14th Oct 2022

So..Our journey so far has involved travelling south and east from Calais on 9th August. Large parts of our trip have been spent in Slovenia and Croatia and when last we spoke we have skipped across the Adriatic into southern Italy. My brother Jez has been dropped off at Naples airport after several days doing the Vesuvius, Pompeii and Amalfi Coast thing and being squeezed into Ruby overnight in Sorrento. We now need to slowly head back uphill with a return Eurotunnel booked for 1st November. 

The first stop was overnight in a free motorway service area on the Italian A1 Toll Road.  The services part-way along means there is an element of security overnight as criminals won’t pay the toll charge to come and rob you…!  Anyway the important part of this service area was that it was flat tarmac and almost empty. This gave us the chance to empty some stuff out of Ruby and give her a good clean out. Several weeks of living under trees with olives, leaves, and seeds whilst surrounded by ants and mosquitos meant we needed a good shake out. This was a perfect location, particularly as it was hot, sunny and dry. 

The actual toll itself cost €58 (£50) for something over 700km and the following day we arrived on the outskirts of Venice at Camping Serenissima on 15th October. It was a flat quiet site which was ideal and importantly the bus into Venice City stopped right outside the entrance. We did not spend much time on site however as we quickly jumped onto the bus and headed into Venice three days in a row. The campsite sold us the Venice City Clear Way ticket at €45 (£39) each. Not cheap but this gave us 72 hours of travel to and around the city, including bus from the campsite, all water buses within Venice and the boats out to the islands around the lagoon. On arrival on the first day we thought we had been seen off with this ticket. Struggled to find out what we could actually use…but within a short while we were hopping on and off water buses along the Grand Canal and round the Lagoon outside the City. 

Sooo.. Venice.. bloody loved it. What a strange, interesting, buzzing, hectic and historical place to visit.  Of course we all know that there are no roads and it’s all about boats but we don’t tend to think about the practicalities. Barges with construction workers and cranes on, police barges, rows of ambulance response boats outside the hospital and bright yellow DPD delivery barges to name but a few. It was a very busy place despite being out of the main summer season. However access and transport links are good and effective. We visited all the famous sites  such as the Rialto Bridge, St Marks Square and Bridge of Sighs alongside footpaths, many, many squares with shopping areas, restaurants and bars to walk around. There is certainly plenty to see and – sorry to say- loads of photos for you to enjoy..!

Speaking of St Marks Square… we considered it would be a great place to sit and enjoy the sunny warm weather and the atmosphere so a coffee was required. ‘I reckon this will be our first time of spending over a fiver for a coffee’ says I, as we walked over to outdoor seating of this posh looking restaurant in the square. Well….. €11 each later WTF… how the hell did that happen..! I am from Yorkshire- I kick off about paying £3.20 a cup at home. Don’t know what possessed us to pay £9.70 for one cup of coffee, but it was pretty stooopid. We did spend two hours there and had two glasses of water each too. That’ll compensate for the cost…! NOT.

Another side of Venice that was a real shame was the toilets. There are a few public toilets round the city. Not enough, but they are clean, modern and shiny. However they cost €1.50 per visit!! (£1.32). Ouch! And they have ladies running the place that have had failed to qualify at the School of Hospitality. Not helpful. A broken token machine meant we couldn’t even pay with a card or contactless. Gotta find some cash from somewhere.

Consequences are that many of the small alleyways and streets are used as toilets (presumably just by blokes!). And, the other option is for people to walk into the bars and restaurants and use their bathrooms. This results in them being disgustingly dirty and neglected and uninviting. Gotta think that this is not good for the tourist industry. 

Anyhow we managed to survive and thoroughly enjoyed our visits. We wanted to visit the outlying Island of Murano which is famous amongst other things for producing glassware and jewellery. Michelle had some bracelets in mind. So we jumped onto the water taxi for the 30 minute ride across the Lagoon. ‘Is this Murano?’ we asked the bus conductor. His Italian reply sounded like ‘No it is the next stop’ so we jumped back onto the boat. In fact what he presumably said was ‘yes this is your stop’..!  meaning we spent another 15 minutes cruising over to the island of Burano in error before returning back to Murano on the next water bus. Dammit. Was a nice beautiful day though so it was still enjoyable. 

