Steam at Mellrichstadt, Germany

Well fellow bloggers, sorry its taken so long to get this blog together. Here is one for the steam train fans in our midst!

We were driving along the autobahn number 71 in Germany when we decided to look for somewhere to stop for morning tea. Dorothy mentioned that there was a service area ahead or there was a brown information sign on the autobahn showing interesting things in the town at the next exit including a steam engine. Without much hope I said “Let’s go into the town”. We stopped on the edge of town and whilst looking at the information board to see where the railway station was located heard a steam whistle. This caused us both to look up and comment.

Loco in platform with people (photo 2347)

We drove into the railway station and there was a little 0-8-0 standard gauge steam tank engine on a few carriages and lots of people on the platform. Apparently the train runs once a fortnight and Mellrichstadt is one end of the line where the train comes in and the loco runs around the train and returns. There is cross platform interface to the regional DB (German Railways) services, one of which came past just before the steam engine departed.

Photo number 407, loco 98-886 departing Mellrichstadt

Loconumber  98-886 departing Mellrichstadt (Photo number 407)

All the people got back in the carriages and at 11:10 the train departed for Fladungen, giving quite an impressive smoky and noisy display. Dorothy and Gary were the only people (Gunzels) left watching from the trackside in this nice little town.

 As well as this Rhon-Zugle steam train every two weeks, there was a good camping place for mobile homes so Mellrichstadt is quite well rated!

The Alhambra, Granada Spain

Apologies for the delay in posting new blogs, we have not had good internet connections to upload the photos. So here is one we prepared earlier!

Alhambra (Photo 278)

We visited Granada in Spain to see the Alhambra palace and grounds. The Moors from North Africa (first ruler Mohammad I al-Ahmar) commenced building the Alhambra in 1238.

Alhambra Palace from Generalife gardens (Photo 267)

Later Moor rulers built a palace on the Sabika hill above Granada in three separate periods from 1314 to 1391.

City of Granada from Alhambra (Photo 281)

The Moors colonised much of present day Spain. The building influence they left is epitomised by the Alhambra palaces. The Moorish influence is still left in the palaces and the Alcazabra fort. The fort is one of the oldest parts of the Alhambra

Alcabraz Fort (Photo 282)

The Alhambra has been re-built and added on by all the Christian rulers of Granada and Spain after the Moors were driven out on 2 Jan 1492. The Generalife was added by the Catholic Kings of Granada as a recreation area. Charles I (1500 to 1558) commenced construction of the Generalife palace. 

The Generalife – entrance walkway (Photo 266)

The extensive gardens are well presented and colourful.  The variety of roses is amazing in the various garden beds especially the long narrow walk way towards the Generalife.

The Generalife – Court of the water channel (Photo 274)

The court of the water channel is on the list of items not to be missed.

Some of the original frescos remain in areas protected from the weather (and tourists over the years!)

Generalife Frescos (Photo 270 )

The Alhambra is very popular with tourists, even this early in the season. Two of the five parking areas were full on the day in late May when Dorothy and Gary visited the site. Specialised parking was available for buses, caravans and motorhomes, but the parking cost more than our two admission tickets together!

Welcome to Portugal

We have spent a few days in the Duoro river valley (including Villa Real and Porto) and other areas of Portugal and really enjoyed our time here. 

During our travels in Portugal we found a number of very pleasant villages and town centres.

Our van and (empty) service centre in Portugal (Photo135) Sorry cant get this photo to upload

The road into Portugal from Verin in Spain is now a high standard motorway, divided carriageway with limited access and service centres just like the Hume Freeway in NSW/Vic at home. All it needs is a bit more traffic! It is definitely not like the old road of thirty odd years ago that Gary remembers.

Villa Real old town (Photo 143)

So the first town we saw in any detail when we got off the motorway was Villa Real in the Duoro river valley. This city is a mixture of an old town centre with modern add-ons like the ever-present hyper market shopping centre and petrol stations on the outskirts of the city.  From our campsite in Villa Real we were able to walk to the centre of town and the fresh food market. 

Porto from bridge (Photo 226)

Porto is the second city of Portugal after Lisbon and it is a beautiful city at the river mouth. It is built on the hills with a funicular in one part from the river level to the upper town.  We made a couple of trips on this funicular (1 euro per person per trip). We visited the Tram Museum after riding on the vintage tram.   On the Sunday afternoon all the cafes and public spaces were pre-occupied with the local football team Porto (blue and white jumpers) playing.  We found a quiet café without any footy fans and had a snack for dinner.

