The usual reaction to any city we visit is: “Wow, that was fun. We can imagine coming here again.” Sometimes there may be a thought of: “Ok, we have seen this now.” But only a very few places manage to disappoint us so completely that they get added to the TIHI category. Bozen, well done, you became memorable to us in the worst possible way 😀
At least the day started well – the sun was in our backs now, so breaking camp was a much more relaxed and cooler affair than the setup last night.
The plan is straightforward – we need to be in the Netherlands in four days. Well, we want to be – since long before we decided that Italy would be our best shot we made plans to visit old traveling friends at the end of this parental leave – same as we had done last time with Number 3. As the astute observer might notice: The Netherlands are not, strictly speaking, along the way to Frankfurt. But we were committed, felt we had done northern Italy enough justice and strapped in for some decent long distance travel (for European standards).
To avoid even more Covid-related paperwork and hassle, we would stop once right before the Austrian border still in Italy (well, the autonomous province of South Tyrol) and then pass through Austria in one day to avoid some hassle. That meant today was the first of four consecutive road trip days, and the shortest distance. With the EV, each of them should look roughly the same – first leg, quick charge lunch break, second leg, camp. We opted for the fastest route via the motorways rather than the scenic roads – we would probably need 2 more days to avoid pushing the little ones too much going scenic.
So, I planned ahead and saw that Italy did not really have fast chargers along the motorway, at rest stops like the rest of Europe, at least not here. If we needed to come off the toll road anyway, might as well add one more city, right? Bozen, the capital of the German speaking autonomous province of “Südtirol” was on our way, reached roughly at lunchtime. It had six public chargers marked within walking distance of the two recommended eateries on the Lonely Planet app – perfect, or so we thought.
With growing disbelief, I had to realise that every single public charger on the otherwise excellent app I am using has been removed. It seems, there are only three charge points left in Bozen, and they were A: in a paid parking garage and B: all in use, obviously. I have nothing against paying for parking if the chargers are available, but this was for me a clear indicator that we had made it back to fat old German-speaking climate-denier country.
It was late, we gave up – I mean our car has plenty of range – and settled on at least finding something to eat. We did, and again it was a beautiful reminder of what we hate about our own culture. All that was to say about the food at Gasthof Fink was that the portions are too big and they despise vegetarians. Would you like a triple layer Schnitzel, or two sad slices of undercooked eggplant for the same price, mam? Let’s leave it at that – we will not be back.
Brixen, and the hotel / campground we chose as our stop for the day, turned out to be the light at the end of the tunnel, on the other hand. We arrived to excellent service, a really well-kept campground attached to the hotel and a nice pool. The reception offered that I could use the free guest chargers to top up the car before moving to our camp and then top it up with the 6A overnight. It was perfect, even though we looked a bit funny relaxing and cooking on our site amidst all our stuff but without the car.
We took a rest day at Agriturismo Alba. After two cities in a row, we needed a bit of a breather for the next two cities ahead of us. With this in mind, we relaxed for a day.
She’s going to be a professional climber someday
Number 3 really wanted to spend some time at the playground and the Agent tagged joyfully along. We were the only ones on the playground this morning. Bringing our sand toys with us was enough to keep both of them busy for quite a while. The Agent loved the slide though and in no time started climbing up the ladder all by herself.
Doing laundry was overdue so we put on the washing. Unfortunately, the machine was broken somehow and all our clothes were dripping wet when we took them out. The sky was overcast for most of the day, so it would take forever for them to dry.
We had a slow morning with some blogging and then a nap. Well, the kids had a nap as they alternated their time asleep: The Agent started and sleep through 1 ½ episodes of Benjamin Blümchen (audio play for kids about the adventures of an elephant who can talk) which is when Number 3 fell asleep and the Agent was wide awake again. Oh well. No sleep for tired mamas. 🙂
Like this, the madness even looks pretty
When nap time was over, Flo urged us to jump into the lovely pool. I hadn’t even seen it by this point. The sun had come out though so I was persuaded.
The pool was immaculate, blue and surrounded by a lovely manicured green lawn. I got into the water fist, which was up to about my waist right next to the ladder. That was as deep as I would go in today, I decided, as the water was really quite cold. The Agent in her pushy manner nearly threw herself in before she realized how cold the water was and refused to be put into it at all. Her screaming quickly convinced me not to try again. So we got out, changed into something dry (or baby-naked in the Agent’s case) and watched Flo and Number 3 splash around until Number 3’s lips turned blue about 10 minutes in.
