Summing up!

Better late than never. Here come some numbers which we were able to calculate after our summer trip. So this is what we´ve got:

• Days on the road: 52
• Days in the car: 42
• Days in the hotel: 10
• Distance: 7000 km
• Countries we stayed in/drove by: 7 (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain)
• Camping places we stayed at: 17
• Money spent on camping: 683 euro
• Money spent on diesel: 709 euro
• The cheapest camping place: Fehmarn in June - 13 euro/day (in July they had 23/day) and Haute Paradis in Holland.
• The most expensive camping place: Hamburg - 27 euro/day.
• 3 flights: Brussel-Mallorca-Barcelona-Brussel
• 10 days of parking at Brussel airport: 94 euro

Total: fun! :) 

Stockholm in color, 22-24 october 2010.

Stockholm in monochrome, 22-24 october 2010.

So many times we have been to Sweden, but never made it to Stockholm. To fix this unfairness we got on a plane to the capital of Scandinavia and immediately fell in love with the city. Don´t know why but it reminds me of Barcelona moved up to the north. Certainly my favorite in Scandinavia.

Cyprus. 23-30 August 2010

Here we are on the hot hot Cyprus. It´s probably the warmest place we have been to, at least this summer. Cyprus is definitely full of beautiful places, however we ended up in Larnaca, which is way to urban for the right resort place (inspite of its vast shopping potentials). Places absolutely worth visiting the next time are Fig Tree Bay and Konnos Beach. We have brought home a huuuuuge luggage full of positive emotions from this place thanks to the warm and friendly people whom we were lucky to meet there and who have introduced us to the culture of Cyprus (read "food") and showed us some of its hidden pearls.

Traditional dance with the glasses on the head

Salt lake

Promenade of Larnaca

View on our street from the promenade

Fehmarn on the way home. 18-20 July 2010.

We are on the way home. Everything what happened between Brussel (where we landed from Barcelona) and Fehmarn in Germany was just a transportation from A to B with only one sleep-over stop at the parking place by the high-way. It was good to come to Fehmarn again just two months after being here. High season made it almost impossible to find a place to stay, however we managed it. The yellow flowers were gone and there were not so many rabbits as before, but Fehmarn was still beautiful. Our big car holiday is officially over at the same place where it began 8 weeks ago. We´re happy! :) 

Platja d´Aro, Spain. 11-17 July 2010.

Another impulsive ticket purchase and here we are in Barcelona, taking a taxi to the bus station and sitting on a bus to a beautiful Platja d`Aro on Costa Brava. Guess we just loved it with a hot hot sun and warm sea (full of water as well) finally. We had some wonderful days there with a total relaxation and zero driving (good to have it this way as well sometimes). But a long way home from Brussel was still ahead us.

Tossa del Mar

Mallorca, Spain. 6-11 June 2010.

It wasn´t even planned, however we have impulsively bought tickets to Palma and after some driving from Brugge to Brussel we found ourselves sitting on the plane which was taking us to some REALLY warm place.

Brugge in the sun. 5 July 2010

We have never thought it would be possible, but after a long day of driving from french Giverny we ended up in belgian Brugge again, second time this summer. Not the worst place to end up in for a day or two, especially when the sun is shining bright!

Giverny. The gardens of Monet. 4 July 2010.

Another garden of another star of the french and global artistic scene ( Remember the Dior´s garden?), this time it was Claude Monet´s one pictured on many of his famous paintings.

Disneyland. 3 July 2010.

That was a journey back to childhood which we enjoyed enormously. After spending over 12 hours here it was clear that one day is critically not enough to explore at least a half of Disneyland. Next time we´ll pay it a longer visit.

Quiberon. 29 June - 2 July 2010.

The rule about all the best places located on the tip of the islands or peninsulas worked this time as well and we fell in love with Quiberon, stretching with a long a narrow stripe and surrounded by the ocean from the 3 sides. This place had everything - long and wide beaches, good nightlife and food, surfing spots hidden between the high rocks, and a swimming pool in our camping site which we used a lot! Truly one of the best places in France!