Photo of tower at Porto, (photo 2209)

On the first day in Porto we met some English people at the campsite who suggested we walk up the tower in order to get a good view of Port. It was quite some walk but well worth it for the views.

Bridge at Porto with metro train (Photo 216)

After we had left Porto, we travelled down Portugal towards Evora. When the campsite we were looking for was no longer in use in one town, the local volunteer firefighters suggested another campsite. This led us to discover a beautiful village called Castelo de Vide. We walked into town from the campsite, quite a strenuous walk with some fine views along the way.

Walking track from campground with cork trees (Photo 2227 )

Whilst in Castelo de Vide a kindly local family took our photo with the village in the background, just proving we are both still alive and well. (Photo 243)

Typical Electric wiring (Photo 2241)

This photo gives you some idea of the electric wiring in the township which is typical of the Spain/Portugal area.

Typical street in Castelo de Vide township (Photo 250)

All too soon the itinerary showed we needed to move on, so it was good bye to the villages of Portugal and on to the cheaper fuel and big birds (possibly cranes) of Spain, but more about Spain in another blog, soon.

Standing Stones of Brittany and the Iberian Peninsula - revised and extended

Everyone has heard of or seen the prehistoric standing stones at Stonehenge in England. What is not well known is that there are many more standing stones in Britain and continental Europe.

Photo of Carnac, Brittany, France. Many standing stones in a field or paddock!(photo 44)

In the educational portion of our tour of Europe (and you bloggers thought we were on a total holiday!) we have explored the standing stones near Carnac near the coast  in Brittany, France and later some Menhir (generic name for standing stones) and Dolmen (large single standing stone) near Castelo de Vide in Portugal, quite close to the Spanish border.  It is thought that the stones near Carnac are older than Stonehenge and probably those in Portugal are also older but all the informationat the museum is in Portuguese so we cannot read it!

Photo of Carnac stones in the forest (photo 34)

At Erdevan near Carnac, there are a whole series of Menhir (standing stones) spread over about 30kms along an old walking road or route, which is now mainly forest. They rest quietly in the forest waiting patiently for the tourists. It is a fantastic cycling or walking trail if you wish to follow all the sites. Individual stones are not tall however there are many of them.

Photo of Mehir in village of Locmariaquer, Brittany (49), near Carnac also

As well as standing stones there are burial mounds in Brittany. Some are now surrounded by housing and farming land, it seems incongruous to have a burial mound or some Menhir in the town behind some houses!

Photo of Menhir in Portugal (251). The lady tourist gives some perspective to the height of the stone

There are also many pre-historic stones in the Iberian Peninsula. We only found some in Portugal but there are also many in Spain nearby. The ones we found were off the beaten track and in the midst of working farmland. It was only the signs that lead us there and we were the only tourists to look at them whilst we were there.

Photo(258)  of standing stones  (anta in portuguese language) near Costelo de Vide in Portugal

We say au revoir to La France

Our last night in France for the time being, was in one of the best sites we have stayed at in France from a site positioning viewpoint. We stayed at Playa camping between St Jean de Luz and Guethary along the coast from Bayonne, France. The camping site was on the terraced side of a cliff above a private beach on the Atlantic coast. There were approx. six camping grounds in the area on the cliff top. We fell asleep to the sounds of the Atlantic waves breaking on the beach below us.

Photo 0063, our private beach on the Atlantic!

We say good bye (temporarily) to France after four or so weeks of touring in our campervan (camping car in French terminology) wandering the French countryside. We have now crossed into Spain on the Atlantic coast and visited Bilbao. It is a large city and an interesting mixture of old and new, with many motorways and tollways ringing the city but yet a preserved old town centre. The main tourist attractions are the Guggenheim museum on the riverfront and the old town.

Photo 0087, one of the streets of Bilbao

 Dorothy visited the Guggenheim museum in the afternoon.   Whilst Gary walked the new and old towns, photographing the many buses, trams and trains.

Photo 2177, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao with its striking architeture

We found a camping site/ camping car rest area in the hills above Bilbao with views of the city and valley to die for:

Photo 106, view from the campsite at Bilbao

After our evening meal we caught the local bus into Bilbao, a journey of about 40minutes.  It was interesting to watch the locals came and go.  Bilbo bus is operated by Vieola Transport, the parent company of Connex (those in Melbourne and Sydney will recognize those company names). We then walked the narrow atmospheric streets of the old town. All the shops were closing up at 20:00 but all the restaurants and bars were just opening up for the evening meal etc. We found a bakery with some delicious desserts which we just had to try and they certainly tasted as lovely as they looked. Then it was time to catch our bus back to the camp site, really a tour of the suburbs of Bilbao for the princely sum of 1 euro 20 cents per person, each way. 