We spent our days eating pizza (of course) and having drinks alongside the highways and byways of the old city before the grand finale on the last day. Of course one cannot go to Venice and not do the gondola thing.. Despite it costing €100 for the half hour ride. Antonio our Gondolier was great and informative as he paddled along the Grand Canal, along some side streets and out onto the Lagoon past St Marks Square.

We even had the bonus of the gondola behind having a singing Gondolier in charge that we could listen to at no extra cost..  The evening was topped off with a nice meal in the open air, after dark, overlooking the Lagoon and the Basilica di Santa Maria… with a beautiful sunset. It was brilliant and a good end to our wonderful Venice experience.

19th October and back on the road, heading west with France and Monaco in mind. We still had several days available so picked Lake Garda as a good stopover for a couple of nights on the way across the top of Italy. 

Surprisingly two of the campsites we were interested in were closed- early- for the end of season so when we arrived at plan C – Camping Bella Italia at Peschiera del Garda we were surprised it was so active. Loads of staff and cheery security guards wandering round. Looked really good, and a decent price so we checked-in at the gate. ‘ There are a lot of you guys around’ we says to the nice lady on the gate ‘Yes’, she says ‘it is the last day of the Verona Cup today- there are 3000 football playing kids and their families staying this week’…… aaaargh. Nooooo..! And there was. Boys and girls, aged 10-17 from all European countries (UK not invited..!) running round, excited and cheery. The Danish team had won the Verona Cup and coach loads of them turned up after their matches in nearby Verona. Well to be honest they were not too bad. Thankfully their chalets were some distance from our pitch and all was calm. We had views across Lake Garda north toward some mountains. I say ‘some mountains’ because we could not see them. Over the three days / two nights we could not see across the lake because of the mist. I am sure the mountains were beautiful. Who knows. 

But we spent time in the local area. Found that the town of Peschiera del Garda is impressive and historic and the lake was huge. 

The only problem we had with this campsite was on the second night. Nothing to do with the Verona Cup- but three older teenage lads (the only Brits on the whole site) were very loud, very drunk and very excitable and decided the best place to approach midnight was on the bench right next to our pitch… Really. 

22nd October and our last night in Italy. A free site at the swimming pool, health centre car park in Cuneo. Excellent location. Yes, just a car park, but somewhere to spend the time en route. Safe amongst another dozen or so campers. We popped up via a vernacular lift into the main town for a look round. Kinda posh and upmarket place. Short and sweet visit. 

Moving on… we decided that all these toll roads were great but missing lots of beautiful areas. I found a route across the alps into France via the Colle di Tenda tunnel. (Google it..exciting..). This road is challenging in itself but then enters a tunnel over 3.5km long and opened in 1882. This tunnel is narrow and low but cuts out some very narrow, winding hillclimbs. However the tunnel was now closed till 2025 due to a collapse inside. 

So, in reality, we failed- bottled it and took what we think was a wise decision and turned back. We avoided one long toll road towards France but ended up with three smaller toll roads and having to turn back and pay again.. It does seem difficult in many areas to avoid paying for tolls when driving anything bigger than a car or taking on a very long route through the villages. Shame. But the right thing to do. 

Speaking of toll roads-on arrival into France looking for a site near to Nice/Antibes we not only had to pay for a toll road, but then we had to pay another €1.50 just to take the 100 metre slip road to get off the toll road… ! Grrrr. 

Monaco…and the French Riviera was our final destination. After struggling with full campsites we found ourselves at the Maurettes site just outside Antibes. Importantly it was 500 metres from the mainline train station which would take us both ways. Monaco travelling east and Cannes west. Win win. 

The site itself was pretty good but again we did not spend much time there. The 50 minute train into Monaco was €29 (£25) return for the two of us. Fair indeed. So we went in on two days in a row. This gave us chance to tour the Principality both on foot and on a hop-on, hop-off open top bus. Pretty impressive. And, of course, we had to walk the whole formula 1 route and the pit lane/paddock areas. A couple of drinks at the Café de Paris on casino square during the first morning and during the evening of the second day. 

Now you may like this bit. I thought there would be an opportunity for good overhead drone photos of Monaco from over the marina and the huge ocean going yachts. Having obtained drone footage in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Germany etc this didn’t seem like a problem. The take-off location was very quiet. All was unpopulated and ‘compliant’ with  drone safety… however just as I was landing I caught site of two Monaco police officers approaching… well everyone loves and respect these smartly dressed, saluting, smiling officers of the law… well they gave me a  €100 fine for flying without authority in Monaco. €100…! Really….

