Meteora - Monastery Overload.

We are parked tonight at Camping Viachos in Kastraki with the Ambaria rock towering over us. We arrived here this afternoon after visiting six of the rock top monasteries. The rock formations in this area would be stunning in themselves but the fact that there are monasteries built on top of them is simply amazing.The monasteries were founded, mostly, in the 14th Century and access originally was by removable ladders and later by windlasses by which monks would be hauled up and down several hundred feet in rope baskets. In the early part of the last century steps were hewn into the rocks for access and now a tarmac road encircles the area with parking places adjacent to each monastery.

 

. Not to say that access is too easy! The first monastery that we visited was accessed by a steep path down into the valley and than a steep climb via steps up to the main doors, I wouldn't want to be the monk they sent out for a pint of milk when they ran out. This was Agia Triada, the smallest monastery we visited, with the smallest chapel and with original frescos from 1680.

 

Next was Agios Stephanos, much easier to access via a bridge over a gorge and a little larger. Both of these Monasteries had been renovated externally but the chapels remained intact and were stunning with original frescos and paintings

 

Then we visited the Grand Meteoro, founded in the 14th Century it is the largest and the highest of the monasteries, perched on a rock 613m above sea level. This was the highlight of the day. Two absolutely stunning chapels, a restored infirmary and refectory, a fascinating museum showing the Greek struggles against the Turks and against the Axis invaders in 1941. And all around views of the rocks and other monasteries perched on top of rocks looking for all the world like a sneeze would send them tumbling down.

 

The ossuary.

Finally we visited Varlaam, but after the Grand Meteoro it was always going to be a hard act to follow but we were lucky enough to catch a tour guide explaining the details of the chapel to an American tour group so we learnt a lot about the frescos and paintings depicted and the architectural style. After her talk the Greek guide asked if there were any questions. There were:

"So, is this chandelier,like,original?"

"So, where does John the Baptist figure in all this?"

Varlaam from Grand Meteoro.

 

It was a fantastic day but after five hours we were a little tired, I don't know how many steps we went up and down but it was enough that our legs will be aching tomorrow I'm sure. This is a truly spiritual area and althought the larger sites have a few stalls outside selling touristy artifacts it's not overdone. There are balconies and terraces at all the monasteries where you can sit and enjoy the views or simply contemplate the effort and skill to have built these places of worship or, in fact, sit and try to contemplate nothing. It's a beautiful spot for hiking and the monasteries can be reached by trails through the woods and valleys. Today, Saturday, there were at least half a dozen coaches at each site, it wasn't too busy but I wouldn't want to come here at the height of the tourist season. I'm sure we'll come again though, one day.

Tomorrow we head over the Katara Pass to Metsovo although we are now full of trepidation as our "guide" Bernd is calling it the "damned" pass. Should we be worried?

Pat

 

 

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Pension Arsenis

We are parked this evening in the car park of Pension Arsenis in the shadow of The Meteora Monasteries. We were greeted on arrival by the owner who seems to be a "character" and repeats everything he says several times. He told us that his mother would arrive later and cook us the best food we have had in Greece! So we took the time to have a little siesta and were awoken by him shouting through the window "Hello British, Hello British, Pork or Chicken, Pork or Chicken?" For the next few minutes the conversation comprised of,

"Chicken, please" ""Chicken?" "Yes please". "Chicken?" "Yes please, Chicken". "Chicken?" "YES PLEASE, CHICKEN!!!!!" "Ok Chicken". "7 o'clock ok?" "Ok". "7 o'clock ok?" "OK!!!"

I don't think we'll need our glasses to read the menu tonight.

Meanwhile four French motorhomes have turned up in convoy and parked nose to bumper in a line and they are all immaculately clean. Showroom condition. How do they do it? Our van is pretty filthy now but we haven't been anywhere to wash it but we've noticed wherever we have been in Europe and North Africa that the French always have spotlessly clean vans. Very strange.

