We arrived in Bangkok on the 23rd and have settled into a very large resort style apartment hotel where we plan on celebrating a quiet Christmas together. Some decorative signs of the season do exist here in Thailand but after experiencing those fantastic Christmas markets in Frankfurt, it actually feels like Christmas for us was a week ago in Germany and this is the vacation part. We must admit however that right now we’re feeling a bit homesick and would gladly trade this tropical experience for a seat at the traditional Christmas dinner table with our family close by. I guess next Christmas will be twice as special for us.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE were very fascinating places to visit. When we got to Dubai we were completely amazed at this ultra modern city/area that looked like a Las Vegas on steroids without the glitter and sin-city side of things. We stayed at a fantastic beachside resort where our balcony overlooked a beautiful marina and the famous man-made “Palm Island”. Having all this luxurious living space around made for a great change but I must say that we were already missing the relaxed comfort of our little motorhome.
Our first impressions were that this entire area appears to be more western than North America itself. But as we settled in we began to see and experience some of the less obvious and “non-concrete” differences. Very strict personal conduct rules apply here such as no kissing, holding hands or showing any kind of affection in public between genders. It’s common however to see two males, or two females, walking hand in hand or with arms around each other. No swearing or drinking of alcohol in public places and by the way, these rules are enforced with potentially severe penalties. Women shopping in very exclusive shops buying beautiful expensive clothes and jewelry then covering it all up in public with a black burka. Somehow all these strict rules and customs seem to fit the interesting older parts of the city but to our eyes seemed a bit out-of-place and contradictory in the ultra modern western style environment of the new Dubai.
We took a ride to the “Top of the World” the other day. The 125th floor observation deck of the Burj Khalifa building is really something to experience. This is by far the tallest man-made structure in the world today and it’s not only structurally amazing, it’s also the tallest piece of artwork we’ve ever seen. New construction stretches for miles along the sandy coastline where it’s squeezed between the desert on one side and the Persian Gulf on the other. Clusters of mega towers pop up like giant redwoods next to marinas, malls, business centres and such. We thought Berlin had a lot of construction going on, in Dubai it was impossible to count the number of construction projects and cranes at work on new and spectacularly designed buildings. Interestingly, we couldn’t help but notice the large number of foreign workers that seem to be doing what appears to be all the labour building and maintaining the new UAE.
If shopping is your thing, no problem… immaculate mega malls, with mega shops and mega prices. Parking outside the Dubai Mall reminded us of the Monaco Casino with millions of dollars worth of cars lined up along the curb. Inside the mall I got my first chance ever to try out the driver’s seat of a couple of very nice Rolls Royce’s, the two combined worth about a million and a half. Nice, but I couldn’t stand the first scratch so I think we’ll stick with our good old Hyundai Santa Fe. We were very surprised to see so much of the Christmas theme throughout the entire area, especially in the shops and restaurants… I wonder what that says?
In the first part of January we’ll be leaving Thailand and heading to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam for the next step towards home. We’re still having lots of fun as we move east but the closer to home we get the more excited we are. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon and we’re especially now looking forward to an extra big Christmas with you next year. But, for this year, we again want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Arriving in Dubai

Well, the quick trip to London didn’t quite work out for us. Margot’s ankle was still a little to tender for such an excursion and the wet cooler weather was also becoming a bit of an issue. So, we decided to leave the London venture for a different British Isles trip sometime in the not-to-distant future. Instead we spent an extra few days wandering about Paris and enjoying what could be our favourite international city so far.
From Paris we made good time heading through Belgium to another amazingly beautiful city, Amsterdam. We stayed at a great campground about 20 minutes from Dam Square and we felt right at home wandering about these beautiful and familiar canals again, but I’ll have to admit, we were missing the company of Bert and Camilla this time around. Luckily for us, we have our new Dutch family to count on for a warm and welcome feeling. The red carpet was rolled out again and we had such a wonderful day eating and visiting. We can hardly wait to see them in Canada so that we can reciprocate this hospitality.
The weather’s been getting much colder lately with icicles forming and the space heater working overtime so it’s got us moving things along a little bit faster than planned. We had almost forgot about the cold. So, here we are after 28,000km, back at Dumo-Reismobile, the dealership outside of Dulmen, Germany that has been so fantastic to deal with. Michael Thyssen has been true to his word in every possible way and his excellent staff has been extremely helpful to us as we wrap up our European adventure, just like they were at getting it started. We’re now in the process of packing up the bulk of our things for freight shipping back home and have discovered that this is not an easy or inexpensive venture. The guys here at the dealership are graciously helping us with arranging the carriers to transport it. All we have to do is “pack-it-up” which sounds so easy when you say it quickly… Why did we bring so much stuff?
From here we will start the next phase of our return trip home via Asia-Pacific. Our sights are now set on flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Dubai, United Arab Emirates where thankfully the temperature is averaging in the 30’s. This could be our Christmas “vacation” destination. From there, eastward toward Bangkok,Thailand or possibly Singapore, Malaysia. We don’t plan on spending too much time working our way back home but we do plan on sampling a little bit of Asian culture as we skip our way along and getting back to the Pacific Northwest within three to six weeks. And yes! we are getting excited. As for the Blog during this phase, I will do my best to sneak in a short post whenever I get the chance but depending on our time and wifi availability they will probably be much more limited… lucky for you.

