Okay theres obviously a 'glitch' in the system. I reposted to include Spain, again I hit preview and it posted, this time without the UK........I'll just stick with this one as it has the main countries tagged.

Hi Aussiedreamer. I have enjoyed your reports in the past and look forward to reading this one. Merci...

Happy Australia Day aussiedreamer, bring on your report........ I really enjoyed the last one and I'm glad you had a great trip.

ttt

bmk

London
It’s the Australia day long weekend here in Brisbane. The rain is relentless and the wind is near cyclonic, so I feel a TR coming on. This will mostly be done from ‘memory’ so won’t be as thorough as previous reports but will do my best.

The flight from Brisbane to Singapore was good but the 10 hour layover was dreadful. It was not by choice, it was the only flights available to us using points. We had some dinner in the lounge and a wonder around, even went to the butterfly enclosure this time, never done that before! Then we joined in on the free city tour, what a great service. We have been to Singapore a few times but we’ve never done this, it was great, about 1.5 hours. Then utilised the lounges to shower and await the next flight which didn’t leave ‘till 1.30am....YUCK. If this were to happen again I would definitely book a room in the airport hotel, we did try to check in but they were full. So by the time we boarded we were shattered, so slept a lot of the way to London.

Arrived into London about 7am, for the first time it took quite a while to get through customs, the line was really long, even the B/C express. Nice to have the car service waiting for us, I booked justairports.com I’d won a hotel through priceline.co.uk and had been a bit disappointed that it was at Chelsea, but it ended up being really great. And the guys enjoyed having a look around the Chelsea Football club. www.millenniumhotels.co.uk/millenniumcopthornechelseafc

I’d booked it from the night before as the kids arrived before us, so we could get into our room straight away. DD2 Bec + fiancé Dave (they got engaged just before we left home ) had used our room for the night, so they were up and on their way to stay at a friend’s place for a couple of days & DD1 Sam+bf Sam (yes, they are both Sam)stayed at the hotel with us. DH was pretty tired, so bfsam & I headed for an explore. He’d never been before so was really keen, we caught the tube getting off at Piccadilly, then we just walked & walked, The Mall, Horses Guard, Downing St, Trafalgar Squ etc, it was so nice to see his excitement at seeing all these things for the first time.

We headed back with Bf sam getting off a few stops before me to explore on his own, which was code for, buying an engagement ring for dd2 Sam!! We all then met back up again at a lovely pub right across the road from our hotel, The Butchers Hook. We’d arranged to catch up with some friends we’d kept in touch with after meeting them on a previous trip about 5 years ago, they been really helpful when Bec & Dave moved to London for 2 years. It was a lovely get together, they own a villa in Portugal and suggested that we might meet up there if the timing worked (it did ) By now we were shattered, so tired.

The next day was Bec’s birthday, so after a morning shopping on Oxford & Regent st (such fun) us three ‘ladies’ headed off to the The Ritz, I’d booked a special Xmas High Tea. So lovely, the atmosphere, service & of course the yummy food. We then met up with the ‘boys’ and all caught the DLR to Canary Wharf, Bec & Dave lived here for 2 years and we wanted to show her sister where she’d lived and we all went to dinner at La Tasca. Now it is just a chain Spanish restaurant but we had the yummiest meal, Bec’s former house mate met us there and a great night was had by all.

The next day was just a wondering day, had a great look around Harrods and met the Sam’s there for lunch at the Pizzeria, YUM. Bf Sam & Dh did the tour of Lords, while Sam & I shopped. Dh & I found our way to the Borough Markets and really enjoyed looking around all the wonderful Xmas food, even heard some children singing Xmas carols. Unfortunately I was starting to feel really yuk, as it happened we all fell victim to the flu at different stages, so after catching a bus back to the hotel, an early night was had by all.

Next; our train ride to Munich via one night in Paris......for dinner.

great first day, aussie, and at least you were able to sleep on the 2nd leg of your journey.

shame about the 'flu though!

I hope there will be more...

There will be........today hopefully. Brisbane has experienced yet another major flood event, so things have been a bit crazy.

Hi aussiedreamer!

Hope you aer keeping safe and sad to hear what happened there in BNE. My sister is there and hear the stories, all the time.

This is so nice, can't wait to ready your blog.

As we too are planning to make 2 x week trip with my daughter, to spend at least 3-4 days in one city and cover limited affordable towns/countries in our frist trip to Europe (in April with my daughter 15 yr old for 2 x weeks ) possibly London / Paris / Amsterdam and if possible Hamburg (as we got a friend there too). Let us know your thougths suggestions to plan this trip Pls.

And as our plan B in August, as we have been offered a house to stay in Strasbourg for 3 x weeks in August , so both my husband and I like spending there around and explore the other bit of Europe perhaps few towns/cities/ countries sight seeing that we couldn't make it before covered here. How do you think/suggest / a possible travel plan for us?

Or as Plan C, after readign your post, am wondering putting those 2 x together aren't we better off, having a longer trip in December 13 / January 14 for 6 weeks or so, all 4 x of us together , including our son, to explore many cities/towns/countries, and have 'white christmas' there. We are not adventurous love landscapes / museums / architecture and hiking. You did this in European Winter ( we didn't look forward to it as it was told it is difficult to travel in Europe, in Winter )We love motorhome trips and this will be a lot more fun, we did a one to South Island December last yr and enjoyed it to bits.