We've had our meal, Greek salad, barbecued chicken and chips and a half litre of sweet red wine. Hmmm, ok I guess. But we did better than the French. There are about eight vans parked here and we were all given our "dining time", ours was seven o'clock and the French were told the same time. They arrived at eight o'clock after aperitifs in their vans and the barbecue was dead so............ No dinner for the French! Son of Arsene had already told us they would not be able to eat because they were late but we hung around a little while to see the reaction when they arrived. Bearing in mind he's not running a full-on restaurant here, just him, his mum and a guy on the barbie I didn't have a great deal of sympathy for the latecomers, but their faces were a picture when they finally got the message that they'd missed dinner:)

So, tomorrow we visit the Monasteries, well, not all of them. I think there are six which may be a bit of Monastery overload but we definitely want to see the Grand Meteoro and maybe one other on the route. We'll save the rest for next time. Then the plan is to drive over the pass through the Pindos mountains to Metsovo, stop the night, if we can find somewhere to park, and then on to Ioannina the next day. After that we'll take two or three days to drive back to Thessalonika so our friends at Zampetas can fit the air suspension to the van.

 

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We're on The Beach

Thursday 29th May.

We are parked up this afternoon on a beach a few hundred metres south of the village of Kato Polydendri and it's lashing down with rain. Thunder in the distance, big black clouds overhead and we've been forced inside as the awning wasn't really protecting us. Today started off quite nicely, weather wise; a little hazy, warm but not too warm for driving and we set off for the restored mountain village of Panteleimonas on the recommendation of a lass at the campsite. A lovely traditional village (very romantic she told us) with tavernas built around massive old beech and chestnut trees and whilst a few houses had been converted to tourist shops, not too many to change the feel of the village. We spent an hour or so wandering around, had a coffee and bought a bottle of local wine which was decanted from a big box and a bottle of the local speciality, Tsipouro, an Ouzo type spirit made from Arbutis berries from Olympus.

Then we decided to drive down the coast and find somewhere to park overnight before setting off tomorrow to visit the monasteries of Meteora. Unlike folk embarking on trips like this ten or maybe even five years ago we have a lot of resources to help us find places to stop. We have the ACSI book for campsites; camperstop book for free, or inexpensive, overnight parking; we have over 30,000 European stop offs from Archie's guide (free) and specifically for Greece we have Peejays stop overs and the details of the trip a couple of years ago by the folk who now run Motorhome WiFi as well as tips we receive from fellow travellers. And we have the route our friend Bernd from Germany took a few weeks ago (we've never met Bernd but we like to think we are friends). So, we upload all this information to MapsWithMe and then plan each few days accordingly. Each morning we put the GPS locations into the Sat Navs and off we go. Easy.

But some days, like today, we give the Sat Navs a day off and head off to a village and then in the general direction we want to go, pretty confident that we will find somewhere to stay. At this time of year people here are pretty relaxed about wild or free camping so long as you don't abuse it. For example, we wouldn't park on a bit of wasteland opposite a campsite; that's just being stupid and offensive. We don't park where there a BIG no camping or parking signs. Our difficulties arise because it seems to be a national pastime here to deface or obliterate every directional road sign! Now, I like a bit of graffiti as much as the next man but this is just ugly vandalism. I wouldn't mind if there was a political message behind this but there doesn't seem to be any consistent slogans I can identify. So, if there are any Greek parents reading this - do you know where your kids are tonight! If not I'll give you odds they are spray painting a road sign somewhere.

The view from Panteleimonas.

And with Mt Olympus behind.

 

Our beach just before the heavens opened.

 

Pat.

 

 

 

 

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Brand New Rear End

We are parked up tonight on campsite Poseidon in Paralia Panteleimona just a little south of Leptokarya and in the shadow of Mt Olympus. We're on a sandy beach on a road with about four other campsites all tidying themselves up for the start of the summer season. There are a host of mini-markets, bars and restaurants and in a few weeks I think this place will be buzzing but for now it's a little sleepy and although there are a few folk here in their static caravans we are, once again, the only motorhomers.

We left Zapetas repair shop today after they re-assembled the back of the van. And what a job they did. It looks like new and it is now stronger than the original. It took them a couple of hours to put things back together with a delay caused by a dirty brake light connection. Here are a few before and after photos.

Back panels off.

 

The new panels after treatment.

Bottom panel on.

Job completed.

