Back to Italy it is then!
We had planned to have a short getaway with C&J mid-March, but sadly my job threw a spanner or two in the works so we put it on hold and at the time of writing, there are no plans.
We initially planned to travel to Croatia for a three week trip, but weighing everything up (cost and time), we decided that we'd go back to Italy and see more of it, spending less time dashing round and more time sight-seeing and chilling. My-Maps links below:
We're going to chance staying at the same car park in Dover for the night, and hope we don't get stuck in the biblical flooding we had last year. (Biblical for us, and nothing compared to some of the disasters we've seen around the world). It's then a Short dash to the ferry and a 2 hour trip to Dunkirk, before a 6 hour 30 drive to Strasbourg, (same site as last year and maybe we'll leapfrog ze Germans again to get in. After an overnight stop and an earlyish start, we'll make our way to Friedrichshafen and the Zeppelin Museum for lunch, before making our way to our next stop, via Stuben, where we'll attempt to get a better video of the switchback without knees and cups spoiling the view. From there it's on to our next stop; Last year (our 2025 blog), we did lots of 'splash n dash' runs and found the Ferienparadies site at Natterer See near Innsbruck, and really liked it, but sadly only stopped for the night. So this time, we'll be stopping for 2 nights and pop into Innsbruck for the day.
From Innsbruck, we'll head to a remote diner with views over the South Tyrols before making our way to the bottom of Lake Garda, (not the underwater bottom, just the southern end), for a couple of nights of chilling by the lake at Lido Campanello and a trip to Colombare to visit the Grotte di Catullo e Museo Archeologico di Sirmione (Roman Villa Ruin) and Castello Scaligero di Sirmione. They'll sound lovely if pronounced by an Italian, but to my mind, that's a lot of words when we can do it in two or three!
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| Grotte di Catullo e Museo Archeolo... (Roman Villa) |
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| Castello Scalig... (Scaligero Castle) |
And so it begins, and we were both so ready for the time off work.
(If you're following and don't get to see any photo's, we're at the mercy of a decent mobile or campsite Wi-Fi, so sometimes, uploading them is a struggle.)30th April - D-day -1;
I received an email from DFDS; did I want to change to an earlier sailing. Took a look and there was a 2am sailing that would get us into Dunkirk for 5am... Perfect! No rush, no panic, just a leisurely drive to Straasbourg.
1st May - D-day - Down to Dover:
We paked and got everything ready for the trip. I checked the newly installed fan / vent, the one we decided we would defo need for this trip. The fan / vent which Conway and I spent the best part of the Easter holiday, fitting and finishing. The very same fan / vent, that would stop us from cooking at night, if the weather is good. Yep, that one... Well, it decided it wasn't going to play ball and threw an AE5 error, which, after Googling, indicates an obstruction or possible low or unstable power... Sarah also did some Googling and found that the fix was a complete replacement of a motor and possibly the drive shaft. Buggery, buggery b*ll*cks! By the time I'd gotten to take a look at the mechs and tried to access the mechanism, (I only took the four fitting screws out the sides and demounted it, before seeing that it would be a job that couldn't be completed in an hour or so and put it back in place). I then emailed Morgan Motorhomes, where I purchased it from, explaining the situation and hoping we could either get a replacement sorted before I returned the unit or at worst, a trip to their workshops in Grimsby. Whatever though, it wasn't going to ruin our holiday and we'd have to make do without the fan running, (we could raise it manually though, so some ventilation would be better than none.
We drove down to Dover without getting any of our previously discussed 'pre-trip kip', due to trying to get the fan fixed. Just as we came up to Ashford, we saw a couple of flashes of lightning; "Oh no, not again", we both all but screamed; the last thing we wanted was another storm on the night of our departure. Luckily, it blew over quite quickly and by the time we parked there was nothing to see of it. We also arrived earlier than expected and sailed through both checkpoints and check-in by 23:45, much to Sarah's chagrin and had to sit in the van for 2 hours prior to boarding. But once we boarded, found ourselves facing the exit on the main deck, so plenty of headroom and a fast disembarkation to boot, woohoo!
