Europe and England September to December 2017

Our European Adventure travelling with Russell & Louise Henson September to December 2017 – 

Part 1 UK and France, Belgium, Luxemburg & GermanyWatch Now!

Europe & UK 2017 No 1 Part 1. This video is a series of video’s that I have put together of our spectacular holiday in the UK & Europe from September to December 2017. We start this video travelling over to the UK  & staying with our friends Robin & Suzie in Cornwall then up to Devon to visit Liz & Nigel in Plymouth. From there it’s off to Somerset & Castle Cary to stay with & join our old friends Louise & Russell to start our grand European adventure travelling together with them in their car for 9 weeks.

Louise & Russell

Second section of part one as Europe & UK 2017 No 1 had to be edited into two sections as it was too large to upload to YouTube from our server. This section sees us travelling through the Black Forest in Germany to Baden Baden onto the medieval old town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber then Oberau which is also part of Bavaria in the SE of Germany near the Austrian border.

Part 1  Section two UK and France, Belgium, Luxemburg & Germany  –  Watch Now! 

                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                           Part 2  Europe & UK 2017 Germany  Watch Now!

In this video we explore more of the area around Berchtesgaden it starts with a drive up Rossfeld Germany’s highest panoramic road which takes you directly into Berchtesgadener Land’s unique mountain world with spectacular views of Salzburg and the Salzach Valley also a visit to Hirscheckblitz. We then travel by car from Berchtesgaden in the SE of Germany to Garmish staying for 3 nights visiting the Zugspitze by cable car & Oberammergau home of the Passion Play             Watch Now ! 

Part 3 Europe & UK 2017 Italy  Watch Now! 
In this video we leave Garmish in Germany & travel down through Austria & the Brenner Pass into Italy. We stop near the northern area of Italy’s largest lake, Lake Garda driving down it’s eastern shores to Sirmione staying in this old walled city for two nights. Then we drove down to Venice staying in a beautiful apartment right in the heart of Venice for three wonderful nights. Leaving Venice we travelled down to Ancona on the western shore of Italy to catch the ferry across to Greece.  Watch Now!

Part 4 Europe & UK 2017 Greece  Watch Now!                                                                                          

In this video we arrive in Igoumemenitsa Greece by Minoan Lines ferry then drive into the mountains to Kalabaka. There we visit the Meteora which is a rock formation in  central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries. On our only full day there we hike 22km up into the  Meteora & on our last day visit one of the monasteries. We then travel by our car further south in Greece to the town of Delphi. Delphi is a town on Mount Parnassus in the south of mainland Greece. It’s the site of the 4th-century-B.C. Temple of Apollo, once home to a legendary oracle. This extensive mountainside archaeological complexcontains the remains of the sanctuaries of Apollo and Athena Pronaia, as well as an ancient stadium and theatre. Delphi Archaeological Museum displays artefacts found among the ruins. From Delphi we drive to Athens, leaving our car at the ferry terminal and are picked up to do a half day tour of Athens by a private limousine. After a tasty dinner at a Greek restaurant which our driver took us to we then boarded our ferry the Knossos Palace for our overnight passage to Crete.


Part 5 Crete – Europe No 5 2017   Watch Now! 

In this video we arrive in Heraklion on Crete by Minonan lines ferry Knossos Palace. We then drive 63km to Agios Nikolaos & stay aboard our friends Robin & Suzie’s yacht Bubbly Lady an Bavarian 40 . Exploring Crete for 7 days with our friends was a great experience and the waters of the Mediterranean are truly magical. We then depart Crete with Russ & Louise aboard the same ferry back to mainland Greece to continue our European adventure.   Watch Now!

                     

Part 6 Southern Greece Europe No6 2017   Watch Now! 

We arrive in Peiraias aboard the Knossos Palace early on the 9th Nov then drive down to the Corinth Canal. From there we drive further south to visit ancient Epidaurus then onto our accommodation in Olympus. The next day it’s a visit to the museum ancient site of Olympia then drive up to Patra to board our ferry that takes to Bari in Italy     Watch Now!

Part 7 Amalfi Coast Italy – Europe No 7 2017    Watch Now!

In this video we arrive in Bari Italy aboard Minoan Lines ferry Superfast One. We then drive from Bari to Sorrento via the famous Amafli coast road.
The Amalfi Drive (formally Strada Statale 163) is the conventional name of a section of road which runs along the stretch of the Amalfi Coast between the southern Italian towns of Sorrento and Amalfi. The road was originally built by the Romans. The drive between Salerno, at the southern base of the peninsula, and Positano follows the coast for about 80 km (50 mi).
For the greater part of its route, the road is carved out of the side of the coastal cliffs, giving views down to the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the other side up to the cliffs above. The road passes through the village of Positano, which is built on the side of the hill. Both the village and the whole drive are tourist attractions in the area.
The road itself narrows steadily from abeam Sorrento; it is effectively a single lane, one-way, hanging off the side of a cliff by Positano and actually gets worse on the way to Amalfi. Further, because most of the coastline is a cliff-face, there is nowhere to park off-road- so everyone parks in the most ludicrous places along the road. Weekends are just nuts. ALL the cars of locals have scratches and dents; most are missing a mirror or two. Missing another car/bike/bus by a couple of centimetres is nothing.   Watch Now!


Part 8

Isle of Capri and Sorrento – Europe No 8 2017 Watch Now!

Description Arriving in Sorrento Italy staying 2 nights in the Hotel Regina then a day trip over to the Isle of Capri. With a visit to the summit of Mount Solaro & Anacapri. Next day onto Rome on one of our vey few rainy days on our European adventure.

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Bay of Naples & Mount Vesuvius

Part 9 Europe 2017

Rome, Florence, Pisa and Levanto.