 

I can't praise these guys highly enough. While I was there they showed me how to clean the burners on the fridge, fixed a faulty surround on a roof light and generally gave me loads of tips and hints. They didn't charge me a fortune either, half the price I had expected or was prepared to pay. We're going back next week so they can fit air suspension to the van. Again, they've quoted me half the price I would expect to pay in the UK for the same system and fitting. They've had to order the kit from Germany and it won't arrive until Tuesday of next week so meantime we are going to explore a little more of northern Greece until we head back toward the Peloponnese. No great hardship there, the place we are at is pleasant enough and we don't really have to be anywhere in a hurry.

Pat

 

 

 

 

 

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The Brothers of Zampetas.

We are parked tonight in Zampetas Camper Stop and Service Centre just outside Thessalonika. We arrived here this afternoon at about half past one, hoping they would be able to have a look and see if they could repair the bodywork damage to the van. I was fully expecting them to say that without new panels there would be nothing they could do but the guys here have a real "can do" attitude. They examined the damage, talked me through how they could repair it, gave me a price and by two o'clock the damaged panels were off, we were shown where to park for free with all services on site and at eight o'clock the GRP wizard was back, offering the panels up to the van to make sure they fitted. Tomorrow they will re-fit them and we'll be good to go. There are three brothers who own this business and the eldest travels about in his motorhome now, being semi-retired. He's the GRP wizard and he only arrived back last night so we were really lucky that he was here. As I wandered around the site this afternoon he called me over to show me the work he was doing on the panels and explained in detail why he was doing it in a particular way. We are overwhelmed with the level of service and the attitude here, nothing is too much trouble for these guys. There are a Swiss couple who have been here for four days while all manner of repairs have been carried out on their van, including waiting for spares from Germany. The work on their van has now been completed and they can't speak highly enough of the folk here. It's a level of service, skill and adaptability that I just don't come across any more in the UK. It's half past nine now and they're just closing the place down for the night and making sure everybody is ok. Truly impressive people. The only downside is that we're about 500 metres from the main runway at Thessalonika airport.

 

If that wasn't noisy enough, the guard dog in its kennel five metres away whines for five minutes after a plane lands or takes off! Despite that I don't think we'll have too much trouble sleeping tonight.

There were a Kiwi couple with their eighteen year old daughter here as well today and we got chatting to them when we spotted the GB plate on their motorhome. They'd taken a sabbatical from their teaching jobs and had bought the motorhome in the UK and were travelling around Europe. They'd called here to get a gas filler adaptor and when the guys here didn't have one in stock they apparently made one for them! Their daughter was flying from Hambourg to Boston in a couple of weeks to attend Harvard, one of only four youngsters from New Zealand to be accepted this year. Very impressive. Apparently motorhomes are tres expensive in New Zealand and their plan is to ship it back home when their tour finishes and, hopefully, they will be able to sell it for the price they paid and get the shipping costs back. If you're reading this,Shane and family, it was good to meet you, briefly, safe journey and good luck.

Pat

 

 

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New Friends

We are still parked up this evening at Sikia beach after a day of planning the next few weeks of our travels in Greece and researching a motorhome repair centre. I've found one just outside Thessalonika so tomorrow we'll take our gaffer taped van to them and see what they can do with it. If they can do anything I'm sure it will look better than it does now.

It took us half a day to plan our route through northern Greece and the Peloponnese trying to include as many of the historical sights as we can and factoring in a few "rest days" :) Apart from that we haven't done much at all today. The hammock came out for a while until it became too hot for me and I had to retreat to the shade. Phil braved it out a little longer and is browning nicely.

The dogs who two nights ago were running about and barking all night as a result of the earthquake aftershocks have calmed down now and spend their days chasing cars up and down the road outside the campsite in between looking for shade after their exertions. We made our dinner this evening and all of a sudden they want to be our friends.

 

So, tomorrow a couple of hours drive to Thessalonika; the repair centre also provides a stop-over for motorhomes so we'll spend the night there and we'll get a verdict on the repairs.

Pat

ps. We just walked down to say goodbye to the beach with Mt Athos looking down on us and saw a flash of lightning over the hills inland and then the clap of thunder. It was many miles away but by the time we got back to the van it was directly above us and it is now lashing down with rain. We're sat under the awning enjoying a spectacular light show. The dogs don't seem bothered by the thunderstorm but one of them has come out from the rain and is lying under Phil's chair licking her foot - wet dog smell alert:)

 

 

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The Earth Moved For Us!