Road Ramble: Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas will be very different and I suspect somewhat difficult this year as we’ll be celebrating it without family and friends nearby for the first time ever. We’re already starting to think about having a family turkey dinner in March just to give us the strength to make it through the season. I can’t tell you how much we are going to miss the kids and all the fun times we have with everyone over the holidays. I’m sure that no one is feeling too sorry for us… but keep in mind that you’ll all be front and centre in our minds, and we’re wishing everyone a very…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

With very mixed feelings about entering the final stages of our European tour and bringing to an end this whimsical Gypsy lifestyle, we’ve now focused our headlights north and from Lisbon started the long journey back towards Germany. We can hardly believe that it’s been ten months since we started this whimsical road trip and though we really miss our family, and friends, we’re certainly not bored with this relaxed way of living and exploring. Traveling in this fashion has been such an amazing experience with the luxurious freedom of time, transport and private accommodation. Europe has certainly not disappointed us either, there is just so many fantastic things to see and do over here that I’m sure we could reverse the direction of this trip, see all new things, and have a completely different experience along the way. But now it’s time to focus our attention on the next stage of our adventure and start putting together some sort of an exit plan from Europe and a new scheme for returning home via Asia-Pacific.
As you know Margot was completely immobilized with her badly sprained ankle in Lisbon and so we think of this first part of the trip North as our medical evacuation phase. We were unable to stop and explore in detail the more interesting places along the way so we quickly adapted our travel methods and became very content with rumbling along and just enjoying the scenery through the front windshield of our motorhome. In hindsight, we figure that we missed about five days worth of interesting tourist “exploratory-stop-overs” including one or two more days checking out Lisbon, a day in Porto, Portugal a day in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and a day in Bordeaux, France. But, we drove through some very beautiful Fall landscape all along the way and our only real issue, other than keeping the ankle iced, was the lack of open campgrounds. There must be at least a thousand great camping sites along the coastal route between Lisbon and Paris but at this time of the year, only a few remain open. We did however manage to make it back to Paris having only spent one night sleeping in a shopping mall parking lot; which did have it’s advantage of great proximity to McDonald’s coffee first thing in the morning. Besides all the painfully negative aspects of Margot’s injury, if this was going to happen, she chose the perfect time and place. You see, the original plan from Lisbon was to focus our efforts on a multi day “bee-line” drive back to Paris, and therefore much of Margot’s down time was spent resting in the passenger seat with her foot elevated on the dashboard. Turned out to be a great way to recover and make positive mileage progress at the same time. We did drive through Le Mans, France to pay tribute to this racing Mecca and actually got a good look at the track that was in use by a racing school. We also watched with interest some very talented “Go-Cart” racers perform on a professional skill training track next to the main track. Some of these young kids that were driving these “not so ordinary go-carts” were driving at exceptional speeds and I’m sure that some of them will probably go on to be the future drivers of Formula 1 at La Mans. I would love to see this place during race week! Somehow we ended up spending more time in La Mans then planned and had to resort to the high-speed six-lane expressway to drive into Paris before it got too late. We don’t often use toll roads as we prefer the more scenic and leisurely pace of the secondary roads but when we got to the pay booth about 110km away we were reminded of another reason for using back roads as we deposited close to $50 into that mechanical highway bandit.
We pulled into the same great Paris campground that we stayed in last June. It’s only a short trip to the Arc de Triomphe and Des Champs Elysees. Now that most of the leaves have fallen, we can actually see the Eiffel tower from our camping pitch. Paris is an amazing city no matter what time of year but seeing it with all the fall colours has been a real treat and if Christmas markets are your thing, you should experience the humongous one that runs along the entire park on both side of the Champs Elysees. Strolling along through this colourful display of craft booths and food carts with a glass of warm mulled-wine in hand, listening to Bing Crosby singing Christmas carols from the speakers above, will become a permanent and cherished memory of our trip.
We plan on spending a few more days here in Paris and if Margot is feeling “up-to-it”, then possibly doing a quick backpack trip through the Chunnel to London for a short visit there before carrying on to towards Holland again. Our final motorhome destination is Dumo Reisemobile in Dulmen-Hiddingsel, Germany and that’s not far from Amsterdam. We really are starting to feel the vibration from that ticking clock.