Heare from you soon!

NZ-SL




NZ-SL

Paris

We decided not to ‘drag our bags’ on the tube and caught a cab to St Pancras, to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Such a great way to travel and we love arriving in the centre of the city instead of at the airport and having to deal with waiting and transfers etc. We’ve been to Paris a couple of times before, so this was just a fun stopover on the way to Munich to see Paris at Xmas and I’d booked a restaurant for dinner.

As we arrived at Gare du Nord in the afternoon & were leaving from Gare de l’Est the next morning, I booked the Holiday Inn which was right across the road from Gare de l’Est. We dropped our bags and headed back to Gare du Nord as we’d remembered that Bus #42 which originates there, is a great way to see the city.

We got off near the Eifel Tower and went for a wander, it was bitterly cold & it had started to rain. Didn’t bother us too much as we were just meandering around. We stopped off at a cafe, which was just near the Paris Perfect apartment we’d stayed in on our first trip to Paris years ago, for our ‘compulsory’ pastry!

Got the #42 back getting off a little closer to our hotel and got ready for dinner, caught a cab to Verjusparis.com for an unforgettable meal. I’ll post what we ate for all the foodies out there; it really was a stunningly beautiful meal, made all the more special by the phone call during dinner to tell us that our second daughter had just got engaged in London, very excited.

roseval espuma,
bacon jam, pickled shallots, chives

shaved foie gras,
candied hazelnuts, baby spinach, pickled grapes,
champignon de paris

line caught sea bass,
beetroot, savoy cabbage, preserved lemon,
lentils, apples, horseradish

duck breast from pomarez,
red onion ravioli, orange, rye,
smoked celery root skin

grass fed basque beef,
chanterelle mushroom, almond, cardamon,
heirloom carrots, marrow crumbs

guanaja chocolate ganache,
salted peanut butter mousse,
baked grapes, whipped cream

pumpkin cake,
chai ice cream, carrot jelly, whipped marscapone,
walnut meringue, caramel

tasting menu 60€

It was just a wonderful night, we wandered back in the rain, eventually giving up and jumping in a cab.
It was so easy to wake the next morning and just walk across the road to the station. A really easy transfer in Stutgart and onto Munich, we actually had a compartment to ourselves on this leg, which was nice. I'd booked these train tickets from home about 3 months in advance to take advantage of a good rate.

We were also starting to see our first signs of snow, arrived into the main train station and walked a short distance to our hotel, Kings Center Hotel, which was a great find, spacious, great location, good breakfast awesome staff and really reasonably priced at $195 total for two nights.

Next Munich with the ‘kids’...................

Hi Aussiedreamer

Sounds like you holiday is everything you dreamed it would be, love reading it. My family and I are heading to London Nov 2013 and thinking of Canary Wharf, what's your opinion of the area, is it far from say London Eye etc.

Oh yes, its a long way out, its not on the tube line you have to catch the DLR. I think if its your first visit, its too far away from 'everything'. Its the banking district, so high rise office buildings is all you'll see.

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I am looking forward to your chapter on Spain!

wow, great menu for €60.

just adding Verjusparis.com to my favourites!

More please! Hopefully over the weekend......

The menu sounds great.

I'll be back later I promise..............

i know I will be in over in the summer but I still am enjoying your report!

Great start, aussie!

How far in advance did you book Verjus? A friend of mine tried a month out and they were full already. As a former Hidden Kitchen patron, Verjus has been on the top of my list since it opened.

Looking forward to more...

Looking forward to this as we're starting to think about a Christmas trip to Europe this year.

Munich

This was just two nights to meet up with the kids and have a look around the Christmas markets and old town Munich in the winter. As it happens dh & I will be back in Munich in April! Yep planning another trip, this one’s been on the go for a couple of years.

So we wandered from the hotel into the main square, it was SO cold but just lovely. People were wandering, eating shopping etc lots of folk ice skating. We got a quick bite to eat; wiener schnitzels all round. We headed out to all have a drink together and found a great beer hall; unfortunately I was getting worse, so another early night for me.

Woke the next morning with my eyes all but swollen closed, very achy and feverish, GREAT but we spent the day exploring the markets, eating sausages and ice skating at the rink in the main square. Such a great setup with the balcony bar for watching, everyone enjoyed it so much, we even got to meet up with Becs brother inlaw who happened to be in Munich for a skiing trip. So we all had dinner together at an Italian place across the road from the hotel, great service, beautiful food and they treated us like regulars. The only trouble was I was getting really sick!!

Jumped in a cab the next day and headed out to the airport to meet up with the driver who would take us to collect our hire cars. As I said previously this was all included in the coupon I bought, we were really ‘encouraged’ when we arrived at the airport and there he was, waiting for us, short drive to the parking lot to collect the cars. The drive to Mayrhofen was only about two hours, but we did stop a couple of times. Once to have a bite to eat in an AutoGrill, had to show boy Sam how great they are . When we pulled into our hotel, we were so happy, it was exactly what we’d hoped for and the greeting was just lovely. And I think the day just spent in the car 'resting' was helping me, although I was pretty yucky for most of our stay here, I had definitely improved.

