Going off-road in Marao, Portugal

From time to time, in a road somewhere, there's a small path inviting for a different experience and I usualy think 'some other day, today is not a good day'. But the willing is there.
So when I saw an advertising from my auto club for a off-road day trip not far from home I thought it was exactly what I was waiting for!

The day before just fill up with gas, check the tyre pressure (and lower it a bit) and print the instructions to go to the meeting place.

Waiting to stamp the road-book

After driving the distance from my home, just less than an hour, we arrived and checked-in to receive the road-bood, a number plate sticker to the front window (cool!), have a coffe and start the off road trip. It was my second organized off-road trip and this time my wife was going with me. The first one was back in 1999 and I covered the CR-V with plastic film! Not now. The idea was to go in a calm trip and enjoy the view. Along these years I did some paths all by myself but a rule is never go alone by an unknown path.
Although October here is usually cold and rainy, this was a hot sunny day, no problems with mud but problems with dust, a lot of dust.

We were 43 participants being 6 'light' like my CR-V (Freelander, A6, X1, Cayenne) and the other 37 'heavy' like Patrol, Discovery, Strakar, Jeep and other. Some old, some new, all 4x4.
 It was fun to see in the parking area a  Jeep from the world war, but it didn't participate.

The path had too many small rocks, sometimes everything shaked inside the CR-V. It is not new (1999), 180000km already, no problems so far, so slowly we went all the way.

At about half the trip a pause to eat something and take a photo. The dust is visible and not more because it was so dry it just fall off.

After that the path went by the top of a mountain, no trees, very 'nothing' but a lot of sheeps there. Where they did come from I have no idea!

This part of the path was more demanding, also more interesting to drive in!

Another interesting part of the path

And then the end, time for some more photos.

A good late lunch to end a good day!
I hope to be able to go in many more off-road trips!

Oct 8, 2011 ACP 2nd off road trip in Marao area.

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 11

Day 11

Toulouse, France to Porto, Portugal -- 1129km

Last day and the longer day, with more km to go. But as we were heading home nothing new to see so we could go on driving for more hours and kms. 

In Portugal as we went by a new highway, the one I didn’t use when leaving home, we stopped in a service area to eat something but there was nothing to eat! But the next one had.

And finally home.

The downside of this trip was to stay in a different hotel everyday, 9 nights 9 hotels. I booked almost all (not the first) before starting this trip but it's a bit tyring to search the street address in an unknown city of an unknown country, park the car sometimes in a garage not far away but having to carry the bags on the street and to the room, and next morning pack again and carry the bags to the car.

As this trip was in May the weather was not steady but not bad and we could walk and go inside monuments and places without the croud usual in summer time. And sometimes I wished I could stay a little longer in a city.

My Honda CR-V 11 years old and 170000km had no problem at all.

It was the end of a marvelous trip, lots of new places, lots of road, lots of hours driving and an immense pleasure. One thing I am sure - I like driving! Well, and I like to see new places. I could start over again just the day after arriving.


All photos by me, my wife or my daughter
Porto - Budapest - Porto
Km: 6800
Days: 11

Countries: 10
Liters: 730 -- EUR in gasoline: 930 (Spain being the less expensive, France the worse)

EUR in toll: 214

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 10

Day 10
Clermont-Ferrand, France to Toulouse, France -- 520km
 
The middle of France is vast. Lots of km without seeing much of houses or villages. After a while, time to stop by a service area or just area (aire) as the french call it, a beautiful one, up in the mountains. Big stones outside, wood inside, beautiful. 

We took a longer way to Toulouse but we wanted to go by the Millau viaduct. It’s just the highest in the world! And it’s impressive, although crossing it we don’t see much as probably we would see by air. 

After that we got out of the highway and went by a simple road. As we crossed Roquefort - I would swear the famous cheese smell was in the air - we had to stop to allow for cows to pass by us in the road. 

Then Toulouse, a nice town. No problem in finding the hotel, our room was in the 8th floor. I could see my CR-V parked!

Violet is the flower common everywhere, and not just the flower, but cookies, jam, and lots of different stuff made from the flower. I believe all the shop windows have some violet motif. 

We enjoyed walking around. As the weather was good we had dinner outside, in a square.

Then rest, next day would be the last and longer journey.

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 9

Day 9

Neuchatel, Switzerland to Clermont-Ferrand, France -- 470km
 
Leaving Switzerland was no problem, and entering France and the European Union was no problem either. Funny to see side by side the highway signs in blue for France and green for Switzerland.

The highway was easy, through 'la campagne' till Clermont-Ferrand.
After checking in we went see the town. As the hotel was outside I took the car and parked in some street. As usual memorize where the car was and go on.
I liked to walk there and see the old buildings in lava stone - there was a volcano in the surroundings! Nowadays is just a curiosity with field trips to the border, but the stones used in old houses and monuments are typical.

As usual in Europe there's allways beautiful churches.

I just love stained glass windows.

Small shops help create an atmosphere in a city.

Then have dinner in some restaurant -- I think the meat in France is excellent -- and go back to the car and to the hotel.