However, a note to anyone using their phone for navigation, whether on the phone or Android Auto, Apple Carplay; reboot your phone before getting off the ferry. Not sure if it was just my phone, but could I get it to give me any directions, nope, not a hope until after a reboot. Once that was done though, all was good and we pushed on.
On reflection, a 2am sailing was probably worse than the planned 6am crossing, as we were both knackered and had to stop a couple of times just to rest, so any time gained on the earlier crossing, were lost in the stopping for a safety break.
Top tip 3009, if you see cheap fuel, stop and top up, otherwise you'll be chasing the cheapest when you really need it and risking fuel anxiety.
2nd May - Dunkirk to Kehl;
A splash n dash to just over the other side of the Rhine to Straasbourg. A 6 and a half hour drive for the first stint. It's not that we didn't fancy stopping anywhere for the night in France, but there didn't seem much point as a standard day was going to be 4-5 hours driving and a 6:30 hour drive wasn't so bad. However, we arrived in good time, didn't upset any queueing Germans and got setup in time for some dinner and a stroll along the banks of the Rhine. Which turned out to be a pleasant hour, taking in some of the atmosphere and sights:
- A coal or other fully laden barge, steaming upstream, which threw me, as I was expecting the river to flow right to left from the Kehl side (North to South). But it was flowing South to North, which messed with my brain a bit.
- An old tree trunk with 50 or so brightly painted bird-boxes attached to it in a kind of spiral pattern.
- An abandoned UFO... Yep, there is a Flying Saucer, on the banks of the Rhine, who'd have guessed.
- Obviously, it's not a real one or if it is, then we have very little to worry about come a full scale Alien invasion.
We had our showers and retired early for the night and slept like logs forgetting to set an alarm... Ooops!
3rd May - Kehl to Natterer See:
We both woke at 8am to the sound of a yappy dog. realised the time and got up to get all packed and underway for 9:30am, the time was critical, as we wanted to stop at the Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen, have a look around and grab some lunch. By 10am it was clear we were out of practice with our packup and packaways, as we were a shambles and decided to give the Zeppelin museum a miss, to give ourselves time to get to Natterer See, our next destination. This last minute change to the itinerary, screwed with Google and the route plan went out the window; instead of Kehl to Friedrichsafen, to Stuben for the switchback treat just before Innsbruck, we found ourselves at the Konstanz border crossing to Switzerland and we hadn't got a vignette for Switzerland (I'm a tight-wad and didn't want to give the Swiss any money for allowing me to spend an hour in their country). A few choice words at the screen as we desperately tried to convince Google that the bast way to Natterer See, (Stuben was out the window now too), was not to try crossing any Swiss border but go back round the lake. The time we saved by not doing the museum, had withered away and we made it to Natterers See, 30 minutes after they shut reception. But give them their dues, there was a welcome letter and instructions to our plot, stuck to the door.
We parked up and setup then had dinner in the onsite restaurant, before returning to Woody for the night with some music and a cuppa, whilst I blogged the last couple of days...
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| The view from the top of the reception block |
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| The view from our bedroom window |
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| Some of the assorted campervans collected over the years |
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| And more |
The campsite really is a great place to stop for a while and they know how to run it well. The site has been here for over ninety years and is very well setup as you can imagine. one of the walls behind reception is dedicated to camping vehicles throughout the years, with a section dedicated to VW campers of all variants and sizes. Another couple have sections for demountables and Conway & Jane would love that.
May the 4th, Star Wars day!
Today we're off to Innsbruck to do some sightseeing. If you stay at the site for two or more days, you get a free pass for the bus and discounted access for some of the attractions in Innsbruck. We were up and on the 09:19 and into the city for 09:38, a quick trek from the bus station into the city centre and we were making use of our 24hour Innsbruck pass. Firstly the Royal palace, which we thought would only take an hour os so at most, after two hours, we decided we needed to get a wiggle on, if we were to see any of the other things there, like the Golden Roof or do one of the attractions we've started to make a point of on our travels; The Top of Innsbruck, a short train ride from the centre to the first Cablecar station, followed by a 6 minute ride to the 3/4 point at Seegrube and another 2 minute ride to the top. There was still quite a bit of snow around and some of it was over a foot thick. It was a bit windy and at 7C, a bit too chilly for Sarah, but I loved it and the views were spectacular from almost the top of the Hafelekar @ 2,269M. With that cablecar ride under our belt, the rest of the trip will seem more level than Linconshire. We just missed the last call for seeing another of the sights, but that can wait for another time.