So next will be our 5 days in the snow over Xmas.

Hoping to hear that your health continued to improve.

still here aussie - keep it coming!

How fun, despite flu. Best wishes to the young people!

nzsl, I'm sure you've posted your questions elsewhere, but we very much enjoyed our own three week, Paris/London vacation with daughters over the recent holidays, lucked out with the weather. I like vacations where you can get to know a few places well.

Mayrhofen

www.gutshof.cc is the hotel we stayed in and I still can't believe the inclusions we got, so I'll copy & paste them to let you know. We bought 3 coupons but before I did, I emailed the hotel for confirmation of 3 rooms. They were so lovely, they held 3 rooms while I purchased the coupons. They could not have been more helpful, the whole way through the process.

• Rooms available are Romantic Room, Double Classic Room, Family Room, Studio Gruenberg, Studio Penken
• Arrive to a bottle of French wine, fruit platter and CD of traditional Tirol tunes in your room
• Enjoy daily breakfasts and afternoon snacks for two each day
• A four course dinner for two every night
• €150 Minibar voucher
• VIP transfer from Munich airport to the hotel "Park and Fly" where a hire car awaits you for your drive to the hotel (190km)
• Enjoy use of your hire car for the duration of your stay
• Get a €300 Voucher for treatments at the on-site Beauty Centre
• Admission to Swarovski Crystal Worlds for two people
• Two mountain bikes available for use during your entire stay
• Enjoy full access to resort facilities including swimming pool with mountain views, Bio Sauna, Finnish Sauna, Aroma Showers and Turkish Bath

So we got all of that for $900AUD (approx €670) per coupon, we still can’t believe it, as everything was exceptional. The food was just amazing and we had 3 big eaters with us and they couldn’t get through all that was on offer and the spa treatments were really amazing.

We spent the first night in the village which was a 5-10 minute lovely walk away from the hotel, or you just had to jump on the free ski buses, just having a look around and the skiers amongst us hired the necessary equipment for an early start the next day. When we got back to the hotel there was a small hill (okay it was a mound of dirt) in an open area and we all took turns using boy Sam’s snow board as a toboggan. I’m sure to anyone watching we must have looked a bit nuts, but for us Aussies who rarely see snow this was so much fun.

All but dd Sam & I skied but we had a ball, we’d go up in the chair lifts to the top of the mountains and spend the morning, have lunch with the skiers and then relax or shop in the afternoon. Xmas day was a strange one, we all met for breakfast in the hotel, then the skiers headed off. Sam & I slept in, rang friends back home had a wander around the village and then met the others up the mountain for a lovely lunch. Bec bought Sam & I a toboggan, so we slipped and slid down a few slopes, such fun.

The weather was crisp and clear and on Boxing Day we were greeted by the heaviest snow fall we’ve ever seen. So pretty, you couldn’t stand still for too long or you would disappear in a sea of white. Just beautiful and it made it even more perfect. The scenery up on the mountains was just picture perfect and amazing.

We had to leave quite early on our last morning to get back to Munich for our flights. But we didn’t factor in the time it would take us to chip all the ice of our cars, there was ice everywhere. Go figure, we even enjoyed that!!

So we drove back to the car park and were taken to the airport, the ‘kids’ to return to London and dh & I were off to Spain for the next adventure. 17 days in a motor home with no plans, just the way we like it, we’d never used a Motorhome before, so we knew we were in for a few surprises...........all of which were wonderful.

Oops forgot to mention, that I was feeling myself again by xmas day, thank goodness. But as it happened everyone else took turns with getting the flu, while we were away. Must just be the radical change in weather.

Sorry nzsl, I forgot to comment on your plans. I like the longer option C BUT the reason we chose to do our driving part of this holiday in Spain was based on the road conditions in Europe at that time of year. We've come 'unstuck' before, noticeably in a blizzard in Austria a couple of years ago and we swore 'never again'. We've driven a lot in Europe and loved it, but would never plan a driving holiday at xmas time. The drive from Munich to Mayrhofen was on well maintained freeways. Dh was a little nervous on the return due to the ice, but it was okay. Certainly wouldn't want to be on any smaller road ways.

Hope that helps?

We bought 3 coupons but before I did, I emailed the hotel for confirmation of 3 rooms. They were so lovely, they held 3 rooms while I purchased the coupons>>

sorry aussie, have you already let us into the secret of these magic coupons?

sounds like a great hotel, and a real bargain.

Only a person who has never done it before would find scraping a car free of ice to be fun! I've had far too many winters of it! Glad you had a good time though and I'm enjoying your report immensely.

I'm enjoying your report also.

I will get back to this ASAP........been busy organising the next adventure (the Russian Visa Application, sure is a complicated process) & also planning "2" engagement parties

17 Days in a Motor Home driving around Spain & Portugal

Our flight to Madrid was via Paris, it worked out the cheapest way, direct flights were over double. But having said that, it wasn’t a problem, we only had about 30minutes wait, perfect really just time for bathroom visit and a coffee. On arriving into Madrid we opted for a cab, I’d done some research on other means, car services, cabs trains etc. But for €47 a cab worked best for us, from memory it took about 30 minutes and we both enjoyed the ride in, especially once we were in the city.

