024

Day 27

Where we are staying tonight is a stellplatz provided by the local community, there are 5 dedicated motorhome parking bays and use of water, electricity etc, there is no set fee they ask for a contribution in an honesty box.

The journey here today was through a mountain range which I can’t find the name of, we are travelling north towards the Danube River and the route took us through valleys and passes with marvellous scenery.