We decided that we'd done enough to make the Inncsbruck card worthwhile and caught the 401 back to Natterer See, so we could have dinner and chill, which is what we're doing as i write.
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| Our campsite is just behind this mountain |
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| Innsbruck from the top of Hafelekarspitze |
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| The Golden Roof |
Tomorrow, it's off to lunch at a little cafe at the side of a mountiain pass on the way to Sirmione on the side of Lake Garda, where we're staying for a couple of nights, but the weather is looking like it may be a bit wet, so we may be playing backgammon or hunt the waterproof poncho...
5th May - Natterer See to Lazise:
Todays driving would be a shorter than the others; A leisurely drive up a mountain for lunch near the top, than a gentle roll back down to our first Italian stopover. When I planned the route, I wanted to find some scenic places to stop for lunch and while looking at some of the routes via Google maps, I found a little mountain shack that had been turned into a restaurant with an amazing view of the Tyrols on the Jaufen pass. The road is also quite spectacular with all sorts of switchbacks and blind corners, just wide enough for a couple of cycles to pass... We took some photos and videos, complete with me doing a rally style commentary for some of it. We passed shacks and ski-lifts, and a fair bit of snow. We reached the summit at 2094 meters, and passed a restaurant called Edelweiss, which looked quite nice, but the carpark was a bit full and the other place was only another 5km down the road... Oh if only Google could keep itself updated with real info... The place was shut and looked like it had been for a year or so. Bugger, and turning round for lunch at the aforementioned Edelweiss would have been a mammoth task, so we carried on down and eventually joined the A12 and stopped at an Auto Grill... Sarah was in heaven, with a Regenelle (Ham & Pistachio cream cheese filled focaccia) and a Cappuccino. And I found some more nice wines... Then on to our stop for the next couple of nights; Camping Lido, near Lazise, almost (15M away) on the banks of Lake Garda again. We did a basic setup, as after discussing how to get to Sirmione tomorrow, we decided an hour and a half walk to one of the Lago Taxi's was too much, so a 29 minute drive would be far more acceptable. So we just wound out the awning, got the chairs out and that's it. We then had dinner in the restaurant two tiers above us, and are now about to retire for the night.
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| We were so looking forward to the lunch stop, but took the chance on a photo instead. |
6th May - A day in Sirmione
We had a good nights sleep and got up around 08:30, had breakfast and packed everything away before a quick wash and drive into Sirmione. We parked at the Monte Baldo carpark, which was within easy walking distance to the castle and villa. Sarah asked if I wanted to take a raincoat before we left home, but I stubbornly said I shouldn't need it. Ha, the same blleding god of torrential rain that struck us last year at Dover, decided to have a little play again, and halfway round the castle, it started peeing down... Thinking it would only last a few minutes, I carried on round the castle battlements, then it got heavier and before I could get back down all the steps, I was drenched... We stood under an arch for a few minutes before boredom got the better of me and I said lets go, we can find somewhere to eat. Luckily enough, not far from the castle entrance, there was a restaurant; Alla Scala' or Nunu's. Great food but poor service, when I was eventually able to pay for the food, Sarah had already slipped next door and bought an umbrella. Just ion time for the rain to stop and the sun to poke itself out of the clouds.
We wandered through the streets of Sirmione, making our way to the Roman Villa, I was accosted by a Gelato seller, who lured me over with a spoon of fresh vanilla... How could I resist? Due cucchiai of Pistachio, per favore, I asked... I didn't realise the two spoons, would be so big, they were humungous, but lovely, and it pains me to say, I had to bin the last bit, as I couldn't eat another morsel.
We found the villa and had a good wander round it's ruins. It was another two spooner in it's day and would have been impressive, as would the view from it's terraces. We wandered back to Woody, via several other shops and another Gelato parlour, this time for some water and for Sarah to have her choice, vanilla and mint-choc-chip. Just as huge as my earlier one, and she eventually had to call for backup, as this baby was too big for her. Proving the age of chivalry isn't dead, I helped her out... Then back to the van for a leisurely drive back to the site, via a garage to top up the fuel. We did a minimal setup, as we're off to Maranello and the Ferrari museum tomorrow and need to be on the road for 08:30. I did a quick video flight with the drone and got some good views of our campsite at the side of the lake and saw just how clear the lake is.