They were very nice about it, gave me a bollocking for not carrying ID.. and then apologised for giving me the ticket… Well that’s alright then….! Michelle enjoyed the spectacle of me stuttering to avoid being arrested. They even ‘requested’ (!) that I delete the photos…!

Rather a painful memory of wonderful Monaco but otherwise definitely a worthy visit. Top Place. Lotsa money but there are Ferraris, Porsches, Lambos and loads of pimpmobiles around. And a walk round the marina will always make you feel like buying a lottery ticket…

Interestingly enough we had some more fun on the way back to Antibes on the train on the second day. Always, always make sure you do not opt for the last train home. And this is why… thankfully we caught the 9pm train rather than the 9.30 from Monaco back to Antibes. I was carefully watching the screens on the train identifying the approaching stations. Ready to dismount at Villeneuve Loubet ..and a 300 metre walk to the campsite. Well… I had a strange moment, lost my concentration and thought we had now stopped at Villeneuve Loubet… but not sure… shit… better to get off just in case. Force the closing doors open and we both leap onto the platform. Um.. don’t recognise this one. Ooops. 

Anyway the next (and last) train was only 30 minutes later. We really loved sitting on a cold dark empty station late into the evening after a long day round Monaco… ! Sorry Mich.. 

Also whilst down this part of the world we wanted to have a couple of last dips into the Med before we had to head up north to colder climes. We found that Antibes itself was a pretty good place. It was one of the easiest bike rides straight along the coast on recently uprated cycle tracks. 20 minutes and we were right in the heart of Antibes. The old town was interesting with good bars and food and it was close to a decent set of beaches. We spent as many hours as possible on the golden sands (our tans were in need of a top up) and popping in and out of the sea. A good couple of days out. 

Another final train ride took us into Cannes. Cannot do the French Riviera without taking in the Cannes Film Festival site and enjoying yet another beach. We really enjoyed this area. It is friendly and it appears to have plenty of quality things to do and places to visit. Prices were not as bad as expected. We will be back. 

So…. 29th October arrived too quickly. We had a Eurotunnel booking for the 1st November and 700+ miles to go and it was with a great feeling of sadness that we turned Ruby north. Once again there were lots of tolls.  A whopping €174 (£150) for over 1200km (745mls). Stupid money. Is it worth it..?  We are still not sure. Relaxed, straight, good quality, easy tarmac – v – slow, winding, bumping, busy, traffic, pedestrians, lights, roundabouts…. But hey…we ended up back at a previously visited free overnight pitch in Grenay, an hour south of Calais for our last night on the continent. It was already cold, cloudy and damp – in preparation for the UK…

1st November 2022. Here endeth our glorious wonderful exciting whirlwind trip round some hotspots of Europe. Where next….!?

 – – 

So.. how did it go? Did it work? Well, yes it did. We really loved it, we visited many, many places that were exciting and interesting. We visited many areas that were a bit too touristy – too busy and too expensive but it gave us an appreciation of other countries and cultures and some ideas for the future.

We certainly spent more money than we planned (isn’t that always the case..) but we pretty much kept to a basic travel plan with inbuilt flexibility. Over the three months we visited France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Monaco. We had two family members join us to provide civilised conversation (!). We did not get any injuries or attacks or violent exchanges and only the occasional blast from the horns of other motorists. No known speeding/parking fines received. (Yet..! ) Just the one drone flying fine..! 

Ruby survived incredibly well with many awful quality roads and ‘entertaining’ motorists, and did not gain a single scratch or bump. She now has over 21,000 miles on the clock at just three years old. Not bad for a motorhome. We had just one attempt to gain access overnight near Lyon in France but the alarm did its job. So in our book, that was a great adventure. 

Did u know.. 

Venice has become flooded many times in the last two decades due to global warming. Floods in November 2019 left St Marks Square under several feet of water and many businesses and homes ruined. The Mose Project has been developed to hold back the sea (Mose being Italian for Moses). It was completed in 2019 after 16 years of delay due to corruption and disagreements. The project involved constructing a control room island and 78 immense floating barrages across the islands of the Lagoon holding back the sea from the Adriatic on exceptional high tides. At a cost of over €5.5 billion the construction has been controversial, however the cost of future damage to the historic, vulnerable city would be much higher. 

