After months of preparation, we have finally left. Where are we going, many people ask us. We don't want to plan too much and mainly live in the moment. But waking up in the morning and having no idea which way to go is not really nice either.
To the south
People who know us actually assume that we will be the first to leave for the north. To our beloved Scandinavia. And that certainly attracts us enormously, but since the days are getting shorter and winter will soon fall in Scandinavia, we have decided to leave for the south first. A region that we do not or hardly know.
Advertisement:
Basque Country
Since we are absolutely not Francophiles, the first destination is the Basque Country, and then we will travel further south along the coast of Portugal. We will see how long that will take. On our way to Spain, we first want to visit some remains of the First and Second World Wars in Belgium and France.
"A real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes"
WWI
So we leisurely descend via Belgium, along the coast of France to our first real destination. Kelly in particular is interested in WWI and therefore wants to see some remains. So off to the region around Ypres where several major battles have taken place. We visit Tyne Cot Cemetery , the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. No fewer than 12,000 men are buried here. Then we visit Bayernwald . Here you can see German trenches. It is difficult to imagine what it must have been like at that time.
WWII
After examining the First World War, we continue to Normandy where we zoom in on the Second World War. We visit Point du Hoc . This was an important conquest for the Americans and largely determined the success of D-Day. We drive on to Omaha Beach and then visit the American cemetery nearby. The cemetery is very large and truly American. As we walk past the graves, we hear the Star-Spangled Banner on the trumpet. It makes us speechless. A striking detail is perhaps that the opening scene of the film Saving Private Ryan was filmed in this cemetery.
Further south
After all this attention for the wars we need lighter matters. We decide, now that we are here, to visit the island of Mont Saint Michel and further south the highest dunes of Europe Dune du Pilat . Furthermore we search for the most beautiful places to stay overnight, which we succeed in doing quite well with a few exceptions. Our first week ends just across the border with Spain at a spot with an amazing view.
2,000 km from home
The week has flown by and the first 2,000 km are on the counter, we have seen so much and we are having a great time together. The first week together on 8m2 we have survived fantastically. Now that we have arrived in Spain it is important to slow down our pace a bit. Less driving and more walking, reading and studying.
If you like to follow our experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page if you haven't already done so and you will receive, maximum 1x per week, an email when we have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything else than this!
See you in the next blog!
Comments