Croatia 2024

Taking our campervan to Europe has been on our wish list for a long time.

We got our first campervan during Covid, but then we converted one of our school buses into a campervan and traveled around Iceland in it. After that we have had 2 other campers. Today we have a nice camper that we call Maple. Now it was time to make the dream come true.

We bought the ferry tickets early and decided to go on board on October 2nd, after some deliberation it was decided that we would then take the ferry home to Iceland on November 2nd. That gave us a trip of about 35 days and of that 29 days were traveling in the camper around Europe.

After months of preparation, a good plan was put in place and we followed it. We arrived in Norröna on October 2nd and set sail, into the storm Amy which was raging in the Atlantic Ocean at the time. We had to accept an extra day in the Faroe Islands as it was not considered safe to sail across to Denmark until the weather had improved. So we set off for our adventures in Denmark on our way to Germany on October 6th.

Week 1.
After getting off the ferry, we headed south and simply drove along the highways through Denmark. The plan was to get as close to Lubeck as possible on the first day. Denmark was a flat country for us and after a 4-hour drive (480 km) we arrived at a place to stay in Wahlstedt. We didn’t know anything about “Stellplatz” and didn’t know what to do, where we were allowed to stay, where we paid or anything. BUT it all worked out and the tired, slightly “seasick” tourists from Iceland fell asleep early and slept soundly on this first night of our motorhome trip in Germany. After a shopping trip where the main necessities, beer and biscuits, sausages and more were on the shopping list, we drove off. Our destination was the Harz National Park, located southwest of Hannover, but on the way there we came to Hamlin, where the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin took place.

We stayed there in the forest for two nights and drove around the national park back and forth. We visited, for example, Goslar, which is a small but beautiful city full of old so-called half-timbered houses, but that architecture is found in many places in Germany. The houses are many hundreds of years old but well-maintained and beautiful. We also visited a beautiful castle in the town of Wernigerode.

We then went to Quedlinburg and then drove through the surrounding countryside on our way to Erfurt where we stayed one night. We were now getting quite good at using Stellplatz and this time we stayed in one of these “Caravanstellplatz am Saunabad Trautmann” www.caravan-erfurt-de. A very funny character who looked after or owned this place but was hospitable and tried everything he could to make us understand his German as best as possible. Hand gestures, photographs and more were used until we understood that we could, for example take a tram to the city center as we did. We took the tram down to town and then strolled around. There was a lot going on because there was an Oktoberfest going on in Erfurt. Music was playing everywhere and there were big tents in the center, vendors and a circus. We ended up eating there and having a lot of beer – one liter is the minimum, sir! said the waitress and we did as she told us to do. It was a fun stop and of course we ended up taking part in the Oktoberfest where the locals sang “Prost” and danced on the tables and had fun. We were therefore happy when we fell asleep in Erfurt with our friends there.

Day 4 dawned, we said goodbye to Erfurt and drove south. Highways and country roads mixed with small towns and villages became the focus of the day. We had planned to go to the “Romantic Road” but still in our own way and visit Bamberg. The Regnitz River flows through this city but there is also a bridge that is very special because on the bridge itself there are rows of houses and shops. Bamberg is a beautiful city as are most of the cities we have visited on this trip. We also stayed there on a Stellplatz but perhaps it is best to explain that these Stellplatz are all over Germany, simple accommodation areas often by a swimming pool or other public places. There are parking lots with access to electricity, often but not always there are toilet facilities in the area and showers. However, it is almost always possible to get drinking water there and empty both the toilet tank and the grey water tank on our camper. This is a cheaper option than camping but is suitable if you plan to stay only one night. From Bamberg we went to Rothenburg ob de Tauber. Well my kids….what a town! We completely fell in love with this beautiful old town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Where do I begin to describe it, the town is not big but it has about 10,000 people. The town center is surrounded by an ancient wooden fortress wall that you can walk along and it feels like you’ve accidentally fallen into the Middle Ages. The houses in the town are half-timbered houses but they are all so old, so colorful, so beautiful that half would be enough. We saw the year 1357 on one house, the next was 1465 and so on and yes, these were the years these houses were built. We were there all day and ended up going back into the town center in the evening to enjoy seeing this beautiful town one more time before we went to rest in a beautiful camper park on this 5th night of our great journey.

The next day we went to Bavaria and visited our friends who lives in Gaaussenhausen, a small and beautiful town, but they took us around the area. Their parking place became our next overnight stop and week one was about to end. A certain chapter in the journey was ahead as the plan was to drive south Bavaria and to the Alps but more on that in the next week column.