Unraveling the Silk Road: April 2011

We are now settled on our truck called Calypso and our thoroughly enjoying ourselves. CJ, our guide and Jim our driver have made us very comfortable. We have a group of 22 travellers who are getting along very well considering that we are so new to each other. We are entertaining each other with stories from work or travel - some have travelled alot and others this is their first trip. We are made up of a few different nationalities - British, Irish, Scottish, New Zealand, Aussies and an American and us the Canadians. On our previous trips we were the oldest now we have 11 over 55 and the rest are 26 - 38.

loading Calypso

White Cliffs of Dover

Dom Cathedral

Paddlock bridge in Colgne lovers would throw the keys in the river to show their true love

    We took the ferry from England, leaving the white cliffs of Dover to Calais, France. Calypso is more the turtle going down the road -   the highest speed so far 96 km down hill. We stayed the first night in Belgium. It was a slow start getting started that we didn't accomplish the distance but did leave France behind. That evening a group of us went looking for a Belgium Pub - for the proverbial Belgium beer - but as it was Sunday evening it ended up being a great walk. Next day was Cologne (Koln) to visit the cathedrals. We hiked up the 533 steps of the Dom Cathedral which made for a superb view. Glad to see the sturdy fencing all around as the height factor was there. This was the only cathedral not bombed during the war. But had been rebuilt many times through the centuries - each time a little larger and more ornate. We all went our for a group supper in downtown Cologne beside the waiter being very brisk with us they only served the beer in 200 ml. glasses - what not a stein a beer in Germany!!! Maybe it is more famous for their colognes than the beer. What's with this place.

     Next city was Bamberg, which is also a world heritage site and the home of smoked beer. We kind of wondered at first but you have to try it and we liked it!!! Plus the beer came in pint sizes so definitely was a winner.
     Truck lore: teaching the newbies how to squat a pee in the bush (without mishap) - rather than pay 0.70 cents (euro) to pay for the priviledge to use indoor facilities. I'm sure the bystanders watching had a good laugh!!!