Tues 27th Sept 22

Our plan was to get out of Bari and find a site we had earmarked south of Monopoli. Bit of a struggle getting out of this busy city but we found our way to Monopoli readily enough. Now, Michelle had lived for several months in Monopoli whilst serving with the RAF in the late 90s ( I know, she doesn’t look old enough!) in support of the United Nations (SFOR) during the Yugoslav war. We wanted to try find the chalet that she lived in but we had no details. Seemed like a good idea to just drive round Monopoli and wait for memories to kick in… Well Monopoli has some very narrow roads… and Ruby is rather wide. Gawd did things get a bit tense. We got ourselves into smaller and smaller roads trying to find our way out. Eventually having to be guided through gaps between parked cars and vans by helpful locals with the wing mirrors pulled in ..again. – [We did note that the Italians were far more cheerful and helpful in these predicaments than the Croatians were when we got stuck back in Sibernik.] Eventually we had to admit defeat as no areas were bringing back memories of previous addresses for Michelle.. until… we were back on the main highway and whizzing down south – ‘ I recognise this bit’ says Michelle. ‘This is the route we used to take to Gioia del Colle for work every day.’ ‘My chalet would be back there- 20 minutes!’ Aaaaah. Dammit. We were not only well beyond the important part but we were on the main highway with little opportunity to turn. A missed moment unfortunately. 

So, this campsite we were heading for was called Pineta Al Mare in Specchiola on the coast. A chance to visit a good Italian beach to start us off. Well it was closed! . Just a tiny sign on the gate. Despite the website saying it would be open till the end of September. Welcome to camping in Italy..! But as relaxed and flexible as ever we drove a short way down an almost deserted coast road and discovered a motorhome parked on some tidy looking grassed area of a car park. Looked sweet. The Italian elderly female occupant was enjoying the sun looking out to sea in her camping chair. ‘Are you staying overnight here?’ Says I ‘ I no a speaka da English’ she says cheerfully. Anyway, she speaks a little German and we speak a little German so the conversation was possible. 

‘Are you staying overnight here?

‘Yes’

‘Is it a problem?. Is it safe?’

‘Yes, it is very quiet and no problem. You will be fine. Promise. The restaurant here is always open too so you are able to eat dinner and breakfast’

Well, how brilliant is this. A free night parked on grass with good food, a sea view, another motorhome for company and a nice quiet area. What can go wrong. ? Well…. The restaurant closed by 5pm…the Italian woman in the motorhome left the car park at 8pm and ……… at 2 o’clock in the morning a group of 7 or 8 cars pulled in, 20+ people got out.. and set off an almighty cacophony of fireworks 20 metres away…!!! Frightened us to bloody death. Aaaaargh!!. It seemed like they were actually attacking us at first. Well after calmly (!) watching out of the window it seems like this was an extended family group, including elders and young kids all dressed up. After about 40 minutes of standing round chatting loudly they all drove off together leaving us in our nice quiet car park…! Were they celebrating the departure of an elderly relative with fireworks? Maybe the final touches to a wedding celebration.? Who knows…but how we laughed…. Later!

So onwards the next morning towards civilisation and Otranto. This is pretty much the bottom of the heel of Italy. The Agriturismo Fontanelle site was pretty good and was very close to a well regarded (and as it turned out, one of our favourite) beaches at Baia dei Turch (Bay of Turkey). 

The pitch was open and very large and cost ¢20 (£17) per night. Simoni the  rather hunky site warden even brought some shopping to us at 8.30 in the mornings. Bread and local salads. Top man. The weather was right hot during the day and the sea was lush and warm and the sand soft and clean. So…. that was it, beach, beach, beach for two days. 

But we had things to see and places to go so the 30th September and we pulled up at a stopover site (Sosta’s they call them in Italy) at La Salina in Specchierica. This is where we started to realise that the southern part of Italy was pretty much closed. Season over. All done. All the shops/cafes/restaurants and even houses were all closed. Nothing to see here. Except for some flamingoes in the next door nature park. In fact…at this time of year, the whole of this area was a right dump. Now, as an example of what a bad overnight Sosta should contain for ¢16.50 (£14) per night this was perfect. The price included showers. Cold ones outside. Or hot ones for ¢1 extra 

Only one unisex toilet – for up to 30 motorhomes- and you had to get the key from the front desk….I had a big row (via Google translate amusingly) with the site owner. We had electric plugged in but it tripped all the time. (500w- for those who know!). Couldn’t even heat our own water for our shower to save using his at ¢1 each. Don’t get me wrong, the site was very tidy, very clean and the staff kinda friendly despite the row. There was one quite emotional moment. There is a guy who drives onto the site selling fruit and veg. Big friendly chap with no English but…. He managed to say how sad and sorry he was to hear of the loss of our Queen. He was really sincere and caring. He even said good things about the onset of ‘King Carlos’..The first person in over two weeks since Liz died that anyone had passed their condolences. Sweet.

