Our first stop in Spain was San Sebastian (Basque name – Donostia). With some prior knowledge of the town from a trip earlier this year  (Rupert) and knowledge of the Spanish language (Sylwia), we were onto a winner!

San Sebastian welcomed us with open arms but no parking spaces for our vehicle, sadly. After trawling the mean streets of this Basque town we were very much ready for pinxtos! Pinxtos are small finger-food tapas-style snacks, popular in the Basque country and served in bars whilst hanging out with friends and family. Good accompaniment to drinks and perfect for lining your stomach!

 

We were also lucky enough to bump into Ida and Peter who just got engaged! (we call ourselves the engagement fairies of course). Combine a newly engaged couple with some pinxtos = perfect night out 🙂 We even tried to find some dancing but as it was a Sunday night, San Sebastian wasn’t the best place to be.

Thoroughly well fed and watered (with fire water), nursing a bit of a hangover, we headed in the general direction of Bilbao.

Spain’s northern shore is gorgeous, the colour of the ocean is stunning, views breathtaking and big rocks sticking out of the ocean very picturesque/frightening . And no camping. No camping with any spaces for us three, anyway (Salsa, too, of course). It was nearing the sundown and with no fixed plans we tried out a few coastal paths and stumbled on the most perfect camping sauvage (wild camping) spot to date.

It was so peaceful and relaxing, most close to nature (sic!) we’ve been so far. Bilbao was beckoning but this place will forever occupy a bit of our wild souls.

 

 

We’ve taken a while to write this post as we couldn’t really think of many things we hadn’t known before and learnt about the country of  Liberté, égalité, fraternité but here it goes.

1. Hands down best pastry in the world
2. Coffee is not even comparable to what we drank on a daily basis in Italy (and took it for granted)
3. Dordogne valley is mini England. There are coach-loads of English people coming to cute little French towns and buying up the property
4. Very good travelling village/small town markets
5. Cheese and wine are on point (also, don’t wait a week until you have them unless you want to risk serious overindulgence)
6. Despite the terror threats and warnings, we actually didn’t see much gendarmerie on the streets. Not sure if that was intentional camouflage or not…
7. West coast of France is beautiful, crowded and only accessible by bike. Next time we visit we’ll bring a trolley for our kites and boards
8. There is an abundance of camping sites from very basic ones (area naturelle, camping a la ferme) to huge ones
9. Bordeaux is the best French city we’ve seen, with burgeoning art scene, good restaurants, lots of space, cute districts and great location (close to surf). We will be back
10. Bunting makes everything look cuter (including shabby towns)

Au revoir France, you’ve been good. Time to hit Spain!

Having heard a fair bit about Bordeaux (all of which was good), we were headed there for a city break. Bordeaux turned out to be a darling of the French cities. It rained on our first day so we hit the museums.

First was the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux. Not a huge collection, yet well presented and carefully curated following a historical timeline with thoughtful explanations giving background to the paintings.

The next was Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez. Situated in a chateu in a lovely district of old houses made out of sandstone and twisty and turny streets. The building and surrounding gardens proved a great setting for two large exhibitions – one on Graffiti art from 1985 till 21^st Century and second one on Baccarat Crystals.

With the weather decidedly improving, Bordeaux was a lovely stopover, lots to do, good food, happy people, a lot of open space and the proximity to the ocean surf!

Speaking of which, we both had somewhere to be and something to do so we headed to the seaside. Seeing the ocean after a few land-locked months felt amazing. That, accompanied by beautiful weather, good waves and excellent burger (burger of the trip award) made up a lovely afternoon. Sadly, the coast was very busy and we started to experience the high-season burn…where everywhere is packed with families and the traffic is horrendous.

But we are on our way to find the abandoned beaches, sunny cliffs and space. And we are determined to find them!

Having arrived in France (again), and realizing the rain followed us there, we found a nearby hotel, where we celebrated the return to the land of wine and fromage with a Michelin-starred meal and champagne (when in France…)

The experience was lovely, the hangover the next day was not. Armed with our prowess of finding quaint, close to nature campsites, we set off yet again.