Sunday 25th May

We are parked this morning on a pretty little campsite next to Sikia beach on the Sithonia peninsular in Northern Greece. The drive yesterday should have been a little less than three hours and we set off early from Agios Vasilios after filling up with water. About half way through the journey we spotted a Lidl with Mythos beer on special offer so, of course, we had to stop and stock up. It was then that I noticed that the water tank cap was missing, I'd forgotten to put it back after filling with water two hours ago! So we drove back and found it next to the water tap where I had left it. We eventually arrived here late afternoon and settled down for a stop of a few days. Phil did a couple of loads of washing and we went for a stroll along the beach before dinner and then settled down to watch the Champions League final over a poor WiFi signal. I suppose a team costing £422 million was always going to prevail over one costing £64 million but the score line was a bit harsh in the end.

Now, Greek campsites, in fact pretty much all of Greece, is full of dogs. This doesn't bother us, we quite like dogs but yesterday afternoon they never stopped barking. We went to bed and were woken half a dozen times by the dogs running up and down and barking like crazy. We also thought the wind must have got up because a couple of times the van rocked a bit. This morning we didn't feel rested and when I went to collect our bread I mentioned the dogs to the campsite owner mentioning that we were thinking of moving somewhere where we could get a nights sleep. That's when he told me about the earthquake. It occurred about 250 kilometres away yesterday afternoon, ten kilometres under the sea and registered at 6.9 with aftershocks all night. Hence the dogs going barmy and the van rocking. We haven't heard a peep from the dogs for a few hours now so I guess they are exhausted and lying in the shade somewhere. We've decided to stay now as it really is a nice location. There are only a few other motorhomes and a couple of static caravans here (no British, of course) but the owners are nice people, it's spotlessly clean,it's cheap and it gives us a couple of days to plan our tour of the rest of Greece.

Talking of dogs, on our way here yesterday the traffic was held up by what we first thought was a flock of sheep crossing the road. As we got closer we saw that it wasn't sheep but a pack of about 50 dogs with a couple of guys leading them (dogherds?). They were all the medium sized dogs used here by shepherds but we have no idea why there were so many of them but they were being obediently led across the fields and a surprising sight to see. The other amusing event yesterday occurred as we drove through a tiny village after leaving Agios Vasilios. As we drove through there were a half dozen old guys sat outside a cafe drinking coffee, it was a small village so they watched us as we maneuvered the van through. When we came back through on our way back to collect the water tank cap they watched us again. When we came back the third time they must have thought it was Groundhog Day. I certainly did.

Evening:

We went for a stroll earlier along the beach:

 

Stopped at this little cove:

 

And had some lunch:

 

Crispy, tender Calamari, a jug of chilled white wine, complimentary sweet and coffee - now we know we are in Greece.

This part of the peninsular is pretty unspoilt; you really need your own transport to get here and it hasn't been overdeveloped yet. It's early in the season so we have the place to ourselves pretty much. There were a few Greek families here for the weekend but they've gone now so it's very peaceful. And the dogs have stopped barking!

 

Pat

 

 

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Greece

Friday 23rd May

We are parked this evening in the village of Agios Vasilios in a disused car park next to Koronia Lake. The lake seems to have shrunk a little bit because at the bottom of the car park are mooring points for boats but all we can see are marshes and wetlands. I'm sure it hasn't disappeared because it's huge on the map, just receded a little bit maybe. We set off this morning heading for Asprovalta as there were a couple of free parking spots there but they were a bit lonely. We called at a campsite which was closed but a lady came out of the offices and we asked if we could park outside which she said we could but again there wasn't much to keep us there so we drove into the town for a look around and struck gold! A roast chicken shop!! Now, bars, restaurants that have chickens turning on a spit are our best friends. We buy a chicken for not a lot of money and we have meals for three days. This one was jointed for us and came with a delicious lemon sauce, we had some potato salad left and I made some Tzatziki and we drove here, parked up and had a superb lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to cool down. The sun has been blazing all day and it was 32deg in the motorhome. There is no breeze so even with all the windows open it just stays hot. Not that we're complaining, mind. That's one of the reasons we came to Greece. Another one is the Greek people. Since we parked up a few folk have strolled by and all waved or smiled. I'm sure in England that by now some busybody would have been to tell us we can't park here.

