EXPLORING  GREECE  IN  180  DAYS    HOME Greece  DIARY       PARKING   LAST WEEK 2013 WEEK # 40 NEXT WEEK   It’s all just like a circus!      Saturday, September 28, we left Orust. After visiting children and grandchildren we drove on to Malmö on Sunday, after twelve. Travel across the Sound, the Great Belt and ended late in the evening, on the parking place in Celle, Germany, which was occupied by a real circus and about fifty motorhomes. After too many late nights last days, we were now quite tired and woke up when all the other campers had already gone. The breakfast became lunch. Yesterday, after the Elbetunnel, we chose to drive off the Autobahn, but the northern access road to Celle was being rebuilt and was a disaster. "Are we in Albania already?" We wondered.    In the afternoon when we started from Celle we heard already the first scratching from the right brakes and it was just getting worse. Too late we discovered that  one brake pad on the right side was gone, resulting in a very nasty scratch on the brake disc. All the other pads were not under 10mm and the brake pads were actually inspected for a week ago! We drove cautiously another 25 km on minor roads to the Fiat workshop in Braunschweig where the friendly staff wanted to help us right away, but unfortunately they had no brake disc at home. Tomorrow at 7 they would deal with the repair but they refused to change only on one side. We had to stand safely on their fenced and locked parking lot. Tuesday at six o'clock we went up. When were we up that early? Exactly 7 they run our motorhome in and before 9 am, it came out again! New discs and new pads, only € 630. We thanked the professional staff and drove on, not happy (we can have a lot of more fun for 600 euro from our travel budget) but still elated, there can always happen a lot of worse things!    Between Braunschweig and Magdenburg on A2 to Berlin, there was an accident, 30 km "Stau" in three files ! The trip took three hours. After Magdenburg south on the A9, it went fast and in the early afternoon we parked on the very nice motorhome parking (No. 2 on TopPlatz list) in Marktleuthen. Here we met Swedish motorhome club members who were getting back from Greece while we will get there! They had to hurry home and we needed a day of rest before our red Ferrari climbs over the Alps at Felbertauern and Plöckenpass, . . . . . .  with new brakes!    In a few days we should be in Trieste! Marktleuthen Camperpark                    131003 JH      We didn’t make the objective! Someone wanted something else! We got stuck in spiritual Altötting! We stayed the night, secure, in the Camperpark, just outside the center.    There is something that apparently has the power to delay and attract us! We were walking the dog late at night and suddenly there it was, the Chapel of Grace!    Last year, we had no idea where we were, the fate or providence, made us stay in Fatima, Portugal. Now on Friday, again, we had no idea where we were, we had never heard about it but we happened to end up in the most visited shrine in Germany, Altötting.    Strangely, we are atheists! But I must admit the whole scene is beautiful and thoughtful. As an atheist, with respect, I will not comment anything of it because it’s all about religion and healing. But I want to recommend anyone! Go and see it by yourself!    We visited the Chapel in the morning. Now we were ready for the Alps!   After coming down from the Alps we realized that Trieste was not an option for todays destination. So we landed on the municipal motorhome park in Tarcento, a very nice and quiet place along the beautiful wild river Torrente Torre. We also met a more comfortable temperature, 15 degr. C. by midnight made us shut off the heating.    Next day before noon we were on the road again. We drove only secondary roads, had lunch by the beachside in Grado but didn’t discover anything exciting there. Lazy driving in the direction of Trieste passing Monfalcone we found the very beautiful coastal road section all the way to Trieste. Our “Ferrari” climbed gladly 60 m. upp, to the Castle of San Giusto and we were very glad to come down again through these tiny streets.        The puddles around Grado didn’t impress by us and even though we gave Trieste a try, it was just tiresome. The same day , in the afternoon we went on, into Slovenia and the town Izola. Some smart municipal traffic bureaucrat managed to build a brand new motorhome parking, with space for five campers, right next to the busiest road in an otherwise very large parking lot. We can’t sleep in our motorhome with our heads two meter from the relatively intense traffic. Sure, we could have turned the car to reduce the worst of the noise but then we got to "wedge up" to remain the right angle, to avoid reflux during the night. Though it ought not to be a problem anymore after the healing session in Altötting? Did not think of that! Well, the place had all neccesary facilities including electricity, all for the “reasonable?” price of € 15. Plan B: I happened to know an ACSI camping (in case of), in Novigrad for € 14 and it takes only one and a half hours to get there.    "Goodbye Slovenia " After a too late dinner, in the camper, it was a short night driving to Novigrad. Surprised we were when we got to show our passports, first in Slovenia and then Croatia too. It took a good while fishing them out of the safe. "Are we not in the European Union?", Stina asked fussy, when she finally handed over the documents. The Croatian young lady border police , got so astonished that she, apparently somewhat ashamed, quickly returned the passports without looking at them. However, I suspect that they have some kind of scanner which she promptly brought the passports over or she has some kind of X-ray eyes, for she never opened the passports. She actually had beautiful eyes, I looked into them! So I guess the passports were scanned. ”They” know exactly where we are, what we do, where we go, all the time! Hopefully it will be of use for us, some day?      Thus we are now, ten meters from the beach on a beautiful campsite Sirena in Novograd, without a single Kuna, with very slow wifi , with the sound that we like best to sleep to: the rolling waves of the sea, the sea temperature is 22 deg.C, the outdoor temperature at midnight 15 deg.C, the off and on lightly drizzling on the roof, it's been cloudy most all day, but the mood is moderately good.    Week 41 will start here in Novigrad, for a day and night, maybe two, before we continue south. I do not know if it's caused by the new brakes but we travel somewhat too slow, according to the plan. Who cares when we have 25 weeks left to go? The hardest part is actually the 25 outdoor dinners we have to spare, because of the brake failure costs. It looks like we are exercising practise of the Greek economy. Two dinners we’ve saved already! We actually didn’t drive on any toll highways, nor bought we Vignettes, either in Austria or Slovenia. We find ourselves very skilled by doing so, that’s why we will reward ourselves and have a good restaurant dinner tomorrow! We do it the Greek way, you see?    Our evaluation of the first travel week no. 40: On Saturday, when we left home, we got to play Santa Claus in Stenungsund. On Sunday we greet Miss Sophie in Malmö. On Monday we met a cute circus camel in Celle. On Tuesday we got very expensive, new brakes in Braunschweig . On Wednesday we met Europes most professional  motorhome park manager in Marktleuthen. On Thursday we gather forces and remained in Marktleuthen. On Friday we were healed and threw all pill jars in the spiritual city of Altötting. On Saturday we climbed over the Alps and finally got to meet the warmth in Tarcento . On Sunday we saw both Grado and Trieste. Certainly there will be a continuation! Greece! We are coming!   Greetings from Stina, Bonnie and Julian.     131007 JH   Camp Sirena, Novigrad GoogleMaps     LAST WEEK   NEXT WEEK   Patras Click for weather forecast Pirgos Click for weather forecast Kalamata Click for weather forecast Korinthos Click for weather forecast © 2013-2014 Amstel.se