Day 13 - Kalmar to Ekerö

After good basic Swedish breakfast at our hostel in the lovely town of Kalmar we packed the car ready for our next leg of the trip, this time taking us towards the capital of Sweden, Stockholm where we will be spending a few days with family and I think we’re all looking forward to a few days in one place.

After a small discussion in which way to travel we decide to take a small detour and travel west inland into the famous glass blowing area of Sweden,

where names like Orrefors, Kosta and Boda might sound familiar to most people even “down under”.

We arrived way too early as most boutiques seem to open at 10 am in Sweden, but this gives us time to watch some craftsmen working on an exhibition to be shown in Denmark.

Today they were making lanterns with handmade tiny glass fish that are put into the lanterns quite a beautiful art of work and Salme was like a kid in a lolly shop finding new friends wherever she goes.

We travel to both Kosta and Orrefors even buying some small things to remind us when we are back home and back to our everyday life again with only our travel memories.

Now we are ready to head north and towards our destination with very little traffic to talk about and the further north we travel the heavier and darker the clouds get, but for some miraculous reason the very grey/purple rain and hail clouds move further east toward the sea and we miss most of the heavy rain only a few sprinkles enough for our car to turn it’s neat little automatic windscreen wipers on, such a neat gadget to have.

During the last 30 km we pass Salme and Yvonne’s hometown not that you can see much with the highway going past most towns but a few familiar spots are seen very quickly as the car zooms past. Our only delay is the Friday rush waiting for the ferry to take us to the island of Ekerö, this being a much shorter trip than driving through Stockholm past the Royal Palace of Drottningholm where the royal family lives out to Ekerö.

Waiting for us is Peter’s sister Lisa, husband Lennart, Nina and Jim and it is good to stretch our legs, unpack the car and finally catch up it’s been 3 years since we last saw each other. After a lot of talking and an enjoyable dinner we finally hit the sack for some shut eye.

Day 12 - Ystad to Kalmar

A bright sunny day greets us as we wake up at the hostel in Ystad. An old railway station made into a very neat and tidy hostel for tired travellers like ourselves. And to a very reasonable cost too I must say. Since breakfast is included in the price we head up to “Fritjof’s konditori” where we together with other guests as well as the general public have a nice breakfast with freshly baked bread and black strong coffee.

We head back to Anne’s apartment to pick up Salme who decided to stay there overnight so she could catch up with Anne.

With the car packed we head out on the roads again. We only have 300 km to travel today so we can take it easy and do some sightseeing along the way. First stop is “Ale Stenar” or the Rocks of Ale. Many believe it’s the grave of a Viking king who lived buried here some 1000 years ago or so. Others believe it has some astronomical significance and the word “archaeoastronomy” is frequently used in conjunction with the monument.

Whatever it is, it’s magnificently positioned of top of the green cliffs with great views overlooking the ocean towards Denmark and Poland. The 32 stones forms the shape of a ship so in my mind it’s a Viking grave and does not show what time the sunrise was on the 17 of June 934 Ad.

We buy some just picked very juicy sweet strawberries on the way north, yummy. By midday we’ve reach the little fishing village of Kivik and it’s time for lunch. Some marinated Salmon, smoked Baltic Sea eel and smoked herring is purchased in the local shop together with some bread and we enjoy a lovely lunch next to the small protected harbour in the sunshine. Who said you can’t eat like a king even though one doesn’t have royal blood flowing through ones veins?

A couple of hours later we have reach the goal for the day, the town of Kalmar of the Swedish east coast. We spent some time here the last time we were in Sweden and liked it so much we decided it would be nice to go back. We even check in to the same hotel which is just as good and cheap as it was a couple of years ago.

Despite the clear blue skies it’s quite cool and a stiff breeze doesn’t improve the wind chill factor in a positive way.

We explore the outside of the old 12th century castle for a little while before the cool breeze forces us to head back to the hotel for some refreshments in the form of wine and dinner. Planning on an early start the next day we head to bed early for a well-earned rest and to thaw up somewhat.