Disappointed, one night was enough due to the failings of the campsite and the ‘closed’ town.  And, the sea – just 100metres away- was choppy and (after a trial swim..!) rather dangerous due to undercurrents. 

So onwards westwards along the sole of the Italian shoe.. Passing through the local town of Manduria which looked like a ghetto and felt very unnerving and we were keen to keep moving further north as well. We decided to just stay on the road and hit the west coast instead. See if that was open..

1st October and we pitched up at Foce, just south of Sorrento. Again this turned out to be a one-night stand. The sea alongside the site was massive and banging onto the beach with the heavy winds. In fact the beach was completely covered by the waves even at low tide. The site owner said that the whole of September had been blown away by the same huge waves and winds. The pitch on the site was also a little dark and unexciting, apart from one of the poshest motorhomes we have come across. Time to move on. 

Next day after just a short drive along some lengthy tunnels through mountainous regions we arrived at Vico Equense which is once again alongside the coast and an immediate neighbour to Sorrento. Well, this was a bit of a challenge once again. The reviews for the Sant Antonio site all said that it was brilliant and the site owner was helpful, guiding people onto the pitches. Well that was true, the very nice owner welcomed us and found us a pitch. They are not classically marked out pitches and the motorhomes are all under trees to protect from the sun. Fair enough. We had to reverse back 80 metres or so, between low trees and around other campers, round guy ropes, through narrow gaps, over bumpy stoney ground and onto our designated area. Tricky indeed. And very dark with all the trees, plus there were large nets slung between the trees blotting out more light.

As sun seekers this was not ideal for us. However just a short hop, skip and jump down the site driveway we met the sea, some great little restaurants and an incredible view across the Bay of Naples to the dominant volcano Vesuvius. Very impressive. A short walk away was Chicchi Beach which we visited on both our days here. Not your traditional beautiful white sand beach but a small, slightly tatty but pleasant local beach.

It was quite busy but mainly with elderly ladies who gather on a daily basis, chatting and topping up their already tanned bodies. Boy could they talk. On our second afternoon we had obviously been accepted as ‘locals’ (!) as we were alongside a 70th birthday celebration for one of the ‘ladies that do beach’. They had a cake and some pink Prosecco and boisterously sand ‘happy birthday (Buon compleanno)’ to the youngster. Happily for us too…we were handed a large chunk of cake and…. a glass of bubbles. Thank you ladies… The cake was a famous local Napoli Cake which was tasty but rather oily- (maybe that’s why the ladies tan so well..!!).

It turns out that the nets overhead the campsite were there to catch the thousands and thousands of olives as they fall from the trees. Perhaps we would never need to buy another olive ever again..! There were however large gaps in these nets so olives dropped all through the day and amusingly through the night. This was the start of many memorable olive dropping moments on many of the Italian sites. Who knew that we would arrive at the ‘olive season’…!

Anyway the dark campsite was too dark and overgrown for us so we headed a short distance to a site in Sorrento. The Tube d’ Argento is just a few minutes walk into the town and close to another beach- The Marina Grandé. Have to say that the drive through Sorrento was probably one of the most ‘lively’ of our journey so far. All of us know that Italian drivers are a bit mad. Well this place was one of the maddest. Bonkers. This part of Italy also has lots of scooters and mopeds and all the riders wannabe Valentino Rossi..! God was it busy. Being attacked from all directions with no gaps. We have grabbed a few videos for you of some ‘moments’. To be honest though I did quite enjoy this driving once I got acclimatised to it. Just drive…don’t overthink it… they will get out of the way. No-one died….

We intended to stay here for several days as my brother Jez was flying out to join us for a while. So we spent a couple of days finding our way around before he arrived.

We had plans which involved the Amalfi coast so a tiny hire car was necessary. Bit pricey at €270 (£230) for three days though was not good. 