Bingo! At the Lac de Sioulet. Another day, another gorgeous part of the world, where time seemed to have stopped, where the days are meant for hiking, paddling and losing fins…

On our way to the Dordogne we stumbled upon another winner – Lac de Vassiviere This turned out to be one of our favourite places in the world (sans hot water). In France, campings in the very much definition of ’wild’ are called ‘Aire Naturelle’ and the local information centres have a list of all of them – totally recommended.

Dordogne valley has many an attraction and following advice found in Rough Guides, we chose to visit the Gardens du Marquesac. Stunning gardens and a castle on a hill with some spectacular views and pretty magical spots.

Our friends’ wedding was fast approaching and we headed to Excideuil, where we rented a room above the Kitsch Kafe, as a base for the festivities. We stayed there for nearly a week hanging out with friends, celebrating the union of our friends, having a ball and totally relaxing in this rural, tiny, yet very cute little town.

After giving Murphy a well-deserved scrub and hoover in a nearby town Perigreux in an industrial size carwash (oh the joys of van ownership), it was time to continue on our voyage, via a fleeting visit to an impressive chateau rented by some of our friends in the Dordogne. We have nearly reached the Atlantic coast!

We haven’t planned to visit Switzerland on our travels but our travels took us so close to it (Lake Annecy), we asked ourselves – why not?!

Crossing the Swiss border included a mere wave to the border guards (and scrambling back stage, hiding the cat). Our drive took us along Lake Geneva which is most impressive – like an inland sea. Too bad we couldn’t see any decent beaches as we’d jump right in.

We started the Swiss part of our trip by visiting Hermance – a lovely, typically Swiss village just outside Geneva (which was descoped btw, as advised by a few Swiss folk we talked to). Hermance was beautiful, yet quite sleepy and with a few hours of daylight left we decided to press on.

Surrounded by countryside straight out of a Milka advert, we found a place to stay for the night outside Montreux, which just hosted the Jazz festival. Waking up at the feet of the mountains never gets boring. It was quite a fresh morning and we both enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with a gorgeous view of the Swiss Alps as a backdrop.

What happened next could only be described as heavens opening; we got trapped in torrential rain in the Bristol hotel on the promenade (could be worse) and demanded breakfast. It looked like the rain wasn’t going anywhere that day so our drive around Lake Geneva (unplanned but pretty cool) continued.

Following We popped into Lausanne’s Fondation de l’Hermitage for an exhibition that contained a few gems of modern art, including Basquiat, Louise Borgeouis, Kit Haring, etc. Very impressive location for a gallery and great exhibition of a private (aka rare) collection. If you’re nearby – it offers a well curated intro to the 20^th Century Modern Art. More info on the exhibition and the foundation here: http://www.fondation-hermitage.ch/actualite/

Completely wet but with a head full of art it was time for us to decide what’s next?

Sorry, Switzerland, but the rain wasn’t what we ordered – it felt like an escape from this biblical rainfall and return to France was on the cards.

 

After trawling through the Italian Riviera, looking (unsuccessfuly) for a parking spot, we were faced with a decision: continue on the gorgeous, but heaving with people French Riviera or head somewhere more tranquil, and in some shape or form towards Dordogne, where our friends, KP and Sheena, were getting married. The choice was obvious.

The drive to Gorges du Verdon was long and very windy. The area is vast and we entered it fairly late in the day, not having done much research on where to stay. We also kept stopping at viewpoints and to walk down to the gorges to admire their astounding beauty. The sunset was upon us (and a spectacular one at that!) and we decided to press on towards a lake. For us, it’s always better staying somewhere near the water when there might be a possibility to jump on our many boards or use our many many kites. 🙂

With a little scouting and navigation effort, we landed at a perfect camping a la ferme (those are campings in France on a farm), where the owner showed us a shady spot in the forest, 10m from the lake. The Lac de St Croix is artificial, quite long and very blue – similar colour to the Alpine lakes. We stayed a couple of days to drink in the scenery, do a fair bit of hiking and paddling.

