Rome - it wasn't built in a day you know...

This post covers our time in the Eternal City. Friends, Romans, blog lovers, lend me your ears!

On Wednesday we tried to leave our campsite at Marina di Bibbona at 1pm but they had just closed and locked the gates and we were told we couldn’t leave until 3pm! Eventually we left just after 3pm and drove south for an hour and pitched up camp at a crappy campsite 150 metres from the beach. The place was pretty quiet and not being high season, the facilities weren’t being looked after very well.

On Thursday we drove 3 hours south to Rome, it was a slow drive at at one point we had to go back on ourselves 10km and take a toll road as flames and smoke were billowing across the free road! We don’t know what was on fire but the traffic was turning around and heading back. We needed Sarah’s Dad Tony!

Above: Colleseum

Below: What is this, a stripes convention? Mum, Dad and I in Rome

At 4pm we got to Rome and left Ace at a motorhome storage place about 20 minutes away from the city centre. We packed up our bags and got the metro into town, I don’t know how we managed with as many bags as we did! We got out of the metro at the Colleseum and walked around the corner to the street where Mum and Dad had their appartment. We walked up and down trying to find the name of the apartment but we couldn’t find it. After 45 minutes I finally found a phone and on the 4th attempt got through to Dad’s mobile. Phew!

The apartment was on the 3rd floor and accessed by either the stairs or a very skinny old lift! As they are early risers, Mum and Dad kindly gave us their room and they took the sofa bed in the kitchen / lounge area. We went out for dinner that night at a local restaurant and had some great bruschetta and pizza, not to mention a few beers!

Left: Fiat 500 and a scooter, how Italian!

We did the open top tour bus of Rome on Friday which took a couple of hours and then chilled the rest of the day. Mum and Dad went for a walk and on their travels Dad bought some ridiculous looking white hat for the bargain price of €3. We had an early dinner that night as we were off to Pompeii at 6.45am the next morning. That didn’t discourage Dad and Steve from sneaking out for a late night beer at the Irish pub across the road, Dad wore his new hat… oh the shame!

Left: Dad and Steve - a late night beer isn't a late night beer unless you're wearing a dodgy looking hat...

At 6.45am we were picked up for our tour to Pompeii and Naples. Dad and Steve were a little bit quiet… I wonder why! At 7am we arrived at the drop off point and waited for an hour before the coach finally arrived. After an hour we stopped at a restaurant for a 20 minute break which we all thought was a bit unnecessary. It was obviously a racket all the tour buses were playing along with. A rather small coffee was €2.50, twice the usual rate. We arrived at Naples a couple hours later and were shown a few places before we headed to Pompeii.

First up we had a look around the cameo jewellery showroom followed by lunch in a restaurant. First course was soup or pasta, second course was fish or pork and dessert was choc-chip ice cream. One of the waiters thought it was hilarious to pile my plate with twice as much pasta as everyone else! He must’ve thought I needed a good feed?

Next up was a 2 hour walking tour around Pompeii with Salvatore. He pointed out sights of interest around the town which had been buried in pumice stone and volcanic ash when Mt Vesuvius erupted. Some of the highlights included frescoes, mosaics, drinking fountains, a bakery, and a Roman-style fast food place.

Above: Colleseum by night

Below: Plaster cast at Pompeii

He also explained that an archaeologist excavating Pompeii in the 19th century had devised an ingenious technique of finding out how people had spent their final moments before death. When they found a hole in the ruins of stone and ash they would pour plaster into it. The hole would exist because after the citizens of Pompeii had been buried their bodies would decompose and only their bones would remain, leaving hollow sections in the layers of debris. When the plaster was dry they would remove it to reveal what position their body was in at the time of death. Plaster casts on display show people crouching and even a pregnant woman lying face down trying to shield her unborn baby.

Before setting off home people broke off to the various souvenir and jewellery stores to spend some euros. I hit the gelato stand! Mmm coffee ice cream! After 3 hours and another unnecessary stop at another restaurant, we arrived back in Rome at 8pm.

On Sunday Sarah and I had a sleep in and then stayed in the apartment until after lunch.
After Mum and Dad got back after their morning rambling, all four of us headed out. We walked to a metro station then took the train to Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. There were hundreds of tourists there so we kept on walking to the Trevi Fountain where, you guessed it, there were thousands of tourists! We wandered around then got the metro back to the Colleseum. On Sunday night we had dinner in the apartment followed by an Italian quiz I found on the internet. It was a close finish but the winner was none other than the lil chicken! I was very proud of Sarah!

