Norway - A road trip - Part II

I just decided to post the second part of the post even if it is not finished yet as it is already end of August and if I do not publish it now maybe I do not do it ever.
I will try to update this second part with the rest of the information as soon as I have the time to do so.

Campings

We were having the intention to alternate resting at a camping place and on our own. It turned out that the possibility for the second was not so obvious without a more deep knowledge of the area than the one we were in possession of, basically a detailed map of the Lofoten Islands. We managed, however, to find a nice spot in one or two occasions.
The camping places we visited were in general terms good to very good, with, of course, the usual small thing here and there. All of them were able to provide fresh water, electricity, cooking, shower and toilet facilities, however not all of them accepted cards as payment method, or were prepared for the deposition of waste water (both, the "grey" water and/or the septic tank) or had internet access.

• Lofoten Hammerstad Sjøhuscamping, located a few kilometres north of Svolvær, this camping was our first point of contact with Norwegian hospitality. The owner, a very nice guy called Kjell, was happy to help you with anything, from advise about fishing up to withdrawing cash from your credit card for you. The camping place is not so big, it is located down hill looking to a small and rocky beach, has a pier and it is very close to a bridge over the fjord waters were you can try your luck fishing (on the way back, with proper fishing rods, we got a nice codfish here). The entry to the camping area is well indicated but easy to pass by if you are driving to fast. We stayed here two different night, one on the way to Å i Lofoten, the other on the way back from there. The shower runs with 5 NOK coins, the only camping place we were which used this coin, the other were using 10 NOK, for 3 minutes. There two shower rooms and four toilet spaces on an annex to the cabin number 3, which is hill up from the place were the campers are parked. That is also the place to empty the septic water, so if your septic tank does not have wheels, you will need to heavy it up to there. To empty the grey water you will need to manoeuvre a bit with the camper, but is easy done. We did not use the washing machine but according to Mr. Kjell it was possible, we just need to go to him with the stuff and his wife will help us. Internet was available all over the place. A very nice place to stay on a trip to the Lofoten, we liked it, specially the cover kitchen with barbecue inside :) The price was 185 NOK per night with electricity, 145 NOK without electricity, plus an extra per person.
• Lyngær Lofoten Bobilcamping, easily the biggest camping place we stayed. According to the brochure we got it has space for around 200 campers. The people at the reception were very friendly, and able to communicate in German and English. As around 70% of their customers are from Germany, their German was obviously better than their English. Of course, this applies only to the Norwegian stuff, as a guy from Pakistan or India was also working there as well as a Spanish girl. The place overlooks the fjord, has a pier and owns a rowing boat which one it is possible to go fishing (we got nothing here, however). There are a lot of facilities here, empty of the grey water and septic tank is easily done at one service building, together with the refilling of fresh water. Another service building houses the washing and drying machines. Both service buildings have a kitchen, toilets and showers (10 NOK for I think 3 or 4 minutes). I can not remember for sure if the place was having internet available, but I think so.

Norway - A road trip - Part I

We just came back from holidays in Norway, a road trip which started in Romaniemi (Finland), went to the Lofoten Islands and ended back in Romaniemi. The trip was great, with some fantastic moments but also with some down moments. This is, more or less, the story :)

Background 

We were two families with kids. One family was of three members, two adults and a baby girl of 16 months of age; the other family was of four members, two adults, a girl of 4 years and a boy of 2 years old. Both ladies were happily  pregnant.We rented two campers from the company Touring Cars which has branches all over the Scandinavian countries. The reason to take the campers on Romaniemi (Finland) instead of directly on Norway was the price difference. In Norway the high season includes already the first two weeks of June, whereas in Finland only the two last weeks of June are considered high season. Therefore the rental price was around 95€ per day instead of 270€ per day.The campers were Hymer-Ford, of the "capuchine" type, they were not identical but very similar. The main difference was that one was having a permanent bed on the back of the camper whereas the other one was having a living space which could be transformed into a bed. On the middle of the camper there is the main table, which can also be transformed into a bed and then on the front roof, there is the other bed. So, every camper was having three beds, which was more than enough for our needs.The family with the two kids got the camper with the living space on the back site. This configuration reduces the storage space accessible from the outside of the camper, but once the living space in transformed into a bed, gives a lot of space for storage just below the bed. The distance from the bed to the floor of the camper is not so high and a little one falling from there to the ground will suffer only a minor scratch (real case). As the two kids were sharing this bed and the parents were using the upper one, the table in the middle was always open as table, so no modification of the camper was needed on a daily basis.The family with the baby girl got the camper with the permanent bed on the back side. The distance from this bed to the floor of the camper is higher than on the other model, maybe more than one meter (4 feet, even), and there was a indication that the bed was not suitable for a baby between 0 and 6 years, the same applies to the bed on top of the driving seats. So, the whole family shared the bed on the back so that the baby was not able to fall down to the ground. So, in this case the camper was probably oversized for us but still not a big problem.