Our hotel for this one night was Room Mate Mario mario.room-matehotels.com/index.php/en please don’t let the name or the ‘funky’ website put you off this hotel. Just fantastic, location was amazing and customer service second to none. I only booked a standard room for this one night and admittedly it typically was on the smaller side, certainly not the smallest I’ve seen in Europe but for our one night it was perfect, great bed, fantastic shower and a window you could open. On our return I booked a suite, more on that later.

So we dumped our stuff, grabbed a map and off we went, this is when we ‘discovered’ what a great location it really was. Literally 2 doors from Plaza Isabel II and the metro stop Opera, so we walked and walked, falling in love with Madrid with every step. Beautiful buildings, restaurants we couldn’t wait to try and finally after exhausting ourselves stopped off at Mercado de San Miguel for dinner. So much fun, after a good look around we settled in at one of the tapas bars and had the first of many tapas, paella & Rioja (yum, my new favourite redwine).

After a great sleep, we packed up and grabbed another cab this time back towards the airport to the depot for collecting our motor home. It was so cold but quite sunny, I can’t recommend this hire company enough. So helpful, nothing was too much trouble, the guy who dealt with us was the only English speaking staff member. He was about to go on holidays and gave us his phone number in case we needed anything, we didn’t, but comforting to have. mcrent.eu/motorhome/motorhome-rental-spain/Motorhome-rental-in-Madrid.html

So off we went, basically heading north, we thought we would make San Sebastian our first stop. We arrived quite late, it was about 7pm but we’d called into a supermarket and stocked up. So had a lovely potatis Tortilla and salad for dinner in our ‘new home’. The ride to this first campsite was ‘interesting’ to say the least. We somehow managed to miss a turn on leaving town and ended up going up the mountain on what can only be described as a goat track and it was dark. My heart was in my throat but dh loved every second of it. We were both pleasantly surprised when we actually found the place. www.campingigueldo.com Utilised the great facilities and caught up on laundry and generally settled into the van and the free wifi was a lovely surprise, we stayed here two nights. We used the Alan Rogers camping guide for most of the trip, which gave a detail review and we knew ahead of times if the site would be open at this time of year. We only had one night on the whole trip where we slept ‘on the street’ but that was because we chose to but more on that later.


The next day we caught the bus that stops outside the camp ground and headed into San Sebastian for the day. Fell in love with the place, just lovely, we wandered around the beautiful streets watching all the ‘beautiful people’. Found the old town and spent the afternoon wandering from bar to bar tasting tapas, some of the best we had were here. Ended the day by calling into a great supermarket and picked up some amazing ready made fish stew and a bottle of Rioja and caught the bus back. Just a really great day and we both loved going back to our little house.

Next we head to amazing Santiago de Compostela………..

nice to have you back here, aussie.

Enjoying the trip report looking forward to the next instalment.

I'm back, I do love completing these t/r's but boy they can be time consumming but I've never 'not' finished one, so I will press on.......



I have now run out of journal entries and am relying on notes I scribbled on our map and I see that the next day was our long driving day. We left San Sebastian and headed towards Satiago de Compostela, not sure if we’d make it in one day or not but we did. We called into Santander not really knowing what to expect but my notation is ‘ugly port city’, maybe we didn’t give it enough time. Next we stopped into the coastal town of Gijon, we found a great park by the water, so we parked and had a great walk around this pretty town. We had lunch at Bella Vista on the terrace looking out to the Bay of Biscay, pretty perfect actually. My notes here say, ‘amazing prawn salad’ and I do remember it was yum. We then drove onto SDC and found an ‘okay’ camp ground, they weren’t terribly interested in us as it was NYE, in fact on leaving we had to pay by pushing some money under the door of the office and we couldn’t find anyone, we stayed for two nights.

We woke the next morning to rain, a lot of rain, so we utilised our water proof gear from Austria grabbed our umbrellas and found the local bus. Unfortunately as it was so wet and the bus was so fogged up we ‘missed’ the stop for centro and ended up staying on for the whole route but that was okay. A lovely backpacker then told us to just stay on and he told us when to get off, so we found our way into the old town. By now we along with half the city had ‘ditched’ our umbrellas in a bin, the wind and rain were incredible. I really wish I’d taken a photo of one of the bins, they were all full to over flowing with broken umbrellas. The only bright side to this terrible weather we got to see the beautiful cathedral without the usual crowds. We, were really happy to find ourselves inside the church for the midday mass. Now we aren’t religious at all but it felt really special and the lone nuns singing was spine chilling, just beautiful.

On leaving the cathedral the small tourist train was just about to depart, and it looked dry in there, so off we went. So glad we did this, as the weather wasn’t getting any better and at least we got to get an over view of the city. When that was over we were ready for somewhere warm and cosy for a late lunch. I think this was the find of the trip but I’m sure the fact that it was warm, dry and very welcoming added to that feeling, www.restauranteportafaxeira.com. It was full of people, locals mostly at a guess and the food was amazing.