Above: Pantheon

Below: After the fall of the Roman Empire even Caesar has to do his own grocery shopping...

On Monday Mum, Dad, Sarah and I headed out for a walk. We had a quick look in the huge discount clothes store Dad had bought his funky new hat from and Sarah bought a new pair of shoes. We then took the metro to the Vatican City to have a close up look at St Peters. The crowds here were incredible, September is certainly high season for Rome! Dad enquired about a horse and cart ride and the price quoted was €150! This was quickly reduced to €100 but we weren’t interested!

Dad kindly shouted us to a coffee at an outdoor café, unfortunately though it was probably the worst coffee in Rome, maybe even in the whole of Italy! Dad said his latte was like a glass of warm milk and my cappuccino was a disgrace! We got the bus half way home then jumped off to look around. We bought coffee at McCafe which was fantastic, hot, cheap and straight from an espresso machine! We wandered towards the Panthenon and had a look inside before wandering back to the apartment. Once again I was quiz master that evening, this time the subject was Paris. Once again the winner was Sarah! I kept telling her to start getting some questions wrong otherwise it would look like a fix!

Below: Dad, Mum, Jenny, Steve - Palantine Hill

On Tuesday morning we all got up early and headed to the Colliseum for the opening time of 8.30am. We wandered around listening to the audioguide commentary which was enjoyable as it was reasonably quiet. The Colliseum was plundered by Romans over the centuries for its stone and marble so you need some imagination when you step inside it. Sarah and I both thought the amphitheatre we saw in Nimes last year was better - it is still used for concerts and bullfights today and it had a great commentary about the different types of gladiators.

As we left the crowds were starting to pour in, so were the guys dressed up as gladiators or emperors charging tourists €5 a photo! Apparently these Russell Crowe wannabes are strictly regulated by the council! We wandered around the Palantine Hill then Mum, Dad, Sarah and I headed back to the apartment while Steve and Jenny continued their sight seeing. After lunch Sarah and I headed back to the clothes store where she bought yet another pair of shoes!

That evening we jumped on a small electric powered bus and got off about a kilometre from the apartment. Dad had chosen a restaurant for dinner which was great. We sat out on the pavement and enjoyed pizza, pasta and bruschetta. We then wandered home, via the gelateria of course!

Above left: Me and Sarah

Left: The gang at dinner

The next morning Dad paid for a taxi for us to get our stuff back to Ace, even with 4 people it would’ve been a struggle on the metro! We gave them a tour of Ace and then said our goodbyes until next month when we see them in Wolverhampton. Sarah and I took the SS1 north bound, after 6 nights away, it was strange to be back in Ace!

San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Marina de Bibbona

This post covers a few days spent in Tuscany.

On Saturday morning we left the Adriatic coast and headed across the hills of central Italy to Tuscany. The drive reminded us of our time in the hills of France. It was very slow going up steep hair pin bends and then back down again trying not to go too fast!

Left: A few of the remaining towers

We passed through Florence, deciding not to stop. I have been to Florence twice before and never thought much of the place. We headed to a campsite 2 km outside the medieval town of San Gimignano and set up on a pitch outside the campsite in a secure car park area. The campsite was full!

That evening we caught the bus into town and walked around the old town. After taking a few photos we stopped at a small café for lasagne and Tuscan vegetable soup. I then enjoyed a lovely coffee and lemon ice cream from a gelateria which had won the 2006 World Gelato Championships. We went to find a taxi around 9pm but there were none so we had to walk back, often in semi-darkness, to the campsite.

The next morning we chilled out at the campsite as it was raining. That afternoon we went back into San Gimignano and chatted to a nice Canadian couple on the bus. I walked up the Grosse Torre (for the 3rd time in 11 years) to take some photos from the top of one of the remaining 13 towers the town possesses. In medieval times there were 72 towers here, demonstrating the wealth of various families who had become rich thanks to the trade that pilgrims brought on their way to Rome. For some reason the pilgrims got the hump in later years and stopped going through San Gimignano which was the beginning of the end of the town’s prosperity… until the tourist industry started of course!

