Final post for 2023 Adventure in Europe
What a trip. We drove 5200ish kilometers (3,224 miles) in 60 days. Gas prices ranged from 1.58EUR / liter to 2.02EUR / liter or $5.99 to $7.66 gallon. We drove on a few toll roads where the price ranged from 2EUR to 18EUR so not that bad.
Weather was unseasonably warm, mostly in the high 70’s or low 80’sF, and we only had rain maybe 4-5 days. Needless to say, we packed a bit off for this trip, but we made it work.
Driving and parking. Driving takes a bit to get used to. It is common for cars that are going to pass you to get within inches of the rear bumper before making it around your car only to cut back in inches from your front bumper. In the US, we would call it tailgating and cutting someone off. In Europe, it’s called driving. Speed limits are mostly a suggestion. No one does the speed limit, anywhere! It’s nothing to have a car pass you in the city where the limit is 30KPH (roughly 18MPH) doing 50,60, even 70KPH. Motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles all use any and every lane, no matter the direction, and split lanes, no matter the direction.
Parking in Europe is a major challenge. There is basically no such thing as free on street parking. There is but those spots have been taken by people who leave their car there for years. Parking garages are pretty common but have their own story. Spaces in parking garages are big enough for a compact car, exactly big enough. That means no matter where you park, one of you is getting out before you park. Cost for this challenge can run 20+EUR per day!
The towns
Dijon, France
We started in Dijon on our tour of the Burgundy region in France. Absolutely perfect! Dijon is a small, quaint, medieval town with lots of cobble stoned streets, half-timbered buildings, cafes, coffee shops, and restaurants. If you fancy a jar of true Dijon mustard, you can get it here, but it isn’t cheap. A small jar of artisan mustard can cost $30.00, I know!
Touring the local vineyards is easy and all offer tastings. Tastings will cost anywhere from 5EUR to 80EUR, and the tasting price is not applied to the purchase of a bottle, like in Napa, CA. Still, you can buy a very good bottle of Pinot for less than 20EUR.
The drive to Beaune, another medieval town with lots of ancient sites, is about 35 minutes. There are several tasting rooms in Beaune in addition to the #1 tourist site, the Hospices de Beaune. This 15th century former hospital is worth the drive!
If you want to tour by bicycle, like we wanted to, it looks to be easy. The roads to the vineyards are narrow but the locals are used to having bikers around, so they give way. We elected not to tour by bike due to the temperature being in the low 80’s.
Overall, go to Dijon and enjoy the best of Burgundy!
Chamonix, France
What an amazing town! Located at the foot of Mont Blanc, Chamonix is not just a wonderful town to visit during the winter ski season, but any time of year. There are a thousand things to do other than skiing. We took the gondola to the top of Mont Blanc. What an amazing site! From this height you can see the French, Swiss, and Italian alps. Breathtaking!
A drive through the French alps is also breathtaking. Some from the scenery, some from the road, and some from the other drivers always in a hurry. This is a wonderful town to just enjoy the scenery, cafes, and friendly people. Relax!
Sirmione, Italy
Sirmione, Italy is located on Lake Garda. The scenery here is inspiring with plenty for tourists to do. Of course, there are lake activities like jet skis, boat hires, even ferries to tour other lakeside towns. But if that isn’t your calling, there is also a medieval section of town that has its own castle and Old Town shops and restaurants. The place can get busy but during the off season or later in the day, it’s all yours!
Old Town is walking distance from Sirmione proper. About 30 minutes up the peninsula on sidewalks or the restaurant lined promenade brings you to the entrance gate of the castle. A tour of the castle is a must, and the cost is reasonable, around 6EUR per person.
If you long for more Roman ruins, the drive to Verona from Sirmione is about 45 minutes with an excellent Roman period museum, a theater, and remains of an ancient square. Verona is a very walkable town with lots of ruins and an arena turned amphitheater that is still in use today.
Ljubljana, Slovenia
One of the nicest cities we have ever visited. It’s the people in this town that make it a “see again” city. Yes, there are sites to see, like the triple bridge, the Dragon bridge, and of course, Ljubljana Castle. But it is interacting with the people of Slovenia that is most pleasant.