So we headed back to our camp ground on the bus, we’d seen a large shopping centre close by. So we got off there and spent a couple of hours. The walk back to the park was wild, the wind was blowing the rain in sideways, so glad we had on our waterproof pants and jackets. That was really the only rain we saw on the trip, so no complaints.

We spent the next two days in Porto, we loved this place, we wandered all over the town and found our way to the water front. Again due to the time of year it was lovely and quiet and thank goodness the sun was now out. We had our only really bad meal of the trip at one of the too touristy places on the waterfront. But the view was amazing and of course dh decided we would just have to take a walk on the amazing bridge, Ponte Luís I over to the monastery. It really was a great walk and the views were fantastic.

Next we headed to Lisbon, stopping in at Nazare for a lovely walk around, so happy to see some older ladies dressed in the traditional dress. Below is a quote from the guide book which explains this dress;

In the old days, women would sit on the beach waiting for their fishermen to sail home. To keep warm in the face of a cold sea wind while staying modestly covered, they'd wear several petticoats in order to fold layers around their backs and legs. Even today, older and more traditional women wear short skirts made bulky by several petticoats. The ensemble is completed with house slippers, an apron (embroidered by the wearer), a small woollen cape, head scarf, and flamboyant jewellery including chunky gold earrings (often passed down from generation to generation).

We found a great camp ground a few km’s outside Lisbon with a bus stop just outside, this place must be really busy in the warmer months. There were restaurant’s small shops etc, very handy for forgotten supplies. We immediately got on the bus and headed into the city, enjoying every second of the 20 minutes or so it took us to get there. It was dark by the time we got into the city, we just wandered around the old town enjoying the sights and sounds and we knew right away we enjoy spending the next day exploring this city. We stopped in at the beer museum which has a lovely restaurant and had a lovely meal, before catching the bus back noticing that there was a small looking café/bakery that was packed with people each time we passed, even lining up to get in. We both wandered what it could be, it was too far from the city centre to be overly touristy, so we both decided then and there that the next day we would get off the bus and check it out……….

oh we are so happy we did.

oh, i love a cliff-hanger....

ha ha annhig, wasn't deliberate but thanks for sticking with me.

We spent a great day in Lisbon exploring this lovely city, using the funiculars & elevators to get up to the hilly sights in the city. Beautiful views of the city and it was a perfectly sunny crisp day for wandering the narrow, winding steep streets. We particularly enjoyed the area around the faculty of medicine in Campo de Santana and looking at the many monuments & plaques at the statue dedicated to the Dr who worked with the poor in the 1800’s. Apparently some locals think he can still perform miracles, it was very moving. There was also a nice park which we both enjoyed wandering around. Dh really enjoyed watching a group of local playing cards, they were not so impressed with me trying to take a photo of them!!

We used a local bus to get back down to area of bustling Praça dos Restauradores where we had an amazing lunch at Restaurant Pinoquio, YUM. Dh had the baked fish, I again could not resist the paella and again I was not disappointed, it was amazing. It was lovely sitting outside watch the world go by, but just as much fun looking at the display in the restaurant window………..the best way I can describe it is there were three net bags hanging on hooks full of clams, but in amongst the clams and coming out of the bag was a huge groper BUT better still out of the gropers mouth was a huge squid. It was disturbing, amazing and wonderful all at the same time. I have a great photo of it that I love.

After more wandering we headed back to Praça da Figueira where our bus would leave from. Dh decided to wander off looking for some Port wine and I decided enough was enough, found a lovely coffee shop and sat in the square as the sun was going down, enjoying my espresso and people watching. We finally got back on the bus and headed ‘home’. But when we got to ‘that spot’ again we just had to get off the bus.

Turns out the attraction was 'Pasteis de Belém' the bakery that has been making the beautiful Portuguese Tarts with the same recipe, since 1837. We were so lucky to get there at just the right time of day, late afternoon, as the line wasn’t too bad. I bought of box of 6, which barely made the trip home on the bus; they were fresh from the oven, flaky and gooey and just divine, what a great place.

It was a great drive the next day down to the Algarve region to a small village called, Carvoeiro which is near Lagoa. This is where our friends from London have their Villa; we’d arranged to meet them in Lagoa and then followed them down to the villa as apparently street names are few and far between. What a little slice of heaven, www.homeaway.co.uk/Portugal/Algarve/Carvoeiro/Lagoa-region/holiday-golf-holidays-villa-Carvoeiro/p16382.htm please if you are looking for accommodation in this area, contact the above site and please feel free to tell Paul that ‘Deidre’ recommended it. We had a wonderful two days here, our host had arranged for some local friends to come to the villa and we had a beautiful dinner, followed by drinks by the pool and lots of frivolity. It was really lovely to catch up and just relax for a while in luxurious surrounds. Unfortunately they had to get back to London the next day, we took up their offer to stay another night and catch up on laundry etc. just a great couple of days.

Next we are off to Morocco………….

Hi Aussiedreamer,
What a terrific yarn! I'm really enjoying your trip ... And would kill for one of those luscious tarts to go with my tea just now

Coincidentally, I was in Germany for Christmas & New Year too. Fell in love with it and would go back in a heartbeat.

Thanks again for a most interesting & entertaining read. Looking forward to seeing where else you meander.

