Innsbruck and Lucerne / The Alps

Innsbruck and Lucerne were the last two multi-night stops. Then it was time to get the direction of Porto and a after a few one-night stops (Lyon, Perigueux and San Sebastian) we finally arrived home!!!

I'm now in the process of selecting some photos of the Alps and the cities............be back soon.....

Rothenburg ob den Tauber / Romantic road

Rothenburg was undoubtably one of the highlights of this trip. Besides a considerable improvement in weather, the place, extremely touristed, made honour to its fame. It is a very well preserved medieval town (partially reconstructed due to the 2nd WW bombings) with an interesting history that we could get to know during the guided tour with the night watchman.
Maybe the pictures in this post may give an impression but seeing and feeling the real one is unmatchable.

(evening view)

(a typical view inside)

(the night watchman gathering people at the main square)
(night watchman guided tour)

Sauerland / Dortmund

The next stop on this caravan tour was at the lake Hennesee in Meschede, part of the beautifull Sauerland. The spot was chosen so as to be close to Dortmund where we met Porkodi for a deliver of warm clothes and of course to enjoy her company for a while. Also this is the place where I'm coming for a research period during my sabbatical relief to work with her and an international group of chemists. The city center is quite dull but I've been told that the Campus and surroundings are much more pleasant. Hope so!

Anyway, the main problem has been the rain and cold and so it's decided that the next stop will be in the south near Rothenburg.
(by the time I'm writting this post I've already been to and leave to Innsbruck). Will report asap.

Cottessen

Now I'm at Cottessen in Holland. It is very close to Aachen (DE) and Maastricht. The camping site lies in a wonderfull nature area and in fact this is was the major point of interest of this stage.

The belgian border is only 500 meters away and in fact the GPS insisted that we'd cross it through a bike road and we just folowed his will untill we found ourselves in front of a 1 meter wide bike road, 100 meters from Holland, and had no choice but unattaching the caravan and manually manouver to take the way back. Fortunately we had help from some guys (germans I think) that even spoked some portuguese as they own a house in Coimbra. Incredible how these unlikely encounters really happen!! After finally reaching the camping site using a normal road I took my bike and managed to find that road to enter Belgium. Biking these paths was such a delight!

Aachen and Maastricht didn´t really impress me (specially the later).

Ghent, Belgium

This was my second visit to Gent, undoubtably one of the prettiest places in Belgium and perhaps Europe. The Graslei (in the picture) is a magnificent collection of buildings. Like in my first visit, I spent much time watching all those remarkable details.

The weather is colder and rainy in these parts of Europe and my health has become to resent. The next stages will take carefull account of the forecasts. Anyway, the direction is set to Dortmund since I have to meet someone there, but after that I think we're going to turn south.

Cheverny - Châteaux de la Loire

I would like to thank the comments and the emails sent. The limited time and acess to internet prevent me to reply individually for now.



The stop at Cheverny was especially aimed for the visit to the Chateau de Chenonceau. The well worked pictures I've seen much before made me very in desire to visit. The real thing was nice but not up to my expectations. Too crowded and unorganiszed visit (expensive too) and the castle is in need of conservation. Some valuable pieces inside although.

Saint Emilion - Bordeaux vineyards

Agrandir le plan

Saint Emilion was a very nice surprise. It is midway between Burgos and the Loire Valley (the next stop if the weather is ok) and that was determinant for the choice. The beauty of the vineyard landscape, the kindness of the people and the medieval village, the calm atmosphere and the superb camping site conditions made us decide to stay for three nights.



(St Emilion, the village)


(One of the hundreds of chateux with its surrounding vines)



(Pedal boats; one of the many atraction inside the camping site (all included in the price of stay)). Not cheap but highly recomendable: domaine de la Barbanne

Burgos

(sunflower field before arriving Burgos)



(fun moments at the camping site)

Burgos was the first stop on the journey. Normally a one night stop hub between France and Portugal and some regions in Spain. We stayed two nights to be able to relax from the truck-speed ride imposed by the (perhaps overweighted) caravan. Will resume tomorrow towards France....