Friday, September 23, 2005
The Arrival
After the countdown the time comes to leave our familiar area and look for adventure again. First we have to drive about 1400 km through the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy to get to the port of La Spezia. Not far from Genua where Colombus left Italy for his journey. We do not expect to find unexplored land but will explore places that are new to us.
We are quite calm when we leave our home, confident that we packed all we need. Not sure how the boys will handle the trip but ready to start. Soon after we start to drive Bart asks: When do we reach Jordan? (This seems to be his favorite country at the moment) Well let’s take it day-by-day and head for Germany first, boy. In Bad Schwalbach we find a free camper place next to the Kurhaus and settle for no budget night.
The next day rain comes but the Gothard tunnel is open again after all the floods in the Alps. Fortunately the enormous queue is on the other side of the road. That saves hours, but we still get to Italy (a Euro country again) pretty late. We settle to have pizza, what else in Italy, but the boys enjoy French fries. Unfortunately we cannot find the right spot of the camper site in the Italian village at night but sleep well at another parking place. That only leaves us about 200 km driving to La Spezia, our first goal. The campervan decides it wants to stay in Europe and somehow we loose the first and second gear. Not very handy once you have left the highway. But after some time and some money all is fixed again and there is some time to explore the beautiful area of Cinque Terra. Old villages are built on rocky shores close to the Mediterranean Sea. In this beautiful area our first Servas host of this trip lives in an old farm house overlooking the bay. She prepares us a nice pasta lunch which we have under some olive trees. Life is good.
Somewhat nervous we line up for the ferry that will take us to Tunisia. This is a new country for all of us. All of a sudden we feel we are very neatly packed: there are some passengers that carry at least one meter of goods on the roof of their cars! As if there is nothing for sale in Tunisia…. We are upgraded to a room with shower and toilet, probably because there are hardly any passengers. We estimate there is more staff then passengers to cater for by the battery of cooks.
I already have a chance to practise my French again with some Tunisians returning to visit their families and friends. That is quite nice after Italy where it is hard to find someone to communicate with.
We already expect an enormous delay at the customs, but being the second car we are extremely lucky. We do not have to unpack all the items and repack them afterwards. All the other passengers do have to open up everything. By the time they are ready we find ourselves in the luxury of a *** hotel Amilcar in Sidi Bou Said. I survived the first kilometers driving in a strange country in the dark without facing a serious problem. As there are no camping possibilities we decide to enjoy a hotel room for the night. We have no Tunisian dinars yet but the Visa card quickly solves this minor problem. Upgraded again as we now have a large bath, sea view and a swimming pool right in front of us. Even a delicious breakfast turns out to be inclusive….What happened to those low budget travelers that used to find the cheapest options available?
According to the Lonely Planet guide our town Sidi Bou Saidi is unique in Tunisia, but I feel like visiting Greece again. Walking the cobbled streets with its white houses and blue windows and doors. I have to admit the doors are definitely Arabic with the hands of Fatima and other details like half moons and the shape of a key. Busloads of tourists are unloaded, but they only stay in the main street. That offers us great sightseeing in the nice back alleys.After a swimming party for all of us and sleeping brake for Rik we head for Carthage. This old city was founded by Lebanese traders long before the Romans ruled the world. Unfortunately not much is left nowadays. First the Romans destroyed the city, rebuilt it in their fashion before it was destroyed again by the Vandals. So we needed a lot of imagination and the help of some nice displays at the museum to relive those days. We also feel that we are a bit spoiled after already visiting the beautiful Roman remains at Pompeii with the marvelous mosaic floors. The old harbors that brought the wealth to Carthage are still to be seen. But small as they are it is hard to imagine that this was once a thriving area. We decided to cook a meal next to this old harbor. The advantage of a campervan isn’t it? Who can say they enjoyed their meal having such a nice view on a historic site? Now we can and Rik and Bart ate very well. To get to sleep at night takes quite some time. They have so many new impressions that need to settle first. We notice at the amount of noise they create what their state of mind is. Through them we see things in different perspective, give more time to animals swimming, crawling and walking around than we would normally do. Their highlight is Sesame Street on the computer
We are quite calm when we leave our home, confident that we packed all we need. Not sure how the boys will handle the trip but ready to start. Soon after we start to drive Bart asks: When do we reach Jordan? (This seems to be his favorite country at the moment) Well let’s take it day-by-day and head for Germany first, boy. In Bad Schwalbach we find a free camper place next to the Kurhaus and settle for no budget night.
