Tag Archives: Sleep

Day 6 – Recuperating

After yesterday’s long drive to get to Italy, it was officially our rest day today. Unfortunately, the kids don’t understand the concept of “sleeping in” and thus, we were awake way too early again.

It was a bit chilly when we got up but breakfast is a good way to cheer everybody up. Afterwards we just went to explore our immediate surroundings: The waterfall of Acquafraggia first of all. It is a five minute walk from our campground and we can see it from here through the trees. On the way there, we found a cool place with access to the river where Number 3 put his feet in already. He was generally amazed by the rapid flowing water.

The waterfall itself was loud and there was a lot of spray so Number 3 stayed back a little, while both Flo and I got ourselves a little refreshment when we got close. 🙂 The Agent of Entropy had no choice but to go with Flo but since she didn’t complain it couldn’t have been too bad.

With our spirits high and the temperature rising to a lovely 21 degrees, we started to walk to the next village over to see if we could find a little restaurant for lunch and a shop to buy some groceries. Though the walk was basically along the main road but on a pedestrian footpath, we saw lots of animals. The lizards especially fascinated Number 3. There was also a little chicken hut where we spent about 15 minutes trying to convince Number 3 to keep on moving.

The village of Prosto di Piuro is rather small. We still found the artisan bakery/cookie shop for me to buy some fruit bread, cookies, jam and a bottle of red wine in.

To be honest, Flo and I didn’t know how travelling would be during the pandemic and if we’d feel unsafe. We are really impressed with Italy at the moment as everybody seems to be “no nonsense” about the rules. EVERYBODY wears a mask. And correctly, too! Not just covering mouths or such silly business as I often see in Frankfurt. Everybody keeps their distance if possible and they just get on with it!

Shopping was a pleasure even if I had to stretch my almost non-existing Italian. We didn’t find a restaurant in our price range that was open but we found the little supermarket to buy some groceries.

We hurried a little on the way back as it was time for lunch and everybody was hungry. That turned out to be a bit of a drag for Number 3. Even so, he refused to have a midday nap after lunch. Chilling on the campground in the afternoon was an exercise for our patience. Only when Number 3 observed the guy on the lawnmower and started role playing it did things improve again.

By dinner time the Agent of Entropy was causing havoc while Number 3 redeemed himself by being a superb sous-chef.

Day 2 – An unexpected daytour

The first night in the tent…let’s just say there is room for improvement. 😊 Flo and I were toasty as our set-up is tried and proven time and again. Both kids were cold and complained, waking us up repeatedly. So our mood was not the best when the alarm went off in the morning.

we had colder before, but not the wee ones

Breakfast was the first ray of light in a grey day with lots of drizzle. The Agent of Entropy devoured a whole banana. Nonetheless, you could just tell that everybody was sleep-deprived and slightly grumpy. Flo wouldn’t be deterred though: There was a tower on a hill which you could see from our campsite and he was determined to get to that tower. Today. So, we packed our backpacks and hit the track.

Number 3 was not amused. He was in no mood to walk. At all. He managed to cross the field to the village where the track was about to start. Trying to solve the conundrum, Flo decided to carry Number 3 in the carrier while I had the Agent of Entropy in the cloth wrap. It was quite an exhausting way of hiking…

The track, however, was worth it. It started with a steep section through dense forest with animal statues on both sides to show kids what kind of animals used this habitat. Further up we went to the saddle where we had an early lunch with delicious bread and cheese. The Agent of Entropy took a nap while Number 3 explained that he couldn’t sleep because he had to see every single tree we passed.

About 1km from the tower Number 3 decided that his battery was sufficiently charged now that he could walk a little. It was okay for about 200 meters and then he had a full-on melt-down when he wasn’t allowed back into the carrier. He screamed at the top of his lungs for the rest of the way to the tower. Since I had asked him about a million times if he was sure that he wanted to walk now and that he couldn’t get back into the carrier before we reached the tower…we just all had to suffer through this. At the top, we had another break with snacks.

Tower at the edge of Baden-Baden city limits

Flo went up the tower to enjoy the views, the kids and I stayed on ground level.

