2011 Germany, Austria, Italy, France - Picture Heavy

[roofless]

Finally getting round to posting last years road trip, a two week jaunt to Germany to take in some of the romantic road, acrossto Austria where Mrs R hasn't been before, then into Italy and finishing in Provence before the usual last day dash to Calais and the ferry.
First stop Heidelberg, we stayed in a small hotel overlooking the Alte Brucke, from there we could fall into a drinking establishment

Unfortunately a lot of work was going on around the city but still Heidelberg is lovely


Drank and ate just around the corner in Vetter, one of the oldest Brauhaus in Heidelberg, huge beer vats dominate the room, bench tables and great food, fantastic beer and really friendly welcoming patrons, had a great evening there.

I won't bore you with too many pics but the Castle is a great tour for those who enjoy sights like that, the apotheke there is amazing!

From Heidelberg we drove, via Wurzburg


to a castle i had booked for our second night stay




A day trip out to Nuremberg



Then to one of the best stops on the trip, Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, a beautiful walled town with a fabulous history



Dinkehlsbuhl


Nordlingen


South to Hopfen Am See


for a visit to the nearby Castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein




Across to Salzburg via Walchensee


Salzburg





From Salzburg it was a long and very hot and very slow, due to traffic and roadworks, down to Mantua, 34 deg, humid and then a massive thunderstorm. Mantua is a lovely city, second time we've been and loved it again. Food is wonderful as ever.






North west to Bergamo for lunch, another beautiful city but the place where my roof problem became evident and from here on i couldn't put the roof down.




Then to Orta San Giulio, the highlight of our trip and a real surprise despite another massive thunderstorm and some of the narrowest streets you shouldn't try and take a car through.







Then it was south to our comfort zone in Provence and Le Lavandou.
The gardens at Rayol nearby are lovely




After 5 days relaxing on the south coast it was back on the autoroutes and down to earth with a bump.

[andysat]

Looks like it was a great holiday with stunning pics!

[Darkman]

Fantastic set of pics and a great journey

[Nickm]

Very important question and one that is very worrying for me.....what did you do to keep the car clean for 2 weeks?

[john56]

Thanks for posting the pics , wife and myself really enjoyed them, hoping to do something similar this year, lovely pics.

[WLH]

Great pictures and thanks for posting...

[markeg]

Fantastic pictures, a beautiful part of the world (especially the "chitty chitty bang bang" castle ). Brings back many memories, thanks for posting!

[roofless]

Very important question and one that is very worrying for me.....what did you do to keep the car clean for 2 weeks?

Afraid i didn't and i must admit once the roof went kaput on me i kind of lost interest in the car for the rest of the holiday. In the past i have taken some meguiars quik detailer and some cloths with me but Mrs Roofless was adamant that as much space as possible be retained for alcohol and food purchases and any car cleaning equipment found on board would be liberally distributed at various waypoints across europe, never to be seen again.

[roofless]

Fantastic pictures, a beautiful part of the world (especially the "chitty chitty bang bang" castle ). Brings back many memories, thanks for posting!

We were really lucky with the day that we visited the castles and i had kind of kept that part of the itinerary as a surprise for my good lady. The day we arrived at Hopfen it started raining and was about 16 degrees, the following day, for the castle visits was 25 deg and beautiful sunshine, the next day, leaving for Salzburg it rained and was back down to about 16 degrees.

[ColinP]

Nice one, i'm looking forward to going to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber in April for the present MrsP 50th!!

[Taz]

this as got me thinking about 2012 holidays

[Nickm]

I'm thinking about a trip this year, on my own, and tempted to join TomTVR on his trip. Know tis good to go with your other half, but I also like the thought of going on my own too, in a group.

I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants but am also very organised too....so not sure. There is a trip on May to Nice and Monaco Grand Prix which I am very tempted by, but it's so far away!! I want to go in March is possible....and been told that I mist have snow tyres for parts of Italy in the winter....so not sure about that option.

Great pics by the way.....makes me very jealous!!

[roofless]

There are so many great choices of where to go in Europe you get spoilt for choice but it does mean that there is something for everyone and if you go on a whim you're unlikely to be disappointed.
The Romantic Road in Germany isn't actually a 'romantic road', most of the driving is poor it is just the destinations that are wonderful. For driving roads i would do more in the alps or around the Pyrenees, it comes down to what you want to see. I once spent 3 months in an MG Midget driving around France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia (that's how long ago), Austria and Germany; whenever we go on a driving holiday now i have to say i get tempted every time to just take another 3 months and go bumbling around europe again. Perhaps one day.

[mason storm]

Wow three months sounds great, I was considering taking a ferry to Northern Spain then travelling through the Pyrenees up to south of france then to Italy, alps and back home. Any tips on good passes through the Pyrenees and interesting destinations on route?

[Lance]

Pyrenees- many many good passes. If you can, stop overnight in a Paradore, nice hotels and usually in unusual buildings, like castles or old monasteries, but restored to a high standard. There is one at Arties in the Pyrenees and one further along past Andorra at Seu D'urgell. Nice town to stay in is Jaca, with nice bars and plenty of places to eat, Huesca is good too.

Not everyones cup of tea, but I think Andorra la vella is worth a days visit for a wander round and an overnight stop. Mercure hotel in the town centre is pretty good and has secure parking.

Best road by far is the N260 picked up near Seu D'Urgell to Sort, up there with the best roads anywhere. From Sort head to Llavorsi for some White water rafting.