Every Friday from March to December, there is a central meeting place for everyone in the city. Each Friday is the “Open Kitchen” event with food stalls filling the square, music playing, and lots of seats for everyone to sit and enjoy conversation while tasting some amazing dishes. Don’t go thinking you’re going to taste traditional Slovenian foods; this is an international food fair with meals from all over the globe.
This is the perfect city to take a relaxing river cruise to see the sites from a different perspective. Have a meal along the riverside and watch the world go by, or try something different, like tofu donuts! They are pretty good. Don’t forget to rub the nose of the man on the door for your wish to be granted!
Definitely a second trip on the planning board.
Zagreb, Croatia
If you’re into big cities, this is the place for you. Not exactly what we expected but a nice place to visit. A two or three-day tour would be perfect for this big city. Lots of restaurants, cafes, bars, and museums. Unfortunately, when we were there, of the 48 museums, only a dozen were open, and the ones that were closed were museums like the National History Museum, Modern Arts Museum, etc. The museums that were open were not what I’d call museums, more like collections of unusual stuff, the Hangover Museum, the Museum of Bad Relationships, etc.
Big city with a lot of people in a hurry. Still, if you’re in Croatia, stop by for a short visit, it’s worth it.
Zadar, Croatia
Who doesn’t like a beach town? What a beautiful city with amazing views and ocean-side restaurants. The perfect place for doing some beach time, snorkeling, diving, anything in the water. A bit touristy, yeah but hey, we’re tourists. Don’t overlook their wine. The local wines produced in Slovenia are actually pretty good, even if they try to serve them with ice in the glass. Just say no to the ice!
Fun boardwalk. Lots of restaurants, cafes, and bars right on the boardwalk with wonderful views of the ocean and sunsets. Take a stroll along the promenade all the way to the Sea Organ, a neat invention that plays musical notes from the ocean’s waves. A great place to sit and relax, watch the sunset, and listen to the music of the ocean. More time here would be a good thing.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Game of Thrones! Yep, that is everywhere in Dubrovnik since this was the site for filming the series and “King’s Landing”. It is very popular with tourists and as such, there are cruise ships in the harbor almost every day. Sometimes up to three or more ships, that’s a lot of people. When the cruise ships aren’t there, then the bus tours take over. The message here, be prepared for lots of people, lots!
Dubrovnik is still a “must see” on the travel list. A completely walled city (you can walk the wall around the city for a measly 35EUR per person) with lots of cobble stoned streets, shops galore, and restaurants. No shortage of places to eat, drink, and be merry!
If there is one thing to prepare you for your trip to Dubrovnik it would be stairs. Before you go, hike lots of stairways. Why? Because Dubrovnik is built in between several steep hills and everything, except the Old City center, is on a hill. Our apartment had 140 steep, irregular stairs to go down to the bus stop. That means 140 steep, irregular stairs to get back to the apartment. The Old City has its share of steps, so be prepared.
There is a very nice café, restaurant lined promenade just outside the Old City that we highly recommend. Beautiful sunsets, reasonable food and drink prices, calm and relaxing place.
Bari, Italy
What a surprise. Originally, we were just passing through Bari but once the ferry line canceled our ferry, it became a stopover. Two days was just about long enough to enjoy what Bari has to offer. As with many European towns there’s and Old Town with walls, cathedrals, and a castle. But most amazingly, Bari is home to the sarcophagus of Saint Nicola, or Saint Nicolas, or Saint Nic, the guy that comes around each 25 December and leaves presents! Yes, hard to believe but there really was a saint that gave presents to people and started the tradition. AND he’s here!
Located in Old Town in St. Nicola Cathedral is the crypt that contains his sarcophagus. Free to see! If you’re in Bari, take a couple of hours to tour Old Town. They have lots of cafes and restaurants, and they even have a castle. But most importantly, go see the cathedral of Saint Nicola.
Ferries in Europe
It’s unfair to classify all ferries in Europe based on the ones we were on for this adventure. Most were fine, once you’re on. It’s the loading and unloading process that makes ferry riding difficult to enjoy. Not that there are not a lot of people trying to help you, there are, probably more than necessary. It’s how they pack your vehicle in. Cars, trucks, are so close together that it is impossible to get out of the passenger side. That means when it comes time to unload, it is impossible to get in the driver’s side. If you’re lucky, you can snake your way to your car, squeeze in the passenger side and climb over the console to get into the driver’s seat. If not, wait until there is an opening, then go to your car. (Not the preferred method according to the staff).