Road Ramble: Medication Disorder:

Why is it so hard to find what we consider basic “off-the-shelf” medication in Europe? You can’t even purchase “once-a-day cardio baby aspirin” without a prescription from a doctor yet down the street you can buy a bottle of your favourite expensive Scotch Whisky at the local supermarket. Finding pharmaceutical medication of any kind in a convenient shopping location is just not possible. One must actually hunt down a special drug store for even the most basic of your needs, and don’t forget you prescription. When we left home we thought we had a good supply of the basics such as Ibuprofen but sure enough with all the walking we’ve done on aging joints that are in need of attention, and now with Margot’s swollen ankle, we’ve run short and can’t easily get more. It’s a good thing we don’t need anything more serious, like Viagra. More importantly, if your used to traveling in Mexico and are now planning a trip to Europe, make sure you bring along all the necessary meds you think you may be need because Europe is definitely not Mexico when it comes to finding readily accessible medication. If you do forget your pain medication and have an emergency situation, I would highly recommend heading to your nearest grocery store outlet and choosing from the wonderfully huge selection of quality alcohol beverages at your disposal. Not sure what to suggest about a sudden case of diarrhea.

I realize it’s only been a few days since my last blog posting but I thought it would be good idea to update you on our latest little misfortune. Check out the Road Ramble below.

As for the travel update… After leaving our campground in Albufeira, Portugal we headed west to Sagres which is as far west as one can go on the European continent without falling off. Very beautiful and rugged area much like the Oregon coast with its giant waves, fantastic cliffs, and miles of deserted sandy beaches. We spent the night at an impressive “4 star” campground resort just outside the cool little harbour town of Lagos on the south coast. As we drove north towards Lisbon we passed numerous other idyllic surfer style beaches along the way but what caught my attention in this area was the abundance of wild “cork” trees. I’ve never seen a cork tree before and I just had to stop and get a closer look. In the pictures you’ll notice how they harvest the cork (bark) from only one half of the tree trunk at a time because If they remove more than that it will kill the tree. Growing cork is not a fast process as it will take a tree at least ten years to replace what has been harvested. All over Portugal we have found a fantastic assortment of cool cork related products such as hand bags, wallets, hats, and even shoes.
The final drive into Lisbon was a bit crazy and it was not made any easier by the heavy rain and darkness. When we finally located our huge campground inside a large city area park we found ourselves parking the motorhome during the biggest downpour we have seen so far but, for some reason, nasty weather like this always makes our confined space feel that much more cozy. Lisbon is a very interesting city with tons of history as well. Without a doubt you can see the strains of the recent financial pressure on the Lisbon infrastructure but it’s still a great place to visit and we never sensed a depressed feeling at all, we only experienced pleasant and up-beat people. The impressive Castle S. Jorge proudly overlooks the old walled village next to it and the main city centre and harbour below. At night with all the feature lights on this view is even more splendid but if you plan on exploring Lisbon in the dark, beware of those dangerously deceptive shifting curbs.

Road Ramble: Ouch!

Even the lives of amateur explorers can be filled with excitement, danger and unexpected adventures. Margot decided to experiment with all three at once on Tuesday evening by running across a busy Lisbon Square bravely leaping over large puddles and tall curbs as she raced to catch our late night bus. Unfortunately a tall curb got the best of her and she went down hard with a badly twisted left ankle. With all the painful markings of a bad sprain Margot was understandably upset and we both agreed that this was not a fun way to end such a great day. As this happened right beside our bus stop we decided to carry on,”hop” aboard, and head for home. Unfortunately Kristen wasn’t around to practice her new nursing skills so I did my best and thankfully we had others there willing to help; this is where the story becomes a little more “upbeat”. You can really tell the true nature of a city and it’s people by the way you’re treated by total strangers when the going gets tough. When Margot fell, a young skateboarder dude instantly jumped into action to lend a hand while a nearby restaurant waitress scrambled for some ice. But, the most amazing gesture of all was from the bus driver who helped us onto the bus and then when we reached our stop got up and announced to everyone that he was going to make a slight detour… for us, and then proceeded to drive off his designated route to drop us right at the front gate of our campground. I don’t think we’ll ever forget the heart-warming image of that big bus pulling away with the bus driver and most of the people aboard waving goodby and wishing us well. Did I mention the lady on the bus that was so helpful. At the campground office we had a better chance to assess the damage and ultimately decided it prudent to check things out at the nearby hospital. The concerned campground staff also jumped into action and arranged for a taxi to take us to the hospital, then provided us with an extra big bag of ice to get through the night. When we arrived at the rather confusing emergency department we hadn’t even exited the taxi before a very nice fellow and his daughter surprisingly sprung into action there, running off to get a wheelchair and then helping us with Portuguese translation for our entire visit. The doctor and all the hospital staff were fantastic and when the X-rays confirmed it actually was a sprain, we were on our way back home again with instructions to take things really easy for a few days and after a couple of weeks things should be getting back to normal. We both agree, that for us, the most significant “upbeat” part of this unfortunate little story focuses around the wonderful people who came from nowhere to help total strangers and how that’s left us with such a positive impression of the Portuguese people in general. It’s amazing the impact that a few small gestures of random kindness can have on ones opinion of an entire country. Almost two days later and you’ll be happy to know that the swelling is now starting to subside and the patient is on the mend. Unfortunately, our freewheeling mobility has taken a sharp hit, but with lots left to see and do, rehabilitation will become our main focus over the next few weeks.