Collected the car on 9th October and went straight to Naples airport to pick up Jez. We decided to go straight to climb Mount Vesuvius due to the proximity to the airport giving Jez no time to get over his jet-lag from Manchester ! Anyway we drove half way up to the top of the volcano only to find out it was closed…! What..! Well it seems that so many people want to visit that they have to restrict numbers at the peak. Too many damn tourists. Bugga. That was Plan A blown away. 

Next day we compensated by visiting the historic ruins of Pompeii which was a real surprise. It is a huge ‘city’ with so much to see. We had read that this would take a couple of hours to visit. Well after six hours we felt we had only just started. There is plenty to see and feel about the impact of the dramatic eruption of this still active volcano. Can’t remember how much to visit the city but do remember the car park was €24…! 

Our next visit was onto the beautiful Amalfi Coast road. Not far for us to travel but the average speed was probably around 15mph. The road twists and turns tightly and narrowly all round the panoramic coast from the Sorrento area through picturesque Positano and into the beautiful town of Amalfi. The road is the best part. We have read many times that motorhomes are not a great thing to take here. We can see why. It was tight enough in our Fiat Panda..! Soooooo many close calls, near misses and scary bits. There are however still large coaches and trucks making it through every day. Challenging. This video shows an example of a scooter squeezing through a non-gap between our Panda and a concrete mixer. Wow. All you can hear is Michelle and Jez going ‘ooooh’ – ‘God’ – ’noooo’ and similar helpful guidance along the way..!

Once in Amalfi we had a lovely lunch near the harbour then did what we do best. Onto the beach and a swim in the sea. Terrific. 

We got safely back with no damage to the Panda and our nerves intact. However when I took the car back the following day to the hire company I thought I was in trouble. I parked outside but left it unlocked. Whilst waiting for the receptionist I looked across and saw some bloke climbing into the drivers seat of my Panda. WTF…! I dash out across the road to apprehend the car thief only to find it was an elderly gent. ‘Oh sorry’ he says (probably.. as he didn’t speak English). It was the wrong car. His white Fiat was parked in front of mine.!  He had even put his shopping onto the back seat and still hadn’t noticed it was the wrong car. Dude…… 

So… two days left for Jez’s visit so we had to hit the beach… Marina Grandé beach was a short walk down the steep hill from the campsite. There are beach clubs in this area which consist of jetty’s from the sand out into the bay. You pay for the sunbeds on the jetty for the day and get access to drinks and food too. Much better than the small, tatty, local beach.  Brilliant. Toasty hot and sunny. Cost was €10 per sun lounger for the day but defo a worthwhile cost. Sat amidst the Bay of Naples on a tidy wooden jetty with easy entry into the warm sea. Showers and toilets are alongside and beers available. At lunchtime we move along the jetty to the ‘dining’ zone for a very nice lunch before heading back into the ’suntan’ zone. What’s not to like. A nice relaxing day and expected repeat he next day.

However… the next morning was rainy, windy, ‘orrible. What a change and what a shame for Jez’s last day on holiday. Bugga. We did manage to walk in and out of town a couple of times without getting wet though. Had a lovely dinner in a restaurant in the town square which nicely finished off Jez’s visit. 

14th October and we drive to the airport, back through the bonkers centre of Sorrento and throw Jez out the door. Time to head north again. Venice here we come.

Great to see you bro. 

Did you know…

Pompeii, preserved ancient Roman city in Campania, Italy, 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Naples, at the southeastern base of Mount Vesuvius. Around noon on August 24, 79 CE, a huge eruption from Mount Vesuvius showered volcanic debris over the city of Pompeii, followed the next day by clouds of blisteringly hot gases. Buildings were destroyed, the population was crushed or asphyxiated, and the city was buried beneath a blanket of ash and pumice. For many centuries Pompeii slept beneath its pall of ash, which perfectly preserved the remains. When these were finally unearthed, in the 1700s, the world was astonished at the discovery of a sophisticated Greco-Roman city frozen in time. Grand public buildings included an impressive forum and an amphitheatre; lavish villas and all kinds of houses, dating back to the 4th century BCE, were also uncovered. Inside were some preserved remains of people sheltering from the eruption; others lay buried as they fled; bakeries were found with loaves still in the ovens. The buildings and their contents revealed day-to-day life in the ancient world—and stirred 18th-century interest in all things classical.