Once onboard, there’s plenty of open seating to relax and enjoy the ride. If your ferry is an over-nighter like ours, you can get a cabin with one – five beds, a shower, and a toilet. We selected a suite with one bed, close to a queen size, private bath and toilet, and a sitting area. Well worth the investment. But these rooms also very by company. We were on Grimaldi Line and the suite was sweet; we were on Corsica Ferries and the suite was less than sweet. Just a crap shoot.
Cagliari, Sardinia
Overnight ferry ride to Cagliari, capital of Sardinia. Disembarked and decided to do a little exploring in the town of Pula, about 45 minutes away. We chose Pula because of the ruins of the ancient city of Nora located there. Weather was a little cloudy but no rain (yet), and temperature was mid 70’s.
When we arrived, we found that there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot. We had the entire site almost to ourselves. We paid our entry fee, which I think was 5EUR, and spent the next 2 hours exploring the site.
What a massive ancient site! The entire ruins have not been excavated yet but so far, the city spreads over two hills and is in amazingly good condition for being on the ocean. Some parts of the city have been reclaimed by the ocean and are good dive spots for those who scuba. The land portion is in good condition. Signage was good but only in French. We downloaded Google Translate before leaving and it worked pretty good, sometimes not, but generally, it worked.
After our adventure exploring Nora, we drove to our Airbnb house in Costa Rei, a beach community about 1 hour from Cagliari. Nice little community. Mostly second homes located right on the beach and have dedicated parking. Very important in Europe to try to find dedicated parking with your accommodation.
Teresa di Gallura
Driving on the island is pretty much the same as the mainland, lots of speeders, lots! Our next stop was at the northern end of the island, Teresa di Gallura, for a couple of nights then catch the ferry to Corsica. This ferry was only 1hr and pretty easy loading and off loading. Not a lot of action in this town and only a few sites to visit. We found an ancient site called Lu Brandali, a small site still under excavation but not in the best of condition. Worth the price of admission which I think was 4-5EUR. There are several nice beaches here, so I imagine during high season that’s the draw.
Nice town, nice people, limited selection of restaurants and cafes.
Bonifacio, Corsica
This island is part of France so back to the French language. Nice city with lots of restaurants, cafes, etc. Claim to fame here is the citadel and ruins that are built on the limestone cliffs. Pretty picturesque and a bit of a walking challenge if you’re staying in the town, not Old Town. The town is located by the seaport and is several hundred feet below the citadel. Good hike!
Streets in this town are much the same as the others, narrow with limited parking. In the citadel, the streets are cobblestone with no parking so if you plan to visit, park below the citadel, and take the tourist train to the citadel.
The street that the hotels are located on is right on the promenade and very narrow. Good hotels, nice people, and scenic.
Piana, Corsica
What a beautiful location! This town must have one of the best views ever, looking out over the ocean with mountains to the north, islands in the bay, awesome. Not much is going on in this town, it is strictly R&R. Lots of vacation rentals with views, small town square with a church, grocery store, couple of cafes. So pretty slow.
But if you’re looking for a two-four day retreat, this is a great choice.
Toulon, France
Back to the big city. Fortunately, our Airbnb was located right at the harbor so we didn’t have to drive around the city much. The roads here can be confusing, especially if you use Google maps for navigation. It gets hard for the nav system to determine exits in roundabouts, sometimes it counts a driveway as an exit, sometimes not, so extra care is needed. This city is the base for the French Navy, Charles De Gaulle carrier group, and a major ferry terminal.
The city has a nice open market that’s open every day except Monday, and it is quite large. It is located right by the harbor and goes for several blocks. Good place to buy fruit & veggies, even clothes if you so desire.
The city is walkable and has a good selection of cafes, restaurants, and bars. There are also several early century churches, a rugby stadium, museums, etc. Relatively easy drive from Toulon to Marseille, Avignon, Monaco, and other cities. Just outside the city is the WW2 Disarmament Museum and zoo. The road going there can be a bit daunting.
A couple of days here would be about all that is necessary to see the sites, but it is a good base for exploring other nearby cities and towns.