Route

This here is a image capture of a google map with the relevant points on the trip. As stated, we arrived to Rovaniemi by plane, took the campers and cross into Sweden following the road to Pello (Finland) toward Narvik (Norway). Short of Narwik we went north into the Lofoten. At the Lofoten we visit some places that are not in this picture, but the main path is accurate. In Andenes we stop to take a boat to see the whales (more on that later) and cross towards Senja with the ferry (more on ferries later).

At the end we travel 2108 km at an average speed of 62 km/h, which I think it is quite good.

Practicalities

The Scandinavian countries share a lot of features, such as an amazing landscape, but also differ in a lot of small things which can make you live not so easy.
Currency: Finland is in the Euro-zone and therefore uses Euro as currency. Norway and Sweden on the other hand still have their own national currencies. All the three countries take credit cards and even debit cards, but not everywhere. For example, in Norway, on Henningsvær, we were almost not able to buy dried codfish as the factory was not able to accept cards and we were having not enough cash and the absence of a cash machine (we were told that the closest one was in Svolvær, which was a few kilometres out of our way having passing that city already the previous day).
Gas bottles: the camper uses gas for heating, cooking and for the fridge if you are not plug to the electricity network in a camping area. Our one was equipped with two bottles of around 15 litres each. It is possible to buy gas bottles on any petrol station. However, the connection piece on the top of the bottle differs in each Scandinavian country, so our Finish camper required Finish gas bottles. I was a bit worried that we were going to run out of gas in the middle of Norway, but at the end, we arrived to Rovaniemi without having emptied even one of the two.
Mosquitoes: They say Finland is the country of the thousand lakes, better say the country of the million of mosquitoes. They manage to get inside of the camper even with all windows closed. We were only on Finland upon arrival and prior to our departure, so in total not more than two-three days, but it was enough for us to get devoured by the mosquitoes. Norway, having not so many lakes, but more running water and specially salt water fjords is basically mosquitoes free.
Reindeer: As with the mosquitoes, they are absent from Norway, at least from the Lofoten area, but plenty on the border area between Sweden and Finland. You will find them on the side of the road, walking, crossing or just looking to you. They are look tamed and quiet, but we did try to approach them, just took some pictures from the camper. Other drivers can flash you the lights to indicate you that you are going to find some reindeer on the road ahead of you.
Camper drivers: According to the guy in the rental agency, it is a common custom between the drivers of campers to greet each other on the road. I tried to do every time, but I will say that only three quarters answered, although I also have to say that I was not always the first one to initiate the greeting.
Road: The E10 which we followed is quite narrow. It has two lanes, one in each direction but there is no space on you right further than the lane. Once the lane finished there is a more or less abrupt drop in the terrain. You should picture the road as slightly elevated over the surrounding terrain, so if you drive out of the lane you will fall with the camper maybe a good meter in some places. The main road, E10, is pretty well maintained, however some irregularities and holes are to be expected, as well as the required maintenance works, which in one case, when we were driving towards Å i Lofoten were quite annoying as they were quite extensive and intensive.


I also wanted to talk a bit about the camping places and the places we visited and the activities and so on, but I will do in other posts, otherwise this post will be enormous and I will never finish and publish it.

