Roadtrip 2012 Part II

Day 6
Berlin, Germany to Münster, Germany -- 470km

Leaving Berlin was easy and after a not so long driving in the autobahn we arrived at Münster, a small town with lots of bikes and very calm. Although it was cloudy it didn't rain so we could go to the tourism office, get a map and see around.

Münster

A few nice churches, of course, in one of them the door handle was original

Church door handle

 ...and for diner... no idea what to ask! The waiter didn't speak english, just a few words, and couldn't help with the menu so we ordered randomly and of course eat some strange things.
Now I have a smart phone so I can translate words, but not that time.

Menu in German

 One thing puzzled me -- the traffic light for pedestrians had 2 simultaneous red lights!

Double traffic red light

Day 7
Münster, Germany to Rouen, France -- 650km

After leaving Münster we crossed a bit of The Netherlands, Belgium and entered France.
Filling up with gasoline somewhere in The Netherlands. I had to ask which to select because they have 3 and no indication of octanes. Silly.
In Belgium the information panels in the highways always indicate the European number, not the country  number. Kind of the interstates in the US, but usualy no country cares. Perhaps because in Belgium we have Brussels the capital of European Union.
One of the pleasures of traveling in Europe is to find churches with beautiful stone work. Rouen is no exception.

Rouen, France

The very old city center had amazing houses like the one in the photo -- will the window doors open?

A not so vertical house

Other very old houses, just charming.

Rouen

Day 8 
Rouen, France to Nantes, France -- 530km passing by Honfleur, Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint-Malo and Dinan

This was going to be a full day of driving and city seeing. First stop: Honfleur. Sooo charming little village by the sea! The morning there was a pleasure.

Honfleur

Just beautiful

Honfleur

We had more kms to go so next stop: the famous Le Mont-Saint-Michel, a fortified city in a small island. A quick stop to eat something and take a photo of my CR-V. It was the only place I spoted another car with Portuguese plate.

While the CR-V stayed in a new and large and paying car park we walked all the way, not knowing that there's a free shuttle to take tourists there...

Far away Le Mont-Saint-Michel

After 45 minutes walking

Le Mont-Saint-Michel

Next stop: Saint-Malo
Near by Saint-Malo we could visit an old smalll fortress dating from the World War II.

WW II

 Saint-Malo also is a fortified city. This entrance looked solid.

Saint-Malo

We had diner in a nice restaurant and chose one of the french famous meat: Entrecôt. Tasty.
And then next stop: Dinan another fortified city reflecting the difficult history of Europe.

Dinan

Dinan

 It was getting dark so we just passed by and went to our last hotel near Nantes

Day 9
Nantes, France to Porto, Portugal -- 1350km

As I didn't expect to have time to visit Nantes I booked a hotel by the highway. Sleep a few hours and off to the final leg, a very long one.
Many hours driving! From 8h in the morning to 10 in the night. But it was the way home!

No problem at all, nor with me neither with the CR-V.
We both love road trips.
:)

All photos by me, my wife or my daughter
Porto - Berlin - Porto
Km: 6000
Days: 9
Global: 9.6 l/100km or 24.5 US MPG or 29.5 Imp MPG or 10.4 km/l