The pool excursion ended, a little earlier than expected, with a lovely hot shower. Flo even improvised delicious dinner with the asparagus tips we’d bought two days ago and the potatoes we’d carried since we left home. XD
The Agent of Entropy was in A LOT of pain because her molars and a few bonus incisors are breaking through at the same time. We prepped her a little with pain relief before bringing her to bed in the hope that we might get a quiet night as another gaming session was scheduled. Indeed, we had a quiet, kids-free evening and when we went into the tent later on both kids had crawled towards the middle of the tent and were cuddling. Sometimes, the little ones just melt your heart.
Early morning – these two are just two handful!
She’s going to be a professional climber someday
Almost like Benjamin Blümchen
Well, you gotta put that wet laundry SOMEWHERE
A regular lunchtime with the kids
One-handed spreading butter on my bread…trying to contain the Agent of Entropy
The Agent in her element. What the … ?
Camping at Agriturismo Alba
Like this, the madness even looks pretty
Fluffy chickens at Agriturismo Alba
“Where’s that swimming pool?!”
Yay nah – I pass. Kids are excited though
Reading books with the Agent – she took a liking to the depiction of kangaroos
Our second
day at Quinta de Odelouca began. This time, I had opted for fresh bread rolls
which the camp ground offered as a breakfast option. Quite happy with the
choice, we started to pack the carrier backpack and my own small backpack:
Today, we’d see some of our surrounding!
The short
hike Flo picked was to get to San Marco de Sierra via the hill route, have
lunch there and then come back along the river. We started around 10am when the
sun was already up high but temperature-wise it was still okay. Then…we went
face first into the hills. 😉 To be fair, we first had to cross a small river
to get to the hill. There was no convenient bridge close by, just a railway
one, so we did it the old fashioned way. I, once more, was quite happy for my
hiking sandals because I just walked on through. Flo, carrying Number 3 in a
backpack, had opted for heavy hiking boots and thus needed to find a shallow
route. It wasn’t a problem either.
… and up! Not much shade
Then, we
went face first up the hill. I’m not sure if the pictures will do it any
justice. It was steep. Very steep. I was wondering if a 4WD drive could make
it. Probably yes…anyhow, have I mentioned that it was steep?
It was a very pretty hike though. Through fields of flowers, under cork oaks (which I hadn’t seen before) and by the stump of an old tower. Towards San Marco de Sierra which appeared as a lovely white city in the distance once we had crested the hill in between. Seeing the village was quite misleading though as the path wound its way on the crest to the tops of two more hills before descending again.
By around
11.30am we had made it. Half an hour to spare to meander through the village
before having lunch in a recommended eatery. Wait, is it closed?
Turned out,
it isn’t open Saturday at lunch time. Feeling rather hungry after our hike, we
checked the next eatery. It was 22 minutes by foot away. Back into walking
mode, we finally arrived at a place that was open. And buzzing. Geez, is that
because it’s Saturday? There was hardly a table available. And a whole pig
roasting on a spit in front of the eatery. No one spoke a lot of English so I
am not sure if it happens every Saturday or if it was a special occasion.
Anyway, we got food, even vegetarian things for me. The poor waitress made a
face once she understood that I wanted something vegetarian but then was quick
to suggest an omelette with cheese. Portions were enormous. Baby also dug into
the food. Seems like it’s true and kids just looooooooove chicken.
Flo
finished the whole affair with a coffee while Number 3 charmed everyone again.
Like a chiselled farm hand, looking serious and ordering a coffee and a shot
for lunch…suddenly cracked into a big smile and waved at baby because baby was
standing in his way, waving at him. Portugal turns out to be a very good
country to travel with kids.
Its breeding time – never seen so many storks
Filled to the
brim, we were ready to go once more. This time, we followed along the river for
a bit and crossed the river one last time. The way back seemed long now but
then, we could see the camp ground and were rather relieved. At least in my
case.
Flo still had energy left to jump into the pool with Number 3 before having a short stop over on the porch of the camp ground owners. They offer glasses of wine, port or soft drinks for a very reasonable price while you sit at the same table and chit chat. Unfortunately, most of the campers were Dutch and just could not be persuaded to speak English. Unable to follow the conversation (especially me), we cut our time there short and went to have dinner instead.
Fog in the morning made everything damp and slightly cooler
tiny bridge over a stream on the porperty
Wild roses I would guess?
still flat
crossing the Odelouca
nina through
A beautiful cork oak
going up …
.. and up …
… and up! Not much shade
San Marco de Sierra taunting us
great viewpoint
what a life
almost here
Number 3 checking the decorations at the town square
Having
travelled for almost two weeks straight without any rest day, we were really
craving a bit of doing nothing. Even when we spent two nights at the same camp
ground (which happened twice so far), we still explored cities on those days.