Golfe du Morbihan. France. 26-29 June 2010.

We have spent 3 days in Port Navalo on Golfe du Morbihan in Bretagne and  were surprised by a beautiful coast line there which rather reminds Norway than France. Hundreds of islands surrounded by a crystal clear water and not fewer sail boats. A place to come back. 

Midsummer celebration in Bretagne. 26 June 2010.

That day we witnessed a wonderful midsummer celebration (which we have completely forgotten about and it took us quiet a while to realize what they were celebrating there) in the traditional breton style. Lot´s of local traditional music, which sounds a lot like celtic, round dancing, pancakes (crepes), beer and of course a bonfire made our first night in Bretagne completely unforgettable.

This is how it started

Mont Saint-Michel, France. 25-26 June 2010.

Saint-Michel, the tidal island is absolutely amazing with its constantly changing tides. They say it is a place with the biggest tide change in Europe, and it seems to be true. It´s also pretty usual to find the warnings about parking or no-parking in the particular places - the chances to find your car under the water is pretty big here.

Mont Saint-Michel by night, France. 25 June 2010.

We took a walk with a tripod trying to capture the Abbey at night. 

More places along the English channel, France. 24-25 June 2010.

Continuing our way along the English channel with its beautiful small towns and hidden pearls.

The D-Day beaches, Normandie, France. 24 June 2010.

That was a day full of history - D-Day, the battle of Normandy, the Atlantic wall and much more that has happened on the norman coast back to June 6 in 1944, when the allied troops have landed here. The D-beaches are still referred to by their wartime code names:  Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah.

Houlgate, France. 21-24 June 2010

After a stressful driving through the coastal cities of Normandie we have found our paradise just some kilometers away from the glamorous Deauville. With a beach just some centimeters away from the car and the biggest sea-view ever, this little place in Calvados region of Normandie has become a perfect location for relaxation for a few days.

Coming to France. 20 June 2010

The first day in France has not spoilt us with a good weather either. We spent our first night  in a garden/camping belonging to some mansion/pension and the next day continued our trip to Normandie along the Alabaster coast full of the white cliffs.

Brussel, Belgium. 19 June 2010.

We haven't become very impressed by Brussel, probably because of  the horrible weather. Have managed to city a little bit of the city sitting on top of the tourist bus the whole day. Loved the Atomium though!

Brugge, Belgium. 18 June 2010

Medieval charming Brugge would be absolutely perfect without that heavy rain following us everywhere.

Belgium. 16-17 June 2010

Belgium with its small beach towns has met us with a strong cold wind. It was  unpossible to avoid it even in our norwegian wind-proof jackets. The towns Knokke-Heist, Blankenberge and De Haan were nice though. The genious way to explore the belgium coast line is a coast tram, celebrating 125 anniversary this year. The tram goes through all of the coast pearls, beginning almost in Netherlands and stopping at the french boarder. The perfect activity to kill the cold day!

Amsterdam - a city of the boat-houses.

We are a bit fascinated by the idea of the boat-house and everything people can have on their roof tops.

Edam & Gouda, the cheese cities of Holland. 15 June 2010

It's difficult to avoid a topic of cheese being in Holland, especially when surrounded by the world famous cities of the cheese making - Edam and Gouda.

More of Holland. 15 June 2010.

The Amsterdam days are over and we're on the road again, exploring the corners of The Netherlands on our last day here.

A flower market in Amsterdam. 14 June 2010

Flowers mean Holland and Holland means flowers. The flower market in Amsterdam just proves it once again.

More of Amsterdam. 12-14 June 2010.

Football and canals - that's what makes Amsterdam today.

Amsterdam. Day 2. 11 June 2010

Really bad weather in Amsterdam makes exploring of the city pretty difficult, but we are trying not to give up. After the long hours walking under the rain, it feels nice hiding from it in dry and warm museums or pubs. Specially the last ones offer lots of fun showing the world cup on the big screens :)

Someone just has no shame...

It took us only 20 min to get our first pet in Amsterdam. This duck was begging for bread near and inside of the car for a really long time, not being shy at all.