We had a very hard time leaving Calahonda and could have easily spent an entire month or more in this very interesting and service rich area. After two busy weeks here we leave with still things to do on our agenda, like spend a day relaxing on the spectacular beach a short walk away. As we drove into this deceptive area our first impressions were not that great because it seemed so excessively commercialized but the longer we stayed the more we began to realize and appreciate why this is such a popular destination. Everything we needed was a short walk or journey away and from groceries stores to restaurant choices the food selection is exceptional. For short daytime excursions to places like Gibraltar, Ronda, Tangier, Granada, or Cordoba all we needed to do is walk to the front of our campground complex and hop on the appropriate pre-arranged tour bus. On halloween day we took the tour bus to Gibraltar and explored this impressive British rock from top to bottom. Great views all the way to Africa and despite a little “monkey business” up top, we managed to get a quick look at the famous WWII tunnels and still have time for some main street shopping.
The following day we took another bus trip to the beautifully situated city of Ronda where you’ll find the oldest, and one of the most famous, bull fighting rings in the world. Notice the great and very risky picture I got of “Margot-Olay” demonstrating one of her own outstanding defensive techniques in the ring. The deep defensive gorge that separates the old Moorish part of Ronda from the new(ish) side is quite spectacular and since the mid 1700’s the impressive “Puente Nuevo” bridge has connected the two sides. For much of this day we were thinking of Joanna and Lloyd as we nervously watched a major climbing competition progress using the bridge and surrounding cliffs as their playground. I think all the competitors made it home safely, but I’m still having nightmares. All in all we had two great bus tour days exploring this beautiful region of Spain and now totally understand why it’s such a great location and destination for so many northerners to weather away the winter.
After a rather lengthy good-by to all our campground friends we pressed on up the coast line to the city of Cadiz where Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492. From Cadiz we drove cross-country to pleasantly surprising Sevilla and settled at a campground just outside of town. Sevilla’s beautiful city centre makes for a great place to wander about and explore. This is an inland port city with a long rich history and some very interesting buildings of which many are covered by marvellously colourful ceramic tiles. We drove across the border into Portugal on Thursday and have set up camp at the great little beach resort town of Albufeira. We think this is a sleeper area that will become much, much more popular within the next 10-15 years. From here we plan on driving West to “lands end” at Sabres and then pointing our bow towards Lisbon. It’s hard, and sad, to think that our trip is quickly coming to an end and our sights are focussing on Germany again as we head into our final European stretch.

Road Ramble: People do make a difference

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our eleventh month on the road and we thought we’d done a pretty good job of learning to function in our tightly confined living space, but then, in Calahonda we met our campground neighbours from Finland. Wow, a family of six living together in a similar sized unit for more than half a year. They certainly put us in our place and made us appreciate all that expansive and luxurious real-estate accommodation that we’re living in. Such a warm and welcoming family they are and despite our extreme language gap, we managed to fumble through a number of spirited games of Uno and Dominos together. The two little girls tried desperately in vain to school us in Finnish from a kindergarten picture book but finally gave up on us and resorted to the good old “Pictionary/Charades” approach to foreign communication (Finnish is hard!). What a great family adventure they seemed to be having. Part of the real enjoyment a trip like this is getting to meet all these amazing and interesting people along the way. We’ve had countless conversation with friendly people from all around the world in stores, restaurants, campgrounds or just in passing and the best part of these conversations is realizing that despite the obvious differences, our family priorities are very much in common. Hopefully over the next couple of months we will continue to meet many more diverse and welcoming people as we start working our way back home to our own loving family.