La Abadia - restaurant review - Madrid

This nice local is located on the street called Ancora, a perpendicular to the Paseo de las Delicias. It has a semi-open terrace on the same street with plenty of space between the tables. The food is very good and not so pricy. The portions are generous even in the so called Menu del dia which at this moment cost 12€.
The service is friendly enough except for one waiter who looks like he is mourning someone.
In short, good food, not expensive, relax atmosphere.
Insider tip ;)

La Manga - Spain

I have never been before in this part of Spain (Wiki), but last two weeks of June we managed to get there and enjoy some fabulous time.
The weather is pleasant on that time of the year and by far not so hot as it will became in July and specially in August. Actually it was already quite warm and the sun was getting more agressive every day.
The place is a refugee for families with kids and people with a lot of time to spend doing nothing as due to it peculiar geography everything is far away. So, basically either you go nowhere or you use the car all the time.
There are some small shopping malls along La Manga and several supermarkets, so you will never run out of supplies. The idea is to go there to a rented apartment or to a hotel for a shorter stay and enjoy the beach and the sun.
Close by is the city of Cartagena (Wiki) which is a nice place to visit, full of history and naval tradition including the original submarine build by Isaac Peral y Caballero (Wiki), probably the first modern submarine.
However, one of the best discoveries for us was an Italian Ice Cream shop, owned by an Argentinian couple called New Bo (Web), which probably has one of the best Ice Creams in the area as the owner has been in Italy and has learned the traditional Ice Cream making there. Really worth a visit :)

Bad Evil Distillery

Last week we were in Scotland for a short holiday. The country is great, full of nice people and beautiful places (also the other way around ;D ).

The idea of the holidays was to spend a long weekend in Edinburgh (Military Tattoo included) and surroundings, therefore our time schedule was a bit tight.

Thursday was the visit to Castle Rock (wiki), an impressive construction and view point of the city. Friday was the free walking tour in Edinburgh (Official Site) and a comedy show (Pappy's All Business).

Until that point in time everything was smoothly according to the plan.

Saturday was a very compact day. The idea was to pick up a rental car in Edinburgh at 0800 and head for Loch Ness to be back in Edinburgh the same day late in the evening (well, night). In the way to Loch Ness we intended to visit Stirling, Callander, Glen Coe, Fort Williams and Fort Augustus (south end of Loch Ness) and back over Perth to the initial city.

Along the trip we wanted to visit the Ben Nevis Distillery (Official Site) which should be open until 1600. So we hurry up to be there with plenty of time to be able to visit the place, taste some whisky and buy some bottles. We were serious about buying as in our group there were two persons who actually love whisky and who actually planned their holiday's luggage letting some extra empty room for the bottles. According to the webpage of the distillery, the place should have been fantastic and the visit to the place should have been one of the nicest moments of the trip.

That was the Theory. Reality was a total disappointment.

We arrived there at 1500 (sharp) but the only lady there promptly informed us that even if it was one hour before closing time, it was not possible to visit the place anymore but that the shop and the visitor centre were, of course, still open.

According to the webpage:


"After your experience with Hector, a conducted tour of the production areas by a trained guide concludes with a complementary 'tasting'.

After your tour around our distillery why not relax with a refreshment or if you are hungry, try some of our delicious home cooking in our coffee shop and restaurant. It will be an unforgettable treat."



However, there was nothing there to drink or to eat. Even the tasting was impossible, because as apparently they do not have a "Pub licence", they are not entitled to serve you alcoholic drinks. I was not aware that you would be punish in the UK by offering alcohol for free inside of a building to an adult person. But, of course, if you were part of a group, then the tasting was included in the visit (?!)

Incidentally I must say that such a group happens to arrive at the same as us, therefore all the attention of the only lady there was focused on this group with total disregard to our small group (only six of us) and a poor couple which was waiting in front of the desk to buy some souvenirs or some bottles, what exactly I don't know.

Briefly said: If you are in Scotland, enjoy the country, but don't waste your time with this distillery. It is not worth of your time. There are more pleasant things to do in Scotland that to be disregarded by a mindless minion.

Obviously, our two whisky lovers were totally sunken by the "unforgettable experience!".

However, the day after we visit The Scotch Whisky Experience (Official Site) which was, by far, a better place.

Swedish Cider !?

Goal !!!!

Budapest

Groningen

Blitz !