Above: Florence - some people love it but it doesn't float my boat

This time we managed to catch the bus back at 7.30pm, not wanting to walk back in the dark again! On Monday morning we drove to the town of Monteriggioni, a superb walled town which was once owned by the nearby town of Siena. We had a look around town before driving through Volterra and onto the Mediterranean town of Marina di Bibbona. We have spent Monday and Tuesday at a nice campsite here enjoying the sunshine and lazing around the pool. We went to the beach yesterday afternoon but the sand is kinda grey! Today we are heading south and this time tomorrow we should be in Rome to meet up with my parents and their friends Steve and Jenny! Ciao for now!

Venice and the Adriatic

This post covers our time in Venice and further down the coast at a campsite on the Adriatic Sea.

On Thursday 13 September we left the Alpi de Suisi and drove for 4 hours to Fusina, 20 minutes away from Venice by boat. This is a pretty grim industrial area but the campsite we chose was right on the water. Occassionally a large container ship would sail by all the motorhomes lined up on the water, a very strange sight!

Left: Where are the canals? Venice from above

Below: I think the one on the left is looking at me...

We only realised the campsite was used by Contiki Tours (tours marketed to young Aussies and Kiwis touring Europe) when the bar started up around 7pm with John Farnham’s “You’re the voice”. We went up to the bar around 10pm for a look. Aussies must’ve been their primary clientele as the bar sold Bundaberg Rum! There had been some entertainment that night featuring 3 donkeys. The baby donkey had just escaped from his pen and was rounded up by some Italian guy. He was very stubborn and didn’t want to go back in! Sarah and I stroked his lil face and he was surprisingly soft! We headed back to Ace to go to sleep, the music and drunken shouting continued until about 1am. Sarah had gone zonko pretty quickly but I had to shove my ipod earphones halfway up my ear canal to drown out the noise! (don’t worry, they are headphones that are actually mean to go right inside your ear!)

The next day we got up and caught the 8am boat to Venice. Our first destination was St Mark’s Square where a small queue of people were lining up outside the cathedral. Other people were buying pigeon feed and were letting these filth-ridden birds climb all over them to eat it off! Honestly, you may as well cover yourself in maple syrup and go down to the sewers and let the rats lick it off… (We have since read on the BBC news website the Mayor of Venice is trying to ban the sale of pigeon feed!)

Left: Fruit and veg market, Venice

I climbed the bell tower for a better view over the city and then we walked around aimlessly for the next 3 hours admiring the canals, food markets and tourist shops. At times we had no idea where we were going, but that was half the fun! We got the 12.30pm boat back to the campsite and drove off around 2pm.

We spent the night at a large, mostly empty campsite a few hundred metres from the sandy beaches of the Adriatic Sea. Thankfully these resorts are very quiet in September so we stayed here for the bargain price of €12 / night. That's all there is for this posting! There were going to be more photos but the internet connection is a bit dodgy and won't let me add anymore at the moment!

Verona, Bolzano and the Alpi de Siusi (Seiser Alm)

This post covers our journey from Lake Garda to the Dolomites with tales of military zones, full campsites and dodgy car parks.

On Monday 10 September we checked out of our campsite at Lake Garda and drove half an hour to the city of Verona. Along the way we saw a couple of scantily cald women along the highway which we thought was strange… until we saw about half a dozen more and realised the highway between Lake Garda and Verona is a popular daytime hangout for prostitutes! Parking in Verona was relatively straightforward and we walked around the city for an hour admiring the Roman ampitheatre and several attractive piazzas. We bought a large cup of chopped up fruit – mostly pineapple and melon with some kiwis, strawberries and blackberries thrown in too.

Above: Alpine Cow, Alpi de Siusi
Left: Are you sure we're still in Itlay?

We headed back to Ace and drove north towards the Alps. Along the way we passed dozens of vineyards with rows of vines cascading down the terraced hills. Being September, the grapes were being picked and old men were tipping baskets full of plump purple grapes into trailers on the back of small tractors. Several times we overtook these tractors driving along the highway. It can be frustrating driving on non-toll roads in Italy, they are not as good as the French non-toll roads, it takes forever to get anywhere!