Spain has turned out to be a real highlight for us despite a rather unpleasant experience shortly after our grand entrance (see Road Ramble). Traveling south from Madrid we made our way to the cool medieval town of Toledo that’s famous for its rich history of sword and armour making. If you’re in the market for a new sword, or suit of armour, this is definitely the place to go. Our campground was just a pleasant 20 minute walk down the hill from one of the old city gates. Onward we drove to Cordoba where we visited the Mezquita, one of the most interesting buildings we have seen so far. This huge “Mosque/Cathedral”, in relatively good condition, dates back 12 centuries surviving turbulent times. It’s very unique Christian-Islamic architecture is quite fascinating to experience all under one roof making for an interesting story and walk through. The close by palace and gardens are also worth mentioning. The drive from Cordoba to Granada was very beautiful and went by way to quickly. In Granada we had to pre-arrange our tickets to visit the famous Alhambra Palace as they only allow a limited number of visitors per day. This is a massive and impressive complex that also has a very colourful Moorish (Arabic) history dating back to 1238. This was the last Islamic stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and fell to Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Later on it even survived Napoleon who tried in vain to blow-it-up. This large complex also has the same very impressive mix of architecture all situated on a magnificent hilltop setting overlooking the old-town and valleys below. Besides the many fun little shops in the old-town, the massive 16th century Gothic Cathedral was also an impressive site to see. A little further south and we were greeted by the sandy beaches of the Costa del Sol. We stopped for the night in Nerja to pay tribute to George and Oksana’s old stomping grounds from their mid eighties travel adventure. This stretch of the Mediterranean is very well utilized and you find an abundance of hotels, resorts, strip malls, shopping centres, restaurants, villas, condos and golf courses… Cam. It seemed busy now but they say in the summer months you can hardly move it’s so crowded, and hot too. We’ve ended up in a nice campground in the village of Calahonda (love the name but I think it should be Calaharley instead) that was recommended to us by a wonderful couple from Huntington Beach, California. We first met this amazing couple in Pompei and then again in Rome and now in Calahonda. He’s a retired aero space engineer who worked on a number of projects including the Apollo missions. Between his work contracts, Barbara now 82 and Greg 87 have been traveling Europe off and on for extended periods of time with and without there children since the early sixties. For this trip they loaded their Mercedes-Benz on a freighter in California and picked it up in Germany where they bought a nice new holiday trailer to pull behind it. I thought we were doing well but they make us look like amateurs, they’re loaded with valuable information and great stories but best of all their fun to be around. Last night we all took the bus miles down the coast to a great Chinese restaurant they knew about and then successfully fumbled our way back home in the dark. These two are such an inspiration, I can only hope that we have this kind of health, drive, and courage when we’re approaching our mid eighties. We initially planned on staying in this campground for one or two days but the new plan will see us here for probably ten. Every day It seems to get harder to leave as this entire area of the coast is starting to fill up with snowbirds from northern Europe and many of the estimated half million escapees are from England. We did manage to squeeze in a bus tour to Tangiers, Morocco. It was a very interesting trip but because we had such a quick visit to the port city, I’m sure we missed much of the true blue Moroccan experience. But from what we saw and have heard, keep an eye on this strategically placed city and country because in the next 10-15 years, it will be the number one major centre of commerce for northern Africa. This will be partly due to Moroccans progressive, welcoming and non discriminating nature when it comes to business and religion. We really have enjoyed almost everything about Spain and would love to spend another month exploring it but the clock is ticking and people tell us that Portugal is also great so we’re now looking forward to our time heading north along the Portuguese West Coast.

Road Ramble:

We never expected to be traveling for the better part of a year without a few negative experiences, but four rip-off’s is enough already. We told you about the pick-pocket in Germany, our bogus parking ticket in Sicily, and our really bogus bus ticket infraction in Florence. Now unfortunately we have to add a “break-in” to that annoying little list. It happened about an hour after we entered Spain when we pulled into the parking lot of a very large grocery chain store at about two in the afternoon. The area had lots of people around and I intentionally parked near the front entrance within the sightline of a busy outdoor restaurant. We did notice some older kids riding there skateboards around and utilizing the side of the parking lot not too far away, but they looked non-threatening and we decided they looked too innocent to be crooks (Not so according to other camper travellers that we have talked to since). We were in the store for about half an hour and upon our return we discovered our motorhome cabin door lock had been punched out and a few things messed about inside. We quickly looked around and found all our obvious valuables were still in place and therefore figured they must have been spooked, running off before any serious damage could be done. It wasn’t until later that we discovered they actually did get away with two back-packs, one having significant sentimental and monetary value. Inside the packs were rain jackets, an umbrella and a few other miscellaneous things but definitely worth noting was Margot’s small address book (no e-mail addresses) that was inside her backpack. So, just in case, if you get a suspicious call asking you to send money to some obscure destination to help save us from imminent disaster, hang-up and fire us off an e-mail instead. As all break-in’s are, this was a very disturbing experience but we do consider ourselves lucky because it could have been so much worse. Thankfully we did get our lock fixed at a dealership in Madrid and again have learned the hard way that in this part of the world you should never leave a motorhome unattended in unsecured locations, particularly along the Mediterranean coast. But for some strange reason however, we can’t stop thinking that possibly those kids on the skateboards followed us all the way from Italy just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Possibly they work for the transit authority in Florence.

It’s with a broken heart that we post this blog. We have just received word that a truly amazing young gentleman in our newly extended family has tragically passed away following a terrible highway accident near Mission, BC on Friday morning. Our feelings are overwhelmed with grief as we try to comprehend this loss and our deepest thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Barcelona and Madrid:

Barcelona was a pleasant surprise for us and we would consider it to be one of the nicest cities we’ve experienced so far. Clean, safe and organized, it’s a perfect pedestrian city with mega wide sidewalks on mega wide boulevards lined with trees, shops, and filled with people. Countless restaurants, fantastic architecture, and a spectacular waterfront with miles of sandy beach. This is also the home of artist architect Antoni Gaudi and a number of his famous works are within easy walking distance of the city centre. By far the most important of his work is the Church Sagrada Familia and a trip through this basilica is truly an outstanding experience regardless of your spiritual beliefs. You can’t help but be moved in some personal way even if it’s just the architectural splendour of this structure that leaves you in awe. Not bad for a building that’s not yet finished. Construction started in 1883 and still following Gaudi’s design, they hope to have it completed by 2040. As we wandered through the organically themed Cathedral the sound of ongoing construction echoed throughout and almost made it sound alive. Sagrada Familia is now one of the top tourist attractions in Europe and Gaudi himself, who’s buried in the crypt, has hero status in Spain and is considered one of Barcelona’s greatest citizen.
We didn’t spend much time in Madrid as we camped a fair distance away in a famous little town called Aranjuex and took the train into Madrid centre. We managed to squeeze in a very interesting trip to the impressive Royal Palace and then we explored the very crowded city centre area. Known for it’s very high rate of petty street crime, we felt a bit nervous wandering about the packed downtown and we actually preferred the smaller town we camped in. Just a short walk from our campground, through beautiful Royal parks, was another splendid Royal Palace called “Chiquitren” and it was used as a spring retreat for the Spanish Royals. The Royals called it the “Farm House” but it’s not like any farm-house we’ve ever seen.
We will now be heading towards the south coast with stops in Toledo, Cordoba and Granada along the way.

Road Ramble:

I actually had a ramble topic for this blog but in light of the recent events at home I find it hard to ramble on about anything. Instead, we would like to leave you all with a message of love, especially to our children, Kristen & Erik, Cam & Lia, whom we are missing a lot right about now. Make the most of every single day and remember to hug the ones you love.

We’ve covered a lot of ground in a very short period of time as we pointed our bow in the direction of southern Spain. It’s been two weeks since we left Rome but it feels more like a few action packed days. After a nice visit to Siena we wound our way through the beautiful Tuscany countryside and found our well hidden campsite in Florence. Excited about checking out this epicentre of the renaissance, we headed out early the next morning with Michelangelo’s famous statue of David squarely in our sights as our first cultural contact. You know, it’s amazing how quickly ones attitude and opinion of a place can change with just one negative experience, like a transit “rip-off” first thing in the day, yes… Another! “Bogus Ticket” (Check-out the “Road Ramble” to fully appreciate our still boiling blood). Trying hard to overcome our anger about such an unjust experience we did manage to have a decent day exploring much of this fantastic old city and after waiting in line for two hours to see David, for one brief moment, we were so overwhelmed that we completely forgot about our most recent Italian ill-treatment.
We drove from Florence to Pisa where we made a quick guest appearance with the tower, such a remarkable site to see from close-up. The Italian Rivera is truly “eye candy” all the way to Monte-Carlo where Monaco itself then becomes the crowning jewel. Lucky for our bank account, we just missed the mega Monaco Yacht Show just below the Casino. But Jim, we did find a nice new blue and white boat for you, it’s the one in the harbour photo attached. Along the way to Monaco we got a glimpse of the salvaged ill-fated Costa Concordia at dock, such a sad sight and story. From Monaco we zipped along the interesting beachfront of Cannes looking for movie stars but only found miles of empty wet sand… they must have all been in Venice for George Clooney’s wedding.
We drove inland along Napoleon’s trail through Grasse (Famous for the development of French perfume) to impressive Avignon with its famous bridge and song “Pont du-Avignon”. A quick and interesting drive along the French southern coast finds us now at the doorstep to Spain with Barcelona just next door and Madrid not far away. The weather is chilling, the Fall colours are beautiful and the warmth of southern Spain is now calling our name.

Road Ramble: And yet another Bogus ticket.