Having arrived in Dubrovnik on 14th September we immediately took a look around and enjoyed a cracking sunset down by the Copacabana Beach. A good start. Our site at Camping Solitudo was within a few miles of the city, close to bus routes and just a 10 min walk down to the beach. A hop skip and jump back into the Adriatic. To be honest, not the best of beaches, mainly rocky to access the water and far too much bass music from local bars for us old folk..! 

Site was a hefty 285Kn per day (£33) but the facilities were pretty good and the pitch ok. The main selling point was the proximity to Dubrovnik. We were holding out for the big visits to the Old Town until we were joined by Michelle’s sister Trina on 18th. We did spend our time checking out the buses and the local area including some pretty quirky beach bars. We also took the opportunity to confirm the availability and efficiency of the local Uber taxis. A quick shopping trip did the trick as it saved us a long walk uphill with heavy bags. Worked fine. 

Ruby is way too big to use for general local travel. And of course travelling by public transport is a great way to engage with the local/tourist community. So on the 18th we took one bus into Dubrovnik Old Town then a second bus direct into the airport to meet Trina. Despite a 20 minute delay to her departure she still arrived early from Bristol and the sisters got to have a long overdue hug. Aaaah. Then a very efficient Uber trip back to the campsite. Taxi drivers are always a good source of local information however by the time we had reached Camp Solitudo we were fully appraised of the political and financial situation within Croatia..! Non stop talking all the way…. 

222 Kuna (£26) was good value for 15 miles despite the earache ..!

So the next day the three of us took off to explore Dubrovnik Old Town. My wonderful assistant managed to find a multi venue City Ticket for 300Kn (£35) each. 9 different venues and 6 bus journeys made this great value particularly as the walk round the wall should have been 250Kn alone. 

So in brief we visited Dubrovnik three days at different times. We walked – had lunch – visited- had dinner- walked had a drink- repeat. You get the idea. A bloody lovely place.

Sorry about all the photos but at every turn there is yet another beautiful view. And, of course, those of you ‘Game of Thrones’ fans will know there are many, many areas that we recognised from the big screen.

And any Viking fans may be aware of the location too. They were actually filming the third Netflix season of Halvalla all round small pockets of the town whilst we tourists hovered round corners.

It is a very busy town but did not seem too overcrowded (until a cruise ship full of Americans turned up! – (other nationalities are available..!)). Walking round the walls is a ‘must do’ event. 2.5km around the entire town gives great views of the interior and of the Adriatic on three sides assisted with beautiful hot sunny weather. An evening hoist up the cable car high above the city is also a pretty incredible place to watch a sunset over the town. Pity we arrived about 5 minutes too late….!  What sun….? To be fair Trina skipped off round the mountainside, jumped onto a goat track and managed to catch a glimpse and a photo or two before it was gone…

So all too soon and Trina was leaving back to the UK. We had managed to keep her presence quiet on the campsite thus saving ourselves 400Kn (£44) in fees in the process.. Shhhhh…!

We decided that we would also move on from the Solitudo campsite so took the opportunity to take Trina back to the airport in Ruby. Fond farewells were bid as the slightly suntanned Trina headed back to colder climes and we moved on again.

Our next spot (22nd Sept) turned out to be a cracker. For different reasons. Solitudo meant lots of access to Dubrovnik with public transport and proximity to shops and amenities. Camping Kate (yes, I know..) was the next location, further along the coast at Mlini. By chance we managed to set up on a sunny (morning) pitch and soon walked off down to the beaches. 262 steps down to the beach was fun…. Getting back up later in the day was less so!. However after trying each of the several beach areas we identified well with the Sheraton hotel beach front. The hotel staff (as in many places) like to suggest that they own the beach and try to deter non-guests from visiting. However we dodged the ‘bouncers’ and spent many a good hour/day catching up with our tans. The beach was a little pebbly but that means we don’t have loads of sand being carried back to Ruby at the end of the day.! The swimming was glorious, the water warm and crystal clear with restaurants and bars around. Not a bad way to spend four days. In addition the Sheraton Hotel also had paddle boards available to hire for just 75Kn (£8) for an hour. And as I am such an expert (ha!!) after my maiden trial in Tittisee I wanted to show off my skills to the watching beach dudes. I managed to do well with several trips between the boats, round the bay. Standing, sitting, drifting and chilling before heading casually back to shore for a classic dismount onto the beach……. except…that I hit the pebbles too hard, side-on and fell off, face-planting the beach and rolling into the sea…! Cool…. Dick..!