On the leaving day, the farmer had a good ol chinwag with Rupert (whose French skills have carried us a long way in the favour of the old MacDonald), gave us some of his local produce which included delicious yellow courgettes. They turned out to taste exactly like green ones but with a more flowery, lemony taste (tasted very nicely grilled).

Next stop – Annecy and the famous lake. We spent a day walking around this gorgeous Alpine town, having crepes and drinking grand crème (black coffee with a dash of cream). Lots of people meant it wasn’t as tranquil as the postcards would suggest. However, this pitstop meant we were getting close to Switzerland…which wasn’t in our original plan but…

It was the first time for both of us visiting Italy and here are the 10 things we learnt about the country:

1. Italians love talking. God knows what about but it sure does sound exciting. This includes radio and tv channels – there’s essentially a lot of chat everywhere.
2. You can’t get food between 2-7pm. You’re left to forage berries and grass.
3. The same applies to breakfast that’s not coffee and cake.
4. Everything shuts for the hottest part of the day. I mean everything. Including people.
5. Despite the popular opinion food isn’t groundbreaking everywhere, a bit of disappointment really. In fact in some tourist spots it’s diabolical (we’re looking at you, Verona)
6. Every corner it’s so picturesque you turn could it into a photo postcard.
7. Italians are obsessed with shoes. Everyone is constantly checking out window displays of shoe shops and gasps in awe when they encounter a new model.
8. The national unisex drink is aperol spritz
9. Coffee are ice cream are distinct food groups and seem to account for about 50% of daily calories consumed
10. Bread. Comes with every meal and you pay 5 Euros for the privilege.

Having had some time to think through the next leg in more detail (up to now planning had been a rather ‘fly-by-wire’ type affair) we headed into Tuscany. Previous camping experiences had given us a few founding principles on how to find our ideal stopover:

1. Not a main campsite i.e. no flags at reception
2. Farm camping more soulful
3. The more remote and windier the access route the better

With this in mind we headed towards the tiny hilltop village of Grondola.

Remotest and windiest road driven so far – check! No flags – check!! Unable to find a sign (let alone flags) we managed to ground the van (note – first driving incident so far!!) in a driveway. Fortunately the owner turned out to be the camping owners brother and his English wife, and with a quick phone call and the aid of a sturdy wooden plank we were ungrounded and following our host Angela (also English) to their site on the other side of the village.

Getting grounded turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Campeggio Angela Musetti was empty and with glorious views across the valley below we decided to stay put for a few days. Plenty of hiking (one slight misdirection saw us off the trail and clambering across waterfalls – beautiful), reading, fitness and general chilling out followed. It’s said that Tuscany is all about the villages and this one didn’t disappoint. A fruitless search for the Cinque Terra ferry in La Spezia (boats cancelled due to rough seas…in the Med, really?!) we had a slightly underwhelming lunch and stroll before retreating to our campeggio in the hills.

Check out these guys who we found in nearby Pontremoli:

A 4-night layover had us totally recouped and a little sad we headed for the seaside town of Levanto hoping for some beach time and possibly surf. Once again we underestimated the popularity of the Italian Riviera in high season choosing instead to drive through and admire the town from the cliff tops either side. The extremely windy and at times heart-stopping drive west from here treated us to breathtaking views of the Mediterranean coastline

Arriving in Genoa at rush hour, we headed initially for the ‘revamped and buzzy’ (ref. Rough Guides) Porto Antica that was in actually decidedly touristy and quiet. The old town was a unique experience for us both – not somewhere you would want to get lost after dark, but the narrow cobbled streets shaded by tall buildings either side have a medieval/other worldly charm about them.

Varazze, another candidate for med surfing, was seething with Milanese who have their second homes here and we paused only to refuel ourselves.

Pontremoli was the most picturesque of the villages we encountered on this long drive. With superyachts and boats aplenty moored in the bay, this is very much the domain of the super rich but also teeming with tourists puts this on the list to visit off-season.