The way down on the other side was fun. Number 3 more than redeemed himself with being a great pleasure to hike with for the rest of the way. First, we went down quite a rocky path, then a steep slope to finally come back to a wide hiking path. Only on the wide pathway did Number 3 need more encouragement and the occasional boost off being carried a few meters. We were back at the campsite around 4pm, six hours after we started.

Flo was totally the hero in this piece as he carried both kids for the last kilometer of our hike. Needless to say: getting the kids to bed was easy this night. Not falling asleep right next to them proved to be much harder…

Day 51 – Avoiding revolutions

Once again, we started the day with a bit of indecision about the immediate next steps: Stay and spend our rest day here? Move on? No rest day but super short days instead? It actually took us all of 10 minutes of pulling off our chateau camp (so no rest day today) to make up our minds.

I briefly brought up the option of visiting Versailles. Paris we wanted to avoid for several reasons, but maybe a one-day sightseeing stop the day after tomorrow? In the end, we decided against it – the weather was the biggest factor – I had seen it once in the rain, only a sunny day would do for making a detour worth it. Plus, avoiding Paris’ traffic and potential Gilets Jaunes disruptions was definitely a factor.

Lacking a good target in the area we wanted to end up in tonight, we took sort of the best path avoiding Paris on a northern route and aimed for a “regular” campground with good google ratings.

We were really quite pleasantly surprised by the route we ended up on. It really had this road trip feel to it, where making distance is sort of first priority, but the landscape zooming past is part of the experience. Rural France can be quite enchanting. The N-routes took us past most villages, but through enough that it had far less of the sterile feel of toll motorways.

A great but slightly too sunny lunch spot was easily found just by the road – a little artificial lake. Same goes for our coffee break at 2, just stopping in a picturesque village square and dropping into the local café for a bit of a booster and some local colour.

barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it

The campground was nothing to write home about – but it had a picnic table ready for us, saving some time. The real event of the evening was the thunderstorm hitting us right after arrival, with just enough time to set up the tent and get the storm cover, literally seconds before a good old summer storm hit us. Number 3 was a little scared in the beginning but it got better fairly quickly while we all cuddled in the tent.

It even got a bit sunny after that and Number 3 managed to wear through two sets of clothing jumping into puddles and exploring before the sun came out again. He finished his day off with a round on the playground, impressing us once more with his motor skills and fearlessness. Early bed time it was for us. With little happening today, it still felt like a good day. Just the three of us, in tune with the road and ourselves.

“I can sit everywhere now!” – “yeah, but breakfast is back here …”
bye bye, almost cliché France
tree lined driveway leading up to the place — trés posh!
“I’m hungr .. zzzZZZzzz”
Bigger Chateau diplomacy
Picnic tables are superb climbing terrain …
who the boss here?
Stuff happening in the skies
cool tower in cool town, names are all a blur
first time we tested out the storm cover – did it’s job!
exploring in puddles
barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it
he used the bobble thingies for the first time on this trip – now he has them figured out
“you call this an obstacle?”
“ok, this is a bit scary now”
“no, never mind … wheeee”
he sat down in the end … RIP pants #2

Day 307 – Sürprise

Getting up and making breakfast wasn’t much better than dinner last night and I guess, we didn’t take a single picture of our camping spot 5m from the restaurant. All we wanted was to get going, ride the 160km to Antalya, have lunch and decide on a plan. For quite a while, we had wanted to skip Antalya altogether but now, it was conveniently placed. Also, Flo wanted to at least have a look around the old town. Where to go from there, was completely up to debate: Go inland to Pamukkale and skip most of the Mediterranean coast? Follow the coastline which might disappoint and then double back to see Pamukkale?

just say yes …

The ride to Antalya was nothing special. We put on some music and it mostly flew by. Getting close to the inner city, we stopped in the shadow of a bridge to see which places the Lonely Planet recommends for lunch. Flo hadn’t even managed to get the Lonely Planet out when a BMW rider stopped just a few meters in front of us. Actually, they rode two up as well and with the panniers, their silhouette looked much like ours. We closed the distance so we could speak and they asked us if we needed help. Oh! “Nah, we just need a bit to figure out where to have lunch” – *brief conversation in Turkish between the two* “Okay, follow me”.

