David and Pam's 10 week European Holiday...
As we exited Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with our bags, as we didn't have a mobile phone set up yet, we headed for the Information desk, where we called the Citroen collection location for our courtesy transfer. We met them at the required exit within about five minutes and were whisked away to collect our Citroën C3 Aircross manual petrol with GPS.
We were taken through the vehicle controls and GPS, and even though my wife has almost the exact same car back home we listened carefully. Ten or fifteen minutes later and we were off.
And while I know the in-car GPS works well, we chose to use our portable TomTom most of the time, as I had pre-loaded the majority of our itinerary on that before we left home.
Day 1 we headed west, keeping well away from Paris, to our first stop: lunch with friends that live in Paris, at a Buffalo Grill on the outskirts, and en route to our first destination. While it sounds American, the menu was purely French, and thankfully it was open as our day of arrival was a public holiday and many places were shut. This proved to be a friendly, stress-free start to our 10 week self-drive holiday.
Let me share a few highlights of our holiday...
Our first stop was at a very small French village called La Bruyère, near the slightly larger village of Rohaire. It is so small that several maps do not even show the correct street names. And here we were, searching for No. 3 on the road through the village. We quickly found No. 1 and and No. 5 but there was no No.3. It can’t be far away, we thought, as there were only a handful of houses. Finally we stopped to ask at one of the houses and were told that the road name changes at the intersection and No. 3 was actually located after No. 5!
By pure coincidence, the town was also very close to La Ferte-Vidame, the venue for the Citroën Centenary celebrations this year, of which I was particularly interested.
A few days later we arrived at a Gîte called “Domain des Bridoux", nestled in the wine and olive area on the border between the Drôme and Haute Provence in France. Featuring comfortable air-conditioned chalets together with a great swimming pool and numerous nearby villages sporting market days, great restaurants and many vineyards - we were in for a treat! And for red wine lovers, like myself, the unique area of Gigondas is nearby, not to mention the lovely rosé from around Vaison la Romaine. And if you are a cyclist (I am not), this could be your paradise, with the challenging Mount Ventoux also nearby. Day trips to towns such as Nyons, Villedeau, Sault and Vaison la Romaine were thoroughly enjoyed during our stay.
A couple of weeks later we found ourselves in south west Hungary, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
This was also where we purchased a replacement SIM card for one of our mobile phones. There are several SIM card packages you can purchase for Europe, either before you leave home, via the internet, or on arrival at most European airports. They cover EU countries and offer cheap calling rates within Europe as there are no roaming charges between EU countries. However, as we were going to be spending some time in Serbia, which is not yet in the EU, we needed to swap to a Tellink SIM (a Belgium Company) which worked really well.
A week later and we were crossing the border into Romania.
Entering Romania was the first time, since our arrival in Paris, that we needed to show our passports. Plus, they also wanted to see our vehicle registration papers and green card (insurance) document. These papers were supplied to us at the time we collected the vehicle, with very clear instruction to keep them safe. We produced them to the officials and were subsequently waived through the border control without any delay.
One of the main reasons for visiting Romania was a visit to Sibiu, or more particular the Transfăgărășan (trans [over, across] + Făgăraș) or DN7C - a paved mountain road crossing the southern section of the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Top Gear watchers may recall the team's trip over this road and their claim that this was the best drive in the world.
We left early one morning to beat any buses, as the road had only opened the day before on the 1st July (it is only open during the summer months). It’s quite a drive, over 120kms each way. The road is paved and two-way, except for a small section on the Sibiu side. At the top you will find an unlined and unlit tunnel of about 100metres in length at a height of 2,000 metres. Near the bottom of the other side we stopped at a hotel for what turned out to be one of the best coffees of our entire holiday. As we climbed up towards the top again we stopped at one of the numerous stalls selling local delicacies where we tasted then purchased absolutely fantastic cheeses and wild venison salami.
Near the top of the the Transfăgărășan highway
As we approached the top of the highway, cloud started rolling in (see above photo) and within no time at all we were only just able to see the road ahead of us. Driving through the tunnel was now very scary, as I could not see the tunnel sides. I had to use the headlights of the approaching vehicles as a guide to know where to drive! Overall, yes it is a truly great drive - with outstanding views of the road, valleys and scenery, as the road zig-zaged over the mountain range - but I could have done without the nerve-wracking tunnel experience!
Time kept flying by and our next highlight was the Black Sea beach of Nǎvodari, still in Romania.
As we travelled across Romania to our destination, we saw continuous new investment in business and roads. In fact, the main motorway into Bucharest was so new that while there were a number of rest areas, nothing had been built in these areas yet. We travelled about 70kms on this particular motorway without even seeing a fuel station. Off the motorways, there are of course numerous small villages - although some have very few people and appear to be abandoned in parts which was very sad to see.
