Playing catch-up

Due to a lack of free wifi I haven't managed to update the blog for several days so this is a bit of a catch up. Last Saturday we moved on in the Czech Republic to a campsite about 15km from the centre of Prague and we then had two days of site-seeing in the city. There was a bus that stopped right outside the campsite but the journey in required two changes (another bus and then a tram) and took about 90 minutes each way. There is a lot to see in Prague and there seemed to be a lot going on but I think we managed to get a flavour of the place. The tram took us into Wenceslas Square, really a wide boulevard with large shops and hotels on either side and a statue of the “Sainted King” at the top. We then walked to the Old Town, in the rain on Sunday but again in better weather on the Monday. We also found a little area of lanes and courtyards off the Old Square, where there were some interesting old shops with antiques and bric a brac. We then went on over the Charles Bridge, and on Monday we actually made it up the steep hill to the Castle and did a tour of the old Royal Palace, St Vitus' Cathedral and various other attractions, before walking back to Wenceslas Square, (complete with a branch of Marks and Spencer!) to get the tram back. Tuesday was a Czech public holiday and we decided to have a bit of a quieter day. We stayed around the campsite and then had a stroll into the nearby village.

The weather had not been so good since we got into the Czech Republic, probably not their fault! It brightened up a bit on Tuesday and then got even hotter on Wednesday as we drove back into Germany.

We stayed for one night on a site in a forest that used to be a training camp for the Stasi!! The present owners have made it into a very attractive and popular holiday site, despite its unfortunate history. Soon after we arrived the hot weather broke into a short but heavy thunder shower. However the warm weather had returned by this morning. We had a very long drive today in hot sunshine not helped by running out of LPG at an inconvenient place half way up a hill and having to coax the engine to keep going on petrol despite the usual sticking carburettor float problem, until we could pull into a garage forecourt in the next town. Edith was not at all happy about this! Fortunately the force must have been with us as the Opel dealership next door sold LPG and after that we had an incident free journey, except for a small spot of navigational difficulty in finding the correct exit from the autobahn. We are now back on the site at the Edersee National Park where we stayed on our first night and the plan is to stay here for two nights and then go up to Cologne for a couple of nights before heading back to Rotterdam for the ferry home.

Monsoon Season

We didn't make it to the open-air museum, in fact we sat in the van, watching the rain .... and thunder and lightening and reading our books from about 11.00am until 8 in the evening when we dashed across to the hotel next door, for a meal and a change of scenery! It continued to rain all night and after putting the tent/awning away soaking wet and carrying all the washing which had been on a washing line since yesterday morning and was also drenched, we left the site and headed further west into the Czech Republic. The rain eventually petered out late morning, and by mid-afternoon we arrived at a somewhat surreal site beside a lake. The plumbing and electrics, and the site generally,  have the look and feel of "Soviet era - circa 1960" and nearby there is a group of campers who appear to be from the Czech branch of the owners club for a small Citroen hatchback car. Next to the camping field is a bar with an outside seating area and a "Live performance" from a local very loud Blues band! However, the rain has held off and the sun even shone for a while, so we have got the tent and the laundry dry.

The plan is to go on to a site on the outskirts of Prague tomorrow and spend a couple of days exploring the city. The weather forecast doesn't sound too promising but hopefully we can find enough to see undercover to cope with the wettest bits.

Czech and Slovakia

The following day was even more overcast so we never did do the funicular railway in Zakopane. However, we went for a stroll round the town looking for a suitable place for coffee and cakes and ended up climbing right up out of town and on to the entrance to the Tatry National Park! As there seemed to be lots of people going in and coming out we thought it might be worth a look, so we paid our zlotys and set off up a forest track. The weather went from overcast to raining to hail and then to a thunder storm and still we walked! Eventually we found a lot of Polish people sheltering at a log cabin restaurant serving soup etc. About 10 minutes further on took us to a waterfall, which was the place everyone seemed to be heading for. On the way down we stopped for soup and the sun came out, but only briefly.
The following day there was excitement on our campsite as there was fresh snow visible on the mountains! We left Zakopane and took the Liberator up through the Tatra mountains and into Slovakia. There were some spectacular views from the roadside of the snow capped mountains.