I've been quietly following along with your trip report and thrilled to read about your Portugal experience. I'll be there in May and just now starting to get into my "serious research" mode! I can't wait to try those pastries!

I'm back, I always promise myself that I wont drag this tr out, but I've done it again. Sorry, but we've had one engagement party, one to go and we are off to Europe again in 6 weeks, so lots of planning still to do.

Thanks for following along, LowCountryIslander you will love the tarts, make sure you map out which bus to catch from the city. We think it was 714 from Praça da Figueira.

We set off the next day with no real route in mind other than we had decided we would attempt to visit Morocco. Dh had decided he wanted to see Cadiz, so we called in, it didn’t go too well. Started okay, found a park near the beach but we were a bit far from the cafes etc, so we drove along the esplanade trying to decide which cafe we would stop at. The road suddenly got quite narrow and in a couple of places there were huge industrial rubbish bins, yep, we did it, we side swiped one. Oh dear it did make a huge racket, so now we had ‘everyone’s’ attention and dh was crabby at himself, so with me with my arm out the window holding the now hanging side mirror and the tension in the van rising, we headed out. Stopping out the road a bit (my arm was aching by now) to have a look at the damage. Phew, apparently those mirrors are designed to come off, it merely snapped back into place. But neither of us wanted to head back in, so on we drove. It really was the only thing that happened with the van, apart from a few tree scratches from low orange tree branches in Seville and the hire company were fine, no loss of deposit.

So we drove onto Tarrifa, which appeared to be the place to checkout boats to Tanger. Found a great camp site on the water just out of town, we got our first glimpse of Morocco here, it’s only 15kms across the water, we felt we could just about walk there on low tide. Drove into Tarrifa town and had a wander around, quite a nice little place, has an interesting old town but it’s mostly dominated by the huge ferry terminal. As it was low season not all the booking offices were open so we just wandered into the first one we came upon, I’d guess that they are all much the same. We couldn’t decide whether to just get a ferry ticket over and wander around on our own or join a tour. We went with a tour, which worked really well, I really don’t think we would have seen anything or learnt anything in such a short time on our own. We nearly paid a bit extra to have a private tour but the guy insisted it was really quiet and it would be a big group, so funny, it was just us.

So we bought our tickets for the next day, had tapas in the main square, went to a local grocery store and headed back to set up for the next two nights. Dh went for a huge walk along the beach, it was a lovely afternoon. We caught a cab into Tarrifa the next morning to catch the ferry, it was a good trip across, most of it was in the line to have our passports stamped on board. We were met on the other side by our guide, an elderly gentleman with perfect English. Although there were a couple of obligatory stops at certain shops it was really good. He wandered around the winding streets telling stories, I’m sure we would’ve got lost and missed so much. We wandered through the “Kasbah” quite surreal to be there. The tour included lunch in a ‘traditional’ (read touristy ) restaurant but again it was fine and considering we only paid about 50 euro (which is cheaper than the ferry ticket on its own) for the tour it was great. More wandering and looking in shops, very nearly talked ourselves into a beautiful carpet, but common sense did prevail, so I settled on a lovely Tangine. A good day and we are glad we did it as we were so close but I’m sure it wasn’t a ‘real’ look at Morocco on our next trip our travelling companions are spending 4 nights in Morocco before we meet up, I will be interested to hear what they have to say.

Next, We Love Gibraltar...............

It wasn’t too far to head towards Gibraltar so off we went; now we didn’t really know too much about this place so I was reading out of the guide book on the way. When we got to the huge line for the border crossing I suddenly read that if the line is long, abandon the car and walk over, so we did. Walked straight through with barely a glance at our passports and when we emerged on the UK side there was a tour desk. We quite spontaneously decided we would do it, they only take four people at a time and there was another couple wanting to do it, so off we went. Do not hesitate to do this, it was amazing, and there is now way we would’ve seen so much on our own especially without a car and no way we could’ve done it with the van. We loved every part of it, we have some great photos of the monkeys and we loved the caves and tunnels, and it was a hoot to drive across the runway, we would’ve loved to have had to give way to a plane, the tour ended at the main square. So we had fish & chips (we we were technically back in the UK) and had a great wander around all the English shops, just a great day. Caught the red double Decker bus back down to the port and we were on our way again.

I had really wanted to visit some of the ‘White Hill Towns of Andalucia but with our detour into Cadiz we’d really missed Arcos de la Frontera but chose to head towards Ronda, WOH! What a great town, we found a good campsite just outside town for the night and the next day headed in. To dh’s absolute delight we saw the Puerta Nuevo (New Bridge), we walked over it and under it, what a beautiful bridge and a beautiful town, spent a lot of time just wandering the very steep streets, even stumbled across the ruins of the Arab Baths. They have a great bull ring in the lovely square (apparently Ronda is the ‘birth place’ of bullfighting). After a quick espresso we were off to Zahara, we saw this beautiful town long before we reached it, it stands on a hill and the white buildings stand out so magnificently.

