Romantische Straße, Fairytale Castles and the Alps

It´s been a while since we´ve posted..."I know" says my sister, Kylie, who we know checks this blog frequently :-).

Well, we´ve spent most of the last two weeks traveling through Germany. The leaves on the trees have been changing colour for the Fall/Autumn season so the landscape has been spectacular while driving through this country.

We started in Baden-Baden, known for its hot spring spas. We relaxed at the spas and walked through the Black Forest. I (Melissa) even went to Friedrichsbad spa where everyone is naked during the 17 stages of the spa treatment. It was definitely a new experience and surprisingly didn´t feel as strange as I thought it would.

Our next stop was Bacharach, which is on the Rhine River. We went on a boat up the river to St. Goar where we visited Rheinfels Castle. We also drove along the Mosel River to see the many vineyards. This area was very beautiful.

Then we drove along the Romantische Straße (Romantic Road) to the medieval town of Rothenburg. This is where we celebrated Klas´s birthday. The town is full of stores selling cuckoo clocks and Christmas decorations. So if anyone visits us in Australia, expect to be woken up by our cuckoo clock (just kidding, it can be turned off at night).

We continued driving along the Romantische Straße to Füssen. We saw an IKEA store on the way. We stopped there for lunch so Klas could get his fix of Swedish meatballs and potatoes. We also purchased Kalles Kaviar - I dare any of our non-Swedish friends and family to try this next time you go to IKEA. Besides salt licorice, it´s the only weird thing that Klas eats.

We saw Neuschwanstein Castle in Füssen. This is the castle that was built by King Ludwig II and inspired Walt Disney´s Sleeping Beauty Castle at his theme parks. We also took a side trip to Reutte, Austria, where we could see the Austrian Alps.

Finally, we went to Munich. This was our favourite place in Germany out of the towns we´ve visited so far - we will see Berlin next month. We went to the famous beer hall of Hofbräuhaus. Klas had a maß (1 litre) of beer. Some local people stored their maß mugs in a locker at the beer hall. Munich was a very fun and vibrant city with beautiful buildings that had been restored to their original form after World War II.

Now we are in Bolzano, Italy. We made a quick stop in Innsbruck, Austria, on the way. We´ve hiked here with views of the Italian Alps known as the Dolomites. Today we tried to get a closer look at the Dolomites but the weather didn't want to cooperate.

Next we head to Salzburg, Austria. The only reason why we are going there is because I want to do The Sound of Music Tour.


Hiking in the Black Forest at Baden-Baden - see the colour of the leaves


Oldest house in Bacharach


Bacharach with the Rhine River in the background


Celebrating Klas's birthday in Rothenburg


Neuschwanstein ("Disney Castle") in Füssen

Hohenschwangau Castle in Füssen


Klas enjoying his maß (1 litre) of beer at Hofbräuhaus in Munich


Hofbräuhaus


Olympic site in Innsbruck, Austria


We saw this house while hiking in Bolzano. It reminds us of the cuckoo clock that we bought.


Bolzano

Nice to Be Back in Switzerland

We had a taste of Switzerland back in June when we visited Zermatt and Montreux. We've spent the last five days in this country again and loved it. People are nice. The mountains are beautiful. Everything is so clean. Transportation is on time. The only downfall is that it is expensive. It's good that we like to hike because it is free.

We visited Zurich, Luzern, Gimmelwald, and Bern. We spent more time in Gimmelwald near Interlaken. There are only 130 inhabitants but probably more cows with their bells. We stayed at a cool guesthouse where we met some nice people from Colorado and Las Vegas - they found the place through one of Rick Steves' travel guide book just like we did.

We hiked for 10.5 hours in one day, taking us to the top of the Schilthorn and back. The facility at the top was featured in the James Bond 007 movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service.' We were exhausted for the following two days.

In Zurich and Bern, we were able to rent bikes for free (courtesy of the Swiss government) so it was fun to ride around the cities.

Now we're in Baden-Baden, Germany, which is a spa town in the Black Forest...it will provide us with the opportunity to hike in the morning and spend the afternoon at the thermal spas...tough life!


Zurich


Luzern


Luzern


Hiking from Gimmelwald


Cows with huge cow bells


Gimmelwald in the background


Top of the Schilthorn


Bear pit in Bern

More Sun and Ancient Sites in Greece

Dinner in Delphi


Ancient theatre


Rocks of Meteora in the background


Favourite beach in Mykonos - look at how clear the water was!

Mykonos - the local mascot


Parthenon at Acropolis, Athens


Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

We spent two days on the island of Mykonos. The beaches are awesome - the water is so clean and clear. They either have very fine sand or very small rocks/pebbles so we weren't covered in sticky sand when we left the beach. We found what became our favourite beach. This is definitely an island that we could come back to on a future vacation. The main town is not too big but has a lot going on. We also visited the small island of Delos, which was a major trading port B.C. with a lot of treasures left over after it was destroyed but is now an archaeological site. We even saw the ruins of a house of Cleopatra.

We have spent the last two days in Athens. Among the many sites we've seen here, we saw the Parthenon at Acropolis and the Olympic Stadium from 1896.

We have enjoyed the last 12 days in Greece. The people, food, costs, sightseeing, beaches and accommodation have all been great. This was a country where we really didn't know what to expect but came to really appreciate.

Tomorrow we fly to Zurich to travel through Switzerland.

Greece - Ancient Ruins and a Lava Island

We had a bit of a rough start getting to Greece. We caught a bus from Sorrento to the Naples airport. The bus ride took 2 hours 45 minutes instead of the scheduled 1 hour 15 minutes. We just made our flight to Rome, only to find out that our flight to Athens had been cancelled. We were rebooked on a flight that left later in the evening, which was then delayed. We finally arrived in Athens at 2 a.m. but then had to pick up a rental car and drive to our hotel. We hit the pillows at 4:45 a.m.

Other than this day of drama, everything has been wonderful in Greece. What makes it this way are the people - they are so warm and helpful, even if some of them aren't comfortable with speaking English. However, most of them speak English well.

We drove on the mainland for four days visiting sitees with ancient ruins from B.C. times. Our favourite site was in Olympia because of our love of sports and the Olympic Games.

We have spent the last three days in Perissa on the lava island of Santorini. Everyone is very relaxed here so you can't help but slow down too.

So how has Klas been doing with food? No problems!!! Last night Klas claimed that he had the best meal on the trip. It consisted of pork, chicken, beef burger patty, lamb, fries and rice - carnivor!

Today we head for the island of Mykonos followed by Athens.


Fira, Santorini