Nǎvodari Beach on the Black Sea
When we did finally arrive at Nǎvodari, we found various new buildings and apartments close to the beach. We had pre-booked a small apartment a couple of blocks back from the beach, with a pool. It was quite an experience getting there though, as once you are off the main road, the smaller roads are little more than a dirt track!
We were in amongst young families and unlike parts of the Mediterranean, there was no charge for accessing the sandy beach which ran for several kilometres. You could choose to either hire a couple of beach chairs and an umbrella or set up on the beach just as you would do back home.
The Black Sea was lovely and warm, with some surf, but the waves tended to peter-out after a few metres. The swimming was great, but body surfing had nothing on Titahi Bay back home!
After leaving Nǎvodari, we drove north to take a boat trip into the Danube Delta, a wonderful sanctuary for flora and fauna.
Travelling on down the coast into Bulgaria we stopped for five days at the Green Life Resort, a few kilometres from Sozopol. The resort's own private beach was less than a 25 metres walk from our room. Another Black Sea beach, with lovely sand, a calm surf and fabulous restaurant/café located on the beach and serving great food as diners listened to a local playing the saxophone whilst watching the evening draw in across the water.
This was our very first stay in a resort and we thoroughly enjoyed the wide range of amenities and facilities provided. And as the resort is out in the country, a 'petit train', without suspension, ran every 30mins or so into Sozopol, a small and pretty town with a great street market and yet another excellent beach.
The Roman Amphitheatre at Plovdiv
Our next stop was Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and wow there is so much history here. Mainly due to Bulgaria being located on the border between east and west, plus having been occupied by the Turks for many years, then gaining independence, then coming under communist rule and now, finally, a democracy - but still finding its political feet.
Plovdiv is Bulgaria's second largest city and has a significant Roman history. There are several remains that have been well preserved - including some that form part of a shopping mall and others being worked into a recent road intersection!
That said, our focus for one of our days was wine. And I can attest to Bulgarian wine being outstanding, with delightfully unique tastes in both the white and red variety. After passing through several old and partially run-down villages, along a partially sealed then gravel road we arrived at our winery of choice. I am sure we would never have made it without our GPS. The winery appeared new and we were offered a tour, in English, including being told that the wine-maker had previously visited New Zealand and just a few weeks earlier had hosted a wedding including a New Zealand bride!
Midalidare Winery, Mogilovo, Bulgaria
Our next stop was a small village in the south-west of Bulgaria called Melnik. Here they make a unique wine simply called Melnik and Melnik 55. It’s a red wine and is predominately made from the grape Melnik. Winston Churchill sourced much of his red wine from here. George, the owner of the small hotel we had booked, greeted us affectionately and after showing us the room offered us a rather large glass of his local red wine that we thoroughly enjoyed! We departed a few days later with a bottle of Melnik 55 to bring home, plus a plastic bottle of Melnik to keep us company over the next couple of days.
Jumping forward a few days and we found ourselves in Belgrade, a city still showing scars of the Balkan war, when it was bombed by NATO. We found the people in both Nis (our first stop in Serbia) and Belgrade very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed excellent food at very reasonable prices - for example, a two course meal with drinks was around NZ$20 per person. And here's a hint - compliment the waiter on their coffee and they might just return with another cup on the house!
Belgrade is built at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, well deserving of a short evening boat trip. And as luck would have it for us, completely unexpected and free of charge - a thunder and forked lightning storm. Absolutely spectacular, not to mention a little scary!
Several days later, we arrived in Samabor, Croatia - the venue of the 23rd International Citroen 2CV showcase. This even was in fact what our entire holiday was planned around. And made all the more fabulous and memorable with around 3,000 Citroen 2CVs and derivatives, plus at least 5,000 like-minded enthusiasts. Hosted by the Citroen 2CV club of Croatia and made even more enjoyable due to a delightful rosé wine sold by the local supermarket!
Some days later we spent a delightfully restful and enjoyable four days on the banks of Lake Balaton in Hungary, before heading towards Germany and the Romantic Road through Bavaria and the Baden-Württemberg mountains.
A quick visit to Wurzburg included a walk over the historic “Old Main Bridge” (below the castle) with a glass of wine in hand, as you do. Then a stop in the beautiful old town of Rothenberg - an absolute must. It is an old walled town with most of its historic buildings still intact, complete with a shop where it is always Christmas.
The Romantic Road is about 350kms in length, but we only managed to travel one-third of it before we headed west, en route back to Paris to return our car. Our holiday was coming to an end.
Returning the car to the location at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport was quite straight forward with the help of our GPS of course. We found that some GPS’s cannot handle the final part of the route to the depot as the last few metres don't appear to always be mapped. But if you set the destination for “Rue Eugène Poubelle” it will work a treat. Note: the word "Poubelle"means “rubbish tin” in English ... that made us laugh!