We drove up the windy road and found a great parking spot on a look out, so out came the chairs and we sat in the sun having a cuppa taking in the beautiful scenery. We decided to leave the van and take a walk up into the town as we could see a beautiful ruin at the very top. It was a long steep walk but we were rewarded with amazing views and snap shots of local life along the way. Found our way to Torre del Homenaje, the ruin at the top but for the life of us could not find a way in!! But we enjoyed the walk around it, easier walk down to the main square which was one of my favourite. Had a real local feel about it, with the very nice Santa Maria Church and it was a beautiful day so lots of locals out and about having coffee, lunch etc. We had a lovely lunch here and a well earned beer.

Next we picked Seville, had a great drive and again we were so fortunate that it was winter, as we drove into the city with barely any traffic. This was our biggest fluke of the trip, we’d set city centre on our satnav and saw another van parked by the river,near a beautiful bridge. We had no idea exactly where we were but pulled up under one of the many beautiful fruit laden orange trees, while trying to work out how to pay for parking a local came along and attempted to explain why we didn’t have to pay this particular day, we still don’t know why, but we didn’t pay. So we thought we would head across the bridge it kinda felt like thats where the old town would be, and there on the footpath was a tourist street map someone had dropped. So funny, once we found our bearings we realised we had parked in the perfect location, directly across from the main Bull Ring and a block from old town.

So off we went exploring, it was getting quite late in the afternoon but we made it for the last tour of the day of the bull ring, it was nearly dark by the time we came out. Checked we didn’t have any parking fines and headed into a Flamenco show, again just across the road. We still hadn’t found anywhere to stay at this point but figured after the show we would work it out. We had a pretty nice dinner at the show and enjoyed the dancing and when we came out, the other van was still there so we decided we’d stay the night there too. So off we went exploring the old town, there were so many people about, thriving markets selling all manner of things and a brilliant light show on one of the old buildings set to music. A really magical night, must admit we didn’t sleep too well, traffic noise and just knowing we were sleeping ‘on the street’ but it was also fun.

Woke the next morning and headed across the road to a great local bar, where we had the best coffee and ham on bread I’d ever eaten. And to sit there at the bar with the locals starting the day, was just pure joy.

We did love Seville

Nearly done, just the last couple of days in Madrid and one night in Amsterdam.

Loved your travel diary. We are heading to Spain next week, have a resort booked in Estepona, so are only a short drive from Gibraltar, not too far from Malaga, and Ronda, but a bit of a longer drive to Seville. A lot of the comments on my request for info on the must sees, focussed on the LONG drive to Seville from our resort and several posters advised that it was too far for a day trip. We googled it and it is only 2 hours and 16 minutes, which, being from Canada, we don't find all that long. You, being from Australia, probably feel the same way, our distances here are large in comparison to Europe! How did you find the driving in Spain? Is traffic harrowing in the cities, or just normal for cities. We hope to explore and see lots of the different sights. Happy Travels on your next trip!

I loved it too, aussie.

shame about that carpet! you'll have to put it down as the one that got away.

ggarrish, I agree 2-3 and even a 5 hour drive just isn't that big a deal to us. Plus the ever changing scenery is a delight. We were really fortunate with our driving, dh has done a lot of driving in Europe and the roads weren't too busy, I personally think it was so easy because he had an amazing navigator. I hope you get to Gibraltar and enjoy it as much as we did.

annhig........I would've loved the carpet but as I sit here looking at my 2 year lab/retriever I'm glad I'm not worried about him sitting on the much cheaper rug I have at present. I'm sure the rain here in Brisbane will stop one day!!!

We headed for Madrid again with no real idea of where we'd stay the night but knew we wanted to get pretty close to the city as we had to drop the van off the next day. Dh had done some research and took me to the Las Rozas outlet shopping village, just outside Madrid, oh what fun. I had hoped to ‘pick up’ a new outfit for dd #1’s engagement party so I was thrilled to have a look through the beautiful boutiques. I was just beginning to think it was all a bit high end, when a walked into one store and found ‘the dress’, it was exactly what I’d been looking for and it fit, like a glove. Best part? It was originally €340 I got it for €74, boy was I happy (& it was perfect on the night). It was now quite late in the afternoon and it was becoming bitterly cold, so we headed off to find a campsite. This was the biggest one we’d come across, although it was all but empty, so we certainly had the pick of the sites.

www.campingelescorial.com is where we ended up, we headed for the café/bar area to have a drink before dinner. This restaurant was huge, it was only 6pm and dinner wasn’t served till 8pm. It had started raining and it was really really cold, so we set ourselves up at a table with our laptops and a glass of red and settled in. It was a lovely evening, the barman was an absolute gentleman, he was so friendly and helped us work our way through the tapas menu. When I came to Mocilla on the menu I had no idea, I had no Spanish, he had no English but he ‘decided’ I should try it. Oh Dear…….black pudding really is an acquired taste…….apparently I haven’t ‘acquired it’. So after a lovely evening we headed back to the van for our last night, just as a gentle snow started to fall, woh, what a great last night. But be careful what you wish for, it was so cold and the wind so strong, I was waiting for the van to tip. We think it was the coldest we’d been on the whole trip.

