Istanbul was the farthest point of our trip. We managed to reach the place where Europe meets Asia and cross the continental border (it is worth mentioning that it is one of the two metropolises around the world that covers two continents). Istanbul is the largest and most populous city in Turkey, we had the opportunity to see it the hard way, as we got there during rush hour. Driving a car through the city center requires a lot of skill, sometimes we wondered if there were any regulations at all. It took us a long time to drive a few kilometers, we are not sure if we have seen such huge traffic jams before.

Turkey - Istanbul - Teraz Bus;)

The Transfogar Route - one of the windiest and highest roads in Romania. The entire route is over 100 km long, and over 6 million kg of dynamite were used to build it !!. Our adventure with the route began in the early morning, at the very entrance we met tourists from Poland and exchanged a bit of our previous adventures Romania has once again left us speechless! The route makes an amazing impression, as soon as the first mountainous landscapes appeared, we could not believe that in the first version of the planned route, we were to avoid the Transfogar road. When planning our trip on this section, we were primarily concerned about whether the bus would cope with such a challenge.  Our fears turned out to be completely unjustified. Zajezdnik was able to handle the climbs, turns and various crossings very well, we stopped several times, but not because of a breakdown, but only because of the wonderful views and the desire to photograph everything around In the driveway once again another one we met Poles, this time avid motorcyclists who told us about their travels and various routes perfect for a motorcycle and more!.

Romania Transfogar Route (Transfăgărășan) Now Bus;)

Crews (in order of travel):. We, that is Agnieszka, Stefan, Piotruś (5 years old), Gabriela (1 year old) - Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.8 LPG + KIP 42 TTZ. Ela, Michał and Agata - Skoda Octawia station wagon 1.9 TDI + Niewiadów. Asia, Leszek and Kuba (3 years) - VW Touran 1.9 TDI + ABI. 30.06 Monday. Yesterday at night, Michał and his family came from Opoczno with his little girl, they spent the night and today we are moving towards Lithuania, then finally - Latvia. The weather is not optimistic. All forecasts indicate that it is supposed to rain for at least a week, our trip looks poor considering that we are focused on sitting on the beach.

Latvia 2014

Day I. It's Monday 2nd July. Beautiful sun, and we are heading towards the passport office, because who would have thought about picking up our passports earlier - as usual, everything at the last minute. Around 9.30 we pick up the passports and go to the border with Lithuania. Of course, in the era of the European Union, we hardly notice the border and after a while we speed along the highway to Lithuania's Klaipeda. On the way, we stop at a nice place for lunch - it's called "170 km". There we swallow Lithuanian dumplings and go on.

Lithuania - Latvia - Estonia 2012

BOUZOV - PRAHA 215 km. November long weekend…. Well, maybe not that long, but enough to come to the Czech Republic. Camper cars packed - this time we are going in a team in various configurations - gusts from 1 to 4 :). On Friday afternoon we manage to break through the crowded Polish roads and after two hours of slow driving we can finally straighten our bones on Czech roads - of course within a reasonable speed range, because you know how the more police like us. We avoid the highways and huddle in the mountains - it's a pity that after dark, but at least on the roads, total emptiness - as it happens in the Czech Republic after dark :) After a few hours of driving we drive to the parking lot at Bouzov Castle - admittedly, the navigation wanted to carry our cars stairs, but we were stubborn and chose the road nonetheless. Probably thanks to this we met a Czech camper who, as it turned out, was also headed to the same place. As it is off-season, the parking lot is empty - we do not complain - there will be more space for us. There is a path leading from the parking lot to the castle - but today we will not look there anymore, we go down it to the village (you will have to go back up later - I wonder if there will be someone willing for a ride :) In the evening, only a restaurant / pub in the hotel is open in the village of emptiness. It's gonna be dinner. We sit down comfortably and take the menu - it is somewhat thin (special for the weekend). We look more closely - and there are goose meat in ten ways - and that's all they have on the menu - it's a shame about the thread dinner. We are content only with drinks and we trek back uphill. In the parking lot it turns out that another friend has arrived…. A little drizzle…. Tomorrow will be another day…. Islanding (after the rain lulled us to sleep, and in the morning it greeted us with drumming on the roof), driven among the drops to the castle ( http://www.hrad-bouzov.cz/cs ). We're knocking on its gates…. You can come to 11, because now, after the season, we only show you around sometimes - ok, we'll be content with a cup of coffee / tea in a restaurant. Eleven o'clock struck open this time. We buy tickets (120 CZK in season) and enter the courtyard. There, the guide greets us, introduces us to the castle, tells us what is allowed and what is not :) and we devote ourselves to an hour-long tour. And what we saw and could pass on (no photos are allowed inside) we will show below…. After sightseeing, we go to the capital in a triple package. This time, riding down the hills provides more experiences than yesterday - we know where we are going. We decided to avoid toll roads, and our navigations have divergent suggestions (as is usually the case), we also manage to puncture narrow country paths before we hit the Prague bypass (crossed vignette) and after driving a dozen kilometers, enter the island where our camping is located (Caravan Camping Císařská Louka). A nice place with a nice view of the city. In a straight line to the Charles Bridge about 4 km. However, to get to the city you have to either swim to the other side :) or take tram 14 and after 20 minutes come to Vaclavskie Namesti. The most convenient way is to buy a 24-hour ticket (110 CZK) for all means of transport around Prague and you can go crazy around the city…. which we will check soon.