Önder and Nazan in road attire

One of the advises the Lonely Planet gives you for Iran is “just say yes”. Wondering if that sentence still applied for Turkey, we followed the BMW as it wove through the traffic. Stopping at a place that is owned Antalyaspor, the sport’s club, we introduced ourselves. Önder and Nazan were on a day trip to Kas, about 200km further down the coast, and back. They invited us to join them but 400km starting at lunch time seemed too daunting for us. So while we had lunch and they had a coffee, we explained our journey. It ended with an invitation to Önder and Nazan’s house for tonight. They would be back in the evening so we had the whole afternoon to explore Antalya before being hosted. Such a sweet deal was not offered often so we said yes once again.

Riding through the old town

Already being slightly late for their expedition, our two future hosts left soon after to get on the road. We took a bit longer in figuring out what to do. Mostly, both of us were tired already. Thus, we spotted a park on the map for a relaxing nap and a bit of reading time before doing anything else.

Three hours later, the light started to look golden so it was now or never to see Antalya’s old town. Access to the old town is restricted but Flo managed to get us in without having to take a ticket. Maybe motorcycle don’t count. Once we were at the car park, the owner saw our license plate and started speaking German with us. He had actually lived in Frankfurt for 16 years and seemed happy to speak German again. An invitation for tea followed soon so we sat down for some çay and some talk about Frankfurt. It almost seems as if there is a pattern emerging: A lot of people we met have lived in Germany and have good memories about it and speaking German. Others, who probably haven’t lived in Germany, seem to be slightly hostile. If that is because of an abundance of German tourists or because of the recent political things, I cannot say. Being German provokes a reaction is all.

Another ally and minaret

After tea, we started on the walking tour that the Lonely Planet recommends. Strolling through the small streets of the old town, it reminded us of Höchst’s old town, the quarter in Frankfurt where we had lived. Yes, there are a lot of hotels and restaurants catering to tourists but you can also find quiet corners. We really enjoyed it despite our negative expectations beforehand. It is pretty. Having more money would be good because then you could actually try one or two of the hipster food places that we now only imagine are lovely. When we got to the marina, we noticed the other reason why we might like it: The lack of tourists. Yes, the odd ones are there but given that it is high season, the city is practically empty. Turkish tourists can be found but not in masses.

We came past some old houses, a mosque which had started as a church, ruins of old, the old city wall etc. etc. In the end, Flo stopped with a surprised shout. One of the motorcycle rental shops had a transalp in barley yellow on display. Rocinante without being Rocinante. For us, it is the first time we have seen another yellow one but not a lot of people seem to be riding the Transalp anyway.

15 km through the night, always the eyes on this

By now it was 7pm. Önder and Nazan hadn’t gotten back to us yet so we dined in one of the nicer restaurants. Veggie kebab for me and half a chicken grilled over charcoal for Flo kept us occupied. Still, we hadn’t heard anything. So that is my excuse why I had dessert. 🙂 Another round of sweet rice pudding and also a text from our hosts made me really happy. It took them another hour to make it into Antalya but they picked us up from our parking spot so we could follow them to their home. They’ve had a hard time making it back as there had been a 15km traffic jam, adding to the already long day both of them have had.

Finally, we made it to the place where we could rest our heads. I was slightly surprised when we turned into one of the gated communities. Once we’d parked, a tiny kitten which I thus dubbed “Tiny” greeted us. Being pre-occupied with the kitten, I was flabbergasted when the door opened. Despite being “forewarned” that we would get a whole floor to ourselves, I couldn’t believe it. It was a whole flat just for us. A fully functioning flat with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. And after refreshing ourselves with a warm shower, we were invited for tea upstairs.

By now it was really late and everyone was dead tired but we still had a lovely tea with nibbles and conversation. Önder suggested a couple of things that we might look at along the coast, especially Kas where they went today. Flo, on the other hand, promoted Ted Simon and Horizons Unlimited. After that, we just fell into bed intend on sleeping in.