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| A view from one of the towers, pre-monsoon. |
7th May - Lazise to Riccione
Today we packed up early and were on the road by 08:30 and on our way to Maranello to the Ferrari Museum, we hadn't pre-booked any tickets, and when we got there we were glad; Not only could we not find anywhere to park Woody, but the queues were longer than we expected, so we carried on to Riccione, via another Auto Grill. Camping park Adria allows early checkins, so we made the most of it. We were setup and beach-bound by 14:00 and thought we'd grab something from the local 'supermarket', for dinner. No such luck, the store closed at 13:30 for the day! but we had a stroll on the beach and up the 'prom' for a bit before turning back and grabbing some drinks at one of the beach bars. We asked at reception if they knew of another and yes, "It's only about 5 minutes walk", they said... 25 minutes later we found a local supermarket, which also looked like it was closed as all the shutters were down, but a walk around the side proved it was open and had plenty to sell. It was a bit like our local Co-op, in that it had at least one line for each product you could imagine, and many you couldn't. So an hour and a half later we got back to Woody and I started dinner; burgers and salad, with a glass of red and Sarah had some spritz. We played backgammon for an hour or so, then just chilled, looking at alternatives to Woody, if we were to upgrade for longer treks. Sleep came easy as it's a fairly quiet site.
8th May - Chill day
The weather isn't as bright today as it was yesterday, so we chilled by the van for the morning, before popping down to the shop at the bottom of the site. You really don't appreciate the efforts stores go to to layout their stock, until you go somewhere that uses the 'find a space and fill it', method. There probably was more things we'd have bought, if we could have found them amongst the random layout of shelves and fridges, but we settled for some canned Tuna to go with the rest of the salad we bought yesterday, along with eggs, bread and some ham. After lunch we had a bit more chilling before heading to the beach for a wander and drink. We'll have our Tuna & Egg salad tonight an do a pre-pack, ready for leaving tomorrow. The site is OK, but without the sun, it kind of makes this stop a bit pointless. But if you're into Moto GP or one of the other 2 wheeled motorsports, Misano circuit is only a stones throw away, so would make a perfect stopover for a race weekend.
Sarah is already looking forward to the next stop, as they have pools and hot-tubs!
9th May - From the beach to another lake
With the weather massively improved, we packed up, showered and scampered off by 9:30. We had a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of us and hoped to get to get checked in before their 13:00 siesta. Via another Auto Grill, (of course), we made our way to Camping Village Punta Navaccia on Lago Tasimeno. We beat the siesta and were shown our way to our lakeside pitch. It wasn't quite lakeside, but at 20 metres away and nothing and no one to block our view, we were satisfied. After a minimal setup, we wandered up to the bar for a drink and a ham roll and from there we popped back in to reception to ask about the pool and hot tubs... Just our luck, the pool looked lovely and very inviting, but alas ti was closed as they had no lifeguard today. And there were no hot tubs, so not sure where Sarah got the idea there were. We had a little wander and returned to the bar for a gelato, (yep, another), only this time they were thankfully, somewhat smaller.Oh well, we might as well go and sunbathe, as there's bugger all left to do and neither of us felt like swimming in the lake, as it didn't look too warm or that healthy to swim in. So we both sat in the sun and got a bit of a tan. We then went up to one of the restaurant’s just outside the campsite and had a lovely meal, Sarah the Salmon salad and me a Mushroom and sausage tagliatelle. we wandered back to the van and packed everything away as the forecast was for an overnight storm. It hammered it down around 4am but was all but gone by the time we got up. We had a drink, some breakfast, etc. before pushing off 10:30 for Rome.