Bidding farewell to Italy stopped for lunch at Chateau  in Eze with splendid views

Dipping down for a brief driveby into Monaco we bid farewell to the Med and headed inland for our first stopover in France.

Brescia was a much needed breath of fresh air for us. What a gorgeous, livable city! We started the day with a run around the castle and after an incredible continental breakfast (thank you, eggs), furnished with guidebooks, maps and other tips from the most helpful hotel receptionists, we boarded the local metro and set off to discover Brescia on foot. It’s fairly manageable when you’re used to walking up and down a lot of inclines and stairs. We had a lovely afternoon walking around little streets, popping into churches and courtyards and looking at the Roman ruins. We fell in love with the city and its people (who let us peep into an old building that was a fully fledged working Town Hall!).

If we had to live in Italy – Brescia would be our hometown. Alas, it was time to leave for another destination – hello Milano.

In Milano, we managed to find a lovely air bnb bang on in the centre of the shopping district – think Bond Street in London for the price of…a night at a campsite. This cute little apartment was nestled inbetween D&G and Dior at the top floor with a miniscule terrace and all mod cons. Having moved in and already feeling pretty Milanese, we went out to taste the city. We went to the Obika opposite Duomo for aperitivo and had pizza at the Luno’s nearby. Looking for the IT place in Milano we stumbled across a very cool place called Spoon and then the heat drove us to have some sushi nearby.

We needed a good night sleep after that. A full day on Sunday awaited…As per recommendation (thank you, Nicole!), we headed off first thing to book tickets for Da Vinci’s Last Supper then walked Milan…a great, very cosmopolitan city but, hey, London’s better 😉

Ahh the fair city of Verona… For this stopover, we decided to stay in a city camping.

Benefits:

• close to everything
• very cheap
• no dealing with camping staff who want to know EVERYTHING

Disadvantages (top ones):

• no facilities bar a hose
• high concentration of other campers (although to be fair they were in the same predicament so not too pesky)
• cockroaches!

Our sightseeing started at approximately 5:30am as we thought we’d beat the crowds and get to see the beautiful morning sunrise light…Verona was incredibly beautiful, with gorgeous piazzas, views over the river Adige, remains of the old Roman theatre + archeological museum, churches and basilicas. You may have heard that Italians don’t hold back on churches but the ones we’ve seen in Verona were hands down the most beautiful. The Basilica of San Zeno and the Church of Santa Anastasia deserve a special mention.

So the early start had some obvious benefits as at one point it felt like we had the city to ourselves. The drawback was waiting at 7.55am at the door of a café to get a breakfast that involved eggs (very hard to find in any Italian city!). The town started to fill up with coaches of tourists in the late morning but we were determined to see Casa di Guiletta (not the real one but the pretend real one…) which was terribly busy and really spoilt the mood. To add to that, we had one of the worst meals in the history of food at the Piazza delle Erbe (shame on you, you know who you are). Top tip: in Italy, do not eat at any of the food outlets near the main attractions. After that monumental fiasco, we could not have been consoled even with pastries from the local patisserie so we boarded Murphy in a huff and headed for the sanctity of the countryside.

In an incredible strike of luck, we stumbled across an agri-camping in a vineyard, a stone’s throw away from Lake Garda. We stayed there for a few nights, taking in the lovely views, enjoying a great pool and our outdoor gym comprised of lanes upon lane of vineyards and orchards.

We headed for Lake Garda one fine morning but unable to find anywhere that we liked, we went on to walk around Limoncino  – which (as you may gather from the name) used to be famous for its farming of lemons. Lake Garda was very touristy so it was time to go back to the mountains. We enjoyed a day of driving through windy roads of Dolomites for the rest of the day, drinking in the incredible views (including snow) but found ourselves somewhere very high up with the mercury showing only 17C…with rain. That sounded too much like England so we pushed on past another of the big Italian lakes – Iseo (and caught a final glimpse of the floating piers installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude). In the evening, we found ourselves in Brescia, where our guidebook recommended a family-run hotel with an incredible view of the castle and top facilities – we were sold. Another day, another city. Such is the life of a traveller.