We passed a couple of aire de service type places for motorhomes, one in particular was very busy but was right on the motorway, too noisy I told Sarah! About 6pm we found a car park at the side of the road where one motorhome had stopped for the night, but as it was noisy too I convinced Sarah we should keep going, there was a campsite 20 minutes away. We had noticed the road signs were now bilingual in this part of Italy, not only in Italian, but also German. We arrived in the small town of Ora which looked like it had been transported here out of Bavaria! Of course, the campsite was full, so we drove to another nearby campsite which didn’t look very nice yet they wanted €23 to spend the night, ha!

The next town had 5 motorhomes parked up in an area which was clearly labelled “Zona militaria”. We both had visions of us driving over a landmine or Ace being crushed by a tank in the middle of the night so we decided to give that town a miss. The next town had dozens of motorhomes parked up at a sports complex, hurrah! We went to drive in and were told it was a private rally. We passed a campsite here but kept going.

On we drove to a parking lot in the city of Bolzano where there was a borne (where you take on fresh water and empty your waste water). There were 3 old crappy motorhomes parked up there so we decided to join them, out of sheer desperation! There was a elevated train line above the parking lot and every time a train rolled in it was like the Apollo 13 taking off on a launch pad next to us!

Above: Alpine cottage

Below: Sarah near the Gondola station

We tried to cook dinner but there was a problem with our gas, none of the hobs would stay on very high which meant cooking was difficult! We decided to head back to the last campsite we’d seen but all they could offer us was a very small place next to the toilet blocks and a restraurant for €20! Thieves! Back we headed to the parking lot. Sarah fell asleep straight away but I remained awake listening to the odd drunken cries of a homeless person or the blaring stereo of some bloke picking up his bird from the train station.

At 5.40am we heard an announcement from the station over the PA system. Shortly afterwards the first train of the day thundered along the platform above us. Amazingly, we stayed in bed until 8.30am trying to ignore the noise of the railway and the delivery vans pulling into the car park. Eventually we got up and drove to the nearby supermarket. There were 2.9 metre barriers on the entrance, the exact height of Ace. In a reckless mood I drove straight through them and parked up across 4 or 5 several car park spaces. There wasn’t a great range of products inside, but I did manage to grab some steak, foccacia and some fruit. We then drove into Bolzano and tried to find a car park, an impossibility as all the car parks were underground. We decided to cut our losses and head towards our campsite, about 15 kilometres east of Bolzano up a steep, twisting mountain road. We did have several scary moments on the way up (like when a bus almost plowed into us on a bend says Sarah) but nothing too bad.

This region of Italy is quite a peculiararity - it looks like Switzerland and everyone speaks German. In fact, until 1918 this area used to be in Austria. This is why we saw signs promoting the annual strudel festival, men in lederhosen playing alpine horns and the onion-shaped Tirolean domes of churches dotted along the countryside.

Above left: Me relaxing at the top of the mountain

Below: Camping Seiser Alm

Camping Seiser Alm is located at the foot of the Dolomite Mountains, the setting is quite spectacular. When I reserved over the phone from Lake Garda I said we only wanted to stay one night which I confirmed again on arrival. The other Italian campsites we’d been to don’t want to know how many nights you want to stay, they only want to know when you’re actually checking out. A friendly young guy checked us in and told me all about the gondola ride up the Seiser Alm and the free bus which takes you to the gondola station. I later asked him if we could stay another night and he said he’d see what he could do, come back tomorrow morning.

We set ourselves up on a nice pitch near the facilities block with a great view of the mountains. The air in the mountains was certainly cooler so we put our fleeces on, but when you were out in the sun things got pretty warm! I walked down to a nearby church, Saint Konstantin to take some photos while Sarah rested.

Below: Saint Konstantin

On the way back I checked out the facilities block. The toilets and showers here were exceptional. Spotlessly clean, they were similar to a 5 star hotel we had stayed at in London! There were torches on the wall which lit up when you walked along and classical music played softly in the background. The washing up room was fantastic with these pressure hose kind of things you see in restaurant kitchens. There was a great looking kids bathroom Sarah and I had a peak in and even a room for washing your pooch!