We spent three nights at a site near to the town of Levoca which is an almost intact medieval town with a pretty town square and many impressive old buildings.







 

We took a bus trip to Spissky Hrad (Castle) about 15km away, the largest medieval castle in Slovakia or even Europe depending which guide book you read!

Later in the adjacent town whilst waiting for the bus Edith was excited to find her own dress shop!

Yesterday we drove on again out of Slovakia and into the Czech Republic and the small town of Roznov. The weather was not good, with rain most of the way, and although we had some pleasant warm sunshine this morning, the heavens have just opened as I have been typing this and a heavy thunder shower is now in progress! This town's claim to fame is an open air folk museum which we thought sounded worth a visit but is beginning to seem less attractive by the minute!!

The Tatra Mountains

We spent the last day in Krakow visiting the Salt Mine at Wieliczka. A fascinating trip down into a mine which has been worked for over 400 years and contains many sculptures in salt and several chapels, which the miners created so that they could pray, for safety before and during their long shifts.
We then spent the Corpus Christi public holiday staying on a small and rather primitive site in the Carpathian foothills beside a large reservoir.

As the site was very cheap and located right beside the lake with a bar and boats to hire, it was quite popular with the locals some of whom were camping and an even larger number arrived as day visitors.
We went out for a ride on the bikes on Thursday morning and found ourselves following large church processions in two villages we passed through.

This morning, after a heavy thunder storm in the night, the morning brightened up and we moved on to Zakopane. This weekend seems to be the start of the school holidays here so every Polish man and his family seemed to be heading into Zakopane. However we located the campsite we were looking for and then caught a bus into the town centre. Zakopane is very much geared to the tourists with souvenir stalls by the thousand, a kind of Polish version of Blackpool's Golden Mile. A major highlight seemed to be the opportunity to bungee jump, hanging by the ankles, from a large crane! The Tatra Mountains form the backdrop to the town, although the cloud was a bit low this afternoon.

Tomorrow we plan to take the funicular railway up to the top of a local peak from where the Tatra range can be more easily viewed.

Auschwitz and "king" of the Marksmen

A visit to the Auschwitz - Birkenau museum is never going to be the high spot of a holiday in Poland but we felt that having come so close to it we really should go and visit it. It also seemed to be an appropriate activity for a Sunday when the weather forecast was for showers and slightly cooler weather. We both found it informative and different from our preconceptions. The first camp at Auschwitz (Oswiecim in Polish) was quite compact. It had been a Polish army barracks and had that look and feel to it, although the displays inside buildings were quite distressing.

The later camp at Birkenau, was only about 3 kilometres away and was administered from Auschwitz, and that was unbelievably vast. About 175 hectares, which meant nothing to me, but to see the rows of huts, was amzing. Many were of wood and were burnt by the Nazis but the brick built stoves and chimneys were left standing which made it all the more grim.

Some of the huts had been built of brick and these were left as they had been found, and were open for visitors to look at. 

Birkenau is the camp that had the railway arch entrance and the unloading ramps for the trucks with lookout towers for sentries to keep watch.

There is a large international memorial in the area of the gas chambers here, which were also destroyed by the fleeing Nazis but one of those at Auschwitz remains as a kind of shrine.

The previous day on a bright and sunny Saturday we took a minibus into the city centre and wandered around Old Krakow. Quite attractive and with the largest town square in Poland, even bigger than the one at Wroclaw! In some ways the size of it made it a bit less appealing, that and the very “touristy” feel of the place. We were “lucky” enough to be there on the day of the colourful ceremony of the Enthronement of the “king” Marksman! The Marksmen's Brotherhood is a guild that has lasted since the Middle Ages when they trained the townspeople to fight off invaders.

The “king” is the winner of a shooting competition and the outgoing one passes on an ancient silver cock to his successor at this lavish ceremony which involves a service in the cathedral and what sounded like a speech from a politician! The parade consisted of people in medieval dress including a group of musicians and several carrying bows and arrows.