One can hardly call those “days off”, especially for Flo who usually carries
Number 3 in the carrier backpack.
So today,
was going to be a day of sweet nothingness. Of lazy lounging on the camp ground
and of idle wandering towards the pool. We had exactly the right camp ground
for this. And we had picked a good day for it as well: Not only was it Sunday
(cough) but it was Election Day in Spain and we wanted to get out of any of the
shenanigans that might come with it. It was a lovely sunny day to boot.
So we woke
up to a sunrise over olive trees while camping underneath one. Between 9 and 11
our camp ground provide breakfast and it was divine. Nothing special but it
came made for us, no work involved. Also breakfast is the best meal of the day.
🙂
“Doing
nothing” turned into “slowly doing some chores” which included washing and
drying our big pile of dirty laundry. Then we had the usual lunch with bread,
cheese and the ton of ham and sausage that Flo had bought yesterday. An
afternoon nap marked the time between lunch and the pool.
Number 3
was very keen on getting into the pool. His mind changed after he had his legs
in the very refreshing water. Instead, he played a bit with the water jets
while we took turns going for a short and rather hectic swim.
Flo
prepared a lovely, mushroom risotto for dinner with a local sherry as the secret
ingredient. Cordoba is in the sherry triangle of Spain apparently. Since the
recipe only uses one glass, we had almost a whole bottle of sherry left…Flo can
only drink so much. So he traded with our neighbours and was gifted with a
glass of their sweeter sherry in return, which even I kinda liked.
Number 3’s
bedtime had to be pushed to 30 minutes to an hour later than usual after
yesterday’s disaster of trying to get a baby to sleep in a hot tent while the
sun is still shining. On it. Just to be clear. Now, at about 8pm, dusk had
already begun and Number 3 had no qualms with going to bed.
It left enough time to get a cold drink from the bar and sit quietly under an old olive tree for a while, watching the world turn pink, purple and blue. A generally great rest day was had. 🙂
Good morning olive trees
and good morning to you, blossoming old olive tree.
free entertainment in form of the lot barrierers
looking a lot more traveling vagabonde with a weeks worth of washing out
too much work, nap time
wanna play ball?
that is just about enough cold water
better to play with the round thing once more
technically we started here …
… and travelled all the way to the other side. With a bit of a break in between, maybe
looks good, but the little one learned his lesson around hot things about a minite from here
Even though
we still suffered a bit through a little fatigue from the day before, we
managed to get a quick shower in and wrap everything up by 10:30 am. Number 3
agreed and keeled over almost right away. That made for a good progress.
I hopped
into a supermarket along the way to sort out the essentials for lunch. You
would think there is not much to surprise us in a European supermarket, but the
in-store stall with 50 or so hams (still on the leg) and a professional
ham-slicer to serve you straight from the leg were definitively unusual 😉
We briefly
debated going for the mountains to hop by a couple of monasteries recommended
by the Lonely Planet but the weather was still a bit dreary. No point putting
Number 3 through an extra hour of driving to go on curvy roads in the rain.
Instead, we decided to keep our eyes on the campground selected and spend an
hour or two catching up on things.
Food and sand don’t mix well, Number 3!
That also
left plenty of time to look a bit about for a lunch spot. We chose a beach 10
minutes from the highway. That way, Number 3 got his first picnic on the beach.
He was a bit undecided about the sand situation, but we all enjoyed the sun
finally breaking through.
As it
turned out going for an early camp, that was an excellent choice. Even avoiding
the motorway, we made excellent time. In most places the road was a perfectly
good motorway right next to the toll road.
The
campground was the first one we picked from a site recommended by Dutch
traveller friends of ours. https://www.rustiekkamperen.com/
It roughly translates to rustic, or better romantic campsites and focuses a lot
on things that we like in our stops. This time, we went for a larger one on
there – a converted Orange Orchard a bit off in the hills. It was an amazing
choice! Perfect, clean facilities, super quiet and cheap to boot. The pool
looked like something out of a travel magazine – we had to try, but it was
waaaay to bloody cold. After almost freezing Number 3 in the kiddie pool, he got
to have a hot bath instead!
We topped it all off with another great dinner and got to see a beautifully lit sky for sunset. All was quiet, except for the bunches of overly excitable birds all around in the old and gnarly olive trees.
