Thursday 19 August 2010

Travels in Europe Part 2

Ok, to continue.....

A few more pics of Venice....




St Mark's square



The High altar in St Mark's Cathedral
St Mark's Cathedral was much smaller than I'd expected, and they made you keep walking round, you weren't allowed to sit down or explore at your leisure. Photography was not allowed, but as you see I sneaked one from waist level!

Grand Canal
Again, this was just how I'd pictured it! If you disregard the modern boats and shops etc, it's easy to imagine how it was when Canaletto painted it.

More gondolas awaiting customers!



Bridge of Sighs.
Much smaller and more insignificant looking than I'd expected, not helped by the fact that the buildings on either side are being renovated!
The trip back to the campsite was as relaxing as the outward journey. We stopped for a couple of beers in Chioggia and people-watched for a whilebefore going back to the campsite for the evening's entertainment and more beer!
Day 4 Saturday.
After all the sightseeing and beer drinking of yesterday, we decided to have a quiet day, so we wandered into Chioggia, had coffee and lunch and explored a bit, before going back for the Parade of Nations. This is where all the bikes gather behind their respective national flags and do a mass ride into and around the town.It's always great fun, much hooting of horns and waving of flags and all the townsfolk and tourists come out to watch and wave back! Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of it!! Sorry!
Day 5 Sunday.
It took us ages to get packed up and ready to roll! It was incredibly hot and humid even at 6 am and the slightest movement had us drenched in sweat!
Eventually we were sorted and said our goodbyes to friends old and new, some of whom we would see the following weekend in Austria.
Our original plan had been to ride straight to Austria, but we changed our minds and decided that it would be nice to visit Slovenia for a day or two
The first thing we noticed was how green a country it is! Despite the heat, nothing was turning brown and crispy like it does here! we found a terrific campsite just outside the capital, Ljubljana...lots of shade, a nice bar and restaurant and best of all a brilliant toilet block (no portaloos!!)
Days 6 and 7.
We spent the next 2 days exploring Ljubljana.....









River Sava

Ljubljana castle


Fantastic view from the Castle

Day 8. Lubljana to Salzburg.
A 4 hour ride took us through the mountains and into Austria. After a slight hiccup with directions we found the village of Hallwang and the Treffen site. Camping was in a huge field with not a shady tree in sight! The rest of the treffen sight, where the food, showers and entertainment were, was a 5 minute walk away!
We decided to walk into the village that evening as the Treffen didn't officially start till the following day. We found some friends from Italy there and hate a very pleasant dinner accompanied by plenty of beer and good "craic" as the irish call it!
Day 9.
Woke up feeling like I needed a new hip! Our airbed had completely deflated during the night, and the ground underneath it was decidedly lumpy! It was decided that it wasn't fixable, so we rode out into the local area to see if we could find ashop to get anew one. Luckily we found a camping shop not too far away and bought a new airbed, plus a new chair, as the one I'd been using had collapsed in Italy! (Remarks were made about the weight it had had to bear!!)
As it was such a hot day we spent the afternoon and evening in the bar area chatting with friends.
Day 10.
Spent the day in Salzburg. Saw as many of the sightsaswe could. My previous visit to that city was in 1963 but it was much as I remembered it!

River Salzach



An interesting sculpture! That's a statue on the top, not a
real person!



Salzburg's most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!



Ooops, posted same pic twice.... I'll remove it when I've figured out how!



Fortress Hohensalzburg
We took a ride on the funicular up to the fortress. Beautiful views from up there, and lots to see and do too.


View from the top!
Day 11.
Another very hot day, so we set off to find a lake for a swim! Over lunch in a lovely litlle Gasthof, we got talking to some people from Vienna and they said that the temperatures for the following week were going to be in the region of 38 to 40C! After hearing that we thought that maybe we wouldn't carry on to the Czech Treffen, as camping in that heat with no shade would be just a bit too much for both of us!
I had my swim, wonderfully refreshing, and a snooze under a shady tree!
The evening's entertainment proved to be great fun! A bit of traditional Austrian dancing, then 5 guys in traditional costume chopping logs in time to music!! The guy nearest us was very enthusiastic in his chopping and we got covered in wood chips!
Days 12 and 13.
Time to pack up and hit the road again! we motored on through Germany, and stopped for the night in a hotel near Ludwigshafen. it was a bit more expensive than we'd have liked, but after 2 weeks in a tent, a bit of luxury didn't go amiss!!
The last day saw us stopping in Luxembourg for cheap tobacco, and arriving in Calais by 6.30p. I wasn't too happy about having to fork out another €30 just cos we were changing our booking, especially as it was an open return!
Anyway, that's my travels in Europe by motorbike!!


















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