Today, Monday, we are having a bit of a lazy day in camp and catching up on laundry, partly because the weather is even more unsettled than yesterday. We had intended to visit the nearby Salt Mines today but that will now be tomorrow's treat.

Krakow or bust!

On Thursday morning we set off from Wroclaw in the general direction of Krakow with the intention of stopping for an overnight en-route.

It was a hot day and we stopped around mid-day at the small town of Kluczbork for a break and a coffee. We found a small arty coffee shop (quite unusual for rural Poland) with record sleeves of Bob Marley, and original artwork on the walls and selling CDs and books as well as coffee tea etc.

It was run by a young man who had moved here from Wroclaw to settle with his wife, and had seen the possible business oportunity. We had some good coffee and a pleasant chat with him, within the limits of his English.

The contrast in the quality of some of the roads is quite amazing. There are brand new ultra modern roads built to best European standards which connect directly to old Polish rural roads with potholes and deep grooves worn by decades of heavy trucks on the soft tar during hot summer weather. They even have a road sign to warn you about the “tramlines” - erecting signs is clearly cheaper than repairing the roads!

We drove on to Czestochowa, where there was a campsite adjacent to the Monastery of Jasna Gora which has a painting of a “Black Madonna” which is reputed to have performed miracles and the monastery is therefore a place of pilgrimage. All quite big business it would seem judging from the size of the car and coach parks and the various catering establishments including the camping site which had grown up around it. Also rows of market stalls selling quite tasteless souvenirs as well as children's toys including replica sniper rifles!

We didn't go into the monastery, but had a walk into the town and a beer at a pavement bar. We got back to the site just as a short thunder shower passed over.

Friday morning was a bit cooler and breakfast was briefly interrupted by a shower of rain but the day brightened up quite quickly and the temperature indicators on the motorway round Krakow were showing 24 degrees when we arrived. We chose a campsite about 12 km south of the city which has a bus service into the centre from outside the gate. We have just rested and relaxed since arriving mid-afternoon and will venture into the city tomorrow.

Wroclaw (Vrotswarf) another 3 day catch-up

Monday started out well with a pleasant drive through some attractive countryside towards Wroclaw. We arrived on the outskirts of the town around 12.30 and started trying to follow the directions in our campsite book to a site near the centre of the city on the bank of the river.

To be fair, even the book's author said it was hard to find! After circling the town and getting back to where we began, we pulled into an LPG station, filled up and asked for help. The young man had no idea but did an internet search and found out where it was. He gave us precise directions which got us straight there ….. except the site had closed down! (Our book “Alan Rogers - Central Europe - Quality camping and caravanning sites” is the 2007 edition.) Eventually we drove into the centre and found a carpark from which we were able to walk into the old market square (Rynek) where the helpful lady in the Tourist Information Centre directed us to another site at the Olympic Stadium. Somewhat basic in the facilities department but now the only one in the city and very conveniently situated near a tram stop. We arrived somewhat hot and bothered and tired.

Tuesday morning we caught the tram into the city centre and then spent the day exploring.

Wroclaw has a very large town square, big enough to have the Town Hall and two streets of houses in the middle. It has been very attractively restored and has many bars and restaurants in the surrounding buildings.

The city is a candidate to be a European Capital of Culture in 2016 and there was a marquee up in the square for a concert this weekend in support of the bid.

We visited a church, dedicated to Elizabeth of Hungary, which had a tower with a viewing gallery 300 steps up! I was happy to give it a miss but Edith was keen to go up, at least she was until about half way up! We did eventually puff our way to the top and the views were very good. We also walked across town through the University to the main Cathedral on what was once an island in the river. It was rather dark and gloomy inside unlike St Elizabeth's Church.

We ate in town at a nice pavement restaurant Edith ordered the Farmer's salad and I had Hungarian potato cakes with beef casserole. Both were delicious and we decided that Hungarians and Polish farmers must have huge appetites!

Today, Wednesday, we got the bikes out again and rode from the campsite through a large wooded park to the grounds of the Centennial Hall, built for an exhibition in the early twentieth century, when Wroclaw was still German and all the later unpleasantness hadn't started.

