Race around the world

Travel Tip No. 6 - Don’t fly cheap airlines during a global financial crisis.

We have learnt a big lesson. After safely returning our little reliable C3, we arrived at Nice airport with plenty of time to catch our Sky Europe flight to Vienna. The departures board had our flight listed, together with the portentous word Annule. On enquiry, we discovered that not only was the flight cancelled but the airline had completely folded due to the global financial crisis. GREAT! - and we knew that we had booked two trips with them, one to Vienna from Nice and one to Zadar from Vienna a few days later.

We had to consider our options and, hoping that our insurance policy covered collapsed airlines, decided that despite the very costly flight, we would book with Lufthansa to Vienna via Frankfurt. We had a four hour wait at the airport. We finally made it to our accommodation in Vienna after midnight and collapsed into bed. The next morning was consumed with altering our travel plans - booking train tickets to Zagreb and changing the car pickup destination to there. Once done, we could start to enjoy Vienna. It really is a most beautiful city - gracious, sophisticated and grand are apt descriptions. Everywhere you look there are beautiful street scenes and wonderful buildings. Here is their equivalent of Parliament House.

The metro there is fabulous, making exploring very easy. Whilst there, we attended mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral, with a choir accompanied by brass instruments and an organ, enjoyed an annual festival to celebrate the harvest in the forecourt of the National Bibliotek where we met up with some locals (which was a hoot), visited Schloss Schonbrun (left) and climbed to the top of the hill in the gardens behind it to admire the view, ate lunch at the Naschmarkt (a permanent market set up along the centre of a wide boulevard) and attended a Mozart concert to celebrate Fran’s birthday. Trying to squeeze in as much as we could on our final morning, we went to see the Spanish Riding School horses (Lipizzaners) being given their morning exercise, followed by a guided tour of the Opera House, before scampering back to our apartment to get our luggage and head for the train station. Here is the opera house at night.

The train trip to Zagreb was eventful! The alpine scenery was stunning - almost expected to see Julie Andrews running down the slopes. The train had several stops along the way where it changed engines. The first place was at Spielfeld Strass, where the lights went off in the whole train and stayed off . We travelled for the next 25 minutes in complete darkness - bizarre. When we got the next engine we had lights again while we travelled through Slovenia but they went off again as they changed engines at the Slovenia/Croatia border. It was there that things got scary. Still in complete darkness, on came the Slovenian passport control to check passports … with torches! They checked Fran’s passport and asked when she had arrived in Europe - 4 months before. They said we had a problem. Despite advice we received from the French Consulate in Sydney, the Slovanians said that non-EU citizens cannot stay in Europe for greater than 3 months in any six month period, even if they are married to a British citizen (which Adrian is because he has dual citizenship) unless they have a visa or a permit of residency. There was definitely a Gestapo-ish feel to the experience. Fran was concerned that she would be thrown off the train there and deported home. They eventually shrugged their shoulders and wandered off - not really wanting to detain a couple of Aussies who were about to leave their country anyway. Then, at the same station (new engine PLUS lights), it was Croatia’s turn for passport control so she had more nervous moments. But they were much more relaxed and the journey continued, albeit with an element of concern as to whether or not Fran would be allowed back into the EU. We arrived at Zagreb (although the station had no sign to indicate where we were) and the carriage lights went out again.

The hotel in Zagreb was appalling despite being quite expensive. On the next morning we wandered around for a few hours before collecting our car at the airport and heading to a B & B near Plitvice National Park - the photos speak for themselves.

Then on to Biograd Na Moru on the coast for one night before heading south to Dubrovnik. On the way we stopped at a restaurant recommended by our friends Phil and Gina who had discovered it when they were in Croatia last year. It was at Mali Ston, across the road from a lovely little harbour which was a very picturesque setting, and the seafood was delicious.