Found our way back to the rental agency and after a thorough inspection and our goodbyes we left the van. Got a cab back to our hotel, Room Mate Mario and settled into our lovely spacious suite for our final 3 nights. We headed out right away, decided we would do the tourist bus because we were pretty comfortable in our immediate area and we’d seen quite a bit, but didn’t want to miss anything, so we spent a couple of hours touring and it was great. Beautiful crisp, clear day and we both enjoyed the commentary. We decided the next two days would be more relaxed, lots of shopping, eating, drinking and walking. The highlights for me were another visit to san miguel market for a really long grazing lunch, discovering Pasteleria "La Mallorquina in Puerto del Sol for the yummiest cakes and great coffee, just wandering the streets and plazas. Our final meal was at http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187514-d1580941-Reviews-La_Descubierta-Madrid.html it was so lovely. When we got our wine, dh made a toast to a wonderful holiday, the waitress asked us where we’d been and when she found out this was our last night, she really started spoiling us. It made it a really special last night and the goodbye we received and the waving from the door, you’d think we were long lost relatives, just a really great night.

We didn’t have to catch our flight till later the next afternoon, so we headed to the El Rastro Flea Market, what fun. We loved wandering through the antique/second hand area and yes we did buy a little something. A beautiful old brass door knocker that weighed a ton, thank goodness for b/class and I have to admit we had to open that dam thing at every customs counter on the way home, but it was still worth it. The flight to Amsterdam was a breeze; we caught the train from the airport to the main station, how delighted we were when exiting to see Amsterdam completely covered in snow. I’d booked the Ibis hotel right at the station, so easy, out one door and walked a few metres and we were there. Dropped our luggage, checked with the front desk that we had the right tram number to get to the restaurant and off we went.
The 20 or so minutes it took us to get there was wonderful, to see the city covered in snow was so special, when we got off at our stop and the tram pulled away, we looked across the road through the beautiful mist to see the glowing lights from the restaurant that is set in Frankendael Park.

Oh I knew this was going to be a great night………….

Amsterdam

We entered the park and walked across a small bridge, the mist was really thick and the restaurant really stands out like a glowing beacon. When we entered, we were thrilled, what a beautiful place. Again we were greeted with such warmth, I’d booked this restaurant before leaving home, I’m so glad I did. We got a beautiful table and could see the kitchen and out to the garden. It’s a degustation menu, so we just sat back and enjoyed every second of it. I asked for a copy of the menu on leaving, so I’ll share with you our lovely dinner………

Starters –
Shallot tarte tatin, veal rib-eye pastrami, gherkin vinaigrette & cress salad
Pumpkin soup with young garlic, smoked almonds & cavolo nero, cream of parmesan cheese
Langoustine with potato & chorizo crisp, fried chicory & a winter purslane sauce, carrot oil

Main Course –
Farmhouse chicken, filled with a mushroom stuffing, lemon risotto, roasted purple carrot & poultry jus

We didn’t have the optional cheese course.

Dessert –
Chocolate pecan nut tart with orange marmalade & rhubarb sorbet

It was perfection, all served so beautifully in an amazing setting. When we left, we were escorted to the door and the young lady said,” Oh look, it’s snowing’………OH really? Could this night have been more perfect? I think not.

So that’s it, a great night’s sleep and an enjoyable but uneventful flight home via Singapore and it was all over, another great trip. So we have one more engagement party for our second daughter in 4 weeks and we leave for Munich, Budapest, Prague, Krakow, Moscow, St Petersburg & Vienna in 5 weeks. Once again thanks for all your assistance in the planning of this great holiday.

Deidre

When I came to Mocilla on the menu I had no idea, I had no Spanish, he had no English but he ‘decided’ I should try it. Oh Dear…….black pudding really is an acquired taste…….apparently I haven’t ‘acquired it’.>>

have you tried it with scallops? very good, if a bit "cheffy". it may also depend on the black pudding as some are more palatable than others.

what a wonderful trip - and you are off again! of the places you are going to my fave is vienna - I loved it so much, despite the biblical quantities of RAIN we suffered from when we were there, but then you're obviously used to that.

Hi again annhig, yeah I have tried it with scallops, I'm not a fan of the texture. any MUST do's in Vienna, apart from the obvious?

hi aussie, shame about the black pudding, did you try hog's pudding in Cornwall? [it's more like a large sausage, and in colour it's sort of beige!]

as for Vienna, i don't know what you think is "the obvious"!

perhaps the best day we had was when we got the bus to the top of the Kahlenberg [the hill over looking Vienna] and then walked down through the woods and the vineyards to Grinzing and Heiligenstadt, where we did a tour of the "Heurige" [wine taverns] that sell their own wine. [they are advertised with boughs of trees sticking out over the door!] They usually have great food [buffets or nice menus] and we had such a good time we still can't remember how many we visited!

we also enjoyed the Prater - nice biergarten and food there too - as well as the famous wheel. [you can see a lot of out trips are food and drink based!]

of the "obvious" pleasures, we particularly enjoyed the Sissi exhibits at the Hofburg and if you buy the "sissi" pass, you get into the Schönbrun without having to queue!

the cafes are also great fun - there are loads of different choices but we eventually settled on the "melange" as our normal coffee.

[you can find my trip report fro a few years ago if you click on my screen-name - you'll find that sadly my DH did not enjoy Vienna as much as I did, and the weather was diabolical, so some of it is a little jaundiced!]