After lunch we walked up the hill to the main road and caught the bus to the Seiser Alm gondola station and for €12 each we bought return tickets up the mountain. The blue gondolas can take a maximum of 16 people but Sarah and I had one to ourselves for the 15 minute journey. The gondola sailed high over the hills, up and up over farms and hotels. The view at the top of the plateau was fantastic. Green alpine meadows, rolling hills dotted with farms and chalets, and of course, the jagged peaks of the Dolomites.

We both put ourr fleeces on at this point and all of a sudden I wished I’d not worn shorts! We walked a few hundred metres into the village of Compatsch where we had a caffe latte and then walked on to a chairlift station. For €5.50 each we were whisked even higher up into the hills where we got an even better view of the surrounding mountains. We took some photos, said hello to the sheep and goats and then caught the chairlift back down. It had just gone 4pm and the journey back down was freezing! Sarah’s lips went blue and she was in need of some ear muffs and an extra jumper. We got the gondola and bus back to the campsite where we both had a nice hot shower before dinner.

The next morning at 5am it was absolutely freezing in Ace, I put the heating on and slowly the van warmed up. The sun only appears over the mountain tops about 9.30am, so until then it’s very cold.

Above left: View from the Seiser Alm Bahn

Below: View from one of the chairlifts

After this time it warms up quickly, so much so that by 11am many people are outside sunbathing! At 10am I went to reception to see if we could stay again. This time I ran into the woman who runs the site who was most annoyed by the fact we wanted to stay a 2nd night. “We asked you the maximal number of nights you want to stay and you said one!” Geez, it may be Italy but the Germanic attitude was in full swing here… In the end after much apologising and grovelling from me we were allowed to stay another night. Phew!

At lunchtime we walked down to Saint Konstantin church (for Sarah to meet the cows) then we caught the bus up to the gondola station again. I had enjoyed the scenery so much I wanted to go up again! This time we caught a bus a few kilometres from Compatsch to Saltria where there was another longer chairlift up into the mountains. This time it was €9 each for a 15 minute journey. The chairlift whisked us over hundreds of pine trees, some still sprinkelled with snow. Others were so close we could almost reach out and touch the pine cones! At the top we had a hot drink outside in the sun enjoying the panoramic view. The bus back to Compatsch was choc-a-bloc full of hikers, mostly older Germans. After the journey back on the gondola we had a quick look around the town of Seis and then headed back to the campsite. As we were leaving the next day I told Sarah that I loved this area so much that one day we will be back!

Parma and Lago di Garda

This rather short post covers our days spent at Lake Garda.

On Friday we headed north on the autopista towards Parma, we travelled a similar distance to our motorway trip 2 days earlier, but this time the toll was €13.60! We parked up in Parma on a scorching hot afternoon and took a walk around the city centre. While it was a pleasant enough place, there was nothing amazing to see. No shops selling parma ham or parmesan cheese either! I passed up the opportunity to go into the first gelateria I saw thinking there would be lots of them dotted about. In the end my ice cream craving was unfulfilled as we didn’t see another!

Above: Parma
Below: Sunset at Lake Garda

We stopped to do a quick bit of shopping then continued north towards Lake Garda. The campsite is in a fantastic position, right on the lake. We drove around for about 10 minutes looking for somewhere, eventually finding a nice pitch with a (small) lake view, about a kilometre from reception! The campsite is packed with mostly Germans and Dutch, with a few Brits and Italians thrown in too. Again we were surprised by how busy it was… what happened to low season? The campsite has about 4 or 5 pools, games rooms, kids entertainment, 2 restaurants, a bar and a great takeaway place that does good size pizzas for €4.50.

On Saturday and Sunday we have mostly lazed about, going to the pool, walking along the lake and watching Lost and Desperate Housewives on DVD at night. “Sarah Coiff” has made another appearance and my hair is looking neater now. Tomorrow we’re off north again to the Dolomites and from there down to Venice.

Above: Swan at Lake Garda

Below: Sarah enjoying the sun

The Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre

This post covers our first few days in Italy.

On Tuesday 4th September we drove into Italy and very slowly headed along highway 1, the free road which hugs the coastline. There are many beautiful views along this road but once again, motorhomes were largely banned from parking anywhere. I had a minor panic attack thinking "oh no, I don't speak a word of Italian" but everyone in the tourist industry we've met so far speaks English. It's quite strange to hear Dutch and Germans speaking to Italians in our mother tongue! I should learn a few bits and pieces in theory, but my brain is already confused enough with French and Spanish!