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 8

Day 8
Innsbruck, Austria to Neuchatel, Switzerland -- 450km

After a delicious breakfast with Austrian mountains in sight, time to drive. We started by driving thru Innsbruck to see it but it is nothing special, probably a busy city during winter but not now so we kept going. 

As Switzerland is not in the European Union, crossing border to Switzerland is really crossing border, and an officer stopped us and asked for papers. No problem, so we entered the country and went in a highway in a industrial valley, not much sight seeing. Perhaps I should choose a road not a highway. Oh well, let's keep going. 

Time to get some Swiss Francs from a cash machine during a stop for gas. Although there are 3 official languages, german, french ant italian, as I speak french I tried to speak in french about toll but the lady there only spoke in german; no good. This time there was no need to pay just to go to the toilette, in some countries there was someone at the entrance of the toilette (rest room) collecting money. Annoying, but not here in Swiss.

Arriving in Neuchatel we kept following the GPS but no success in finding the hotel - a problem with the hotel street name -  so we stopped and tryed to figure out a different way to find the hotel. As we were there a local worker stop by and asked in portuguese if we needed help. He was a Portuguese working in Switzerland. As we were a little far away he volunteered to show us the way so we followed him till the hotel. Thanks! 

So as usual after checking in and asking the office to keep the giant bag so we wouldn’t carry it to the room neither leave it in the car, we went see the town. It is by a lake, is very nice, old well kept houses.

A light dinner - the nice restaurants were just too expensive - and back to the hotel.

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 7

Day 7
Budapest, Hungary to Innsbruck, Austria -- 730km
 
Next morning it was a problem - well, not a big problem - to pack everything my daughter had put together during the school year. Being in arts doesn’t help, either, lots of materials. One bag was supersize. 

With everything settled we left Budapest for the journey home. Of course we had a lot to talk so I followed the GPS instructions to leave Budapest and get on the highway in Austria direction, not paying much attention. But after a while I noticed the signs were not saying Austria as before and my wife noticed the huge amount of km shown in the GPS - we were heading to Slovenia! Stop in the next service area, time to study the Europe paper map, decide to go back following the road signs and not the GPS. We lost 2 hours with this error. That was going to cost us the typical dinner I was willing for as we arrived at the hotel up in the mountains after the kitchen was closed. At the time I couldn’t figure out why that happened. 

But the highway was nice, as we entered Austria there were more and more mountains, no more problems with directions, and as we kept going we discovered that the highway inside Austria from east to west cross a bit of Germany. I hadn’t downloaded that map! That was why the GPS tried to send me by a different route - it had no way of knowing the route in Germany. Well, it was a way of trying the 'No speed limit' in Germany... nice!

The hotel is a typical mountain hotel full of charme. The view from my room was beautiful.

One thing I enjoy in hotels is breakfast although sometimes a bit expensive. Here it was worth, a breakfast with a view.

It was a long day driving all the time and after a sandwich and using the hotel free wifi, time to rest. 

In the route I put gasoline in the car in an area and it was the only petrol station that didn’t accept my cards; I had to pay in cash; I didn't understand the problem as the lady there only talked in German. So a tip - always carry enough money to pay for the gas or else you may be in trouble!

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 6

Day 6
Ljubljiana, Slovenia to Budapest, Hungary -- 460km

So in the morning was the usual - breakfast then pack then leave the hotel. Define my daughter’s address in Budapest as new place to go in the GPS and drive. 
No big problem but I couldn’t understand how the Slovenian highway toll system worked, it is different from the other countries I drove in.

Anyway the drive was calm, Slovenia and Hungary have cities then countryside so from the highway it was just countryside. We stopped by a road service area in Slovenia to have a coffee and we were surprised with the quality of that area, new, complete we everything - it even had a woman dressed in folk clothes cooking bread and cookies. Lots of regional stuff. Really good. 

Then Hungary, more countryside, rain again, and following the GPS we arrived... at nowhere! After phoning my daughter we figured out the problem - in Budapest they have what might be called as districts and they may have the same street name in each district. So I defined the street in the GPS as the first choice and it was the wrong district. Time to change that, and this time all went well.

After arriving at my daughter's we verified the sooo many suitcases and odd things to carry to the car the next day (one year studying art and design and animation) and went check in at the hotel. There I could park the CR-V in a side street and I could see it from my bedroom window. Good. There was a white line defining the parking space on the sidewalk, not on the street. Odd.

One more hotel and once more a bit different, this one was old style Cotton Club.

The room also had an old style decor.

 

It was raining a lot. Off we went to a local tour and have tea in a just marvelous tea house, grand, large, high, old times look, just beautiful.
Then a nice dinner in a boat in the river Danube. A pity it rained so heavily. No photos!

Back to the hotel for a good night sleep and next morning when we went have breakfast we were surprised because it was served in the Club area in the basement after a large stair covered in velvet, with music instruments area, bar area, and so on. Amazing.
The only photos were taken by my wife with a cell phone; it was a bit dark.

There's a man at the piano... a dummy!

