Monday, January 16, 2006
Kids
Hans and I always had a desire to do this trip. Hans wanted to go on a motorcycle but I was not sure about that. It never crossed our minds that we would go one day in a VW bus with 2 sons in the back. Although not many people travel with such small kids for such a long time in these countries, we decided to go and try. We are fortunate to be experiences travelers but traveling with our own transport and 2 kids was new to us. In 2004 we tried it in the summer holiday, but soon realized that every age of the kids have new challenges. Originally we planned to leave in February 2005 but had to postpone it to September. When we saw a toddler crawling in the dust on the Douz’ campsite in Tunisia we were very happy Rik could already walk and he was not walking yet in February last year! Even though Rik often went for a walk on his own and we had to go after him…
I thought they would often find local kids to play with, but most kids we saw already went to school and smaller children were often inside the houses or courtyards beyond our reach. If they met any language was usually not a point, but especially Bart wanted me to ask them to play – impossible for me in Arabic of course. Although we did not bring a lot of toys, in the countries we visited it was often much more than the kids possessed, if they already had any toys at all to play with. Our kids had difficulties to share their toys but were very quick to play with toys from other kids. And some people we met had up to 14 kids while we already feel it consumes a lot of time to manage only 2!
In Istanbul we already reached Europe, but crossing the border with Greece means we are even back in the European Community and a Euro country. The weather is not great, all campsites are closed and we continue via Thessaloniki towards Macedonia. We spend the night on the parking of a hotel and I enjoy an ice coffee (frappe) while typing. The border crossing with Macedonia is pretty easy and soon we see more snow. The main road is clean so we do not worry too much about it. About 25 years ago Hans was already here visiting Byzantine churches but this time we only throw snowballs and enter Albania. We have to pay 20 euro for a visa, but also 3 euro for a basin of disinfecting water. Hans remembers this from his previous trip through former Yugoslavia but I think it is ridiculous to pay for this dirty water bath. The comment from Bart: "At home I already knew you would not want to pay these ridiculous amounts". That gave us a good laugh.
The first part of our trip through Albania is windy. We are surprised to see a lot of Mercedes cars that drive around. We were still thinking of horses and carriages but people spend money over here too. A lot of new bars and restaurants right next to the road provide us with a parking place to sleep. All the staff leaves around 6 pm and only the guard remains with us behind the locked gates. We are surprised the restaurant is not open in the evening but feel very safe of course.
The next morning the road turns out to be completely different: the worst of the whole trip! Huge potholes slow us down to an average speed of 40 km/hr. The road leads us straight through the town centers, with no road signs at all. So we have to ask frequently but hardly anyone speaks English. Nevertheless they usually explain very friendly where we have to go. Still I was really looking forward to reach the border with Servia-Montenegro. To our surprise we had to pay road taxes of 4 euro per day to the Albanian officials. Maybe they actually use it to upgrade the pavement one day. In Servia
we find a shortcut on the map, but it turns out to be a major challenge. The higher the small road takes us the colder it gets and soon snow borders the road. It does not last long before snow is still on the road and after passing a last village our world is completely white. No space to turn around and no snow chains to use. With a faster heartbeat we slowly continue in first gear. Fortunately the road does not get too steep and after finally reaching the top we see the green fields far under us. It takes another 20 km to reach the lakeshore and here we face rain. I am sure the lake is beautiful when the sun shines, but we arrive in the wrong season. We park in the center of Igalo, where Hans’ mother went last year for a holiday. While she enjoyed massages, sauna etc we enjoy a good meal in our car before going to sleep.
The next morning we enter Croatia and see the beautifully restored city of Dubrovnik. In the Yugoslavian war it was heavily attacked. It is hard to believe that it was only 15 years ago. While driving we try to see remains of the war but are never sure if the houses were abandoned before or during the war. And maybe only my imagination creates repaired bullet holes in the walls of houses.
We follow the beautiful coastal route even though it is fairly slow, but from Split we take the highway and cover nearly as many kilometers in one hour as before in nearly 3. Just before entering the mountains we find a place, have a goulash dish in a restaurant and keep the roof closed while sleeping. Too cold, although Bart and Rik still enjoy playing on the slide for a while.
