Eurotrip 2018 - a short intro

When we told people that we were taking our then 3 year old and 7 year old on a roadtrip to Gibraltar, most of them thought we were crazy.

When we told people last year that we were taking our then 5 year old, 9 year old ad 10 month old on a roadtrip to Slovenia (and some other countries), they didn't just call us crazy. It was beyond crazy for most.

Three weeks in a car, on campsites, just sightseeing and spending time together. It's not like we were on the road for months, but we loved it. We loved it so much (that was our third road trip with our kids, only that with every roadtrip we had one more kid with us) that after some deliberation, we're going on a roadtrip again this year. I'm already scared (yes, cause even for me it sounds scary, with the weather, the tent, how we're going to survive the long drives and all) and excited (cause we have so much to see in mind, we're going to spend the time just with ourselves again, which we love so much) at the same time. Possible. And I can't wait.

Our last roadtrip wams definitely shorter than the previous one, when we look at the distance. And while in 2016 we knew we wanted to get to Gibraltar and we knew we were going to make it there, in 2018 there was nothing certain. Sure, we had a general plan. Of course, we had a list of places we wanted to see. Obviously, we were hoping to get as far as we hoped for. However, we had Marti in mind the whole time. And we were ready to stay somewhere on the way, so to say, if she said "no" to travelling by car.

Luckily, she got so used to travelling by car, that now she loves it. What's even more surprising, she loves falling asleep for her nap in her car seat. Yes, at home.

So with everybody on board and willing to stay on the road for as long as we wanted, we managed to get to (I think) all the places we had in mind. We spent the first night in Czech Republic, the second one in Austria (with a little bit sightseeing this time), the next ten nights in Slovenia, from where we travelled to Croatia, then Italy and, finally, with the last night spent in Germany, we got back home.

The first day, we wanted to get to Brno in the Czech Republic. We figured we could explore the city a little, see something there. Instead, since we couldn't find a campsite anywhere close to Brno enough and since there were roadworks on the ring road, we never got to the city itself. We stayed on a campsite in what felt like the middle of nowhere. It was a tiny one, by a tiny river, a 15 minute walk from a tiny town of Veverská Bítýška. We spent the afternoon exploring the area a little and playing at the local playground (a very well organised one). A lovely place for a calm and peaceful summer evening. 

Finally, the last of the last. Carcassonne.

Believe it or not (I don’t think I believe it myself), but I’m about to write the last post on our Eurotrip2016. Took a lot of time, much more than I anticipated, but it’s here. Well, almost. I’m just starting to write it, after all. 

For the last few posts on the topic, we’re already on our way up north. Back home, that is. Having seen parts of France, Northern Spain, Portugal, Southern Spain and Gibraltar, we started our way back up. Through Granada, Cordoba, Avila, Segovia we got to Andorra and after crossing the French border, we got to Carcassonne. At first, we wanted to spend the night somewhere in the neighbourhood and hit the town and the castle in the morning, but it turned out we got there early enough to still see it on that particular day. Since the kids already wanted to head back home, that seemed like a good idea. 

We parked the car and had a good look at the medieval town from the other side of the river. It looked impressive. We crossed the bridge and started walking up to the town walls. It was as I could remember from many moons back – crowded. 

 

First, we walked to the church. We got inside. It looked deserted, but full of mystery at the same time. Or maybe that’s why it felt that way. Then we walked along the town walls towards other parts of the town. We had nothing in mind, nothing in particular. We just wanted to see it. To touch it. To walk the narrow streets, to see the town from the boardgame we play. And that’s exactly what we did.

We didn’t get into the castle itself. We didn’t feel like standing in line to get there. And none of us wanted it desperately to try and convince the others to change their minds. Instead, our kids took us to… 

 

Drumroll (yes, that requires drumrolls, as even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine that with my kids, as young as they still were, I would visit…)… Torture Museum. Yup, you read it right. It was a museum dedicated to all (or at least many) of the tortures that were associated with witchcraft. The accusations, the trials and the tortures. All that stuff. Sure, I got some new ideas of how to torture my husband (that I couldn’t imagine were even possible), sorry hun. I haven’t used them yet, though (for now, my own ideas seem to be enough, thank you very much). But honestly, it was horrible. I never thought people came up with so many ways and so many utensils to hurt other people. And just because, for no real reason. And the kids asking questions "how was that used" made my head hurt, my imagination running too fast and more often than not, I had to lie not to tell them the truth or simply to divert their attention. It is located in nice buildings, though, and some parts were really interesting. I hated the "garden" part of the exhibition the most.