When traveling in Italy forget about the Mafia or petty crime on the streets of Rome; instead, watch out for the sneakier and even “legal” local municipal scams. Yes, we did get a second bogus $80 ticket and this time it was for improperly stamping a bus ticket.
We were very excited to arrive in Florence and experience all the culture and beauty. When checking into our campground the lady said we could purchase our bus tickets from her so I asked for 4 (2 to travel into the city centre, and 2 for the return trip). To our surprise, she said there was a single ticket that could be used for two people but it needed to be stamped on the bus in both directions. We thought to ourselves what a great idea having two kinds of tickets therefore saving paper and reducing garbage. So we headed for the bus with ticket in hand. When we looked at the ticket it said “Validate on boarding the first vehicle” which we thought we did when “punching it” as we entered the bus (It did not say to validate for each rider using this ticket and therefore punch the ticket twice). So, when the “transit agent ticket lady” asked to see our ticket we had no concerns whatsoever. When she told us that we were in violation we were shocked, we tried to explain to her what had happened and that we misunderstood the two punch process but we had purchased our tickets at full price and she could phone the campground to check our story. She became loud and aggressive and would not even consider the awkward and difficult situation we found ourselves in. She told us we were in Italy and therefore we should speak and read Italian, then we wouldn’t have this problem. Obviously she was not a leading ambassador of tourism. We could tell that other people on the bus were concerned about her lack of reason, understanding and judgement and also the way she was treating a pair of confused city guests about to spend money in their city. One nice local lady even tried to reason with the agent on our behalf but got the same rude treatment that we did.
We did become upset about the complete unfairness of this situation and wanted to talk to a transit company superior or supervisor to explain our situation but she said she was going to call the police if we didn’t pay now. We said fine because we had not broken any laws by intent and possibly the police could help us reason with this lady. When we explained our story to the police officer we could tell he felt the whole situation was unnecessary and should never have happened, but he had no choice but to support the transit agent. We produced our identification, and she wrote-up a violation for $55 Euros ($80). We had understood that we would now walk into the main terminal with the ticket agent and speak to a supervisor to explain, with her present, but as we went further inside the terminal she pointed at a ticket office line-up and walked away shouting something to us in Italian. After waiting in line for some time we explained what had happened to two different desk agents and were told that the issuing agent had used very poor judgement in issuing this fine and implied that she should have shown some discretion considering the unusual circumstances involved, but they could not help fix this for us. Needless to say, we were a bit upset for the rest of the entire day. Upset about the added expenditure, upset about the embarrassing confrontation, upset because of how unjust, uncompromising, unfriendly and unfair this experience was for two confused travellers. We paid the fine to the agent at the counter and she felt so bad that she suggested we write the transit authority… good luck! When we explained what had happened to the campground lady, she was furious as this has happened before and seemed to be a regular scam. She had already written the transit company a number of times and the local newspaper about this apparent abuse of ignorant tourists and was told the practice would end… good luck! After two bogus municipal fines in Italy, we leave feeling a bit disappointed about the local authorities but we’re now looking forward to a more friendly experience in Spain.

The best preserved Greek ruins outside of Greece are located in Agrigento on the south coast of Sicily in what is referred to as the”Valley of the Temples”; and for just another pile of stones, all 12 monuments are very impressive. Our favourite part of Sicily however was along the north coast east of Palermo to Patti. Such a beautiful coastline with great little welcoming villages (with the exception of Cefalu where we received our first and very “bogus” $50 parking ticket) all along the drive. We left Sicily and made-up some time by driving the major autobahn through a series of mega tunnel systems until we reached Pompei. We were blown away with Pompei. The sheer size of the site and the outstanding condition it’s in is really impressive. We took a wild tour bus ride to the top of Mount Vesuvius and had a wonderful view from its crater of the coastline and surprisingly populated valley below. We took a day trip by train to the beautiful little tourist town of Sorrento just 45 minutes down the coast. Sorry to say Peter and Jane that the Garden restaurant was closed on this day and we missed a great opportunity to share your calamari experience. Leaving Pompei we again opted for the quick autobahn run towards Rome and soon pulled into our very handy and well-appointed campsite only a 20 minute transit trip from the main city centre. Rome is amazing and we have seen so much in such a short period of time. The Coliseum, the Forum, Vatican City with the breathtaking St. Peter’s at its heart and countless other ruins and monuments that make this city one of the most impressive so far. We have walked countless miles all over Rome and our only tiring experience so far, is all the pizza and pasta that we’ve been eating. Last night however, we managed to track down a great and rare Chinese restaurant to help balance the culinary experience. A few more days to enjoy ancient Rome and then quickly off towards Florence as we’re beginning to feel the presence of fall in the air and the reality of a ticking clock.

Road Ramble: ” And yet another natural disaster in Pompei”

We had a perfect camping spot at the Sparticus Campground. It was privately nestled between beautiful fruit bearing shade trees and we could hardly believe our luck. We extended the awning, set up the lawn chairs and settled in for a few days stay. The next day we were up and out the door to visit the Pompei ruins just across the street and it was dark when we got home but we did notice an abundance of ants in and around the motorhome. We would check this out in more detail in the morning with better light. We got out of bed the next morning to discover that we had been completely inundated with tiny harmless looking little ants. All over, inside and out! Black streams of ants marching on a multitude of highways crisscrossing our motorhome and finding their way into places I would consider impossible, like a sealed beam headlight. But the worst was the thousands that had found their way inside the motorhome… just telling this story I’m already starting to scratch again. To make a long story shorter, we quickly changed spaces and spent the rest of the entire day going head-to-head with these 3mm beasts and for a while it was touch and go as to which team was going to win. But with the added advantage of chemistry on our side, we did finally prevail and despite the intermittent twitch in my left eye and the new webbing between my toes, there doesn’t seem to be any apparent neurological damage to me or Margot. But just in case; Bert, can you please book us a space in your calendar for sometime next spring? Washing and cleaning up the motorhome after this battle was a real big job but, with or without the ants, it probably was due. I do think the campground owners were really glad to see us go however because as they continued to assign new people into that dreadful spot, I would walk over and give the trusting travellers fair warning which would then cause some unwanted administrative shifting commotion. The upside of this was we quickly made some new campground friends. Now, as we search campgrounds for a new camping spot, not only do we look for shade, good drainage and close to amenities, we also check for tiny little black ants.

