The first thing we liked about driving off the ferry into France is we get to drive on the right-hand side of the road again.  For me it doesn’t matter, left or right, whatever, except Tramp is a left hand drive car so that means that for the last 12 countries we’ve been in (all of southern Africa plus all of the UK) I’m sitting on the gutter side of the left hand side of the road which creates a few unique driving challenges in terms of space and visibility (just ask my sideview mirrors!). 

But driving in France immediately feels comfortable. It’s Tramp’s third visit here and we love the quaint towns, wonderful architecture, deep history and friendly faces.  We don’t love the toll roads, so we avoid them, or the narrow roads that test Tramp’s spatial integrity and his big ears.  But viva la France we say, or more broadly, viva la Europa, and our plan is to drive across Europe in quick order towards our target town of Ellmau in the Tyrol of Austria where we hope to catch up with a dear friend of ours.  We’re not planning to doddle across Europe because we’re on a mission to get to the Silk Road.

Doddle or not, we stop in St. Omer to admire the magnificent 15^th century gothic cathedral that dominates the old part of this beautiful little town.  There’s a whole lot to like about towns such as St. Omer, the main town square, classic buildings like the Hotel de Ville and the Theatre, the coffee shops and cafes that line the footpaths, the patisseries, charcuteries, boulangeries and all the other businesses that make any town in France hum.   You can’t help but want to hug these places.

After battling and barely surviving rush-hour traffic around the major regional centre of Lille we found a place to camp for the night on the edge of a wheat field in a national park near the town of Marchiennes.  In a very French style, national parks are multi-purpose and often feature communities, businesses and farming along with the more traditional forests, mountains and rivers.  Hey, whatever works, we loved our spot on the edge of the fields and the farmer gave us a friendly wave when he passed in his tractor.

We chose the next day as our big travelling day because the roads were good and we could make good time.  We left France and passed through the southern green rolling hills and rich farmland of Belgium before passing into the tiny country of Luxembourg. 

Luxembourg is a novelty act of Europe, the only remaining grand duchy in the world, the smallest country in the EU with a population of 624,000, one of the richest countries in the world on per capita basis and it has the highest minimum wage in the EU.  It is rich in history but today gains it’s wealth as an international centre for banking, finance and trade.  We had to check it out.

We finally found a place to park Tramp, always a hassle, and then explored the downtown walking streets, the extensive gardens and the amazing gorge that runs through the centre and provides stunning views of the modern and historic parts of the city.  The city of Luxembourg was shining on this warm sunny day, you could feel the wealth and prosperity of this tiny country as well as it’s rich history.  We gave Luxembourg a big thumbs up.

Southward and eastward we continued, into Germany, along the autobahns lined with wind turbines while we tried to stay out of the way of the speeding BMWs and Mercedes which raced at over 130 km per hour.  We found a beaut spot to camp amongst the trees outside the town of Hockenheim to end a 500 km driving day, one of our longest of all time. 

The next day was more of the same, early start, long hours on the autobahns as we smashed out the kilometres as quickly as possible.  We climbed through the beautiful Tyrolean Alps and made it to the small Austrian town of Ellmau by late afternoon. 

Ellmau holds a special place in our hearts because it was here I brought tour groups in my younger days and Julie spent a winter working.  We have skied these mountains extensively in the winter and hiked through them in the summer.  The Wilder Kaiser, which is the ginormous mountain range overlooking Ellmau and forming this long valley, was in splendid form, high and steep, snow still resting in the crevasses at the top, the whole scene just breath-taking. 

But the best part of our relationship with Ellmau is Kathi who runs the family guesthouse we always stay in and has become a great friend of ours over the last 45 years.  To spend a night with Kathi and her partner Peter, reminiscing, telling stories, having a laugh and generally catching up was great fun.  Tramp had been here once before in 2018 and it was absolutely fabulous for all of us to be back and see everyone.

We reluctantly left the next morning because we were still on a mission to cover as much distance as possible for one more day.  We followed the non-toll roads to the Tyrolean centre of Innsbruck and then followed the beautiful but tight winding road up and over Brenner Pass, at 1,370 metres the key connection between Austria and Italy through these eastern Alps.

As we dropped down into the Italian side the scenery just went to another level.  Vertical high mountains flanking both sides of the valley, little tile-roofed villages squeezed in between crops and hay growing on every available square metre, glacier-fed rivers flowing down through the middle, just fantastic.

We finally arrived at Venice, or to be accurate, Camping Fusina, a popular campground on the mainland with grand views of the city of Venice across the water.  Camping Fusina was also the sight of many memorable nights when I was leading tour groups around Europe and it was great nostalgic fun for Julie and I to have a drink in the bar and order pizza.  Luckily nobody recognised me from the 1980’s which is just as well.

After three uncharacteristically long driving days to rocket across central Europe, we gave Tramp the day off and caught the ferry into downtown Venice.  Venice is a city like no other and is a treasure for the world to marvel. 

Built on sand bars and reclaimed land, all of which has shifted and is sinking from the weight of the city, the capital of a mighty empire that ruled huge swathes of Europe for centuries, home base for the explorer Marco Polo who’s footsteps we are following on the Silk Road, now a buzzing and crowded tourist destination that keeps the city thriving like no other.  Venice, we love you.

We spent a long day walking the narrow walking streets of this fabulous city, from piazza to piazza, along paths that were less than a metre wide, following waterways, over a hundred bridges, past store after store that featured everything from high end clothing to the cheapest souvenirs. 

And always there was the melodious tones of the Italians, inviting you into their restaurant, offering you a ride on their gondola, talking excitedly to each other and everyone else, adding colour and movement.  And then there were the tourists moving like ants shoulder to shoulder, from all over the world, all adding to the hum and sway of this unique city.

In what will almost certainly be the most traditional of tourist days on this entire journey we stood in line for 45 minutes so we could go into the wonderful San Marco Basilica, built in the 11^th century at the end of the extensive St. Marks Square, featuring huge domes, gold mosaics and wonderful tiled floors, a magnificent building by any standards anywhere in the world. 

But it was a hot day and all about walking around, exploring as many little alleyways and piazzas as possible, and we declared it a two ice cream day in honour of the challenges we faced.  Finally, we staggered back to the ferry and returned to Tramp, triumphant, buzzing and buggered.  Phew!

From this point our journey heads down the Adriatic coast through the west Balkan countries with many more surprises and adventures ahead of us.  Bring it on, I say!