Day 11 - Holland to Sweden

Won’t write much about today. It was a day of transport and only transport. The goal was to reach Sweden sometime today. It meant driving for some 8 hours and passing through Germany and Denmark to reach the southern part of Sweden where a visit to Yvonne’s auntie Anne was to be made.


Passing through Germany was uneventful. The Autobahn to as frightening as on previous trip, maybe the many roadwork’s along the causing the traffic to slow down had something to do with it. And I think the not so busy roads had something to do with it as well. Still, if you are an Audi owner the minimum speed seems to be 160 km/h for some inexplicable reason.

After a smooth ferry trip between Puttgarden and Rödby we entered the kingdom of Denmark for approximately 98.5 minutes before the 20km long tunnel/bridge across the Baltic Sea made us cross the invisible border into Sweden.

55 minutes later and we are checked in at the hotel for the night.

We have a nice dinner with Anne at a local restaurant before calling it a night.

Day 10 - Belgium & Holland

The Bruges nightlife is very intense. Because of this we don’t wake up until 7.30am, shock and horror, half the day is already gone! We quickly get organised, have a nice breakfast in the old cellar of the house made into the breakfast room. Yvonne and I head off to get the car only 500m from the hotel but because of the myriad of one way hyper narrow streets in Bruges, one wrong turn, and you have to drive 2 km to get back to the hotel. Without or GPS we would still be trying to get back to the hotel I’m sure.

TomTom gets us out of Bruges in a flash and we set sails north towards Amsterdam and beyond. No touristy stuff today, just a day travel north through Belgium and Holland. One motorway is followed by the next motorway and you never drive into and towns at all. As usual the number of semitrailers with registration plates from all over Europe of is staggering. The right hand lane of the motorway is more or less filled with them as far as the eye can see. But never the traffic jams we’re used to in Brisbane every day, impressive.

The Belgian landscape is very flat with one paddock of cows following the next. Entering Holland and t’s the same thing except for a couple of windmills and canals on crossing the country side. We drive across the Ijsselmeer, the 30km long wall built to keep the sea from flooding the country side.
Late afternoon we arrive in in the little town of Delfzijl, just a stone throw away from the German border. We get a nice very affordable room in the first hotel we find. Sightseeing around town is even quicker. Maybe it’s the 13 degrees and the blowing gale makes the streets look more than deserted. We do see sighs of World Cup soccer fever even in this remote part of the world.

We take dinner at the hotel and withdraw to our room afterwards very much content with today’s efforts.

Day 9 - Bruges

Lion-Sur-Mer on an early June morning in 2010 is a very quiet little seaside village on the Normandy coast. The streets are empty of both people and cars. A gentle north westerly breeze hardly causes a swell on the beaches. Looking out over the Seine Bay and towards the English Channel not a ship can be seen.

On the 6th of June 66 years ago it was a totally different story. An early riser in the little village looking out over the water would have seen a thousand ships of all sizes covering the sea from the shore to the horizon. Lion Sur Mer sit’s right on one of the main landing zones for the D-day invasion, an area named Sword. It was assigned to the British forces and had relatively light resistance compared to some of the other landing zones along the beaches of Normandy. Apart from a few memorials there’s are not many signs around which tells of what happened here all those years ago.

The plan this morning was to go to one of the war memorials but after we realised it’s 50km towards the west and we’re heading east today we decide to give it a miss. Instead we fill up the car with fuel and the car boot with wine from a local supermarket before we set our sights on the destination for today, Bruges in Belgium.

A 450km trip through the French and Belgium countryside, all on toll motorways. Some torrential rain on the way doesn’t slow us down much and apart from a 30 minute lunch break we go straight for Bruges and arrive late afternoon at our hotel smack bang in the centre of Bruges.

A lovely city with narrow cobble stoned streets, canals criss crossing the city and old traditional buildings make it a picture perfect town. After getting our bags into our room we hit the streets of Bruges.

