This is a European Roadtrip 2019 - While we are still in the EuropeanUnion.

 

Well I mean, having it deferred until October did us no harm because I was kind of thinking that wherever we went that they might hold it against us if we had left -- you know - maybe thinking that we had somehow jumped ship and left them in the lurch -- well , after 40 odd years we kind of are aren't we.

 

Anyway, thanks to Terresa, we don't have to worry on that score any more -- we are still more than fully paid up members- by the end of this month we will have newly elected UK EU representatives.

 

So after a fairly uneventful trip from Aegina, we crossed the fairly iconic bridge from Patra to the mainland.

I love this fish eye kind of shot of this bridge - great design.

                                                  The ancient bridge of Arta

        There are times when you could be forgiven for thinking you are in Oregon, although of course the trees would be much bigger.

This is Sivota, near to Igonamitsa in north Greece and along with Parga is definitely worth a visit----

-- As is this place - not cheap, but for a little treat worth a visit

 

 

So we always wondered what the driven trip back from the wonderful Greece would be like, but also decided that if we were going to consider it then we would go via Albania, Montenegro, Croatia , Slovenia and up into Austria before Northern Italy and France, before the Eurostar to the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

I mean ,l  have in my time done many European countries working , visiting , holidaying and football -- some with Lynda and some without but I have never done a proper plotted trip through 8 countries and some of them ex soviet block and some ex Yugoslavia , all adds to a bit of originality and uniqueness, plus the spice of uncertainty and some  excitement I am sure. After all some of the places we will pass through were hardly on Thompsons bucket list for cheap European holidays a few years back.

 

 

 

Croatia and especially Dubrovnik, has been in amongst my bucket list since my Mum went there back in the 1970's, and came back with tails of history and walled castles and cities by the Adriatic coast line -- all sounded a bit special to me , as i had started travelling abroad at that time including to Greece .

 

So having spent the past 3-4 weeks, readjusting to a pace of life , ever so slightly less frenetic than the previous 3 months in the land of the Microprocessor in Ireland, and having taken care of the needy Maintenance of our " Seaside House" Kardia in Aegina , we left yesterday morning at the crack of sparrows -- although it may have been Starlings or Swallows - ( why does Amazons jump into my head ) -- via ferryboat, for pireaus / Athens , and then for the drive up to Epirus region, North Greece, before hitting the first border crossing this morning -- Sunday the 12th May.

 

 

 

Now, having gone over the items that we needed to cross the border from Greece around 4 times -- the Risk Manager in me coming out I guess, when it came to showing all the papers and in particular those for the Car, how bad was it to have that moment of panic when I could not workout what was the registration document for proof of ownership - but thankfully the Customs guy found it amongst the pile of papers that I came at him with.

 

Ok, so now we are in Albania and while the first few kilometres were pretty bland we found many spectacular views and some that were just a bit inconvenient.

 

 

 

 

 

Our main early problem had little to do with anything other than me not sorting out the sat nav properly. I mean it isn't rocket science but there is me downloading updates for Europe, not realising that A) Europe on Garmin Express , does not include Greece - You get Italy and Greece on a separate download but also B) that there isn't one for Albania and Montenegro either. Thank God that when all this technology came in that we didn't burn the maps. And I do have the added advantage of a truly experienced navigating veteran of many a road trip in Mrs A.

 

What they don't explain in any of the manuals is how when you see on the map a town that you need to go through, that you don't actually want to go down into the town because there is no way out and actually that road to the right with no sign on is the one you should have taken so we learnt the hard way.

 

They also try to trick people by turning signs to point the wrong way -- maybe they want to avoid tourists - so it took a little while to find Lezhe, where the hotel Liss is situated in the centre of town-- but after an 8 hour drive , we made it .

 

We did say that if we did the trip that we would very much try to meet up with our friend Mario, an Albanian that we had the pleasure to become friends with when he came to work in Aegina in around 2010.

 

He took us out of town to a restaurant called Mriza I Zanavo, which is an amazing place that is very traditional , cooks mostly local dishes and was a restaurant that Rick Stein did on one of his travels through the Balkans to Istanbul. Great choice Rick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It was a meze of cheeses, preservatives and pork kebabs, and game bird specialities.

 

The owners were amazing and we now have jars of specialities that we are adding to the car , as a gift to us.

 

Got to try to see if we can get this wine anywhere as it was superb - great recommendation Mario.

 
Below is security -- or main course - depending on your point of view.

 

Lots of interesting buildings and cant do a trip without some churches.

 

 Lots of these bee hives around so |Lynda bought 2 jars of local honey -- they had an actual spinning of the honey from the hives in the restaurant-- and it tastes delicious.

