Crossing quickly over the Alps from Fussen, Germany and waving to a few late spring skiers along the way we arrived in one of our favourite locations in northern Italy. Highway 38 and 40 is lined with apple orchards and vineyards and passes through a magnificent alpine valley dotted with medieval castles all the way to Merano. Unfortunately, and a little disappointing for us, this fruitful valley was still a few weeks away from it’s glorious spring bloom. But, this drive is worth the trip at any time of the year and Merano itself is a beautiful mountain town/city with a number of historically significant and interesting sites  surrounding it as well. From Merano we drove south along the east side of Lake Garda, a very popular tourist location, to Sirmione, Italy on the south end of the lake. This interesting sliver of a peninsula with castle and village on it’s outer end draws millions of visitors every (normal) year. Luckily we enjoyed a rather laid back and quiet visit.  From Sirmione we traveled once again to fabulous Verona and Venice.  We were very surprised at how busy both these places were but we did notice that most of the crowd seemed to be more “local-ish” in nature. Having driven through Croatia two times in past trips and missing Pula both times, we decided we had to make it happen this time. The ancient Roman amphitheatre in Pula is truly magnificent. It is one of the largest Roman Arenas in the world and it’s the only one with all four sides still intact. From the centre of the Arena you can almost sense the gladiators around you as they fight-off the lions. This amphitheatre is over 2000 years old and is still used for significant concerts today. In it’s prime it could accommodate 23,000 bloodthirsty spectators and today… about 12,500 music lovers. Rovinj, a small coastal (cone hill shaped) village a short distance north of Pula is well worth a shout-out.  A very unique town with an interesting water frontage and incredible sunsets. 

But… now the time has come to make a very difficult and trip altering decision. Traveling western Turkey was our original plan and we held onto that dream as long as we could. As we drove south and the days passed by, we hoped that things would start settling down in the Ukraine. This has not been the case and this horrific situation just seems to be escalating and getting worse. So, the idea of heading eastward presents a certain amount of anxiety and uneasiness that Margot especially does not feel comfortable with. Therefore, this northern part of Croatia will be the furthest “South-East” in Europe that we will travel and we’ll now concentrate our efforts on many unexplored locations within Italy, France and Spain as we make our way westward towards Portugal.  We do feel a little disappointed about missing out on Turkey, but in no way do we feel bad about this decision… we can only feel bad and upset for the millions of innocent people in the Ukrainian that are suffering beyond imagination at the hands of a madman and, our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Despite the stomach-turning global events that are dominating the news these days, we managed to have a great flight over to Europe thanks to KLM Airlines. We spent the first night at an airport hotel trying to recover from the jet-lag that seems to be progressively getting worse with our maturity. Early the next morning we caught a train to Dulmen, Germany to connect with the fantastic crew at Dumo Reismobile. As usual, we were treated like royalty and even given a choice between two great motorhomes. We chose the Citroen based “Glucks Mobile” (Lucky-One Mobile). This “GlucksMobile” will make for a very comfortable home for the next three months. Thank you to Dominik, Sanna and Eddy. We then loaded up the motorhome with some supplies from a local super store and spent the first night at the Dumo Dealership. The next morning Michael Thyssen (Dumo’s owner) and his wife Anne sat with us over coffee and we talked about trip possibilities. Turkey or Portugal? Michael called in an employee that moved to Germany a few years ago from Turkey to give us a picture of how things are right now and this was very helpful. Still undecided, Michael phoned his rental department and had them add on required additional motorhome insurance for us to drive in Turkey, just in case we decide to make this our destination (Typically this would be an added expense for us at the border crossing). Portugal however is still very much on the table and a strong possibility, we actually have a few more days before we have to make that final decision. Stay tuned!

When we drove off we didn’t get very far at all. We stopped at the wonderful Gasthaus (Pub) and Campground called “Peters” just outside of Ludinghausen. We planned to see a magnificent nearby Palace called “Schloss Nordkirchen” that was built based on the design of Versailles outside of Paris. We took a tour of the impressive Palace but it was  presented in German. Of course we met a wonderful couple that translated the entire tour  for us. After the tour, we enjoyed getting to know them a bit better over a cold beer. Speaking of beer, we had the greatest time at Peters Gasthaus where we became very friendly with the Pub patron Hendrick, and a large number of his other guests too. The beer was good but the food was fantastic. We actually stayed at Peters for two nights and have plans to see Hendrick again on our return in June. Another castle nearby is worth a big mention. It’s one of the smallest castles we’ve ever seen but in my opinion it’s one of the best. There is something very unique about it and I have often thought about it ever since we first visited it in 2014.  Die Burg Vischering is a small historical gem that somehow transports me back through time to Medieval days.   

Hitting the road we put on some quick, and expensive, miles (Diesel @ $3.34/litre) and we made it to Kassel. A very interesting town with a ton of beautiful history.  And Kristen… you would be impressed with the dozen or so rowing clubs all within a one kilometre stretch along the river bank. Every time we see rowing, we think of you.

Now, with a concerning eye on the mess that Putin has created, it’s time for us to commit to a general direction of travel, keeping in mind that Turkey will still be in the running for a few more days yet.  Will keep you posted.