The next day rain comes but the Gothard tunnel is open again after all the floods in the Alps. Fortunately the enormous queue is on the other side of the road. That saves hours, but we still get to Italy (a Euro country again) pretty late. We settle to have pizza, what else in Italy, but the boys enjoy French fries. Unfortunately we cannot find the right spot of the camper site in the Italian village at night but sleep well at another parking place. That only leaves us about 200 km driving to La Spezia, our first goal. The campervan decides it wants to stay in Europe and somehow we loose the first and second gear. Not very handy once you have left the highway. But after some time and some money all is fixed again and there is some time to explore the beautiful area of Cinque Terra. Old villages are built on rocky shores close to the Mediterranean Sea. In this beautiful area our first Servas host of this trip lives in an old farm house overlooking the bay. She prepares us a nice pasta lunch which we have under some olive trees. Life is good.
Somewhat nervous we line up for the ferry that will take us to Tunisia. This is a new country for all of us. All of a sudden we feel we are very neatly packed: there are some passengers that carry at least one meter of goods on the roof of their cars! As if there is nothing for sale in Tunisia…. We are upgraded to a room with shower and toilet, probably because there are hardly any passengers. We estimate there is more staff then passengers to cater for by the battery of cooks.
I already have a chance to practise my French again with some Tunisians returning to visit their families and friends. That is quite nice after Italy where it is hard to find someone to communicate with.
We already expect an enormous delay at the customs, but being the second car we are extremely lucky. We do not have to unpack all the items and repack them afterwards. All the other passengers do have to open up everything. By the time they are ready we find ourselves in the luxury of a *** hotel Amilcar in Sidi Bou Said. I survived the first kilometers driving in a strange country in the dark without facing a serious problem. As there are no camping possibilities we decide to enjoy a hotel room for the night. We have no Tunisian dinars yet but the Visa card quickly solves this minor problem. Upgraded again as we now have a large bath, sea view and a swimming pool right in front of us. Even a delicious breakfast turns out to be inclusive….What happened to those low budget travelers that used to find the cheapest options available?
According to the Lonely Planet guide our town Sidi Bou Saidi is unique in Tunisia, but I feel like visiting Greece again. Walking the cobbled streets with its white houses and blue windows and doors. I have to admit the doors are definitely Arabic with the hands of Fatima and other details like half moons and the shape of a key. Busloads of tourists are unloaded, but they only stay in the main street. That offers us great sightseeing in the nice back alleys.After a swimming party for all of us and sleeping brake for Rik we head for Carthage. This old city was founded by Lebanese traders long before the Romans ruled the world. Unfortunately not much is left nowadays. First the Romans destroyed the city, rebuilt it in their fashion before it was destroyed again by the Vandals. So we needed a lot of imagination and the help of some nice displays at the museum to relive those days. We also feel that we are a bit spoiled after already visiting the beautiful Roman remains at Pompeii with the marvelous mosaic floors. The old harbors that brought the wealth to Carthage are still to be seen. But small as they are it is hard to imagine that this was once a thriving area. We decided to cook a meal next to this old harbor. The advantage of a campervan isn’t it? Who can say they enjoyed their meal having such a nice view on a historic site? Now we can and Rik and Bart ate very well. To get to sleep at night takes quite some time. They have so many new impressions that need to settle first. We notice at the amount of noise they create what their state of mind is. Through them we see things in different perspective, give more time to animals swimming, crawling and walking around than we would normally do. Their highlight is Sesame Street on the computer
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Count down
The count down has seriously started, only 2 nights to go. Hans enjoys his last working day today and I will finish tomorrow. Fridaymorning is the time to say goodbye and leave Holland for the next 20 weeks. Still hard to imagine, but soon very true.
Bart is already drawing maps of Jordan, but Rik is still unaware of the whole adventure. Time will tell how we all manage in the small living space of our campervan.
We plan to keep you updated. If you like to contact us: use our regular e-mail address or through the Comments at our website. Of course we like to read your news too!
Bart is already drawing maps of Jordan, but Rik is still unaware of the whole adventure. Time will tell how we all manage in the small living space of our campervan.
We plan to keep you updated. If you like to contact us: use our regular e-mail address or through the Comments at our website. Of course we like to read your news too!
