Our Eastern Europe jaunt 2018

Sunday 27 May Woke up to sunshine so took the little path from campsite down to the most beautiful nearly deserted white sandy beach. We walked along the coast and out to the point then inland to Sainte Marine. We then took Le petit bac across to Benodet where we thought we would get a better internet signal but everywhere we tried seemed to be worse! However we ambled all along the front and I accepted a delicious 2 euro Breton gateau from a charity cake stall. We purchased tobacco for Steve and made our way back to Sainte Marine where we had a sea food supper, me poisson soup and Neil winkles and whelks while looking out over the harbour. Enjoyed our walk back to camp. Monday 28 May Oh dear! Oh dear! It's up early and off to Roscoff which we made in 1 3/4 hours. Purchased our wine and beer for upcoming Summer events from the wine and beer supermarket. A really nice guy who was most helpful and allowed me lots of tastings! The end, well till the next time........ ...

Friday 25 th May. We were on the last leg of our trip heading for the coast somewhere not to far from Roscof and he ferry back to the U.K. on Monday. We left Laval and skirted around Renes then stopped in a small commune called Josselin and had coffee and a baguette sandwich. This was an attractive small French town with a large square obviously used as a market on Samedis but the rest of the time was a free “camper-stop” and indeed there were probably 10 campers / motor-homes parked there. We arrived in Beg Mail as we had previously had a family holiday here but recognising nothing and feeling it now had little to commend it went on to Benodet. This town was more developed then we remembered it but there were no camping facilities open near the centre. Our GPS then found a site called Le Helles on the opposite side of the estuary from Benodet in a village called Sainte Marine. A nice reasonable sized site quiet and access to the beach 600 metres from the little port. Saturday ...

Thursday 24 May Today was Chateau hunting day! We found the lovely chateau at St Aubin, 10 miles away and when we stopped for lunch at Myennes and went for a little walk along the Loire we came across another one badly in need of love and care! We were now heading in the Brittany direction and between Orleans and Le Mans we got a bit lost but saw signs to a chateau so drove around some pretty lanes but guess what, it was hidden behind the trees! Next place, a little village called Bouloire was very picturesque so we stopped and took a pic there instead. We drove on and ended up in Laval, the capital of the Myenne department. We camped in the centre of the city alongside the river Myenne under the colossal viaduct. We walked by the river to choose a restaurant and passed a large square where youths were playing boule and a sort of skittle game too. It was all very attractive as is the city. We notice the prices are going up the nearer we get to home. Seeing rhododendrons ...

Wednesday 23 May Picked our way through the long wet grass and dandelion heads to go and return Madam's fuses which allowed us to hook up to electricity and took photos of the pretty situation. We could hear cow bells on the mountain but couldn't spot the cows. Set off for the Col des Aravis which climbed steeply round hairpin bends, saw waterfalls and pretty villages which are ski resorts in the season. At the summit loads of clouds and mist so you couldn't see the mountains any more. As we were descending down the mountain we suddenly came across a herd of 50 or more beautiful large red coloured cows walking along the road all with huge bells attached to very wide collars around their necks. The sound was quite enchanting. They were escorted by what looked like a whole family with mother and small children following on behind. We trundled through the French countryside using the B roads and in a turn of the road were suddenly confronted by a huge statue of a ...

Monday 21st May Chatted to German neighbour on our lovely campsite who informed us that it is now the German two week Pentecostal holiday and that is the reason why there are so many of them around! We put in Bern on the GPS and just outside Zagreb we had the Croatian/Slovenian border which took one and a half hours to get through. Such a waste of time on a sunny day! We then purchased our Vignette at the correct time this time. We trundled on and suddenly realised we were in Italy and had not noticed any border at all! We went past Trieste and Venice and ended up after a nice little rural drive at an attractive small walled city called Cittadella. We camped overlooking the walls in a free car park! Tuesday 22nd May. Woke up at 7.30 to children gathering outside to wait for a coach to take them somewhere and it is now raining. We walked into the walled city and had a coffee for breakfast before looking around and taking a few photos. Then we set off for France, we a...

Saturday 19 th May. Today we had to fit in all Sarajevo’s history and a wedding in Windsor. Off we went to the front of the cathedral to meet Ennis who was our guide for the fr walking tour of the city.   First fact was while indeed it was a free tour he would be expecting tips from us and suggested €5 minimum as he said this wasn’t even a beer where we hailed from Sweden, France, and Canada as well as us plus 1 other from the UK. He then launched into a brief history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The locals call it the Jerusalem of Europe as it has Jews, Muslims and Christians all happily co-habiting the city since the middle ages with the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain during the inquisition. Islam arrived with the Ottomans and of course it was the meeting point in Europe with the influence of the Orthodox from Greece and the Catholics from Rome. We were able to see a synagogue, the R.C. cathedral, Orthodox Churches and Mosques all within a few hundred metres of e...

Liz waiting for the cow's to come home - Montenegrin Mountains Look at my ding a ling Wooden decked bridge in Serbia Deep green river in Bosnian Gorge. Thursday 17 th May. We did a breakfast coffee around the corner from the Buffalo Backpackers and then enjoyed walking around Pristina the capital of Kosovo. A quite cosmopolitan city with many UN and EU folks around. We visited the modern cathedral which was beautiful as it was so plain! We bought yummy apricots and cherries for next to nothing at the bazaar as we wandered through. I managed to post cards with the correct stamps before we left the relevant country for once. We then travelled north through Mitrovica to the Serbian border where after exiting Kosovo we were refused entry to Serbia. The rules are   that you can not cross into Serbia from Kosovo unless you have entered Kosovo from Serbia originally. (The Serbs consider Kosovo is still a province of Serbia.)   The police officer in charge o...

Macedonia Square. Don't know what this lot are up to. You put your left hand in --- Liz has found at least one female worthy! The Old Stone Bridge  Monday 14 th May. It was a quick trip to Kruje today the birth place of Scanderbeg the Albianian folk hero who manged to withhold the ottoman invaders at least for a few years. This is on the lower slope of the Albanian Alps and the is a 15-century castle and a more modern 18 th /19 th century affair. The old castle has a museum of Albanian work tools and other artefacts, while the modern castle is devoted to Skanderbeg with socialist style murals depicting the peoples hero possibly it was originally intended for visitors to extrapolate this to the mid-20 th century. Lefter then drove us up to the top of the mountain where we lunched at a genuine rural restaurant along with a group of men one who told us he came from Sarajevo. We eventually returned to our camper van where Lindita met us to wish us good b...