We take a short guided tour of the city in a horse carriage to get some idea of the buildings we’re going past. Lots of people on either push bikes or walking, not many cars at all.

The famous Belgian chocolate is on sale in every second street corner and well renowned Belgian beer is on tap in every other corner.

After our carriage trip we set out on foot to find somewhere to have dinner. So many restaurants to choose from makes it a tough choice but we eventually find a place we can all agree on.

We decide to sit outside despite the somewhat chilly wind and by the time we’re heading back towards the hotel the temperature has dropped even further and the wind increased a couple of notches on the Beauport scale but a rapid pace keeps us warm until we find our way back to the hotel.

Day 8 - Mt Saint Michel & Normandy

Sunday morning we eagerly opened the blinds to peek out the window, hoping the weather gods had listen to our prayers through the night for good weather anticipating they had proved the weather predictions wrong and we weren’t disappointed as it looked pretty good with clouds but no rain. After a very quick breakfast and lugging all our growing luggage to the car we set off the 10 km to Mt- St- Michel, passing buses after buses lined up along the road waiting to pick up passengers still enjoying their breakfasts at their leisure.

Mt-St-Michel is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Normandy a monastery build on a rock island with the first building being started in 708 by Aubert, Bishop of Avranches and being such a popular destination our Lonely Planet books said to try and avoid Mt-St-Michel on a Sunday (a no go) and also to try and get there before 9 am and after 5pm.

At least we got our arrival well before 9 o’clock right and breezed through to a very close and good parking space. After waiting for our male passenger who was dropped off half way to the entrance to take some photos we set off into the closed in buildings taking the narrow streets up, up and up and steps upward that never seemed to end with

Salme saying her mantra of “I am going to make it” over and over again. We took it slow and we managed to overtake numerous unfit much younger tourists making us and our 81 year old travel partner feeling pretty good.

Up on the top of the Monastery the wind was quite chilly but all the clouds had blown away giving us a spectacular view ready for our guided tour by a very knowledgeable young lady taking us

through the history and after taking us on a spiral walk under the Abby. When the tour ended we were halfway down not far from the plentiful restaurants and tourist’s shops and our guide books had been right,

by lunchtime it was absolutely packed with people and quite unbearable.

Lunch looked pretty good and with a view to die for, with water and 3 unusual dishes were enjoyed especially Peters omelette looking more like a soufflé’ than an omelette and some souvenirs were bought before making it back to the car for the next leg of the trip.

The driver (Yvonne) set off towards Arromanches with TomTom and Peter guiding her through horribly narrowed street villages, maybe it was another shortcut or just a test, but after 1.5 hrs. we arrived at our destination breathing in the sea air and Peter and Salme taking off towards the Museum to absorb all about D-Day,

leaving Yvonne to look for some pills to relieve her headache with little success being a Sunday. Some retail therapy in one of the plentiful shops seemed to do the trick of getting over the little stressed head and by the time we met up again all were feeling good and were ready for the next leg toward our hotel in the little town by the sea at Sword Beach called Lion-Sur-Mere.

It was another clean and charming hotel with staff to match and this one even had a mascot in a basket by the reception, a very old Shih Tzu that came and slept under guests table as they were eating breakfast.

Day 7 - Villandry and Brittany

Waking up once or twice during the night I can hear the rain falling on our little farm hotel and fears of a rainy day grows stronger as the morning approaches but by the time the sunrise reaches the French countryside the rain has stopped and only dark grey clouds covers the sky. With a lovely breakfast behind us we leave Auberge De Launay after a lovely 2 day stay with very friendly staff, fantastic food in the restaurant and excellent accommodation in general. Highly recommended for anyone who has plans to stay in the Loire Valley for a few days.

We have some 350 km’s of driving ahead of us today towards Brittany and the Atlantic coast. On our way there we have one last Chateau to visit, Villandry. For any fan of gardens this would be the place to visit and to show your respect to the garden gods.