Left: Manarola, Cinque Terre
2 Below: Who are these stunningly attractive people?

We arrived at Diano Marina about 1.30pm and went to the Camper Park – not quite a campsite and not quite an aire de service. We paid €12 to park on a nice pitch amongst the trees with electric hook up. The electric hook up wasn’t very many amperes though, as soon as we turned on the electric hob or the hair dryer the trip switch went. The fridge and laptop were quite happy though! There must’ve been 200 or so motorhomes here, the park was huge! So much for low season, we thought places would be desserted by now! We had a lazy afternoon (due to our lack of sleep the night before) but before dinner we went for a nice walk to the beach, about 10 minutes away.

The next morning we headed off along the coast road which again had fantastic views but was painfully slow. The Netherlands and Germany have hundreds of bicycles everywhere, but Italy has scooters everywhere! The scooters are pretty reckless when they overtake you, you have to be careful when you pull out slightly to overtake a bicycle that there isn’t a scooter overtaking on the other side! We drove through town after town but in the end decided to take the autostrada (motorway) as the GPS told us it would take another 3 hours to drive 120km! The autostrada was a bit scary in places, the lanes weren’t very wide and there were lots of sharp bends, high bridges and tunnels. After an hour we got off the motorway expecting a huge toll but thankfully it was only €5.40! Nowhere near as expensive as France!

The last 12 km to Dieva Marina were very stressful. Once again we took the coast road and we came to a one-way tunnel which the sign said was only 3 metres high and 1.8 metres wide. Ace is 2.9 metres wide and is about 2.3 metres wide. We were about to turn around when we spotted a large truck in front of us and another one coming out through the tunnel towards us! We decided to go through the 4km tunnel which was carved out of the solid rock near the sea. We kept having scary thoughts of the tunnel narrowing, but thankfully it didn’t. Out of that tunnel we had to stop and wait at the lights for another one-way tunnel, again the restriction signs were in place, but this time there was no sign of the truck in front of us. Having little option, I drove through, thinking that if the tunnel did narrow, we were well and truly stuffed! We would have to reverse along the dark tunnel and with lots of traffic about it would cause chaos! Luckily after a couple of kilometres we came out at Dieva Marina, phew!

Once again a campsite which had a €14 rate told us they wouldn’t honour it, so once again we told them no thanks! Since it was already 7pm, we stayed the night with 5 other motorhomes in parking area which didn’t look great, but was okay in the end. There was no point paying 20 odd euros to stay that night. The next day, Thursday 6th September, we drove to one of the campsites at 10am. It was quite expensive at €26, but at least we had the whole day at the campsite, free WiFi, and free bus transfers into town.

Left: Lovers Lane coastal footpath, Cinque Terre

We got the 12.30 bus into town and the connecting 1.08pm train from Deiva Marina to the last of the Cinque Terre towns, Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre are 5 pretty villages on the sea connected by rail, boat and public footpath. The area is a national park and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The traditional industry here is winemaking.

We had a look around Riomaggiore and then took the coastal footpath, this part of it is called Lovers Lane, for 15 minutes until we reached a café for lunch. The views along the way were fantastic, though a little spoiled by some graffiti on the tunnel walls and even on poor cacti that lined the route! After our lunch of bruschetti (Sarah had tomato and mozzarella, I had tomato and pesto), we continued on to the pretty town of Vernazza by foot. The best view of the town was after leaving on the footpath towards the next village. It was a good 40 minute walk to Cornigilia and we arrived just in time to catch the train to Vernazza. We spent an hour here looking around town and watching 7 guys practice water polo in the harbour! We were both pretty tired by then so took the train back to Deiva Marina. Today (Friday) we head north towards the Lakes, no idea where we’re going!

Above and below: Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Below left: Coastal footpath

Below right: Sunbathing, Italian style

Provence and the Cote D’Azur

This posting recounts our journey through part of Provence, our trip to a perfumery and our drive along the beautiful, but motorhome unfriendly, Cote D'Azur.

On Saturday we spent the morning opposite our campsite at the beach. Dozens of motorhomes were parked up along the coast as parking spots are plentiful along the Med here. We drove on past Sete and headed towards our next stop, Aigues Mortes on the western edge of the Carmargue. Along the way we saw flamingos and wild horses which the area is famous for. We arrived at the aire de service in Aigues Mortes in the early afternoon and took one of the only available spots there. Sarah spent an hour in the sunshine while I finished my last 2 Spanish assignments, then we headed into town for a look around.

