Poland

We spent time in Poland on the way up to the Baltics and on the way back again. There are not a lot of very touristy sights and the countryside is rather monotonous farmland. There are not many highways and the driving is slow. In the north we liked the city of Torun and the Marusian Lake District.
Coming back, we visited the Bialowieza National Park, which is an Unesco site, but nothing like what we are used to in Africa. We did see a few endangered Bison and Lynx in zoo-like enclosures, though. The forests are fantastic for cycling and walking.
I had my birthday in Warsaw, which is a great, vibey city which seems more of a place to live than a place to visit as a tourist. We celebrated Neil's birthday in Crakow, which is far more touristy and was not badly bombed in the war. The Old Town has a wonderful atmosphere day and night, with loads of restaurants, bars and live music.
We toured the famous Wieliczka salt mine, which has a whole church carved out of salt in an underground cavern and we visited Auschwitz.
Polish food was good; lots of stews and interesting soups.Drink beer rather than wine.
There are still lots of reminders,architecturally and otherwise, of the Communist era, but all over Eastern Europe, as in Poland, things forge forward at a rapid rate, towards a very uniform Europe of the 21st Century.

Baltic Adventure

Mylene, Coenraad and Coemy joined us to travel for a week in the Baltic States. None of us had ever been before,so it was to be a bit of a surprise trip. We picked them up in Kaunas, Lithuania and headed north. The Baltic countries look poor compared to western Europe and the farming landscape dominates. Travel in all the Baltic states is pretty slow and they do not have many highways. Each state has its own currency, so it is a matter of ATMs and exchange rates all the time but things are definately a lot cheaper. Campsites are few and far between and not all quite up to western European standards. In the major cities the campsites were in the grounds of the expo centres and on a few occasions we ended up in the carparks of hotels and restaurants. Despite this and the rainy weather, we still managed to have a few great braais!
Of the 3 capitals, Riga in Latvia was our favourite, with great squares and architecture and a good cafe culture. Tallin, Estonia is bigger and more touristy.
In Villnius, Lithuania we rushed into town to watch the Bokke play rugby against the Aussies, but the only Irish pub had a faulty TV satellite! It was a Saturday and we were amazed by the number of weddings taking place. There were queues outside the churches,three weddings deep. It was quite extraordinary to see so many couples rushing around town in Limos, followed by retinues with still and video camera men following close behind.
We went cycling in Parnu and one of my favourite places was Jumala, a beach resort in Latvia.
The beer of course was good and cheap and we enjoyed sampling different foods. Perogies are dumplings with different fillings and in the market in Riga, we found something just like vetkoek and mince, and that made Coenraad's heart glad. City hopping is not much fun for a child, but Coemy was a little angel and very at home in the campervan.

Holland

What comes to mind when you think of Holland? Tulips,clogs and cheese! We didn't see any tulips because they bloom in Spring and the only clogs we saw were Delft salt and pepper sets in curio shops; but we did see and sample a lot of cheese. We spent 4 days with Arjen, Christiana and the kids in Alkmaar; the cheese capital of Holland. It is a very pretty little city and we had a good day exploring it with Christiana and the children. We also spent a great day with them doing something else very Dutch - cycling! We cycled to Bergen and the dunes and the beach and visited the historic farmhouse they are busy renovating. Another thing the Dutch are famous for is their unique relationship with water and the sea. 53% of Holland is below sea level and everywhere you go you see levies, dykes and polders. In Zeeland we saw a huge Lock System, a feat of engineering to hold the sea back in times of flooding without interfering with the tidal ecosystem. The Unesco site, Kinderdijk has more than 20 18th century windmills, many now private homes and still operational. And then there are the canals of Amsterdam!
We also went sailing on the Isjelmeer; which used to be the Zuiderzee before they decided to close it off from the ocean, turn it into a freshwater lake and reclaim much of the surface area into a new province; a project that began in the 1920's!
We visited a naval museum with a replica of a 17th century ship and a history of the Dutch as sailors and explorers.
The sailing was wonderful. We sailed with Sabien on her dads' yacht. Every night we stayed in a different marina at an historic port town. We had great weather and good amounts of wind and sampled lots of good Dutch beer and specialities such as fish, pancakes and pea soup.