Right after that, making sure there was nothing more we wanted to see or do in Carcassonne, we were headed for our last night, last campsite in France. It was the second time during this whole trip that we had trouble finding a free spot to sleep. We finally found one, in the middle of nowhere. It was big, well organised, everything ok, apart from the fact that... well, I'm old ;) there was a party till 2 a.m. And it was so loud that I couldn't hear my own thoughts. Kids must have been exhausted after all the sightseeing, though, as they slept all the way through the noise. The next day was a long drive. Southern parts of France were crowded, the sky was black with clouds, at times it was raining very heavily. We got to Germany, near Freiburg, where we spent the night. We planned to spend the last night somewhere closer to Polish border. But once we got near Berlin, the kids said that they can sleep in the car if only we promise to drive straight home. So we stopped right before the border for a longer break (like almost two hours). The kids had a good run, we rested, stretched, had coffee, did everything to be ready for next few hours behind the wheel. But we made it. We got home around 1 a.m. With the kitchen renewal not finished yet. Exhausted. Sad that the trip was over. But happy to be back home. 

Yup, that's it. That's it for our Eurotrip2016. So many things happened since then. It feels more than just 2,5 years ago...

New year, old posts

Aaand the New Year's here. 2019. It's not like I suddenly feel order. Or have many plans that I didn't have yesterday. Or have all those New Year's resolutions (I don't make those, cause they usually last for a few days anyway and get lost and forgotten, so what's the point...).

We're spending the turn of the year fighting infections, unfortunately. For the second year in a row. Last year it was Paulinka, this year it's both girls. Nothing serious, I hope, but we have to stay home. At least for a few days.

Tomorrow we're back to work and back to school. Holiday time is slowly running to an end (and I'm planning to cherish every last minute of it I still have left). Right now the baby is napping, the older kids are playing together, we're all sitting in one tiny room (cheers to having a big house) and it's great. We're al together (apart from the baby), although everybody is doing what they like.

We spent midnight watching fireworks. We have a decent (ok, a great one really) view of the town from our windows, so there's a lot to see. We were almost all together. Cause just one of us definitely said that they don't want to wake up, don't want to get up, don't want to see the fireworks, but sleep instead. No, that wasn't the baby. That was Paulinka. So the rest of us, so me, K., Arti and Martynka plus my parents were watching the show, while she was sound asleep. And she was also the one who slept longest in the morning. Martynka woke up before midnight and stayed up till 2 a.m. playing, having fun, partying. We had the time to read books then.

Tonight, I'm also planning to do just the things I like. Read a little, crochet a little, watch a movie a little. But that's when the kids are already asleep.

I once wrote that I'm not going to start describing our most recent travels until I'm done with our Eurotrip2016. 2,5 years, that's how long it's taking me to finish writing about it. But so many things happened in the meantime. And I don't actually enjoy sitting at the computer anymore. Yes, I used to like it. Now I prefer other things. Apparently, I am getting old ;)

Without further ado, I'm going to write a word or two on our next 2016 roadtrip stop now. Yeah, believe it or not, I will finish that one. Even if those last two or three posts on the topic are going to take me another three years ;) Just kidding. I hope.

Anyway, we're already on our way back home. Slowly, as we still have a few things to see on the way. If we manage. We spent the night in Zaragossa, but that was it. We saw nothing there, not even the street outside the camping. We spent the whole afternoon playing in the pools, sipping drinks, chilling, relaxing. Simply enjoying our last afternoon and evening in Spain. In the morning, we quickly packed our belongings and in no time, we wereon the road again, headed for one of the tiniest countries in Europe (not the smallest one, but one of the smallest).