SOME OBSERVATIONS AND DRIVING TIPS
- This first thing that comes to mind for people contemplating driving in Europe is how will they cope with driving on the other side of the road. People develop their own strategy to cope with this. Mine is to always ensure I am nearest the centre of the road and remember left turns are difficult and right turns are easier. [The saying 'tight right - lose left' is also helpful]
- Next - how do you ensure you are travelling in the centre of the lane?
My strategy is to choose a point of the car to the left that should be over the left hand side lane marker (e.g. speaker or bonnet bump). For me this is essential,otherwise I tend to keep too far to the right of the lane which tends to frighten the front seat passenger - especially when passing trucks! - Are roundabouts difficult?
The overriding strategy is always drive defensively. I have never had any trouble at roundabouts. Usually the approach road points you in the direction of travel. Most importantly, it is essential to get into the correct lane for the exit you are planning to take and use your indicators. Also watch out for the rare roundabout where you give way to traffic entering the roundabout. Usually these are signed - unless you are in central Paris. - So what were the roads really like in the three Balkan countries we vistied?
The motorways were new and the driving was relaxing and smooth - far more enjoyable than Western Europe in my opinion. Off the motorways, where we mostly travelled, the roads were usually OK - sealed with a few pot holes in places, so could be quite bumpy (mainly due to poor road patching). Not much different to some of the roads at home to be honest! There was good road signage, with almost all including an English or non-Cyrillic translation. A GPS, however, is essential throughout Europe as it takes the stress out of finding your way, especially in the larger cities. - Many of our day time meals were picnics. You can almost always find a grass area, park bench or trees to stop and enjoy your picnic. The Citroën C3 Aircross was ideal for this, as we just unhooked the parcel shelf, lay out a tea towel or old map and set up our picnic. Sometimes we just stood at the back and other times we sat on our cheap picnic chairs - it was great fun!
- Speed limits and speed cameras?
Yes there are speed cameras in most countries and the speed limits are well posted and enforced. Just about all built-up areas will have a speed limit of 50km/hr or less. The 50km/hr limit always applies at the village/town entrance sign and ends at the village/town exit sign. The exit sign is usually the town or village name with a diagonal line across it. Unsurprisingly, most speed cameras are found in villages or towns. - Toll roads.
This varies from country to country. In France, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia toll roads are paid for at the toll booth either in cash or by credit card. Make sure you chose the booth with the Euro currency sign above it. The signs with what looks like a bank note are the automatic boths and unless you have the proper pass card you will be reversing out with great difficulty.
Germany has no toll roads.
A number of other countries use a "vignette" (sticker or registered online electronically) as a way of tolling their roads. In Hungary and Slovakia there are several toll roads and you must obtain a vignette before driving on them. The roads are electronically monitored using number plate recognition. We found it simple to buy the vignettes for these countries online before entering them.
Romania is much the same as Hungary, where you need a vignette for motorways, plus some additional roads you wouldn't expect. Plus you need to pay separately to cross any of the bridges over the Danube. In Bulgaria you also need a vignette as many roads, not just the motorways, are tolled and electronically monitored as per Hungary and Slovakia.
The Czech Republic uses a windscreen vignette that you can purchase at the first petrol station you reach after entering a toll road. Don’t buy at the vignette booths as these usually cost more than at a service station. You attach the vignette to the right-hand side of the windscreen.
For the electronic vignettes noted above, you will require the vehicle's registration plate number so you cannot buy before you pick up your vehicle. All have easy to use English language websites where you can choose the duration - usually a minimum of 7 to 10 days and a maximum of one month. (You will receive an electronic receipt that you should keep available on your phone.) - For accommodation we used a mixture of AirBNB, Booking.com and Accor. When making a booking we reviewed traveller comments, tried to book apartments with air-con and ideally a lift or as few stairs as possible. We also stayed with friends, plus where we had stayed on previous trips we chose to re-book direct with the owners. We had no disappointments and a few nice surprises. All hosts were delightful and helpful, with many also quite sociable which led to numerous interesting conversations over a glass of wine or beer of course!
- English is widely spoken, especially in the eastern countries and in all cases you can get by without difficulty. Even when we start to speak in the local language the response is usually in English. This is probably because of our accent and mispronunciation.
And finally the car, a black Citroen C3 Aircross with opening roof (an unexpected bonus) and GPS. We enjoyed 9,800 trouble-free kilometres having only to add a little air to the front left tyre possibly due to the many bumpy roads we continually found ourselves on. The boot size was perfect for our two suitcases, a carry bag, picnic set and freezer bag and of course a bottle or two of wine. The back seat moved forward to make more room in the boot which was very useful. The parking sensors and camera made reversing so much easier. The seating was a little firmer than I am used to - being more used to my Citroen C5 Hydropneumatic suspension!
We really did have a wonderful, stress-free Citroën Drive Europe holiday. Thank you!
And PS - we will be back!