The next day brings a lot of snow until we reach the coast again, but even close to the sea in Slovenia we see snow next to the road. We never realized Slovenia is also a part of the European Union so we even learn something while driving home. Many Italians go for winter sport here as well as in Croatia, as it seems to be much cheaper than in Italy. We want to go to Venice and leave the snow behind. Mario and Rosetta welcome us in their home and please us with real Italian food at Italian times. So the boys eat at 6 pm and we eat when they already sleep in our bus. Of course we want to visit the city of Venice and go by bus and boat to the St Marco square. Many other tourists are around and we are happy not to visit in summer time. Beside the restaurants there are also local bakeries, grocery stores etc for the local people living here. The level of the water is low but you can see by the level of the plants that it can be higher than some doors! The highlight for the boys however is Teddy, the dog, and to walk the dog is a great experience they enjoy very much. "Come Teddy" says Rik and even though the temperatures are low Bart wants to walk Teddy 4 times the next day.
From Venice we want to see our friends in Geneva, but Mario says it is too far to drive in one day and arranges another Servas visit north of Milan. We stay with a family and the house contains a lot of toys. Bart and Rik hardly know which item to play with first. Of course we eat more pasta and put the boys to bed. Not in the bus anymore, that is finished with the freezing temperatures. Rik sleeps with a large truck next to his bed and Bart chooses 2 Disney figures for one night. The next morning they hardly take time to have breakfast and want to play again. We find some time to talk about all kind of things and enjoy being part of the Servas organization again.
In Geneva we meet our friends Rose-Marie and Jean-Marie again after 5 and 13 years. We met them for the first time in Zimbabwe in 1991 and share good memories. We have a splendid time together talking about travels, jobs and all kinds of other subjects. They prepare a Swiss Raclette (cheese) dinner; we go swimming, drive up the mountain and finally buy some winter jackets for the boys. From Geneva we drive north to visit Cornelia and Johannes we met in Tozeur last September. They also give us a warm welcome and we practise our German once more. In Niedernberg, Germany, we surprise our friend Roland by our arrival. We could not reach him to say we would arrive Sunday afternoon but he welcomes us anyway. We met him in Chang Mai, Thailand in 1993 and kept in touch. Roland and Conny have a daughter Mara who is nearly 2 months older than Rik and the boys find another Eldorado to play. We are happy to stay especially as my intestines are not 100%. Problems with the European drinking water?? Anyway the boys play happily, we type the stories and take a bath while Roland and Conny work. We are still not sure how to spend the last 3 weeks of our leave but until now we do not regret going on this trip the way we did.
I thought they would often find local kids to play with, but most kids we saw already went to school and smaller children were often inside the houses or courtyards beyond our reach. If they met any language was usually not a point, but especially Bart wanted me to ask them to play – impossible for me in Arabic of course. Although we did not bring a lot of toys, in the countries we visited it was often much more than the kids possessed, if they already had any toys at all to play with. Our kids had difficulties to share their toys but were very quick to play with toys from other kids. And some people we met had up to 14 kids while we already feel it consumes a lot of time to manage only 2!
In Istanbul we already reached Europe, but crossing the border with Greece means we are even back in the European Community and a Euro country. The weather is not great, all campsites are closed and we continue via Thessaloniki towards Macedonia. We spend the night on the parking of a hotel and I enjoy an ice coffee (frappe) while typing. The border crossing with Macedonia is pretty easy and soon we see more snow. The main road is clean so we do not worry too much about it. About 25 years ago Hans was already here visiting Byzantine churches but this time we only throw snowballs and enter Albania. We have to pay 20 euro for a visa, but also 3 euro for a basin of disinfecting water. Hans remembers this from his previous trip through former Yugoslavia but I think it is ridiculous to pay for this dirty water bath. The comment from Bart: "At home I already knew you would not want to pay these ridiculous amounts". That gave us a good laugh.
The first part of our trip through Albania is windy. We are surprised to see a lot of Mercedes cars that drive around. We were still thinking of horses and carriages but people spend money over here too. A lot of new bars and restaurants right next to the road provide us with a parking place to sleep. All the staff leaves around 6 pm and only the guard remains with us behind the locked gates. We are surprised the restaurant is not open in the evening but feel very safe of course.
