Grand European Tour

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Up every early to get the taxi around to the reception centre. Hopefully the last of the pinch points for two month trip. From the Reception Centre we headed down to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais and went through customs and immigration. The sun came out as we crossed over. We drove through Belgium to Bruges and took a guided tour though the very old city. Dinner was in a restaurant across the square from the hotel. Nice hotel that had been a monastery.

Thursday 7 September 2017

Today's travel was too take us across the border and into The Netherlands. We stopped at a highway service centre that was absolutely clean and supplied great food. (I wish some of our service centre would be as good.)

We arrived in Amsterdam and had a tour of diamond cutting and then walked around the city and the red light district. Bikes are dangerous! Next we took a cruise around the canals before arriving at the hotel for a few minutes and then heading out to a windmill and on to dinner. Big day.

Friday 8 September 2017

We left Amsterdam in heavy rain and drove south crossing into Germany and then stopping for a cruise on the Rhine. Very nice area.

From there we drove to Heidelberg and took a walk around town. I really liked Heidelberg.

After that we drove to the hotel at Mannheim, where we had dinner later.

Saturday 9 September 2017

Raining this morning for the drive down to Luzern. We stopped off at the Rhine Falls for lunch.

We drove to the hotel at Luzern and without much of a break we took a walk around town. Another short break and we headed out to Engelberg for a horse carriage ride and farm experience. Rather enjoyed it.

Sunday 10 September 2017

Bit of a sleep in this morning and then out for a cruise across the lake to Stanstad and then the coach took us to Stans, to take the 125 year old funicular railway up to get the Cabrio cable car to the top of the Stanserhorn. Great ride and we took a walk to the top before having lunch and then heading back down.

Back in Luzern we walked around a bit and then headed out for a Swiss folk show and dinner. A fun night, with several of our fellow passengers a bit ordinary the next morning.

Monday 11 September 2017

Today we travelled through three countries and some spectacular scenery. Leaving Luzern we stopped off in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. From there it was over the Arlberg Pass, with a stop for some photos.

From the Alberg Pass we headed down into Innsbruck and a walk through the old city.

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Wet morning as we drove east towards Salzburg and about 20km short the traffic stopped for an accident. It was three hours later that we started again. In Salzburg we did a guided tour around the old city - in the rain and afterwards had a great meal, including Applestrudel! It was a bit of a drive into Vienna, arriving in town at 8pm.

Wednesday 13 September 2017

An early start to visit Schönbrunn Palace (the summer palace) before the hordes arrived - a bit like Paris or Rome. This was the first of several places where we could not take photos inside. We walked over to the carriage museum. This was great - there was a lot of gold used!

We then had a guided tour of the old city and had time to walk around and return to the hotel to do the washing. Later we went to dinner and to a concert. Very enjoyable evening.

Thursday 14 September 2017

Long drive today heading south west out of Austria and into Italy. The coach dropped us off to get the water taxi through the Grand Canal to pick up another ferry to take us to our hotel on Lido. Quiet evening for once with only a short walk around the area close to the hotel.

Friday 15 September 2017

First stop was the Morano glass factory for an demo (and purchase of some glass products). Then it was a guided tour around the back narrow streets and some shopping before returning to the hotel

We took another boat across to Burano for dinner.

Saturday 16 September 2017

We caught a ferry back to Venice to where the coach was parked.

We had a long drive down to Assisi where we walked through a thunderstorm to view the church (no photograhy allowed).

There was a lot of security because of several politicians being in the area. Afterwards we walked in sunlight around the town. Dinner was at the hotel. It was OK and thankfully not as big as the previous evening.

Sunday 17 September 2017

Lots of driving today was we travelled past Rome on the way to Pompeii. Really enjoyed our visit and the old city was fascinating.

At Sorrento we changed to smaller buses for the drive across to Positano, a town perched in a steep slope and cliff. The road down was along the cliff edge and very steep and narrow, with a one way system working. Great place. Tempted to go for a swim.

Back at the hotel in Sorrento we walked down to see the sun set over the water. Lovely evening.

Monday 18 September 2017

Today started with a ferry ride across to the Isle of Capri. Beautiful place and we took the funicular railway to the top. We had a guided tour around and did some shopping before catching another ferry to Naples. Naples didn't do it for me.

Soon were heading for Rome. Here we did another walk to the Trevi Fountain where we tried to get some photos, but the crowds were too much.

Next was a visit to the Pantheon.

We stopped to have dinner at one of the local restaurants as the sun set.

Tuesday 19 September 2017

We had an early visit to Saint Peter's before the queues built up. Glad we were early!

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Today we headed out of Rome towards Florence, timing our arrival to have an early lunch at the lookout above the city. Afterwards we had a walking tour of the city and spent time walking to the bridge. We had a dinner at the hotel and celebrated within our group, an engagement, a birth and a birthday. Quite an evening.

We then drove around the coast to Monaco via Genoa, crossing the bridge at Genoa. Sadly this bridge collapsed a year later, killing many people.

We had some time for a walk around Monaco.

Later a tour of a perfumery before arriving in Nice.

Friday 22 September 2017

Nice to have a quiet morning. We had a leisurely breakfast and then went for a stroll along the Promenade du l'Anglise. Lovely morning.

In the afternoon we drove out to the hill town of Saint-Paul de Vence for a walk around.

We drove to another village La Turbie for dinner, after having a private tour of the little roman town.

Saturday 23 September 2017

Today was a transport day, with only a stop at Avignon, were we went to the market to get some lunch.

Our destination was Beaune in central France. Beaune is the Burgundy wine centre. We enjoyed our walk around the walled city.

Sunday 24 September 2017

The morning's drive north through France got us to Versailles, were we joined the masses and pushed our way round the palace. We had visited this before and decided to get away from the crowds and walk around the gardens.