Homer 2019: Eastern Europe and a bit more...

I have separate blog posts for the memorable Restaurants, Bars, Cafes, and Wine Experiences of Eastern Europe and Croatia. Please check those out too.  Van Life is pleasant and relaxed. Our days are a mix of walking and sightseeing, eating and drinking. We cook in a bit and manage to do our chores, shopping and admin in between everything else. We try to keep driving down to no more than four hours on any day and prefer to stop for more than one night in each destination.

Dublin : The Thompsons - 6 and 7 July

We flew in to Dublin briefly- 2 nights and 1 full day - to visit Tommy and Mandy in their new home town. 

Munich : Campinhplatz Thalkirchen - 8 to 12 July

On  8 July, we took an early flight to Munich and by early afternoon we were unpacking and preparing Homer for our 12th summer roadtripping Europe in a campervan.

The next day Homer met Daisy, Rina and Menon's brand spanking new campervan. She has all the bells and whistles and aircon!

It was so exciting to have travel mates! Welcome Rina and Menon to travelling the Greenie way! We caught up with friends, hung out in beer gardens and had a little party for Neil's 60th at Christo and Christine's. Thanks guys!

Regensburg : Azur Camping - 13 July

Just a night. Time to see the old town, drink a few beers and have dinner at the great Orphee Restaurant, a surprisingly good French restaurant.

Prague : River Camping - 14 to 16 July

I love cities with Uber. For 4 adults it's no more expensive than public transport.

We met up with Gareth and Carmen.

We found The Irish Pub ( that's it's name ) to watch the Wimbledon final. The World Cup Cricket final and the Grand Prix were also showing. The atmosphere was electric with all 3 events blaring from different TVs across the pub.

Prague is such a beautiful city and really walkable. We explored the Old City and the Castle and one night we went to a Keb Mo concert.

Brno : Autocamp Abora - 17 July

Near one of the Czech wine regions. We travelled through the pretty Lednice and Valtice areas.

Poysdorf : Camp Veltlinerland - 18 July

Austrian wine area.

Vienna : Camping Neue Donau - 19 July to 21 July

There's so much history and culture in Vienna you have to choose just a few attractions each day. We walked a lot. We went to Belvedere Palace and saw The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. We saw the Hofburg Palace and the Vienna library.

I can highly recommend the Globe Museum, especially if, like me, your passion for travel was sparked by primary school geography lessons where the teacher would wheel the big world globe down the corridor and into the classroom.

Hunderwasser Haus is curious architectural and social experiment.  We all found Vienna a bit bland and souless compared to the other cities on this tour.

Bratislava : Area Divoka Voda - 22 to 23 July

The campsite was far out of town but Bratislava is a neat little city and worth a day trip.

Budapest : Camping Haller - 24 to 26 July

Budapest is one of our favourite cities. There's enough history and architecture to get you going but it's the vibey cafe and bar culture that keeps you busy. The old Jewish quarter is now the coolest of nightlife areas. The ruin bars, which were local hangouts created in derelict buildings during the revolution are full of foreigners on stag nights now but still retain a grungy feel.  Do avoid the Gozsdu- udvar in 7th district,  which has become too touristy though.

Lake Balaton : Camp Eldorado - 27 to 28 July

A summer holiday haven for Hungarians. The rain didn't put us off - we were wine tasting not swimming.

Maribor : Camping Centre Kekec - 29 to 30 July

A neat campsite in Maribor, the centre of one of the Slovenian wine areas and also a ski resort in winter. Very small city. Very quiet but we still managed to paint the town red.