Day 3 of relaxing. We briefly thought that today might be the day we get up and see some of the surrounding area but right after breakfast, we decided against it…yeah, nah…
So delicious, all of it
So we had another day of charging our own batteries, snoozing in the tent, jumping in the pool and I finished my book which I started on our first rest day. 🙂 It just felt great to do nothing.
In the evening, we decided to go out for really good food in a restaurant that is slightly more pricey than what we usually go for. Flo was particularly hungry as he had skipped lunch. It took some searching to find it (google maps was asked once) but once we sat down, everything was great. Flo even found good beer which is a big thing after going through Oman and Iran where you just can’t buy alcohol.
Cappadocia, we are really grateful that you decided to be sunny and warm for days because we really needed this rest. Thank you.
Another day in the pool – still cold
The walk into town
Like a bad minecraft experiment
City view
So delicious, all of it
Hmm, good beer!
This one would be great for zipping around on the sand tracks …
Demo shot – we did not bring the camera when we had a swim 😉
We already collected two real homes each. Maybe we should not be too liberal with adding new ones, but Michael and Lina were such amazing hosts and we felt so comfortable here, it is hard to call it by a different name. Come Sunday, it will be time to leave once more (the Omani weekend is Friday and Saturday).
Regarding today, there was really nothing on our agenda. Gladly, we are all the kind of people who can enjoy a cozy day at home. Thus the day was gently going by with us watching videos, listening to music and a whole lot of good conversation.
We did break the rut once in the afternoon for a splash in the both enormous and refreshing pool of Lina and Michael’s condo complex. Simple times!
Having booked a second night in the budget room and one instead of two nights at the fancy place, our plans crumbled slightly. Since we spent a bit of money on the fancy room, we wanted to get some use out of it and enjoy the amenities. Thus, we would go to the temples in the morning, check out at lunch time and then spend the afternoon lounging and relaxing.
Good plan. Until we decided that it would also make sense to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat today instead of tomorrow so that we could sleep in in our fancy room. This meant that the alarm clock went off at 5am. So freaking early. I mean, we don’t sleep in too much but with the sun rising at 6.30am, there is no reason to get up before 7am. Now there was, though.
Just enough light – and no muppet in the way
We rode Rocinante into the temple complex where we joined the long throng of tuk-tuks all moving towards Angkor Wat. It was going to be crowded. All the “perfect” spots by the pond were already taken. They are “perfect” because Angkor Wat is mirrored in the water if it’s a still enough day without too many clouds. We sat down on the grass a bit away from the pond but ended up moving around quite a bit while the sun was rising. It gets light so quickly before you can actually see the sun. We took some very pretty pictures but with the crowd, it didn’t feel like a special sunrise at all.
Underexposure ftw …
When the crowds started to disperse, we sat down at the pond, having a quick breakfast of Nutella toasts. Because sunrise and probably also sunset are such a thing, many kids were running around trying to sell you postcards or magnets. They were all incredibly cute but I got upset when tourists asked them for a picture and then paid them a dollar for it. All you accomplish with that behaviour is that these kids will continue to work there instead of going to school. There are actually signs posted at the temples with “Don’t give money or candy to children, it encourages them not to attend school” and some people still do it. /rant
Ta Keo was the next temple on our list. It’s a pyramid with many, very steep steps and it is currently under heavy reconstruction. Still, we saw only a handful of other people there so early in the morning. Very peaceful.
In a way, Ta Prohm is more impressive than the cleared temples. Nature’s power over man is awe inspiring.
The so-called “Lara Croft” temple Ta Prohm was the next in line. This temple is mostly a ruin as trees have wreaked havoc with the walls and roofs. Being famous for featuring in a Lara Croft movie, it is picturesquely broken to our eyes. There are efforts to reconstruct a couple of areas. Here, we only managed to be half an hour earlier than the tourist buses.
Being really tired and also hungry again already, we decided to visit Sra Srang and then call it a day with the temple visits. Sra Srang is not actually a temple but a huge basin that was built as the royal bathing pond. The stairs with the guarding lions is still standing but access to the pond is off limits except for the fishermen.
Back at the hostel, we were still in time for a late breakfast so our hunger was taken care of. Afterwards, I still got to nap for an hour before we had to pack and check out at noon. Our fancy accommodation turned out to be fancy indeed. Though we had to leave the budget hostel at noon, check in in the new place was at 2pm. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived at 12.20pm. We were seated in the lounge on a couch, had wet towels brought for refreshment as well as a lime drink and banana chips. Good signs, huh?