We got to Andorra without any troubles. Which was great, as the following day, on our way to France, we saw a looooong line of cars (like a good few kilometres) standing, waiting to get to Andorra. A few hours' wait for sure. But we got to Andorra without any troubles. Quickly found a free spot on one of the campsites and were ready to explore a little. We just went for a short walk and a little bit of duty-free shopping. But we enjoyed the views as well. It must look marvellous in winter. It was my second time in Andorra, after almost 20 years, for the second time in summer. I must return in winter for once. But since I don't ski (tried once, just once and it's not that I didn't enjoy it, I just didn't have a chance to do it again), I usually choose warm destinations for our winter get aways. Or stay home in winter.

There's not much to write about our day in Andorra, just a few pictures to share, I guess. So.... here they are.

We liked this car a lot. And since during the trip we were reading a book about a guy who had a very peculiar car (an amphibia that looked strange, like it couldn't drive, but had an engine of a ferrari or something. An old Polish series of detective-like books), we found it even more interesting.

A Roman Aqueduct and a Moorish-Gothic Castle

Seeing Avila wasn't the only thing we had in mind for the day. We wanted to spend the night in the nearby city of Segovia, so we still had some driving to do.

We got to Segovia in the quite early afternoon. We set up our tent, had a little swim in the pool and still had enough time for an evening walk in the town.

First things first. A thing you can't possibly miss in Segovia is the Roman aqueduct. It's huge and kind of pretty. You can walk under it, you can climb up the stairs to see it almost fromthe top. You can see it from the distance, you can see it from up close. From the side or directly. Many options to choose from. Whichever you choose, though, just spend a minute capturing its size and beauty. Try to find that beauty if you can't see it at first.

Once you're done, keep walking towards the main town square looking for signs of the undergroung aqueduct. What signs? Where too look for them? Just look under your feet, on the ground, where there are bronze (?) signs with the symbol of aqueduct on them. I can assure you, once you find them, you'll know it.

By the way, why did they have two aqueducts? The one over the ground and the one under it? The answer is simple. As I havealready written, the big aqueduct can be seen from the distance. Easily. If I can see it, you can see it, citizens of the town can see it and their enemies could see it, too. It was relatively easy to poison the water running in the aqueduct in an attempt to poison the citizens of the town. That's why they were actually using the water from the underground aqueduct. It was much safer. At least the nobility was.

Once you got to the main town square, you can't miss the cathedral. If you have a chance, take a glimpse inside. I bet it's pretty. Look at it. Appreciate it. After all, European history is heavily based on Christianity, startin with Catholicism. The vast majority of catholic churches and cathedrals tell the history of the place. And are really pretty (church was rich and had an important role in the society. A powerful role, too).

When we got to the cathedral, it was already closed. So we couldn't get inside. So I can't say for sure that it was magnificent, richly ornamented and worth visiting, but I'm not expecting anything less of it.

There's also one more place in Segovia that's worth visiting, but we didn't get there either. Even to see it from the outside. It's the alcazaba, the fortress. It was already too late, too dark. Next time we'll try to catch up on it.

The next day, we wanted to hit the road and get as close to the border as we could. However, first we wanted to visit one more place.

Castillo de Coca or Caste of Coca is a 15th c. castle on the outskirts of a town called Coca, 45 km north of Segovia. Its a peculiar combination of Moorish design and gothic architecture. You can't get there by chance. You have to want to get there. It wasn't easy to find. It looks impressive, though. Like no other place we could imagine or no other place we've ever seen.

The place, unlike Castillo de Butron, is publicly owned and open for sightseeing. But... Yes, again, there's always a "but" when we're travelling. And there's always at least one place we can't see due to construction works, renovations, or simply some festivities. That happened with Arc de Triomphe in Paris, baptistery in Florence, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, to name a few. And same was here, in Coca. The castle was closed for sightseeing (we were not the only ones wanting to see it, fyi), cause the previous night there was a huge party just outside of it and they were just starting to clean up the place. There was no passage to the castle.

We got back to the car, got back to the main roads and managed to drive up to Saragossa. We saw nothing there, though. We spent a very lazy afternoon and evening by the pool, sipping drinks and having a lot of fun. Lazy fun. We all needed it. It was our last stop in Spain. It was time to say good bye to delicious Spanish food and drinks and its wonderful sights. The following day we crossed the border. But it wasn't the end of our trip. We still had two places outside of Spain that we wanted to see.