The château itself is a fairly modest building measured in French Chateau Standards. Not a fairy tale looking thing with lots of towers and weird and wonderful ornaments but a large building with a mote around it. What stand out with Villandry are the gardens and park lands. With precision geometric designs, not a leaf pointing the wrong directions and with the word “weeds” (in French of course) banned since the late 16th century it poses a spectacular sight. Even for someone who’s biggest achievement in gardening is to spend 3 hours on the ride on mower every 3 months and take the chainsaw out of the shed every now to chop a tree or two which has grown out of control. Vegetable patches looking more like pieces of art and herb gardens with scents to die for. Lawns which are greener than green and so perfectly cut an ant’s foot print would show up like a big scar.

We spend a good two hours slowly walking around in total peace and serenity. The previously solid grey skies are starting to brighten up ever so slowly by showing patches of blue among the solid grey. Luckily for some of us these gardens are well protected against intruders who’s want’s a taste of all the green yummy stuff That leaves some of us happy and some of us hungry…

Another feature of the castle is its surrounding mote which is filled with large hungry carps. No doubt well trained over centuries to try and con unexpected tourists out of their lunches. We brought no carp food or human food with us this time so before we head off towards Brittany we have a light lunch in one of the local café’s. With no staff speaking a word of English the selected items of the menu is are surprises for all involved, except for the carps of course.

The road towards North West takes us through the very lush and green French country side. Passing tiny villages with one ultra-narrow street, one church and one bar. The majority of the agriculture seems to be crops rather than cattle. Being early summer most of them are only half grown but still makes the landscape very colourful with different shades of green.

3.5 hours later we arrive at our destination, the smallish town of Pontorson where we immediately check in at our hotel. To get our bearings right for tomorrow’s excursion we take the 10 minute drive down to the sea and the Abbey of Mont Saint Michel. If the weather stays good we will have a great day tomorrow exploring the little island and its narrow streets.

The evening concludes with the usual 3 course meal at a local restaurant and walking back to the hotel just before 10pm the sun is still shining, birds are still singing and still no weeds in sight at Villandry…

Day 6 - The Loire

Friday morning we woke up to the sound of birds singing outside our window with plenty of time to spare before our 8 o’clock date with the breakfast table. We were served a lovely continental breakfast sure to keep us going until lunchtime.

Our plan was to visit a couple of castles and we’d agreed to start with Chateau De Chenonceau, called the ladies chateau where Catherine De Medici being the most known woman to have lived there.

This is the castle most people will recognize as the castle that has been built over the Loire River,

quite a sight and even though being from the 15th century a very workable kitchen was in use and as the pictures show it’s not bad at all.

After being guided through the inside of the chateau by our iPod audio guide we were full of history and information and hunger.

Lunch was enjoyed at one of the outside cafeteria’s and luck was on our side as rain had been promised for the day but it looked like the weather men got it wrong and rain had blown away somewhere else leaving us with a near perfect day.

After lunch and a short break it was time to explore the beautiful gardens quite spectacular with hundreds of newly planted annuals and roses in full bloom everywhere leaving a delicate scent wherever you walked.

Last we walked through a 16th century farm and vegetable gardens and by this stage we were ready to take the short drive back to our home to drop off Salme who decided to have the afternoon off. As we were driving through the village of Chenonceaux Peter and Salme were saying oh and ah look at this as Yvonne was driving, trying to navigate and not to hyperventilate as the roads were of the very narrow kind making it very hard to enjoy the scenery.

Once we were home and Yvonne’s heart rate had gone back to normal it was time for one more castle only a 10 min drive away and with Salme rested in bed with her IPod book it was Chaumont-sur-Loire’s turn.

This being a much smaller chateau but also one that Catherine de Medici used. Unfortunately we were joined but hordes of 5 year old being out on excursion making this a much less enjoyable time, they were as loud as only 5 year olds can be.

It was decided to make the stables and gardens a priority before calling it a day in time for a predinner drink and dinner.