Anyway, after a siesta we've both had tepid showers and it is starting to cool down now and we are planning our next stop. We really do need a washing machine badly now and we could both do with a few days of doing nothing. Apart from a two night stop in Austria and three days in Budapest we've been driving every day for nearly a month so we are looking forward to a few restful days. There is a campsite in the south of the Sithonia peninsular which looks like it has everything we need for a few days so that's where we are heading tomorrow. We can then plan what we want to see and where we want to go in Greece. I reckon we've got five weeks before the real tourist season starts and everywhere gets busy and expensive so we need to plan accordingly. Off the beaten track we'll probably always find somewhere to park for the night but if we want to visit the "must see" places we need to do it before the beginning of July.

I've tried to attach some some photos with this post but for some reason it won't post with them attached so I'll save them for another day when the gremlins have gone to bed.

 

Pat.

 

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Cable ties and gaffer tape

Wednesday 21st May.

Tonight we are parked up between Simitli and Razlog in Southern Bulgaria. Another campsite that has seen better days and is just about closed but for ten euros we can park in a meadow and we have water and electricity and a nice elderly gentleman who wanders about smiling and waving at us. Apart from us there's not another soul for miles so it's peaceful and it's not raining. Peaceful is good; of the twenty places we've stopped at since leaving home, ten have been next to railway lines. Being in a remote location like this means, of course, that we have no WiFi or 3G so when it gets dark we read, listen to music and argue over the best version of "This Is The Way we Make A Broken Heart". I reckon Rosanne Cash nails it but Phil prefers the Ry Cooder version. You can vote in the comments if you like. Or even suggest any other versions.

We left Breznic this morning, the resort that I am convinced is a loss making and money laundering enterprise by the local Mafia, after applying gaffer tape to augment the cable tie repair to the rear of the van. Last night as we pulled up a junior Mafiosi dude backed me in, looked at the van, pointed and said to Phil "Lady, you have problems". Like we didn't know the van looks like it's driven over Bulgarian roads. At least the gaffer tape is a similar shade of grey to the trim. When we get to Greece I know I'm going to find the best bodywork repair guy in the world and we will become friends for life.

So tomorrow I'll diesel the van up with our last 42.5 Lev, it's about one pound a litre here and I'm sure it will be more than that in Greece. Then we'll set of for either Thessalonika or Asprovalta. A campsite with a washing machine is required urgently or we'll be recycling clothing items you really don't want to be recycling.

We've travelled 2368 miles so far and I reckon another 50 will see us to the Greek border and then, surely, we must meet some more motorhomers. Driving through Belgium, Germany and Austria we saw loads but we haven't seen another motorhome now for two days. Apart from a dead one in a scrap yard. We're ploughing a lonely furrow here at this time of year.

No WiFi means no new photos but here's one I took at Baile Herculane, especially for Bernd who we nearly met there. Hope you're still following us Bernd.

Pat

Thursday 22nd May

We are parked up this afternoon on a campsite in Kavala in Northern Greece. We had plenty of cheap or free overnight stopping options but we pushed on to this campsite so we could use their facilities and have a couple of days just chilling out. However, the WiFi is "broken", the washing machines are "private", the showers are tepid. So Phil did a bit of hand washing to keep us going for another couple of days. The weather today has been glorious, warm and sunny so as soon as she hung out the washing it started raining. Well, good days and bad days eh? Although we don't really have "bad" days, just not such good ones. Driving through the valleys between the mountains seperating Bulgaria and Greece was something special this morning and cresting the hills surrounding Kavala and looking down at the sea and the island of Thassos was a great moment. So now we have the awning out and despite the rain it's still very warm. When it stops raining I'll stroll down to the office where there is WiFi, allegedly, and see if I can post this

Pat

 

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Bulgaria 2

The last post missed out a whole paragraph and some pictures!!