Aigues Mortes is a walled medieval town, it was from here crusades were launched to the Middle East in the 12th century by the King of France. The town is rather touristy, but charming nonetheless. We found an internet café in town where we checked our emails and then printed out one of my assignments. That night we both rang home, Sarah to touch base and me to ring my Dad as it was Father’s Day in Australia.

Above: One sweet dayyyyy, I'll make her mineeee, pretty flamingooooo

Below: The aire de service in Aigues Mortes

The next morning we decided to leave early. The guy from the local council hadn’t turned up by the time we left at 7.30am to collect our €7…what a shame! Perfectly planned don’t you think? (The facilities here were broken by the way...) We drove on and decided to have breakfast out for a change, we headed to McDonalds in the nearby town of Arles as Sarah fancied having hash browns. McDonnys wasn’t open until 11am… damn! We had a walk around Arles (carefully avoiding a crazy drunken guy) and admired the Roman amphitheatre (not as big as the one we visited in Nimes last year). There was a bull fight in the arena later that day, though the French bull fights are not deadly to the animals like some of the Spanish ones.

From here we drove on past Marseilles and up into the hills of Provence. Driving through a forest we noticed many of the leaves had started to turn a golden yellow or brown! The campsite we were headed to was in the grounds of a castle. The WiFi they had advertised was non-existent, there was no waste point for our grey water… but the final straw was when the electric wasn’t compatible for Ace (positive and neutral wiring was reversed) so we left – deflate, hot, tired and hungry.

Above: Aigues Mortes

Below: Ampitheatre at Arles, no bull!

We kept driving… we stopped at McDonalds as they are advertising Rugby World Cup burgers and I wanted to try an Aussie Melee burger… but they weren’t available this week, damn! We headed on to a campsite called Les Cigalles but it looked like it was closed down! We drove on further to another campsite near Antibes which was great. We spent some time at the pool while doing our washing – to get into the pool you had to put your belongings in a hatch and then walk through a turnstile which had a hot shower come on automatically and then you came out on the other side to pick up your stuff. Strangely, there were no chairs at all at the pool! The campsite was pretty full but very quiet.

We spent the morning chilling and doing jobs and checked out at 2.30pm. We drove to the town of Grasse, where we visited Fragonard, a perfumerie. Grasse is the world’s leading perfume producer and as well as growing flowers such as mimosa, lavender, roses and violets, they also import flowers from many countries, including eucalyptus from Australia! We had a tour with a guide around the factory (wasn’t much too it) then went down to the sales room where we liked the scents so much we parted with €107! High on perfume fumes we drove off to Carrefour, what a nightmare! Today (Monday 3rd September) was the night before la rentree… back to school for French kids. Carrefour was packed! We quickly stocked up on a few things and then headed off at 8pm – just as it was starting to get dark. The summer was almost over!

Left: Perfumery at Grasse

Below: Cote D'Azur

We go to the sea but couldn’t work out how to join the other motorhomes parked up as there were 3 very low bridges Ace couldn’t get under. We drove to a campsite but the unfriendly nightwatchman wouldn’t give us the rate advertised, so we told him to stick it up his derriere! In the end we spent the night at the side of the road in a country lane near the campsite which was noisy and we only got 5 hours sleep!

We headed to McDonalds in search of hash browns… they didn’t even do them! We checked our emails courtesy of their free WiFi and then drove past Nice to Monaco. This stretch of coast is very beautiful but because space is at a premium, there was nowhere to park for poor Ace! Eventually we stopped in Menton and had a nice walk along the sea front. The waters are a beautiful shade of blue and very clear. I rang my sister as it was her birthday and then we jumped back in Ace and drove a few kilometres… into Italy.

