Terrafirma Travels

Posts

Sirmione

May 08, 2026

Slow getting up. L went for an early run along the beautiful, deserted lakeside but had trouble finding a way back in to the campsite owing to locked gates! We decided to take the tripper boat to Sirmione, a honeypot destination in this part of Lake Garda. The ferry doesn't run often during the day, so we took a lunchtime boat that would return about 4pm, thinking that 3 hours of tourist hot-spot would be about enough. We walked to the ferry pontoon and had a coffee while waiting. The rather old fashioned boat was surprisingly full. It was pleasant sitting up top under a shade, watching the blue lake pass by, for 40 minutes, but it was very hazy and a bit soporific. Arriving at Sirmione was like being tumbled into an ants' nest. It was rammed full of tourists, ice cream shops, pizzerias and tat shops. We visited two beautiful, tiny churches and a lovely quiet side street where the houses have ornate ceramic plaques for house names, all by the same artist. And we ventu...

Innsbruck to La Garda

May 07, 2026

As I start this we are in a 5km stop-start on the Brenner Pass due to road works <sigh>. Also the cloud level is much lower today, we can't see the tops <boo>. Occasional sharp rain showers, first rain of trip. Stopped at border for hot choc (no decaf!) and pastry. The Brenner at 1370m is one of the lowest Alpine passes, yet it is impressive in its winding through the chasm between the mountains. Much roadworks on the Italian side (South Tyrol) too. We stopped at a servicio to swap drivers, then barrelled on south down the A22 in company with an endless stream of enormous trucks. We turned off at Affi and wound our way into the Parco Termale del Garda, a thermal lake resort. For a significant sum we spent the afternoon there, after a modest lunch served in a surly manner. The main lake is 31°, with huge jacuzzi sections at 35, 37 and 39° - the latter two advised at 10 minutes max. All very lovely and fairly empty. We sat on a verandah for a while drinking mineral water ...

Innsbruck expedition

May 06, 2026

One of the reasons for visiting Innsbruck was that Lesley and her mum came here in the 60s, a first continental trip via a Cosmos coach tour. She has memories of seeing the Golden Roof, a tourist must-see in the old town. We took the free bus from the campsite into Innsbruck and immediately bought a hop-on hop-off bus tour, to avoid excessive walking. It was a good way to get around the city, which is overshadowed by v tall mountains. We stopped at another Schloss which had extensive green parkland, for a breath of fresh air. And then it was back on the bus, through busy streets, many glitzy shops and finally up to the Panorama not far from the ski jump. There we decided to have a leisurely lunch of risotto and spatzle, with a fine view over the city below. Back on the bus, to the much-vaunted Golden Roof, which did look spectacular against the dark grey sky. We saw some lovely old streets and buildings in Innsbruck, including this wonderful door. Briefly we thou...

Liechtenstein to Innsbruck

May 05, 2026

L went for a run at 0615. N slept on. After a leisurely up, breakfast and pack we just avoided the temptation to go back to the cheese shop. Headed up through Vaduz and out the top end into Austria on the A14 toll road. As in Switzerland, there's no obvious way they are reading our number plate to check our Vignette. It's a mystery. En route we went through the Arlberg tunnel which at 14km (!!) is the longest in Austria. Had to pay extra €13 on top of our Vignette. The drive today was only 2.5hrs but we stopped about halfway at Landeck and inspected their modest Schloss - used to the Tyrol capital, now a splendid municipal museum. Much fantastical content. Bought a coffee from them then had our own lunch in the van. Back on the road with many more tunnels and much roadworks got us to Camping Nattersee a few km south of Innsbruck. Huge site, very posh. Can't swim in the See (lake) because it's not filled yet! Booked the sauna hut for an hour but it was too hot to bear a...

Ruritanian day out

May 04, 2026

So. A whole day in the tiny country of Liechtenstein, pop. 35,000. Unfortunately all the museums are closed on Mondays, so we packed up the van and drove out to the far north of the principality (20 mins!) to a delightful farm shop on a green plain, where we bought farm's own cheese and eggs and had a pleasant coffee in the sun. We saw who provided the eggs - the chickens even have a hammock. We thought we were scraping the barrel by going to Bird World, a free mini-zoo attraction featuring parakeets, parrots and a lone peacock with his tail up and shaking in front of a disinterested peahen. His back view was less enchanting. The 'bird paradise' was interesting in a rather sad way. The birds were in smallish cages and some of the parrots looked woeful in the extreme. The most interesting bird was on a nest just above and outside Bird World - a white stork with a long red bill. We had never seen one before, and later Lesley saw its mate flying in the direction of the nest....

Lauterbrunnen to Liechtenstein via Andermatt

May 03, 2026

Left at 0915, after brushing the worst of the dust off the van, people already out posing for photos. It's a huge thing, blame Instagram. First half hour included an impressive circular climb out of the Interlaken valley. It's yet another beautiful day. A-maz-ing tunnels. Swept past Lake Lucerne, a beautiful light green with hardly a ripple. It's nice out today, again. We had to do a long loop north to get down to Andermatt because the direct routes through the mountains are still closed. It's Sunday in Switzerland so virtually everything is closed. Found a petrol station with a shop so got diesel and bread. Andermatt was a ghost town, and none too pretty at that. It used to be a central place for four alpine crossings, but now road and rail go past without stopping. We had our sandwiches in a scruffy car park all on our own. Should have made a flask. N took on the helm and set off up and round and up etc the '19' which took us through the Oberalp Pass which has...