So, when we left our campsite this morning just outside Belogradchik we stopped in a lay by and bumped into an elderly gentleman who greeted us in English. We were on our way to view the unusual rock formations in the town and he said we must also visit the fortress. He had hitched 14 kilometres from his village and was going to the town, another 12 kilometres, to see if his prescription was ready for him. He told us about Bulgaria, of the new rich people, the emerging middle classes and of the poverty experienced by the majority of the population. He had been a school teacher and his pension was about £150 a month. He told us about the corruption in the country, in the police and even in the medical services where it was expensive for him to get the medicine to treat his osteoporosis. His prescriptions took up three quarters of his pension. He was proud that he had a friend in the USA and he showed us his passport with his American visa from the one time, many years ago, when he had visited him. He warned us of the dangers in Bulgaria from the gypsies, who would pick our pockets or worse. He said the ethnic Romanians we're lovely, educated people but he didn't have a good word to say about gypsies.

We offered him a lift to town and he directed us to the fortress and as we said goodbye I gave him a little money to help with his prescription and he was overwhelmed. A lovely man and lucky to meet him as only two people in his village spoke English!

The fortress was interesting insofar as the rock formations had been incorporated into the defensive walls, not that it was much use against Turkish invasions, of course.

A pic or two of where we are tonight;

 

 

 

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Bulgaria

We are parked tonight at a resort complex just outside Breznic in Bulgaria. The location is listed as Camping Breznic but it is definitely not a campsite! We arrived here after a journey over some of the worst roads I have ever driven over, and that includes Morroco! Really deep potholes, half the road missing which had slipped down the hillside and what remained was a patchwork quilt of tarmac repairs. I drove for miles in second gear avoiding the worst of the road but still managed to damage the rear o/s quarter of the van, the same place that was damaged in Austria a fortnight ago. The roads here and in Romania have been truly awful in places. Yesterday we drove along an unmade road for mile after mile, basically a farm track, and this was a road shown on the map with no suggestion that it was not suitable for vehicles. Our journey yesterday took us along next to the Danube and what a wide river this is! We passed by Orsova in Romania and the river is so wide there is a port, a barrage and a dam with a hydroelectric plant. The barges and boats here have to navigate a lock system. As we drove further south the river must have been half a mile wide in places.

When we arrived here, late this afternoon, it soon became apparent that this was not a campsite or stellplatz. But the folk here took pity on us and said we could park in the car park. An old lady asked if we needed a shower and although we have a shower on board she insisted and took us to a shower room attached to a bungalow and fetched us towels, soap, shampoo. A lovely lady. She said we could eat in the dining room, although there was no obligation and we've just had a three course meal with wine, coffee and a cheeky brandy for about £12 for the both of us.

Meanwhile some photos from the last couple of days:

The fortress at Belgradochik

The rock formations

Where we are tonight

 

 

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Romania

We are parked up tonight at Camping Hercules in the village of Baile Herculane, Romania. Space for three or four Motorhomes behind a restaurant. We had a meal this evening, three courses with wine for £9 each. The weather has been kind to us today, no rain and some warm sunshine. We've had heavy rain for the last five or six days and folk tell us it's been awful here for the farmers but it's been worse to the west of us with severe flooding in Serbia and Bosnia and many lives lost.

We arrived in Romania yesterday and headed for the city of Timisoara, being Cup Final day my main concern was finding a bar which would be showing it on TV. The campsite was a few miles out of town but an English couple on the site (our first English people for two weeks!) said the WiFi was really fast on the site and as it was pouring with rain we decided to stay put and watch the match on the iPad. I'd downloaded an app so ITV would think I was in the UK so we settled down for the game. The WiFi wasn't fast so the picture kept freezing. I switched to 3G which was better but I only have a 500mb daily allowance and that ran out during extra time! We tried listening on the radio but that kept stalling too. So although we eventually celebrated, our joy was tempered with frustration with only having seen bits of the game. On reflection we should have gone into town and tried to find a bar but, hey ho.