Through Navarra over the Pyrenees to France

This post covers our journey through Navarra to France with tales of rubbish-strewn hill towns, travelling circuses and boring archaeological sites.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 28th August, we left Playa Joyel and motored along the autovia towards the region of Navarra. The pilgrimage trail to Santiago runs through here and signs reminded us we were now 740 km away from the town where we had recently spent the week. We stopped at a Carrefour supermarket near Vitoria to stock up on supplies then headed towards a small town called Mendigorria where we stayed at the “El Molino” (windmill) campsite. The site was quite large but thankfully only half full, we had lots of space around us. It was very hot that evening and we struggled to keep cool. Sarah grabbed the frozen cauliflower from the freezer to put on her head! We had a chat to an English bloke who told us he was heading to the coast as it was too hot here, but we told him it wasn’t much better on the coast.

Left: This reminds me of what my old boss Robert used to say to me... Now don't get cross...

The next day (Wednesday) we headed to the pool and spent an hour in the sun before packing up our things and driving off to 2 nearby towns. The first was called Artajona, a small town which has a nice section of town walls surrounding it. The rest of the town was pretty shabby though, near the walls there was loads of rubbish, such as old chairs and beds people had thrown away. Do these people have no pride in their town? Can’t the local council clean up this place? The town features in their Navarra tourist brochures so you’d think they’d do something about it.

The next town we went to was much cleaner, Olite was the seat of the monarchs of Navarra for centuries. We walked around the royal palace and admired its turreted towers before grabbing a mini milk ice block and heading back to Ace. We tried to find the campsite in town but we couldn’t. We then thought about heading to a nearby national park, but the roads were all gravel and the vehicles shown in the brochure were all 4 wheel drives! In the end we decided to head back to France! This next leg of our journey is towards Italy as we are meeting my parents and their friends Steve and Jenny in Rome on the 20th September.

Above: Sarah at El Molino

2 Below: Artajona (carefully composed not to include the rubbish...)

We drove up through a gentle stretch of the Pyrenees, the road twisting its way through the hills to France. We filled up with diesel as at 96 cents / litre in Spain, it’s much cheaper than in France where a good price is between 104-106 cents / litre. Still way cheaper than the UK though! After an hour and a half drive we ended up at St Pée again – the scene of muddy disaster the night before we headed to Spain 3 weeks ago. I’m glad to announce we had no disasters here and spent a very peaceful night. It costs €5 a night to stay here, you pay for tokens by VISA card and then insert the tokens into a slot and the barrier lifts for you. When we arrived the local police had let in 2 huge caravans that belonged to circus people for free! We were not happy, these places are for motorhomes, not caravans!

On Thursday we got up early and drove along the toll motorway towards the town of Pau. We stopped to fill up with LPG along the way as one of our tanks was empty and the other couldn’t have much left in it. It proved impossible finding a petrol station that sold LPG in Spain. We visited a small exhibition at the motorway services about the pilgrimage trail to Santiago. We tried to park in Pau to have a look around the town but unfortunately most of the main car park was not in use, no idea why it wasn’t, but parking was difficult for everyone so we left. We drove on to the small grotty little town of St Girons where we spent the night in an aire de service with 6 other motorhomes, all French. About a hundred metres from us there were dozens of caravans all parked up, we think it was another circus! Travelling circuses are everywhere in France during summer, along with another attraction we saw called Toro Piscine where you pay €10 to get chased around a pool of water by bulls!

On Friday we drove along small country lanes towards Carcassonne. We drove over a tiny one lane bridge and continued. Driving towards a bend, a car rocketed around the corner, clearly going way too fast. At first he was in his lane but closer to us he veered over on our side of the road, we have no idea how he missed as it wasn’t a very wide road. We found an aire de service along the way in a small town but it was packed, the electric sockets in use and the tap didn’t look very clean. We drove on past the witches’ hat turrets of the medieval walled city of Carcassone, deciding not to visit as we had spent several hours here last year.

Left: Exhibition on the pilgrimage trail to Santiago. Pilgrims carried a staff to aid their trek which also protected them against man and beast. This scene reminds me of the first time I met Sarah's dog...

Below: Nice ass! Sarah at the boring archaeological site

On the way towards the Mediterranean Coast, I decided to stop off to visit an ancient archaeological site on a hill. In one of my guide books it looked quite interesting, but half an hour and €11 later we were bored to tears, it was definitely in our top 5 worst attractions so far! We continued on towards the coast and drove past where we had spent a week last June at Serignan. We pitched up for the night at a campsite near the seaside town of Sète and just managed to catch the last half hour of sunshine before it sank behind the hills.