Made it to Italy… finally! (See Road Ramble below) Our first stop was impressive little Brindisi and we grabbed a nice campsite close by and spent a couple of days recovering from “Boat Lag”. After regaining our strength, we took a very interesting drive past the “Cone Houses” of Alberobello. These unique little stone houses with the cone roofs date back centuries and are very picturesque as they dot the rolling countryside. Some have been incorporated into newer and much larger homes and some have been renovated as is for use as vacation property and such. Stone fences separate the random shaped acreage sized yards between them and it all comes together to make a visually delightful drive along the twisting narrow roadway. Moving on we stopped to examine an old exhausted stone quarry turned into a venue for sculpture artists (In the appropriate photo below, can you find me standing at the base of the limestone wall?). Great acoustics!
Have you ever heard of a town called Matera? Considering it’s one of the oldest towns in the world dating from the Neolithic age (about 7000+ years ago) you’d think it would be a place we could all pinpoint on a map, but instead it’s relatively unknown and under appreciated. But all that may change soon as they are now in the process of fixing it up and renovating these cave dwellings and converting them into comfortable hotel rooms, homes and restaurants. Built on the side of a deep canyon wall the relatively newer facades leading into the caves give it the appearance of just an old city but in fact this site predates the Roman and Greek splendour by thousands of years. 30,000 people actually lived in this place called “Sassi” right up until 1953 when they were forced out by the government due to poor sanitary conditions. Left abandoned for years the place is now starting to get the attention it deserves in part due to exposure it’s received from various movie roles. This is really a very cool place and we feel privileged to have seen it before it’s covered with wall-to-wall tourists.
From Matera we followed the beautiful Mediterranean coastline to the Sicilian Ferry crossing and enjoyed a quick trip over to the Island. Driving south west on these very narrow roads takes a lot of time and concentration, it’s been a real challenge to my driving skills. In some congested locations only one or two inches separates the motorhome from other vehicles and various other obstacles, like front doors and pedestrians. To make matters worse as we twist and squeeze through each town along this so called highway, there doesn’t appear to be any driving rules enforced and it’s a complete free-for-all. It’s like letting hundreds of various high speed vehicles loose in a parking lot and then throwing in a few thousand Vespas to keep you on your toes. Sicily itself seems to be a real mixed bag and we’re still becoming accustomed to the Island. It’s sand and lava beaches are very beautiful and it has lots of really positive features but many of the towns and cities that we have seen so far seem a bit run down and much of the infrastructure is in need of attention. The people we have met so far have been really nice and very gracious especially when they find out we’re Canadian. So far the “God Father” has not contacted us and that always makes for a much better trip. We hope to experience a lot more of what Sicily has to offer in the next few days before heading back over to the mainland with our sights set on Pompei and Rome.

Road Ramble: “The Ferry Gong Show”

One last look at Greece, zip onto the ferry, nine hours later, hello Italy… so we thought! Despite the fact we made reservations and paid our $500 fare two weeks in advance, when confirming travel details the day before our sailing from the Port of Igoumenitsa, we were informed our 22:00 passage had been switched to a different carrier and our new sailing time would be three hours later at 01:00. Feeling somewhat apprehensive, we arrived at the Ferry terminal nine hours before our new boarding time and were informed our tickets would be printed and ready for pick-up at 22:00. At 21:30 we returned to the agent and were coldly informed that we could not sail on the 01:00 ship as it was full, but space was now available on the 01:00 Ferry, 24 hours hence. After numerous and painful visits to the various terminal agents during all this, we were beginning to understand and sympathize with the pushing, shoving and shouting that appeared to be common place in the long and disorganized lineups. By this time in our ordeal we had met a number of other travellers that were having similar experiences and in a few cases folks had been waiting for days to sail out. Some desperate individuals gave up on the Ferry system and decided to drive the long, long way around to Italy. We were starting to become very concerned and anxious as we watched the parking lot fill with “sidewalk campers” of all types and sizes. Our options were limited and so we joined the community in our comparatively “luxurious” accommodation and settled in for the long haul. During our time in limbo, we actually met some very nice people and despite the language barrier, managed to share some great home grown mellon with some travellers from Turkey. About 27 hours late, we could barley contain our excitement as we drove aboard a well used Ferry pointing in the direction of Italy. The next challenge we had was to find a place to “stretch-out” for the 9 hour overnight sail. People raced aboard and quickly staked out prime sleeping real-estate and then proceeded to inflate air-beds and stretch out blankets and such. Every conceivable place with the exception of zig-zagging walkways was consumed within minutes and many unfortunate souls ended up having to stay/sleep outside on the deck all night long. I managed to find what may have been the last prime sleeping spot on the boat in a non-obvious busy little corner half under a table and slightly behind a room-partition. Looking back now, it’s hard to imagine why were we so excited about scoring this very questionable little living space on a Ferry floor. At about three in the morning I looked around the room in amazement, it sadly gave me the false impression that this really did look more like an evacuation from Greece. After this 43 hour Ferry experience, I will never complain about the BC Ferries again; except they cost too much!