Just a few lines to let you know about the Segway (wiki) as I have tried this great invention last weekend in Paris.
There is company in Paris which offers several tours, one of those is with a Segway. The tour is around four hours and you get to see the more relevant parts of the city (Eiffel tower, Les invalides, Louvre on so on).
Obviously, the city itself is worth the visit but the Segway is just amazing :D
The machine is really easy to drive. After a short explanation and a few minutes of practice, you can start "riding" the city :D
To speed up you just need to bend forwards, to break or go backwards just bend that way and to turn around just move or best say, push the handle to the right or to the left. This will make that one wheel will move slower than the other an the machine will turn around that wheel.
Only drawback is that every one is looking (or even making pictures) in your direction as you pass by ;D

The Gourdiaan Route

This route (http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=yduwhezfehzivcva) is a walking route which should start on the little town of Gourdiaan and be a round trip of 23 km around some beautiful Dutch landscape (channels, windmills and similar).

However, the indications are almost missing, the road is sometimes just disappearing right in front of your nose and there is no place to eat anything along the planned route.

Once you arrive to Gourdiaan you will find a place called Het Raadhuis cafe. The place looks fine and the parking area is empty early in the morning, at least it was empty this morning around 1140 local time.

Directly there you will see one of the markers of the route, look carefully to it because is one of the few you will be able to see :(

To begin with the walking you should go over the bridge and to the left, there you will see one marker. After a few meters you will see another marker like the one in the picture. The direction of the arrows is supposed to be followed. We didn't and skip around 3 km going directly to Ottoland.

This little place has nothing except some very nice houses and a church with a nest. Even if you miss this marker and follow straight ahead to Ottoland as we did, you will eventually connect again with the route way, but you will be at the wrong side of the channel without a bridge to cross it...

One you manage to arrive again to the N214 you will be back in business.

The road will take you to Giesen. A nothing in the middle of nowhere, without any place to buy food or water, at least as far as we were concerned today, maybe you have more luck...

The surroundings are very quiet and not so crowded. Around only fields with cows, sheep, and horses. A lot of cows.

After Giesen the planned route will lead you into a dead end or best said to the garden of a private property. A huge garden, that is true, but still a private and closed property.

The shortest way that we found to come back to Gourdiaan was heading to Hoornaar and then turning direction Noordeloos.

Good news are in Hoornaar there is a kind of cafe, bad news the food is not so good even if you are already quite hungry.

The way to Noordeloos is very pleasant and full with channels and shadows.

From Noordeloos to Gourdiaan there are still some kilometers. This is not really the route indicated in the book or on the internet, but as the markers where more or less never there and the road was not really following this, we didn't care too much at all.

It was anyway a nice trip, even the weather was great, sunny but not too hot.

If you try this route, good luck with the indications ;)

Imperial City

Last recovery time after duty as diplomatic escort was four free days in the Imperial City. You know what I mean, that part of the planet were the Emperor resides. Not so off borders as you can think but crowded with people from every corner of the galaxy, even some people from my habitual duty planet. But much more people, far more, from my planet of origin,. They were everywhere and, as usual, impossible to miss as they always talk to each other shouting :D

The first stop after reporting at the local clone trooper post was the Arena, aka Colosseum (Wikipedia). Quite impresive, but also very well known, always have been in pictures, movies...

The guided visit was done by a very funny native who was all the time quoting the word "crazy" as a kind of Mantra to explain everything about the Colosseum and, of course, with several references to the movie  "Gladiator". The actual tour does not allow to visit the underground part of the Arena as seen in the film "Jumper" but it seems to be plans for allowing it in the future.

Nevertheless is interesting to know that the ground of the Arena was hollow, just a wooden floor covered with sand to absorb the blood of the gladiators to avoid accidents due to a slippery floor. This kind of construction allowed the use of the underground area for keeping the slaves, gladiators, animals and other paraphernalia used in the shows. The whole Arena was equipped with a system of hidden holes on the wooden floor for special effects, like lifting up a hungry tiger just to the ground space right on your back. Surprise !

Just in front of the Colosseum is the  Arch of Constantine (Wikipedia), also well known and emblematic. Also there you can find the Roman Forum (Wikipedia), very nice even if it looks only like a pile of stones lying around ;)

From there you can walk down to the Column of Trajan (Wikipedia), present in every history book and kind of monumental history book itself as the whole column is covered with a relief which relates Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars, somewhere in todays Romania, which seems to be the only country in that area which still uses a latin-based language.