Watch Now !https://youtu.be/cW0knG_y49o


We start this video at our hotel in Rome with a full day exploring this wonderful city. A taxi ride from the hotel across Rome to the Vatican city starting with St Peters cathedral then the Vatican museum with the Sistine Chapel. With a solid day of walking across Rome we were able to take in most of it’s fabulous attractions, Dee was absolutely amazed at the beautiful Trevi fountain, ending up back at our hotel just before dark. Most of the next day was spent driving onto Florence through the scenic Tuscany wine region. Next morning we set out on foot to explore as much of Florence as we could in one day, it was Dee’s favourite city especially Michelangelo’s statue of David in the Accademia Gallery museum. From Florence the next day we drove to Pisa of course to see it’s famous leaning tower, then onto Levanto in the province of La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, located almost 90 kilometres southeast of Genoa and about 20 kilometres northwest of La Spezia

Vatican Museum

Part 10 Europe 2017

Chinque Terre & Menton French Riviera

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Staying in Levanto in this short video we spend the day exploring Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. In each of the 5 towns, colourful houses and vineyards cling to steep terraces, harbors are filled with fishing boats and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along with the Liguria region’s famous sauce, pesto. The Sentiero Azzurro cliffside hiking trail links the villages and offers sweeping sea vistas. The following day we then travel down to Menton on the French Riviera.

Part 11 Europe 2017

Menton, Carcasonne to Bordeaux France

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In this video we start in Menton on the French Riviera travelling south west along the coast through Monaco, Nice & staying in La Ciotat. Then the next day onto Carcasconne . The medieval walled city of Carcassonne sits in the luscious valley of the Aude river—the gap between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central. The fortified city has a concentric design having two outer walls with 52 towers and barbicans, designed to prevent attack by siege engines. Then we travel through the Bordeaux region & onto the small village of Talmont-sur-Gironde on the French West coast.

Monaco
Carcasonne

Part 12 Europe 2017

Fontevraud, Château de Chenonceau & Bayeux France

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This video starts when we are leaving Talmont-sur-Girond and driving towards the Loire valley stopping at the town of Fontevraud. The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l’Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French duchy of Anjou, it was founded in 1101. Arriving in the village of Francueil we stayed in a lovely B&B Chambres d’Hotes Les Coquelicots for one night. The next day we visited the Château de Chenonceau which is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire valley. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. Leaving Chenonceau later that day we drive to Bayeux which is a town on the Aure river in the Normandy region of northwestern France, 10 kilometers from the Channel coast. Its medieval center contains cobbled streets, half-timbered houses and the towering, Norman-Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame. We visit The Bayeux Tapestry which is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Part 13 Europe 2017

Bayeux, Normandy & The D-Day Landings.

Watch Now!https://youtu.be/0_2Iq2qBXvw

 We start this video in Bayeux France on the 25th Nov 2017 with a visit to the Bayeux Cathedral, then driving out towards the Normandy coast to take in some of the history & sights of the WW2 D-Day landings. Our first stop was La Cambe which is a Second World War German military war grave cemetery, located close to the American landing beach of Omaha, and 25.5 km north east of Bayeux.  It is the largest German war cemetery in Normandy and contains over 21,200 German military personnel. Driving down to the coast we arrive in Grandcamp-Maisy which is a coastal village harbour & La Pointe du Hoc which is a promontory with a 100-foot cliff overlooking the English Channel. Halfway between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, the Pointe du Hoc dominates the sea from its vertical cliff.

Le Cambe – German War Cemetery

With this video I recommend that you pause at the different dedication signs to learn more of the history of this area.

 Then a visit to Omaha, commonly known as Omaha Beach, it was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France

We then drive to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, that honours the American soldiers.  Total burials‎: ‎9,388   Commemorated‎: ‎1,557    Unknowns‎: ‎307.

Normandy American War Cemetery
Normandy American War Cemetery

It was quite a moving day as we explored this area with so many lives lost. Here, in the midst of the D-Day beaches, you still get a strong sense of the huge effort involved in the Allied invasion to liberate France and the rest of Western Europe

The next day we set off to Mulberry artificial harbour near Arromanches, During the Normandy Invasion of World War II, it was part of the Gold Beach landing area and was taken by the British 50th Division on D-Day (June 6, 1944).

Part 14 Europe 2017

Pegasus Memorial Museum, Honfleur, Castel de Anges, Calais & English Channel

Watch Now !https://youtu.be/a7eo64iD5Uw

In this video we start in a town called Benouville, crossing the Canal de Caen a la Mer, we then visit the Pegasus Memorial Museum at Ranville in Lower Normandy. It’s a museum and memorial to the 6th Airborne Division in the Normandy landings and particularly Operation Deadstick. Two important bridges across the Canal de Caen and the Orne River were the first objectives taken by airborne troops in the Normandy campaign.

We then drive further east to Honfleur it’s a city in the department of Calvados in northern France’s Normandy region. It’s on the estuary where the Seine River meets the English Channel. The Vieux-Basin (old harbor), lined with 16th- to 18th-century townhouses has been a subject for artists including Claude Monet and native son Eugène Boudin.

Leaving Honfleur we drive over the Pont de Normandie (English: Normandy Bridge) it’s a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the river Seine linking Le Havre to Honfleur in Normandy, northern France.

Our destination for tonight is Wailly Beaucamp to stay in Le Castel des Anges a beautiful Chateau that dates from the 18th century. That evening we drove to Montreuil to find a restaurant for dinner.

The next morning was overcast & raining for our drive to Calais to catch the cross channel ferry back to the UK.

So this now ends our time in France and back to Russ & Lou’s home in Castle Cary in Somerset.