Europe 2023

  Not really a Day-trip today more just a hike along the beautiful coastline to Villefranche-sur-Mer.   A really pretty walk, with lots of up and down, on a, generally, well maintained path.   The signposting could’ve been a little more on the ball as well but there again how difficult can it be following the sea?   The day started off with the tail-end of an overnight storm and so the umbrellas came out for their first usage on this trip.  However, BBC weather app aside, which promised rain all day, the sun eventually broke through and we had blue skies and sunshine for the rest of the day.  It was a really nice walk, with lots of stops for scenery watching, photos, flower and bird watching, and attempts to go swimming (not by yours truly I might add!  JEM’s comment on her first attempt early in the day was that it was “too ‘something’ cold”! 🥶😆😳 whatever that meant!).  Still, after lunch at Villefranche-sur-Mer, she WAS successful in her ...

  An international day trip today, to the sovereign city-state of Monaco.   Home to about 38,000 people, and recognised as one of the most wealthy countries in the world, at just 2.02 square kilometres it’s the second smallest country after the Vatican.   It’s also the most densely-populated sovereign state in the world, with over 19,000 inhabitants per square kilometre, and we reckon that most of these were on the train with us on our journey from Nice! 😆 When we arrived the whole place seemed to be in a state of destruction as there were hundreds of tradies disassembling the seating stands remaining after Sunday’s Monte Carlo Grand Prix.  Walking around what seemed to be most of the circuit it was interesting to see how close some of the track is to the bay, which was itself full of international mega boats.  Obviously a big attraction as the bay even had its own large screen set up so the ‘Uber-rich’ could watch the race in comfort! 🍾🥂 We spent some time c...

  Travel Day We stayed overnight in the airport last night, at Gatwick, a first for us.  It was a bit of a strange experience ’going out’ in the evening for meal and drinks but in an area we’re normally keen on getting out of asap.  Although not particularly cheap it was probably worth it as otherwise we would’ve been getting up in Worthing about 03:00 to get to the airport in time for our flight! 😳 After some delay leaving Gatwick (who would’ve thought?!), and a pleasant flight, we arrived at Nice in the Côte d’Azur, a nice place if first impressions are anything to go by.  After checking in we did our usual and went for a walk around town and the harbour to get our bearings.  There’s some lovely old buildings here in town, which doesn’t really surprise when you see how much money is tied up in some of the boats that are docked in the harbour! 💰🤑

  Mainly ‘domestic’ type duties this week although we did manage to get a few local trips in.   At the beginning of the week we hired a car and took ourselves off to a couple of National Trust house and garden sites.  The first, Nymans, is/was a beautiful old Manor House from the 1800’s. Unfortunately mostly destroyed by fire in the 1940’s, however, still reminiscent of something out of a Jane Austen novel.  The grounds though are home to wild meadows and woodlands with some lovely views over the Sussex countryside.  The next, Wakehurst, is home to a late 16th-century mansion and a mainly 20th-century beautifully manicured garden.  The plants were spectacular, and with the board walk, the walled garden, and the water garden, the whole place was fantastic.  We did miss out on visiting the mansion house though as it’s presently being renovated and is covered by an enormous plastic sheet to keep out the weather.  As part of our ‘trying our best ...

  Travel Day Early start today for a flight to Bergen.  Flying’s not normally our preferred mode of transport, however, due to the ‘National Day’ celebrations yesterday apparently most people make an extended weekend of it (including the buses and trains!) and so this was the only option of getting here! 😊 Once checked-in we were off for a walk about town.  Bergen really is a lovely old  town and has some beautiful old wooden framed buildings along the waterside in an area known as ‘Bryggen’ (the ‘Dock’).  Being a seafaring town as well there’s also a great seafood market, which makes a lovely place to stop for lunch. 

  Today is Norway’s ‘National Day’, a celebration of the signing of the ‘Constitution of Norway’ in 1814. This declared Norway to be an independent kingdom and in an attempt to avoid being ceded to Sweden after the Napoleonic Wars.   The major celebrations today included children’s parades through the city with marching bands parading between each school, and with the rest of the town lining the streets watching. The Norwegian flag and colours are also a major part of the celebrations while at the same time thousands of Norwegians wear their national costume, with each local district having their own version. After a great ‘National Day’ breakfast, supplied by our hosts, and with flags, banners, and balloons, we watched the parade as they marched pass our accommodation. It really was impressive and obviously so many people go to a lot of effort to make it happen.  On the left: Our host in her Icelandic National Dress

  Well the weather forecast for today was ‘revolting’ and that’s how it turned out!   With predictions of ‘feel-like’ temperatures of 2°C, rain, and strong winds, we gave on the idea of a boat trip to a local bird island. However, we did manage to get in a bit of hike up to the local viewpoint overlooking the city before the crap weather set in.   The views were all very nice and I bet they’ll be even nicer in the summer sun.   We found out today why the architecture of the town is different from most other coastal properties. In 1904 there was a major fire which destroyed about 80% of the homes in town.  With the financial help of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who had been a regular visitor here, designers and architects took up the challenge to rebuild the town, inspired by the art nouveau style popular in Germany at the time.  The result being the lovely town that’s here today (with the addition of a small number of 1950’s & 60’s town planning disas...

  Travel Day Not a lot happening today with the main task of ‘bussing’ from Åndalsnes to Ålesund.  It was quite a pleasant few hours on what was, for the most part, an empty couple of buses.  The journey itself spent a fair amount of time following the coastline, which was nice, but also included a number of tunnels, one of which was over 6kms long.  On arrival in Ålesund, and after checking in, we went for a bit of a wander around and our first impressions were that this is really lovely town.  Most of the buildings here seem to have a bit more ‘character’ to them, which is in stark contrast to a lot of the coastal towns we’ve seen so far which have been a touch plain. 

A lovely day today weather-wise to check out Åndalsnes, a place known as the ‘Alpine village by the fjord’.  We started off our wanders with a stroll along down by the water and then going for a walk up to one of the local viewpoints. Known as ‘Nebba’ it wasn’t too’ high up one of the many mountains surrounding the city but still high enough to take in the beautiful landscapes.   Next was a trip on the funicular (or ‘Gondola’ here in Norway) up to the top of Mt Nesaksla.  Being just over 700 metres high the cable-car only took us six minutes to get up there which was pretty quick.  We’d been talked into booking lunch up at the top by a really helpful lady early on in the day and so we spent a few hours pre and post eating taking in all the scenery.  The views around this part of the world really are magnificent, and with the fjords, glacier valleys, and the many rivers, it’s absolutely stunning.  This, and the train journey yesterday, are definite recommend...

  Travel Day A slow and late start today as we were travelling to Åndalsnes and the train replacement bus wasn’t leaving until the early afternoon.  The landscape from the bus, on the first part of our journey to Dombås, was really quite nice, however, the views from the train from there to Åndalsnes were spectacular!  The train line, known as the ‘Raumabanen’, is a 114km long single track line that runs alongside the Rauma river, and the scenery from this, which includes mountains, waterfalls, rivers, and the like, is just stunning!  Apparently ‘Lonely Planet’ have called it ‘Europe’s most beautiful train journey’ and I can certainly understand why.  Our photos don’t do it justice, plus there were a few missed opportunities due to the speed of the train, but it was a great trip.  In addition to the views however there was also a great bit of engineering along the way, the train actually does a 360 U-ey (Sp?), and all in a tunnel, which I reckon is pre...