We had a ferry booked for the 26th from Dubrovnik to Bari in Italy so were kinda just killing time. In one of those really relaxing, chilling, wonderful, killing time ways. Camping Kate was 146 Kn (£17) per night and was pretty good. Still amazingly busy for late September. The staff were surprised too – they were hoping to go off for their autumn break but people kept arriving.!

Anyway our Croatia experience was now over after three weeks. What do we think.? Well we really love it. The weather is cracking the vast majority of the time. The scenery is terrific and the beaches were definitely some of the best. Well to be honest it was more to do with the crystal clear turquoise warm sea really. We must have plunged in and out dozens of times over those three weeks. Couple of things that were disappointing were… most of the locals were pretty miserable and unhelpful. Always seemed distant and disinterested. However after visiting the Yugoslav war museum in Dubrovnik you can understand it really. They are only 25 years away from some pretty horrific war episodes across the whole of former Yugoslavia. Also the food… we were amazed. We were unable to find fresh fish anywhere during our travels. Even the fish market in Dubrovnik had only one swordfish, a few dozen sad-looking whitebait and one tiny Nemo. (Made that last bit up!). When I looked across the huge market hall and gave a Yorkshire questioning shrug the market lady simply said ‘Bad Weather’ and pointed outside…! In addition the fruit and veg was cheap to buy and looked tired. Within two days it just went off. All the time. Any store/market/stall. It seemed very strange. ‘Is this because they don’t use preservatives like we do at home and in the rest of Europe’ we asked ourselves….. Discuss.. But overall we loved Croatia again and we will be back.

26th Sept and our ferry was due for a 9pm overnight sailing from Dubrovnik to Bari in Italy. We had some hours to kill after leaving Camping Kate so headed to an area alongside the posh Sheraton hotel in nearby Kupari. Well what a shocker. Turns out that this little bay used to be a high class resort for the Croatian Military Officers in the late 1990s. When the Yugoslav wars started the Serbians shelled and shot-up the hotels making them unusable. They have not been restored still. There are several hotels still intact and but completely derelict, covered with graffiti and overgrown weeds. Pretty spectacular surprisingly. More so because it was now a wet, overcast day. Once again the movie folk were in town starting to clear things out and add some character for what appears to be some kind of war movie. 

So, on arrival at the Dubrovnik ferry port several hours early we were kept entertained. The whole boarding setup is laughable really. No organisation, no health and safety and no expectation of getting to Italy without swimming!. This was a full size RORO (roll on -roll off) ferry for cars and lorries. So entertaining watching the huge artic lorries having to reverse up the steep, wet ramp in the dark. Not sure why they couldn’t drive straight in and turn in the huge interior but they ‘maybe’ knew what they were doing…! It was funny though. Lorry’s wheel-spinning alongside foot passengers on the ramp whilst staff wandered around smoking and laughing. The Jadrolinija ferry was even older than me and had clearly been across the Adriatic thousands of times. It cost a huge amount for the trip of 3262 Kn (£380) which was a shock to us. For some reason we had only considered this to be a small jump across the sea. It is in fact rather a long way and rather expensive because of Ruby’s size. Much cheaper than driving all the way round I suppose.. So, after laughing about the shenanigans with loading the trucks is was our turn. We were the first non-lorry to board. ‘Ok, go now. Reverse onto the ship’ he says to me. ‘What..!’- ‘Really’. Well no pressure then. I mean, the ramp was quite wide, and yes a bit wet, but then we also had to reverse all the way to the back and squeeze between several artics and the ship bulkheads. Ouch!. To be fair the staff were very professional at this point and guided us all in with fine margins. Couldn’t get out of the doors without pulling all our stomachs in though.. 

Surprisingly thecrossing was calm and we both slept well in our aged, rusty, en-suite cabin and woke to a brilliant sunrise as we arrived at Bari on 27th September. Very rare for us to view a sunrise. Almost all of our trips and home life are on the west coasts. Never get involved in those early rising sunrise things. But hey this was pretty special. Welcome to Italy.. 

Did you Know..The Republic of Ragusa (former Italian/Latin name for Dubrovnik) was a maritime republic that existed from 1358 to 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, before being conquered by Napoleon’s French Empire and annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, out of whom approximately 5,000 lived within the city walls that still stand today. Dubrovnik has suffered greatly from excess visitors (over 1.4million in 2019) and has recently reduced the number of cruise ships drastically in order to preserve the city.