So we didn't explore the city of Timosoara which according to the guide books has some beautiful squares and architecture to recommend it, maybe on the way back we'll have a look round. Now, as we get closer to Greece we just want to push on. Folk tell us that eastern Romania and the capital, Bucharest are worth visiting but for now we are just going to head south tomorrow into Bulgaria and we should be in Greece by Thursday. So far the Romania that we have passed through has been a flat, agricultural landscape with no wow moments but Bulgaria promises us some good scenery as we travel down through the west of the country hugging the Serbian and Macedonian borders.

Pat

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Szeged Pt2 - it's not all fun, fun, fun.

Three days ago after a night of heavy rain we got up to find water all over the toilet/shower room floor. The roof light had leaked. This had never happened before. Then we noticed that water was running down inside the windows in the bathroom and the kitchen. This had never happened before. We mopped up the water but couldn't find the source of the leaks so assumed it was a one off; parked not quite level? Wind in the wrong direction? Exceptionally heavy rain? We crossed our fingers and set off.

Yesterday after a day in Budapest during which it rained incessantly we came back in the evening to find water all over the floor in the main area and the bathroom. Both roof lights had leaked. The main rooflight had developed a leak in Morocco which I had, unsuccessfuly, repaired and so whilst at home a few weeks ago a garage specialising in Motorhomes had removed the rooflight and replaced it with new seals at not inconsiderable cost. It rained all last night and we had buckets, pots, etc on the floor to catch the drips. Today we have had rain showers but no leaks.

A couple of hours ago I went for a shower, turned the tap on and.......nothing...no water. I could hear the pump working but that was it. I knew I had water because I had filled the tank before we left the campsite this morning. So I open up the water tank to find that a hose had somehow become disconnected. The flexible hose that connects to a rigid pipe is held in place by a jubilee clip, or in this case wasn't. To reconnect the pipes I had to first undo the jubilee clip which, because it had spent it's life under water, was rusted. Oh what fun. Half an hour later the tools were packed away again and we had water.

Oh yes, I forgot, a few days ago I pulled the lever to let off the waste water and the pipe disconnected from the tank so I had to scramble underneath with water pouring over me to reconnect the pipe.

Now,I'm not sharing this with you looking for sympathy. Just to let you know that if you're thinking that it's all beer and skittles well, sometimes we have our bad days too. But the carpet is dried out now, we have water, and we're heading south and it's going to get warmer and we'll have less rain. We hope.

 

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Szeged

We are parked up this evening in Szeged, Hungary on the most dilapidated campsite we have ever stayed on. We've driven away from worst than this in the past but there aren't too many campsites on the route we are taking and the next one would have been another couple of hours drive so here we are. Needless to say we'll be using our on board facilities tonight. We have the place to ourselves, not surprisingly, but there is a happy ending to every story. After a bite of lunch we walked into the town which didn't look too promising as we drove in and we stumbled across an annual festival. Not any old festival but a wine festival. Stall after stall promoting wines from Hungary together with craft and food stalls. Well, we had to sample the wines, red, white, rose, sweet, dry. If I told you it was a hard task you wouldn't believe me. Of course we had to buy some strudel too and some marzipan cakes so despite an unpromising start the day ended quite well. Szeged also has a museum but we didn't have time to visit.

Yesterday we went to the National Museum in Budapest which was fascinating. A history of Hungary from 2000AD to the present time. The changes of the borders and the efforts over the centuries to maintain a nation state are enlightening to people like us, living on an Island as we do. We spent four hours in the museum, where everything displayed was translated into English, before setting off for the Market with it's wrought iron roof and where the ground floor sold an amazing variety of meat and vegetables and the upper floor was mostly crafts directed toward the tourist, together with authentic food stalls doing a roaring trade. It poured down all day so we were unable to explore more of Budapest but hopefully the weather will be better when we come back this way.

Tomorrow we are heading south into Romania. We have a campsite picked out and I'm praying there will be a TV nearby where I can watch the Cup Final or at least a strong WiFi signal so I can stream it. Wish me luck eh?

Here are a few photos from the last few days.

Detail inside Matthias church showing the oldest carving in Budapest

 

Matthias Church

Count Dracular's Tombstone (possibly)

These tombstone carvings in the National Museum Budapest are from the 2nd century AD

Sausages anyone?

Chillies?

The Market in Budapest

Our Campsite today

Royalty in Budapest

 

 

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