The walk along this part of the city can be crowded with more visitors than desired but is still a very nice way to spend a sunny afternoon.

Close to the Column of Trajan there are some small places where it is possible to enjoy a very tasty pizza. But, in general, there is not need to worry about the food, it is usually great :)

Another nice spot of the city is the Piazza di Spagna (Wikipedia), at the bottom of the Spanish Steps which lead the way to the church Trinità dei Monti.

In the surrounding streets it is possible to found some shops, mainly for clothes and complements, but also several nice restaurants and wine bars. The last are specially recommended as the offer on starters or finger food to have with the wine is fantastic.

This was day one. Second day, meeting the Emperor.....

Not so far away....

I'll be back...

or better said I'm back. This last eastern holidays instead of staying here "...donde el cielo siempre gris, donde la lluvia es arte..." I decided to travel to a place a little bit more warm and sunny.

Therefore and as flying is, statistically speaking, the more safe way of traveling, I put my personal safety in the hands of the commander of this nice technological wonder. I know it is not the Millenium Falcon, but now, seriously, will you really thrush your life to the flying skills Han Solo ??? (rhetoric question, don't need to answer).

If someday you also think about a nice place to scape from the crowded catholic countries during the eastern time, I seriously recommend you to visit an orthodox country, like Bulgaria  or Greece. You will not find so many people around, the weather should be nice and the people are (usually) friendly. After a easy flight we arrived to the modern Athens's National Airport. And here started the surprises.

The government of Greece has voted in the last weeks a new Pension Law, which was no so welcomed by the population and the country was (semi)collapsed by a general strike. The repercussions of this were actually almost non perceptible for me. Yes, there was not train from the Airport to the City, well, fair enough, there was the regular bus. The time of the trip was the same (more or less) and the price half of the train's price. Not really a problem.

The view of the city was less pleasant as should be due the huge piles of garbage which were standing almost everywhere as General Strike means really general, therefore it has not been anyone collecting the garbage for the last days....

During my time there the strike was still going on, but all the main touristic places were open, even (or of course) the souvenirs' shops. I suppose every European has quite good knowledge what to expect to be able to visit in Athens: the Acropolis with the Parthenon and the Porch of the Caryatids on the Erechtheion. The place is the "start" of the city and be prepared to find quite a lot of humans humming around. I was there on a Saturday and it was pretty busy, mainly with Spanish- and French-speaking people.

But there are also some places and museums which deserve a visit. The main museum is the National Archaeological Museum. There it is possible to see several examples of sculptures,  weapons, jewelry and pottery. The famous "Mask of Agammenon" is located right on the centre of the main room on the ground floor. All around there are several rooms with nice pottery and grave objects.

Further into the deepness of the museum we can find more steles from graves and statues, some of them casted in bronze, like the also quite famous of Poseidon. Really huge and impresive.

Maybe less known is the War Museum. There it is possible to see a chronological display of the Hellenic military from ancient times to the modern era. 

The collection is not enormous big, but there are several sculptures, maps and paintings which are quite informative. Also the collection of weapons includes some nice oriental pieces (even a Japanese armor set).

Another place to go is the Kerameikós, an ancient cemetery, which has been a burial ground since the 12th century BC. The graves were placed on both side of a main road, close to the main road to the Acropolis, the Panathenaic Way. So, for the people it was possible to see the grave monuments and burial steles from the road. During the ancient times, there were several laws regarding burial customs and grave monuments, which only allowed for the construction of small, discrete monuments. 

However, in occasions  some of those laws were not respected. So and due to the high amount of bodies to dispose as result of the plague which suffered Athens during the Peloponnesian War, a common grave without any kind of monument was used. In other occasions those laws were banned, at the rich athenians were able to construct nice and elaborated grave monuments. Today, the place is quiet and a very nice spot to walk around and rest for a few minutes.

The ancient places and touristic spots are all of them located in a very small area and it possible to go almost everywhere by feet. This is specially true in the case of the ancient places, as the ancient Athens was not so big, the actual one has around 3 million inhabitants.

Further words about this incredible city another time (maybe)....