Our accommodation in Dubrovnik was in a guesthouse owned and run by Danica, a delightful and hospitable hostess. The view from her balcony was absolutely stunning, looking over the new port from high up on a steep ridge that runs beside the water. The old town of Dubrovnik is very interesting having been almost destroyed during the war and then being re-built. But there were hordes of tourists through the day all shuffling through the streets, having been offloaded from tour buses and huge cruise liners. So after a short time amongst the hordes, we bailed out, grabbed our swimmers and towels and jumped on a ferry to nearby Lokrum island - much more peaceful.

The next day we again opted for a day at one of the islands of the Dalmatian coast - Lopud, an island with no cars. Fellow ferry travellers told us that the best beach was on the other side of the island - Sunj beach - a fair walk and so we started off. We had only gone a short distance when a golf buggy which regularly transports tourists to Sunj stopped and offered us a ride. We were in the back seat facing backwards and hung on to a little pole as we went up and down hills (it was worth the 20 kuna each) although it was somewhat alarming to read the sign facing us - Falling off can cause injury or death.

On our final morning we walked the walls of Dubrovnik’s old town - a very worthwhile experience - and less crowded than the streets below. Danica insisted on knocking off from her work to come home and drive us to the address where we were to pick up our rental car. To our surprise there was no-one in the office and it was shut up. We eventually discovered that the car hire company had folded (!) and been taken over by Europcar. Somehow we managed to get a car - fortunately an ex-employee came to the office whilst we were wondering what to do and made a few phone calls on our behalf. We still don’t know how it happened, but some bloke drove up, told us to get in and he drove us to another rent-a-car office where they gave us a car along with the name of a colleague (Igor) to ring when we got to Zadar airport. Igor would come to collect the car. And that’s what happened - Igor arrived, waving wildly out of his car window as he drove up to meet us - smooth as silk. However, Travel Tip No. 7 - Hire from Hertz.

Split was our next destination - another historical place with a lively port and Roman ruins in evidence throughout much of the old town, including the substructure of Diocletian’s palace (Diocletian was the emperor from 385 - 404). Again we decided on a day trip to one of the islands - Brac, a 50 minute ferry trip which was recommended by the ex-Australian who served our breakfast. She was a friend of our B&B hostess. On Brac we had an hour’s bus ride to a little village on the other side of the island, called Bol. The water was crystal clear and not cold. The bus trip was at times a bit hair-raising with the road built into the side of the cliffs on what looked like slippery shale rock. Adrian sat on the window side on the way back and kindly refrained from detailing the sharp drops at the side of the road. It seems that Croatians don’t want to spoil the view and so don’t install guard rails on many of the curves. We liked this little tree that was growing out of the roof of this house.

Our last full day in Croatia we headed to Zadar for the night, stopping at the UNESCO heritage listed town of Trogir. There we visited the Cathedral, much smaller than others we had seen, obviously reflecting the size of the place when it was built. Not sure what the significance of skull and cross-bones are in Croatian Catholic icons, but Christ’s feet on the crucifix were atop a skull and there were other skulls and crossed bones in the church. One small room adjacent to the altar housed an amazing collection of golden and silver chalices, richly jewelled arm pieces, paintings, two leg bones displayed in glass cylinders (presumably, belonging to Saint someone - but he must have been quite short!) and ancient songbooks and prayer books dating back hundreds of years. All these priceless objects were just behind glass doors with no other security. We really enjoyed our stay in Croatia - they are such friendly and welcoming people.

Sunset on Croatia

The flight to Pisa from Zadar with Ryanair was smooth and quick - we departed early and the pilot had us there 50 minutes ahead of schedule - unheard of in Australia! The Italian passport control was uneventful and so we passed back into the EU without any hitches. Then a direct bus to Livorno for another night before boarding the huge Corsica ferry to Bastia on the north east coast. After collecting the car at the airport, some 20 km south, we returned to Bastia before heading north up the infamous Cap Corse, stopping at Erbalunga, a tiny village on the sea with a pretty harbour. Whilst Corsica is relatively small, the roads are winding and narrow with crazy motorcyclists, so we have decided to limit our travel to the north as we are here for 7 nights only.