 

We went down into Vlore which is one that has no exit , so if you need to move on avoid going down into it

 

And lastly for now -- we need to find out what this building was -- I think it may have been the government building for Enver Hoxha the dictator for over 40 years -- as it is on the outskirts of Tirana, but we will see.

 

A great start to the trip and we are surviving so far.

 

 

 

Cant believe it -- back in January I did a blog for this site regarding our trip to Crete with Janet & Mike but hadn't finished it --- so I went to do just that today and was nearly done and somehow managed to lose the lot -- BUGGGGGGGGGGER.

That's better. Ok so this was a trip that Lynda and I were privileged to be able to be with these guys for their 50th wedding anniversary.

Ok so having driven to the airport and caught the flight to Iraklion, we picked up this BMW upgrade from the Mondeo that we had booked and it was a very nice car to drive for the week and around 900 kilometres.

Our first stopover was for 2 nights in a place called Agios Nikolas

Our hotel was up a similar street as this but I had to take this picture-- never did find out why Angels wings were hanging but it did look serene

So this was our first night and in a really busy taverna and we get the Cretan welcome and started to become the Raki Boys

And this is what we found particularly familiar in our travels on crete-- very hospitable they were

Happy ladies

 Great views and coffee by the inner bay

Pretty place this with holiday decorations everywhere

 

The next day we went around to the south side and up and down the hillsides into various harbours and bays and very pretty to have places like this for reflection for a people who live and breath the sea

 

 Good job the guys below had wet suits on because although the sun was very warm it must have been very cold in the water.

Sifis taverna was a great place for lunch

 
And the opportunity to get close top lots of critters on the beaches instead of people.

Back in the evening to the inner bay and to a 2nd story restaurant with a view and great food for the actual anniversary dinner.

 

So after 2 days in Agios Nikolas we moved on the Chiania, which is an amazing example of the blend of ancient and more modern and the way that the city have allowed new buildings to have been built into the walls of the old city -- anyway we loved it.

 

Also a good use of a mosque that was unused converting it into an art gallery but it is a great example of the type of architecture from the 1600's

n The Boss leaving our channia hotel

Nearly new years eve and Santa Klaus stopped off here on his way back to Lapland

Those that know me , know that I am fascinated by architecture and structural engineer working together to create superb features that can support huge loads on them and this is also a great example of that from something that is many hundreds of years.

I wouldn't mind knowing what the messages say - I find it interesting to see how the populous was thinking back in the day.









Nice when you can borrow the old wall for your foundations -- saves a few bob.

 

Again , the whole café culture was well demonstrated to us in Channia harbour , it was very busy when we were there, and a great atmosphere.

 

 

 Who would have thought that I would be drinking fruit tea - but I genuinely really enjoy this and the mountain tea that I drink in En Plo in Aegina -- preferably with honey of course.

It was great to see some EU money going in to this restoration project for the town -- I believe It will be a museum among other things and was looking very well done

Even in Channia there is room for the occasional boys toy -- this thing looked very quick.

Oh and even on the 30th December 18 , lynda found a jewellery store open -- actually it was a real mixture of woven things and shells and coral

I just liked this shot of ruins , vegetation and modern day living all side by side

But this shot depicts the great wall around the city from those many hundreds of years ago , with classic examples of a structural engineers skill even back then. The round stones that you can see are part of a design to deal with any vibration , movement that would have occurred and with the hole in the middle allowed for any movement or rotation -- clever folk back then.

 

So after the two days in  Channia we headed on the 31st December into Iraklion the capital of Crete and we stayed at a great hotel . Pool looks good but not heated so had no chance of getting me in.

 

A very elegant Mrs James on New Years eve in the hotel and ready for our 10 course meal

A bit cheeky  Mr James -- still your wife was close by.

Ok , so a really nice photo of me and Lynda -- and if you didn't know new year is Greece's xmas

Happy New year to these two luvlies

The next day in the centre of Iraklion -- a beautiful day to join the rest of the island who appeared to be in the centre of town at the same time as us .

And this one below is one of the nicest I think I took on this trip of these three -- and just the type of sky behind them that it is a pleasure to see on the first day of 2019.

And the final picture of history is of the Morozini Fountain from 1629 - from the Venetian times

And finally a picture of the most important people in Mike and My lives, which seems appropriate  at the end of our journey and new year celebration.

 

So that's it --- I finally managed to complete this blog from the beginning of January on the 3rd of April 19, laying on my bed in the hotel room in Ireland on my penultimate night here with only 2 days more work until I am off for the summer.

 

Ok so having done a 6 month stint here on the irish project I think Lynda and I have earnt the right -- hey , hang on a minute , I did pass 70, two weeks ago.

 

we also have Greek easter  coming up and a European road trip to die for, so this is good practice for what is about to come next.

 

Thanks for your company Mike & Janet and we were privileged to be with you both on such a monumental day.

 

Like Arnie says " I'll be back".