IDEA FOR A WEEKEND - CZECH REPUBLIC

A complement to the summer "castle" expedition is a one-day trip to Ogrodzieniec to see the castles in miniature and to find the castle in Siewierz, not found during the summer vacation. But one by one ... The day was not going to be bright, but there was no sign that it was going to rain, so you could go on a trip. The sun is shining through the car window, but the thermometer shows only 6 degrees of heat, but it reaches 17'C during the day. In Ogrodzieniec we stop at a small church "stuck in the rock" - the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rocks . We even manage to take a picture of the interior through the steamy windows of the temple.

Ogrodzieniec 2010

Day 5 - We leave the caravan at the campground and go to the castles around Prague. We originally planned to leave the trailer and go to Germany to see the castles in Bavaria: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. However, after much thought, we found that it didn't make sense. And this way we visited a few more interesting places in the Czech Republic ... The first was a baroque palace of the Chotek family from the mid-18th century in the Empire style in Veltrusy . Park with romantic buildings. To see it in all its glory, you had to go for a long walk, but - what can I say - it was worth it. It is true that the security guard did not let us in, but the views from the outside were satisfactory enough.

CZECH REPUBLIC 2010 part 2/2

Well, I am starting the first caravan trip in my life. Not only is the route quite long, about 2400 km, it is also a topic from the Middle Ages. In general, this trip can be described not so much as "castle", but from the series "I see locks everywhere" (after such a week you look in the fridge, take canned food, open it and what? See the lock :) not to mention the fact that we have enough canned food .. .). The preparations lasted quite short, but nothing was missing during the expedition. First of all, a specific program of the expedition based on various guides, search engines ... We wanted a route to see as many castles in the Czech Republic as possible. It was literally a tour around the Czech Republic. It was not possible to drive everywhere, but there were also points that we did not take into account at all.

CZECH REPUBLIC 2010 part. 1/2

In addition to longer trips, maybe a one-day offer: Krzyżtopór Castle in Ujazd and Sandomierz. The idea for a day trip in November, the weather was good, so you can go outside the city. You can find out about the castle on the official website. However, I will share my impressions and photos from the trip. The castle welcomes us with cannons, but only one is directed towards us.        It is not far from Ujazd to Sandomierz, where we can visit the castle, the Cathedral, the market square with the Town Hall, the underground tourist route ... If time permits - go on a boat trip on the Vistula River.   We can visit these two places in one day. You can also extend the route with several attractions that are located in the area.

Ujazd - Sandomierz

And again rummaging in the archives and returning to the past ... A trip to the Netherlands during the winter break 2006 ... I invite you to read (or actually watch). Yes, this is not a mistake, but one of my crazy ideas;) On Christmas 2005, I visited my Friends near Miechów and from word to word the idea of going to The Hague came up. A quick phone call to our Friends in The Hague: - What do you do during the winter break? - Why? - We want to visit you ... - Joke? - Not. Seriously. - Come on! And it happened. Packing the car on Sunday afternoon and parking in the streets of The Hague at 5 am the next day.

THE NETHERLANDS in a nutshell

We have a week off and a total of 9 days - something has to be done with such a beautifully promising free time. We planned to go to Croatia, but eventually decided to go there during the holidays. There was an Italian idea around the coast, but definitely not enough time. That is why we finally decided to go to the Alps. Everything is packed - here we go. We pass through the Czech Republic, and we cross the border with Austria in the small town of Reinthal - near Breclav (note the passage is only below 3.5T). Driving along side lanes is so different from the main roads. Calm down, there is no traffic and small towns have their own charm. We reach the main road from Mikulov. At the first possible station, we buy a vignette - as we continue to enter the motorway, which is getting closer to the Czech border every day. We often pass through Vienna, but always along the ring road. This time we decided to devote a little more time to it. A small donkey, therefore, after making a round along the beautiful, blue Danube, we park in the vicinity of the city park and go for a walk along the Viennese streets.

ALPINE ROUTE

We can choose the road along the Spanish coast - that is, another sunbathing on quite crowded beaches in this area, or just or, a drive through Andorra. We do not think for a long time because we already know the coast a bit, and we have never been to Andorra, and the weather is not very suitable for sunbathing today. It is quite cloudy and stormy, and apart from nature and mountains, Andorra also tempts with prices of fuel, camping and other products. We haven't ventured so deep into Spain yet - and the weather in the mountains seems to be better. Yes it was definitely a good idea. There were no problems with entering Andorra from Spain - they looked at the passports and asked for nothing. Abroad, you can see the middle lane of the road, which is intended for two-way traffic - red or green light is on, depending on the traffic. There is also a gas station nearby, heavily crowded - I wonder why. And nearby - as with almost everything in this small country - there is a shopping center where you can spend some time browsing between the shelves. A few kilometers away is the capital of Andorra, La Vella. We stop at the McDonald's car park, which offers free parking for meals and relaxation. We eat and go on a tour of a small town. We walk around the area for a while, but there are not many monuments here, but you can get acquainted with the local architecture. Andorra is a small country, but so much has to offer. Monuments, maybe not necessarily, because we didn't notice anything special, but these mountains are wonderful. Wherever we look, there is a peak - a paradise for our eyes. As we are close to everything, we are going to look around the hills a bit. We stay overnight at the campground and at the foot of the mountains. The campsite is located on the main road - but the traffic in this country, far from the border, is so great that we do not even notice it. The service was nice and the price - a fraction of what in Spain. Tomorrow, maybe we will go to a summit….

Travel reports

Turkey - Istanbul - Teraz Bus;)