Pam and Tom

Prague to Slovakia via Kutna Hora and Brno, 29 May 2013 Today we drove through showers of rain. On Kerrie’s advice we set our anti-divorce GPS to Kutna Hora which is east of Prague. Kerrie went and saw this amazing/weird/creepy Sedlec Ossuary (bone church). In this church there are the bones of 40,000 people of which 30,000 died from a plague. Someone arranged all the bones in an incredible way (see photos). We just walked around with our jaws dropped. There are some amazing things around the world to see and this has got to be one of them!! Thanks Kerrie. Kutna Hora is a town that grew as a result of silver mining. This mine supplied 1/3 of Europe’s silver and is now closed down. It was the 2nd most important city in ... read more

Dresden Germany 26 to 27 May 2013 After travelling along the A14 we arrived at Dresden…and still raining. How annoying! Oh well, we must go with the flow. Dresden, with a population of over 500,000 people, is said to be one of Germany’s most beautiful cities. It blossomed in the 18th century, when it became the cultural centre and acquired many magnificent buildings. Almost all of these however, were destroyed during World War 11, when allied forces mounted vast carpet-bombing raids on the city. Today restoration work continues. We saw some buildings that still require reconstruction, even now. It was on 13 February 1945 when 800 British aircraft launched the 1st of 5 massive firebomb raids on the city. These destroyed the greater city and killed 35,000 people, many of whom were refugees. After driving around ... read more

Skopie and Ohrid Republic of Macedonia 10 to 14 June 2013 At the Bulgaria-Macedonia border crossing, on the Macedonia side, we were nearly turned back because we did not have the International Green Card for insurance of the vehicle. In several of the recent countries we have visited (Serbia and Bulgaria), the vehicle is more important than the people, regarding official documentation. We have to show the ownership and registration papers for the vehicle, but additionally in Macedonia we needed the insurance documents. The Customs guy told us we either had to go back to Bulgaria or pay another 480 Euro for Insurance. We knew we had already paid this in The Netherlands. I suddenly remembered I had an email from the person in Holland who we had bought the vehicle through and the email attachment ... read more

Novi Sad and Belgrade, Serbia (Srbija) 4 to 8 June 2013 We come to Serbia to mainly see 2 places, Novi Sad and the capital Belgrade (Beograd) and learn quickly that it is a country of much to see, beautiful cliff lined River Danube in the north, quaint little country villages, good and terrible roads, friendly people, wide rural regions, with wheat, maize and canola crops as well as row cropping. It is green and has been wet on and off. The River Danube flows down through its centre. Men are prominent in this country (only from an outsider’s observation so we may be incorrect). When we arrive at a local restaurant, particularly in the rural areas, we mainly see men socializing…loudly. We come here a little reticent but leave with confidence that they are trying ... read more

Slovakia from 30 May to 1 June 2013 Even though Slovakia has had a rough history, it’s a beautiful country with mountains in the north. We are not going to the Capital, Bratislava but concentrating on the mountains. On the 30 May, we arrived later than usual at about 7.00pm, crossing the Czech/Slovac border and travelling 25 kms to Trencin, Slovakia. We stopped at the Na Ostrove Camping which was fair. The important criteria are that the showers are warm, clean toilets and there is power. We got going by 9.00am and to our positive surprise, the road that we thought we were going to travel on was actually a new highway. Our street directory showed that there was a new highway under construction but except for 200 m it was complete. Fantastic! We travelled through ... read more