On the road again

We had mixed feelings as we left Puy l’Eveque. We really enjoyed our time there and were able to welcome and host visits from both friends and family. Here is Fran’s French teacher Joseline at a farewell dinner we hosted.

We headed south towards Andorra stopping en route at Ax les Thermes, where we opted to spend our first night. It is a spa town and Fran enjoyed warming her feet in the therapeutic waters. The next day we headed towards Barcelona, driving through the majestic Pyrenees - the views were absolutely awesome, and we noted that one car had recently run off the road, as he was in the ditch and being assisted by the Spanish police. We were so high we felt like eagles soaring above the clouds. But if we thought that was high, there was more to come, as we opted to climb up to the dizzying heights of Montserrat monastery (right) before descending to Barcelona at the coast.

Barcelona is a fabulous city with so much to see and do. We enjoyed the hop on hop off bus but did not get off as the queues were long, so enjoyed three different routes -north and west, south and the beaches. Our accommodation was a 25 minute stroll from town and so we did lots of walking. Really enjoyed seeing both the outside and the inside of La Sagrada Familla (left) - what an amazing architectural construction. We also enjoyed a flamenco music and dance show, walking through the Barri Gothic (the old streets), the liveliness of La Rambla with its street performers (below) and some delicious paella.

The trip north back to France allowed some fabulous views of the Costa Brava (left). We had considered staying there, but opted instead for the pretty coastal town of Collioure (below) on the Cote Vermeille. We arrived on a Saturday night and even though it was not officially high season it was incredibly busy. The trouble with places like Collioure which are so picturesque is that they attract heaps of tourists - like us!. We spent a really enjoyable three nights there. However on the last morning, parking for breakfast, Adrian misjudged the kerb and ripped a chunk of rubber from the front right tyre which we only discovered about an hour later when we stopped to look at a beach. We were lucky enough to find a Citroen dealer but, of course, they had shut for siesta and were nor due back for 1.5 hours. So … we went for a swim. The sad tale ends with us having to buy two new tyres as they didn’t have one to match the other front tyre and the spare was only for temporary use.

Then on to Carcassonne, a medieval walled town 65 km from the coast. As we were heading east, it did mean that we had to backtrack, but it was worth it. It is particularly stunning at night although once again choc full of tourist shops and tourists. We walked the ramparts and then headed east towards Provence, through part the of the Camargue (unimpressive) and the Pont du Gard. Another stunning world landmark built by the Romans thousands of years ago, and used then as an aqueduct.

We headed to our little cottage in Entrecasteaux, primarily to collect the keys from one of our American landlord’s neighbours. Despite providing the time that we would be there, they had opted to go away for a holiday. The door was opened by a woman who looked at us with a puzzled expression when we started asking for keys. She and her sister, one from Germany (Mary) and one from Switzerland (Elvie) were staying there and knew nothing about the arrangements. After a phone call, all was resolved as the neighbours had left the keys in their house. They were amazed to hear of our travels and that we were coming back to stay for two months at the beginning of October. After sharing a cool drink and conversation involving English, French and German words we bid our farewells and drove around the corner to the town square where our cottage is situated. There, right outside our front door (as our landlord had mentioned) was Mme Corti, our next door neighbour and some other locals. When we explained that we were renting the house they picked up their chairs and took off!
They must have thought that we were very strange as we disappeared inside the cottage with stacks of luggage, unpacked it and sorted it (in an attempt to travel with half of our clothes etc) and left about an hour later, around 6:30 pm, still with luggage. Fran explained to Madame that we would return and that we were off to Vienna, Croatia and then Corsica. That night we drove as far as Frejus on the coast, leaving ourselves an easy 60 km trip to Nice airport.

Adrian and Fran after a hard day's sightseeing