Flo is sceptic…
About half an hour later, we were shown to our room which was HUGE and lovely and the staff had scattered flowers on the bed and there were swans made out of the towels and the phrase “Florian Bocher we <3 u” was spelled out on the bed…I LOVED it.
Still being tired but also being hot from the motorcycle ride, we jumped in the pool (extra pool towels ftw) before having a second nap in the plushy, comfy bed. At around 3pm, I dragged Flo along to another “dining for a cause” café, this time specializing in cupcakes while supporting Cambodian women in their vocational training. Check out the Blossom Café if you are in Siem Reap!
Uber-rich chocolate cupcake and lime splash
I couldn’t really decide what I wanted because there were so many flavours. In the end, I went with peppermint tea and a chocolate hazelnut cake pop while Flo ordered an uber-rich chocolate cupcake for me. He got a lime splash and a raspberry lemon one to his coffee. Very decadent, I know, but so worth it. 🙂
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging on the comfortable furniture, reading, browsing the net or watching something. For dinner, we walked to the Peace café, another vegetarian restaurant, but it had moved so we ended up in the vegetarian restaurant across the road before heading “home” to watch a movie on the flat screen tv. It was almost like the shortest holiday in history.
Just enough light – and no muppet in the way
actually, the photos look better than the real thing this time
half an hour to go
There are about 10 rows of people in front of me
A normal high season crowd
Child labour is an all too common sight – and the whities are clueless …
Underexposure ftw …
The sun coming up on our way out
Sunrise over the gods churning the ocean of milk at the south gate of Angkor Thom
First stop, the unfinished Ta Keo temple
Up to the second level …
almost at the top … these steps are steep!
Top of the Ta Keo Temple
brief rest at the top for research.
Also known as the Tomb Raider temple.
Here and there, bits of plaster have been preserved.
about half the corridors have been preserver or reconstructed here.
angkor wat looked similar when it was “rediscovered”
Still, beautiful morning light
In a way, Ta Prohm is more impressive than the cleared temples. Nature’s power over man is awe inspiring.
All around, trees and roots hugging the stonework.
All this is already a manicured state.
almost every stone seems to be slightly shifted in some way
The inner gate from the east
never underestimate druid spells …
The so called Tomb Raider Tree had some prominent screen time.
Detail of Ta Prohm’s western gate tower
Lion guarding the stairs leading into the royal pond
Looking out over the massive basin
Everything past the lions is off limits at the moment
Two more days in Thailand. When we realized this, we actually got our lazy bums to do some of the activities that are offered here. Klaus and Silvia had already been kayaking and recommended it. Flo was very keen and I was persuaded to actually do some physical activity.
Because of the tide, we started at 2pm which is right in the afternoon heat. Our group consisted of four two-men kayaks and a guide. So in the end, it was a proper tour.
From the Discovery Resort, we walked the 50m to the pier where we all hopped onto our kayaks. The tour would be 6km long and take about 2 1/2 hours. Despite my initial reluctance, I enjoyed it very much and Flo started teasing me about being way too keen to paddle. :p
Passing through there was very cool
We moved along the limestone coast for a bit before turning into a small passageway which lead us thorough channels into the mangroves. Here, we realized why the tide was important as some of the spots we went through were so shallow that we scrapped over the ground.
On the way back to the pier, one had to move back out into the open on a wide river which has the most beautiful backdrop. One of the other couples was nice enough to take some pictures of us and send them. 🙂
Arriving back at the resort, we hopped into the pool to cool off. Since we still had Klaus’ waterproof camera with us, you also get some pool pictures.
Carrying your own paddle
Getting into your kayak
Going along the beautiful limestone coast
Maybe a bit too hot in sunshine
Close-up of the limestone
We all had a break in this little cove with a beach
Leaving the cove behind
Coming up to the little channels
Passing through there was very cool
Silhouette of our fellow kayaking people
Front seat
Back seat and steering
One of the few pictures of Flo
Washed-out limestone
In the mangroves
Fellow people took a picture of us
Excited Flo selfie! We had just passed a narrow bit
Getting out of the way as a tree trunk blocked the waterway
Arriving at a former “crocodile cave”. All crocodiles have been removed into a zoo…
Moving out of the cave again
Limestone formation in the cave
Back in deep and wide waters
Open sea! And gorgeous backdrop!
Another picture of us!
Taking a nap…
Very pretty scenery
Monkeys on the road side. The cage is actually a monkey trap…
Underwater selfie time! The water had so much chlorine that it hurt to open your eyes
You must be logged in to post a comment.