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 5

Day 5
Padua, Italy to Ljubljana, Slovenia -- 270km
 
The day started as a normal day, breakfast at the hotel then get the car and hit the road. I wanted to arrive early in Ljubljana as it was the first really different country for me. 
The road was near Venice but this was not the time to go there so access the highway and... stop! Some accident somewhere and the police shut the highway so we had to get out of it. Now what? The GPS kept saying something like ‘go back to the highway’ so I turned it off and as I had a Europe paper map I figured out a different way. Just go north and then on to a different highway going east. Only the scale of the map didn’t allow me to see there was no connection between the two highways... 
Lots of time and money in toll and gas to go till the end of the highway up in the Alpes, turn back without finding the way. But finaly I turned on the GPS (I'm a man, I don't ask for directions!) and it recalculated the route so we finaly got the correct road to Slovenia. My wife told me that if we went to see Venice as she wanted it would have been a much better spent time...

It was amazing to try to read the city names in the road signs and not be able to because of the different language. No more problems till Ljubljana and driving there was easy. We checked in in a penzion (kind of hostal) as I couldn't find any good price hotels there and off we went see the town.

It’s a beautiful town, lots of people out enjoying the good weather, nice restaurants, good walking areas by the river with many bridges, a castle on top of a hill.

Castle entrance from the funicular

To go up to the castle we took the funicular. It was a good way of having a general view of the city.

Interior area of the castle

We had dinner in a restaurant specialized in fish and as the weather was good we got a table outside. So far we were lucky, rain only on the road not on cities so we could appreciate the sightseeings. Lots of people enjoying the good weather here in Ljubljana. 
It was good to use the same currency, euro, also here in Slovenia. And once again to verify that English is the de facto standard international language.

Two separate beds...

This night my CR-V stayed in the street because there was no garage near by. As it was a calm street I hoped for the best and nothing went wrong. Till the end of the trip there were no more garages, only parking areas.

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 4

Day 4
Genova, Italy to Padua, Italy -- 350km

The north of Italy in highway is not much interesting. But I never saw so many trucks! As the highway was a 3 lane, the trucks formed a compact and orderly line in the right lane, no problem for the cars.
Lots of rain, as it was a small distance no problem, and as our journey approached end the sky cleared.

Arriving in Padua (Padova in italian) was not a problem, and I was amazed with the difference from Genova. Everything was old but nice, clean, not much traffic, on the whole very pleasant.


After checking in the hotel and parking the car in a garage near by again having to let the car key in reception we went see the surroundings and see the famous Scrovegni Chapel. Beautiful interior.

Scrovegni chapel

Then time to walk around and enjoy all the city.

The problem now is to choose the photos to post here. So many!
An amazing church, not S.Antonio.

Torrichelli bridge - made me go back in time to high school...

When dinner time arrived, we went to one of the restaurants in this 'piazza'

And so ended a good day, time to go back to the hotel

Our hotel room had a somewhat strange picture hanging on the wall over the bed

From Porto to Budapest and back Day 3

Day 3
Cannes, France to Genova, Italy through Monaco -- 220km
 
This day we had a smaller amount of road to go as we had two places to see, Monaco along the way and the destination city, Genova.

Another nice road, no problems, and we arrived at Monaco when they were preparing things for the famous Monaco F1 GP. Driving through the city I ‘put my CRV wheels on the GP track’! 

It’s amazing how they are able to organize a F1 GP in a city so full of buildings and narrow streets, specially because the modern F1 cars are so fast!

Monaco: Yachts, buildings, mountains

The streets are typically mountain streets. The mountains are the reason why France always let Monaco be, I think.

Time to walk around the big F1 trucks and different structures, lots of people and of course so many super cars! Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, RollsRoyce, and even Tesla. I never saw so many together.

And off we went to Italy by a nice coast road passing by Nice - a much more nice beach than Cannes - having lunch in a small place along the way after crossing border to Italy. More small towns like SanRemo and then we took the highway to Genova. It’s an amazing highway across the mountains with lots of tunnels and bridges. 

After so many small and nice towns Genova - or Genoa like the Italians call it - was a bit of a chock. Big, many lanes streets, a terrible traffic, lots of small motorcycles, and again it was difficult to pay attention to that Italian traffic and follow the GPS instructions. Anyway I did it and after many turns we arrived near by the hotel I had booked previously. There was a garage near by where I could keep my CR-V out of the street and safe. I was surprised with one thing - I had to let the car key with the garage keeper so he could rearrange the cars according to the order of departing, next morning. The garage was really full.

The hotel was a small one in an old building but recently updated. The room, a suite, was just wonderful, the best in this trip. The garage and the hotel were near the old town center so we could walk there and see the sights. Not a very nice town, a bit too old and not well kept. Some nice monuments, though.

This palace is just plane, everything we see is painting, even the 'stone' in the base. The windows are real.

A 'nau' in the port. A pity they let cars park there, somehow blocking the view.

At dinner time there was just a few people in the streets and we could not see any nice restaurant so we decided to follow a couple about our age that looked like going out for dinner... and they went to a nice large restaurant! It was in a very narrow street, almost unnoticed from the main street and only visible by some window light. We wanted to have a typical italian meal with 2 courses so we ate the pasta as first course then the meat as second course, Italian way.