Ola, Bom Dia!
     As we arrived in Portugal – Lisbon under blue skies – big sun 27C plus (we thought we were in heaven) as it was pouring rain in Vancouver when we left. We were minus one backpack and the claims lady had no idea where it could be. This time it had me worried but it was only my clothes not anything of necessity (re: buying our medications for the trip at $1000 +) I was ready to go shopping. Got set up at the hotel and first off found a nice cold beer or 2 and a Portugese style pizza and all was well in our jet lag world. With an eight hour time zone change and over 19 hours of airport travel we weren’t our brightest.
     Now we have tried the Porto wine – which is sold everywhere – as free enticement to eat in their restaurant etc. I can’t believe how many varieties there are – cheap / old / expensive $300 plus and that’s just in your corner store! Haven’t found one we don’t like but some are better than others!! Lisbon is known as the pastry capitol of Europe and easy to see why. There is a store with a bakery on every corner and at one or two part way down the block. They all look good and what we tried were very tasty – thank goodness Lisbon is very hilly and you can walk it off. We had forgotten about all the restaurant touts (at least two per restaurant) to bring you into their café with promises of free porto wine and cheap meals . Once you are sitting they ply you with appes brought to your table, but you pay per thing you have ie a bun 1 euro , etc. and then again with dessert. So your meal can end up being quite expensive. But when you are out of the touristy area life is normal again and the people very friendly.
     My luggage did arrive (going by the extra tags I don’t think it left Vancouver with us) and then we were off to the Algarve coast in the south of Portugal. With getting the rental car delivered to the hotel we had a steep learning curve re - driving here. First off the petrol read empty (what do gas stations look like here) and no map (that’s crazy). The little car kept beeping and I kept looking – throw in all the round abouts big city style ( traffic very heavy) and it was a little nerve racking. As it was we found a gas station much like ours and our freeway wasn’t that far away. The autobon (toll highway) was in great shape and even had our city on the sign, so we were in great form. The country side was almost semi arid with many olive groves and some cattle and sheep grazing. The toll ended up being 18 euros for the 250 kms so not bad. Our condo is in a very touristy area Albufeira. We are in the old town section and it is all little twisting walking streets – a blast for strolling up and down the hillsides and out to the beaches. Ocean a little too nipply for me and Russell even bailed out at his knees. Lots for us to do and explore here and the beer is cold and the porto better.
     We seem to be here pre tourist season ,but with the amount of people here now I don’t know if I can picture it during peak season – wall to wall people I think. The ocean and the rock cliffs are beautiful, great for hiking along. Lots of waves and even a few topless sunbathers for Russell – although for every 20 year old there were six 70 year olds which left a little to be desired. It is a very mixed nationality area with many languages being spoken. Costs of things are more like the euro equal to our dollar – so more expensive than at home although 1 litro of beer is .65 euro (+$1 CAD) Russell and I have to remember to buy daily and in smaller quantities as the locals looked us over when we bought 5 litros of beer.
    We have seen some awesome beaches here especially to the west of us. Portimao - an old settlement of artists and writers from the 1930 -50's.They had a million tons of sand deposited at the base of the rock cliffs making for spectacular beaches with the rock backdrop. It extended the beach at least 150 meters. There are many tunnels in the rocks leading to new beaches. They have restaurants tucked away in all the small coves – with of course your cold beer - pretty sneaky. This whole coastal line is very touristy - and a surprising numbers of Canadians here. In fact I got a maple leaf pin for my hat from a fellow Canadian here from Ontario. It sits right next to my 3rd floor nursing angel which I have worn on every trip since 2002. thanks guys!!!
     One beach we drove down was a twisty turnie road and we were really questioning how smart this was as we didn't see another sole. Suddenly there was a break in the cliffs it gave us a super beach. At the bottom of the road there was even a bus (the driver must of had nerves of steel) and a group of vintage sports cars ie. triump, mg, fiats from Great Britain (of course the drivers were all having a beer ) at the lonely beach restaurant.
    Right now in Albufiera they are in the process of re-claiming sand from the ocean. Which a ship sucks up from the ocean bottom and then blows up onto the beach via a large pipe. The question of why there wee so many sea shells on the sea shore was answered.
    At one of our grocery shops where our regular size beer was on sale as well as the litro beer- our beer is called mini beer. So now for the ski patrol a jugable is now alot more beer than first thought.
   Haven't tried local bus transport as we have rented a car - but they seem to go everywhere.
   Have to admit we love these little streets that go everywhere but only when we are walking. One only has to see the broken side mirrors to know when or where not to drive. More shops seem to be opening as the tourist season seems to be starting. Ocean swimming still seems to be summer months not April but the 22 - 30 C only blue skies make the water tempting. We still haven't tried the fried sardines that is a country favorite, I don't think other tourists are trying it either.
    Russell and I have finally figuring out how to drive all thee roundabouts with Russell trying to understand my directions. Everyone I'm sure knows how dysleix I am with my left and right, so we are now using 90, 180,270 for our exit strategies and it is working really well. I haven't screwed up yet unless we are down to straight guess work as there are no directions available - but sight seeing is fun!!!
   Drove over to Spain to check it out - couldn't believe the cost of petrol a .30 euro a liter cheaper here and we thought it would be more dear.
     We find Spanish more pleasant to listen to than Portugese. Portugese sounds harsher to our ears.
    Can't believe the gardens and flowers here. The kept yards are so beautiful here with such neat and different flowering shrubs. The cedars trees aren't even eaten half way up by the local deer. Although we have seen road signs for them in more central Portugal. Managed two flats tires - one in the Algarve and the 2nd 3 blocks from our hotel in Lisbon as we were going right, right, right as they wouldn't let us do a left. A pedestrian pointed it out to us - but the rental car company will just have to handle it. Try miming a flat tire to the garage - or wait a minute just point atit!!! They fixed it right away.

Next installment on our truck Calypso starting the unraveling of the silk road.