10th May - Rome if you want to! (A tribute to the B52's)
Via yet another Auto Grill, we found our way to Village Flaminio Bungalow Park. It's fairly local to Rome, but you have to drive through some dodgy looking areas to get to it. However, the site is promising to be on par with Natterer See, although the pool is closed here too, this time for refurb. But the site is otherwise very good, and has a bus stop right outside the gate, Ideal for us, so we can leave Woody parked while we explore Rome. We've already purchase our tickets for the Colosseum, the Vatican and St Peters Basilica. Top tip 3010, don't bother trying to download or purchase a travel ticket for Rome. We tried a couple of ways and failed miserably; ATAC, are the main service provides in Italy, but try buying a 72 hour travel pass. After several attempts to get a 72 hour pass, we gave up. It appears you may have to be Italian to do so.
Our three days in Rome, will not be spoiled by Romes antiquated way of getting around.
11th May - Whatever happened to the Popular Peoples Front of Judea?
Yep, a day at the Colosseum! No Ocelot Spleens or Wolf Nipple Chips to be found anywhere, which means the stonings will probably be a let down!
The stories of massive queues all year round, are wildly exaggerated, we turned up at just gone 11 for our 13:45 entry. We were warned that check-in could take at least 30 minutes also, but nothing of the sort, we joined a queue early and got sent to the back again as we still had 20 minutes until our entry... That said, it was worth the cost. You can't do Rome without doing the Colosseum, and we certainly saw some amazing views of it. If only it hadn't been sacked by the bloody church, it may well have been more intact now, that said, there is some fantastic restoration going on, but to have seen it in it's prime, would have been breathtaking. we did 16,500 steps today, and I have a blister to prove it. We had a wander, grabbed dinner just up the road and then took a walk to the Trevi Fountain Waterfall and a Gelato.
So apart from Wine, Law and Order, Aquaducts, etc. what have the Romans done for us? Thankfully not passed on their public transport 'know-how'. If a system could have been more haphazard or random, I'm sure they'd have opted for that. However, I can possibly see why it may be so rubbish; their payment system is purely trust based from what I can tell. Some people (us), use the 'Tap n Go' option, similar to getting around London. But unlike London, you appear to be paying for 100 minutes of travel. Others just jump on a bus or tram and jump off wherever they want, without tapping... We tried it and yep we still got to where we wanted. But we didn't do that for all the journeys and you cannot do that for the Metro, as that is like London Underground, with the turnstiles.
12th May - When is a painting not a painting?
We never knew this until our guide Sam explained about the high humidity of St Peters Basilica: every image, be it on the walls or the ceiling, in the Basilica are in fact mosaics that use a palate of over 28,000 colours and tile sizes from 20mm to 2mm or less. Some of the wall friezes are 3x5 metres and from a distance of just a couple of metres, you would never know unless you happened to see in the odd few pictures where there were lighter blocks of colour. My breath was taken away once explained. The sheer number of pieces involved in the Basilica cannot be comprehended. And then there are the statues and carvings; unflipping believable. One on a piece of marble over 16 tonnes in weight, had to be sculpted in situ, as it would have been too delicate to move into place after carving. Another, they used a solid block of brown/red marble for a 'rug', carved it to look almost as real as it could be and then carved white marble figures to sit perfectly inside it, to look as if it were wrapped around them. I could go on for ages, but it wouldn't do it justice. If you ever get the chance, go. I'm anti-religious, but I do admire the art and workmanship that went into it all. Not to mention the feats of engineering required to bring it all together in something that has had the footfall of well over a billion people in it's time.
13th May - The Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum (Robbery by any other name)
We're not religious, but thought a trip to the above should be done just to see the artifacts and artwork... It wasn't massively expensive, but if you've been round the Pitt-Rivers or V&A museums, you'll have seen pretty much the same things in both; Ancient graves and burial tombs, plundered for their riches by those wealthy enough to afford the slaves or unfortunates, to do the digging for them.
OK, some of the artwork was stunning and the tapestries too, but the collections of artifacts, with only minor descriptions, wasn't worth the cost. The queues were long and even with our 'skip the line' tickets, we still had over an hour to queue, then traipse round behind or amongst others that had been through the same torture. The Sistine Chapel, although the paintings were fantastic, was a bit of an anti-climax, and trying to take it all in whilst being bustled along by the several hundred people being crammed in and out, didn't help ones appreciation of the work involved.
Then at just about any point they could get one in, there were gift shops...