Photo 99 of Bus in narrow street, Bilbao

Now from our campervan window we can enjoy seeing all the city lights of Bilbao.  We are sharing this camping site with 1 other campervan, there are 80 other empty spaces so we guess (hope) things get busier in the July/August high season months.

Since composing this post we have moved on and are now in Porto, Portugal. But more of that in the next post, WIFI willing to be found!

Pilgrimage to Mont Saint Michel, Normandy, France

We arrived at the famous UNESCO listed Mont Saint Michel Wednesday afternoon, it comes into view suddenly as you are driving along the winding road towards the mount. Its quite impressive from a distance. In the evening we walked out towards the Mount on the access road, it was quite windy and chilly but still impressive.

Thursday saw Dorothy and Gary make the pilgrimage to Mont Saint Michel, as pilgrims have done for centuries past.  We availed ourselves of some modern conveniences though, parking our camper van in a camping ground near the Mont and walking the last two kilometres along the causeway!

Then there are the three hundred steps to climb to get to the abbey

Some of the toursits (oops pilgrims) on the way back from the mount

Others do not make the same sacrifices, getting a bus, car or bike to the bottom of the steps as can be seen in this photo.

The Mont is quite spectacular, rising from the salt marshes and estuary since the sanctuary was first constructed on this site about 708 AD. The Mont has variously been a sanctuary, an abbey, impregnable stronghold during the hundred year’s war, a prison and since 1874 it has been a tourist drawcard.

Outside of Paris it is one of the top tourist destinations in France, as an example there were 41 tourist coaches there today and it’s not high season yet!

The mont itself is quite small, there is really only one steep and narrow street full of tourist shops on the way up to the abbey.The abbey dominates the island of course.

We took the guided tour through the Abbey, which unusually is included in the entrance price and was in English. We were quite impressed with the almonry where the guided tour finished.

Day Trip out to St Helier, Jersey, UK

As we were meandering our way around the Normandy coast we saw brochures for ferry services from Normandy, France  to the Channel Isles, UK. There are services from a number of French ports to various channel islands eg to Jersey or Guernsey or  Alderney or Sark. We decided we would try and do a day trip to one of the Channel islands, which are UK territory.

As most of these French ports are tidal the sailing times and days vary quite abit. We decided on the small French port of Carteret which had a sailing enabling a day return to Jersey. The sailing time was only one hour. Interestingly Carteret was used for supply of the allied armies during the post D Day liberation of France. It was only used for about a week after liberation, mostly due to the issues with the tidal nature of the port and its small capacity. The tidal range is quite high and the port can today only be used for the ferries from mid to high tide.

St Helier town and Albert Pier aand yacht basin (photo 2028)

The passage to St Helier, the main port for Jersey went well for Dorothy and Gary but not for a little French girl who was sitting next to Gary, she was quite sick during the voyage. We were welcomed to the UK by an English lass who wanted to know how long we intended to stay in the UK and why we were entering the UK. Once those questions had been satisfactorily answered we were “given leave to enter the UK” for six months.

St Helier is quite a mix of new construction along the promenade with a Victorian era pier and wharf. We visited the tourist bureau and decided to take a walking tour of some of the WWII German defences. This involved taking a bus to Portelet and meeting the guide there. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so we embarked on a bus ride on Jersey “My Bus” operated by Connex. As in Melbourne, the Connex service was late but we still made the start of the tour, especially as we were the only ones to turn up! The weather was not to kind to us either, it rained heavily for about 15 minutes whilst we were walking to the German command bunker.  Once inside the guide was full of details about the daily routine of the German troops.  The bunker only survived intact because it was filled in with earth after the war, volunteers began restoration in the 70's.

Parish church of St Helier (Photo2027)

Afterward we visited the village of St Aubin where we had a very nice café lunch out of the rain. St Aubin is still basically a 19^th century British village and much more what we expected than St Helier.

St Helier re-opened central town police station (Photo2020)

Our day out to Jersey was quite pleasant, it was nice to hear English being spoken by the great majority of the people in the streets! Our return trip was uneventful, Gary even managed to catch up on some missing sleep time.