The next morning the road turns out to be completely different: the worst of the whole trip! Huge potholes slow us down to an average speed of 40 km/hr. The road leads us straight through the town centers, with no road signs at all. So we have to ask frequently but hardly anyone speaks English. Nevertheless they usually explain very friendly where we have to go. Still I was really looking forward to reach the border with Servia-Montenegro. To our surprise we had to pay road taxes of 4 euro per day to the Albanian officials. Maybe they actually use it to upgrade the pavement one day. In Servia
we find a shortcut on the map, but it turns out to be a major challenge. The higher the small road takes us the colder it gets and soon snow borders the road. It does not last long before snow is still on the road and after passing a last village our world is completely white. No space to turn around and no snow chains to use. With a faster heartbeat we slowly continue in first gear. Fortunately the road does not get too steep and after finally reaching the top we see the green fields far under us. It takes another 20 km to reach the lakeshore and here we face rain. I am sure the lake is beautiful when the sun shines, but we arrive in the wrong season. We park in the center of Igalo, where Hans’ mother went last year for a holiday. While she enjoyed massages, sauna etc we enjoy a good meal in our car before going to sleep.
The next morning we enter Croatia and see the beautifully restored city of Dubrovnik. In the Yugoslavian war it was heavily attacked. It is hard to believe that it was only 15 years ago. While driving we try to see remains of the war but are never sure if the houses were abandoned before or during the war. And maybe only my imagination creates repaired bullet holes in the walls of houses.
We follow the beautiful coastal route even though it is fairly slow, but from Split we take the highway and cover nearly as many kilometers in one hour as before in nearly 3. Just before entering the mountains we find a place, have a goulash dish in a restaurant and keep the roof closed while sleeping. Too cold, although Bart and Rik still enjoy playing on the slide for a while.
The next day brings a lot of snow until we reach the coast again, but even close to the sea in Slovenia we see snow next to the road. We never realized Slovenia is also a part of the European Union so we even learn something while driving home. Many Italians go for winter sport here as well as in Croatia, as it seems to be much cheaper than in Italy. We want to go to Venice and leave the snow behind. Mario and Rosetta welcome us in their home and please us with real Italian food at Italian times. So the boys eat at 6 pm and we eat when they already sleep in our bus. Of course we want to visit the city of Venice and go by bus and boat to the St Marco square. Many other tourists are around and we are happy not to visit in summer time. Beside the restaurants there are also local bakeries, grocery stores etc for the local people living here. The level of the water is low but you can see by the level of the plants that it can be higher than some doors! The highlight for the boys however is Teddy, the dog, and to walk the dog is a great experience they enjoy very much. "Come Teddy" says Rik and even though the temperatures are low Bart wants to walk Teddy 4 times the next day.
From Venice we want to see our friends in Geneva, but Mario says it is too far to drive in one day and arranges another Servas visit north of Milan. We stay with a family and the house contains a lot of toys. Bart and Rik hardly know which item to play with first. Of course we eat more pasta and put the boys to bed. Not in the bus anymore, that is finished with the freezing temperatures. Rik sleeps with a large truck next to his bed and Bart chooses 2 Disney figures for one night. The next morning they hardly take time to have breakfast and want to play again. We find some time to talk about all kind of things and enjoy being part of the Servas organization again.
In Geneva we meet our friends Rose-Marie and Jean-Marie again after 5 and 13 years. We met them for the first time in Zimbabwe in 1991 and share good memories. We have a splendid time together talking about travels, jobs and all kinds of other subjects. They prepare a Swiss Raclette (cheese) dinner; we go swimming, drive up the mountain and finally buy some winter jackets for the boys. From Geneva we drive north to visit Cornelia and Johannes we met in Tozeur last September. They also give us a warm welcome and we practise our German once more. In Niedernberg, Germany, we surprise our friend Roland by our arrival. We could not reach him to say we would arrive Sunday afternoon but he welcomes us anyway. We met him in Chang Mai, Thailand in 1993 and kept in touch. Roland and Conny have a daughter Mara who is nearly 2 months older than Rik and the boys find another Eldorado to play. We are happy to stay especially as my intestines are not 100%. Problems with the European drinking water?? Anyway the boys play happily, we type the stories and take a bath while Roland and Conny work. We are still not sure how to spend the last 3 weeks of our leave but until now we do not regret going on this trip the way we did.
# posted by Hans, Monique, Bart en Rik @ 4:19 pm 
