Europe 2023

Off to visit the old capital of Albania today, the city of Kruja.   This town is renowned by the Albanians as the place where Skanderbeg, a feudal lord, stopped the Ottoman armies overrunning Albania in the 15th century.   The whole place really is just about Skanderbeg and with the highlight being his castle, although there’s not much of that left.   In its place though is a newer communist-era looking museum, an architectural style that doesn’t really do it for me.   The inside was a bit of a disappointment as well as most of the exhibits were either reproductions or modern painted murals.   An interesting trip but all up not highly recommended.   This evening we went out on a guided walking tour around the centre of town.  With the Enver Hoxha pyramid (the country’s previous communist dictator) and the Vodafone bridge there’s quite a number of interesting and unusual looking buildings around.  However, overall the city still has a poor 2nd World ’feel’ about it (which is no surprise

  A real slow day today as it took nearly 7 seven hours driving time to cover the 200 kms (125 miles) to Tirana!   We did have stop on the way however, a break to visit Roxafa Castle, the remnants of a 15th century fortress.  From the castle there were some really nice views of the surrounding countryside but sadly very little information about the castle and its history.      A little bit of amusement on our long journey today was the name of the company at the servo when we filled up with petrol.   With a name like that we wondered if they had the correct logo! 😆

An early start today as we’re off to Kotor, 100 kms further south.  On arrival we took off as a group for a wander about town.  Kotor, located on a beautiful bay on the coast of Montenegro, is a UNESCO listed fortified city that was built between the 12th and 14th centuries.  With its city walls extending over 4 kilometres, and also home to medieval architecture and monuments, the city is very Dubrovnik-like but quite a bit smaller.  On the downside though it also happens to be v. v. busy as the touristy cruise ships can almost dock in town.  Out on a boat trip this afternoon on the beautiful Bay of Kotor.  Surrounded by mountains, overhanging limestone cliffs, and small towns and villages spread along the coastline, it’s very picturesque and reminiscent of the Norwegian fjords.   Our first stop was a dip at the ‘Blue Grotto’, a beautiful swimming hole and cave with some spectacular blue and gin clear water.  Next off was a visit to the remnants of a WWII submarine port.  Pretty well

  Aug 25 Back on the road again!😊 In anticipation of catching an early flight to Dubrovnik the following morning we spent the night at a hotel at Gatwick airport.  However, due to lousy weather over Germany apparently, what started off as an early departure soon turned into a lunchtime one! Aug 26 Our only full day in Dubrovnik and so we took off for a traipse around the old town, Pile.  Founded around the 7th Century this is a lovely fortressed city built from limestone which sits on the Adriatic Coast.  Full of tiny winding  lanes, open squares, and beautiful old buildings, this really is a lovely place town.  Must admit though that if we were to come back it would be a different time of year as the temperature’s in the mid thirties with 90% humidity! 🥵😳 This evening we joined up with a group of people at the start of our ‘Intrepid’ trip to Athens.  It’s not something we’ve done now for a few years but we figured that it’s probably easier to go on a tour through the likes of Al

  A bit of a mixture of visits today with trips to a National Trust property, a fishing village, and then a little bit of a coastal walk.   Our first stop was to ‘Godolphin Estate’, the former seat of the Dukes of Leeds and the Earls of Godolphin, and home to a Grade 1 listed Tudor/ Stuart mansion.  Although the whole place had promise, overall, for a National Trust property, it was a bit of a disappointment.  Although the house has been renovated it contained very few original features while some rooms even have modern appliances installed. Not very good if you want to try and emulate the atmosphere of times gone by.  Next off was a visit to Porthleven, the most southerly port in the UK.  This picturesque little fishing harbour, with its elaborate double harbour wall, originates from the early 1800’s and with much of the work carried out by French prisoners from the Napoleonic War.  These beautiful little Cornish villages have had a long history of fishing and once were a hive of acti

  A day-trip to St Ives today, a small town just about 10kms along the coast from here.   Formally a fishing village, today it’s now primarily a seaside resort, and even being presented the ‘Best UK Seaside Town’ awards a number of times in recent years.  Winning these awards though has added to the town’s popularity and today it is seriously busy.  It’s a bit of a shame really because in essence St Ives is a really lovely ’Olde Worlde’ fishing village.  However there are far, far too many tourists here (including us of course!).   A quiet day at the seaside! 😳 Having taken the train into town this morning this afternoon we decided to follow a section of the South West Coastal Path and walk home.  What a difference this was from our time in town.  For the most part there was nobody else on the path and so we had a lovely walk back taking in the beautiful views of the coast and frequently stopping on the way ‘filling up’ on blackberries! 😋

  Aug 7th - Worthing to Hayle, Cornwall Travel Day Back on the road again today, and this time to Hayle in Cornwall.  Normally about a 4.5-hour drive without stopping, today however, due to traffic and roadworks, it was closer to 8!  Just to add something to the joys of motoring over here the price of petrol on the way down was £1.56 (3.04!) Aug 8th - Hayle With a promise from the BoM of some decent weather we took off for a trip to Marazion, a small village on the coast and just the other side of the Cornwall peninsula from Hayle.  Home to both Marazion Marsh, a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve, and Saint Michael’s Mount, our first bit of exploration was to do a bit of bird watching at the wetlands.  Only separated from the sea by a small sand dune the marsh is home to Cornwall’s largest reed bed and covers over 60 hectares.  This really was a lovely place, however, with regard to seeing any birdlife, it was actually a little disappointing as it was very