The centrepiece of the Centennial Hall grounds is a huge lake with a computerised fountain that performs to music. The Japanese Garden was also made for the exhibition and had become derelict but was rebuilt with Japanese help in the 1990s. It is very impressive and was a good quiet way to spend an hour on a very hot day. 

Dresden and then Poland

On Saturday we left the campsite about 10 o'clock and got to Dresden about 12.30. Drove into the centre and luckily found a convenient free car park within a short walk of the Old Town. The "Old Town" has been largely restored in the last twenty years after remaining as a bomb site for most of the fifty years since it was destroyed by the RAF just before the end of the war in 1945.
The quality of the restoration is amazing when you see the pictures of what was left.
We spent about 4 hours there and then got back on the road and drove through into Poland and on to a small town in Silesia called Jelenia Gora.
The campsite is quite close to the centre so not quite so quiet but convenient for a short walk into town which we did this morning. A very picturesque old centre which is reasonably authentic with some churches and other buildings dating from the fifteenth century. 

We needed refreshment and found a delightful little cafe where we had to choose our tea or coffee from a bewildering selection of teas and coffees from all over the world.

The cafe was in the old Market Square (Rynek) which is unusual in that all the buildings surrounding it have sort of cloisters running along underneath with wide arches onto the square and the shopfronts (mainly cafes and restaurants) set back under cover.

We explored thoroughly then had lunch out at a restaurant and eventually headed back to camp around 4 o'clock.

The plan is to head off tomorrow to Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotswarf!) and perhaps spend 2 or 3 days there to have a more relaxed exploration and maybe some more bike riding.

3 day catch up

Wednesday 8^th June

Well here we are on the European mainland once more. The crossing, by P&O from Hull to Rotterdam, was very pleasant and relaxing. A very calm sea, comfortable cabin and good food. That was the first time we had crossed that way and probably won't be the last.

The drive from Rotterdam was a bit of a slog. We were able to fill up with gas in Holland with no trouble, as most filling stations had it. Unfortunately the same is not true in Germany and by the time I began to think it was time to start looking again we had got into a barren area. This meant changing over to run on petrol which meant the usual carburettor problem which meant waiting for about 20minutes for the petrol to seep through and free the sticking float valve. Fortunately we did it at an autobahn service stop so it wasn't too traumatic.

We eventually only made it nearly as far as Kassel in Germany. We found a nice little site on a lake in a National Park, so nice that we may stay for a second night so that we can get out and explore tomorrow.

Thursday 9^th June

No usable wifi here so unable to post but we had a good day out today on our folding bikes. We are camped across the road from the National Park centre for the Edersee National Park. We called at the centre and got a route to follow through the park and down to a village where we got lunch at a restaurant before returning by another route to the campsite. 

Should sleep well after all the exercise.

Friday 10^th June

Packed up and left the site by 11 o'clock and spent the rest of the day travelling east. Made generally good progress apart from about an hour in the late afternoon when we were stuck in about a 5km tailback on the autobahn due to road works. Autogas was much more available the further east we got. Arrived at a campsite near Gera to the east of Erfurt in the area of the former GDR. There is clearly less money about here judging from the site and the campers but all very friendly in spite of almost no English being spoken. We will just stay the one night and head on to the Polish border tomorrow. I have found a free wifi connection so should be able to post the blog.

Liberator all set to go!

The Liberator went for her MOT test yesterday and passed with flying colours, thanks to a bit of preparatory work over the past week. A slight hiatus over the road tax which falls due at the end of June but I think we've worked our way around that one.
The ferry tickets are booked and we are ready for off, so it's all systems go on Tuesday.
We sail to Rotterdam and then it's a case of how far and how fast we want to go. The general intention is to head for Krakow in southern Poland to start with and then see how we feel from there.

Preparations for 2011

I am currently in the process of getting the Liberator serviced, prepared and ready to set out early in June on a five week excursion to include southern Poland, Slovakia and possibly across to the Black Sea. Watch this space for further news of the trip.