Our Round-the-World adventure

[Drive79]

Thank you all for the kind words.

Here’s an undoubtably rough outline of our route
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Hi @tacototheworld, how are you shipping your truck from Australia to Chile? I am starting a world trip this year in the opposite direction. Leaving from Europe, crossing the Americas but still unable to find a solution to ship to Australia or Asia. Any suggestions? Many thanks

 

[tacototheworld]

Hi @tacototheworld, how are you shipping your truck from Australia to Chile? I am starting a world trip this year in the opposite direction. Leaving from Europe, crossing the Americas but still unable to find a solution to ship to Australia or Asia. Any suggestions? Many thanks

Hi there! To be honest we haven’t spent much time thinking of that since thats a couple of years in the future for us. However, we plan shipping the truck in a container from the Port of Valparaíso, Chile to Sidney, Austrialia

Good luck!

 

[tacototheworld]

France - (Central and South)

After leaving the beautiful Italian alps we headed west to the Chamonix/Mt Blanc area of eastern France

First night in France - woke up to snow on the ground! Love the soft sound of it hitting the roof

Chamonix - classic mountain town. Someday we will return to ski. Mt Blanc in the background

We were losing our sun

And then it peeped out during our walk

After soul enriching mountain time, we were ready to dive into another city. Surprisingly, we really liked Lyon (maybe we got our energy back in the mountains?), it was gritty in places, but full of character. It seemed both old and possessed with a modern sensibility. Fascinating architecture yet down to earth at the same time.

Dawn’s favorite - the narrow cobbled street with cafes shot

View of Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière on the hill of Lyon. We made our way up there to explore (many steps) but skipped the fake Eiffel Tower, now owned by a TV station.

Famous Lyon Fresco building - paintings of famous Lyon residents

Walked up the hill to visit impressive Roman ruins

Heading south (warming up, no more snow!) we found ourselves fascinated with and entranced by the old stone hill top villages in France. People definitely had no feer of steepness - safety and easily defensible the priority over an easy building site.

First mountainside village - Moustiers-Sainte-Marie - repeatedly listed as the most beautiful village in France and we could see why

River runs through the steep canyon in the middle of the village

Really appreciating being in a highly visited tourist village post season with no other tourists. It gave us the chance to soak up the scenery and it didn’t matter to us that most of the stores and cafes were closed.

Fascinating use of the local topography

Following the coast, we had to stop off in Monaco so that we could check off another country (36 at this point, including Liechtenstein which we had spent the night in earlier). It was a really difficult city to drive, would hated doing in a full-size pickup, luckily we found a spot to park and walked the famous gambling and shopping streets.

Beautiful sunset view of Monaco

Found a wild camping spot in the hills above the city (it had become a pattern, crazy switchback roads up above a glamorous city to find a remote camping spot, first Lake Como, now Monaco)

Our next stop was Saint-Tropez. Just the name evoked glamour, charm, and high end fashion and food.

Saint-Tropez - another place where the town was shut down post season but somehow that made it more alluring for us

The town felt like it had seen it’s glory days but we appreciated its setting

Gordes - our next stone hilltop village - wow!

Camped on a hill above Gordes and the next morning we were desperately trying to diagnose an obnoxious squeak. This meant Dawn accelerating at full speed toward Andy while he stood in the middle of the road and listening. A little nerve wracking (for Dawn, not Andy) TBC, a full can of WD-40 later, we are still working on the squeak.

Our final historic and scenic village, Les Baux-de-Provence was another feast for the eyes.

Main pedestrian entrance to Les Baux-de-Provence

Built into and around the hilltop rocks

Next, Spain and Andorra.
Thank you for sticking with us on this crazy journey from Slovenia to Spain. It was a little haphazard. We are looking forward to providing some more fulsome country by country blogs and information when we get to Africa. Stay tuned and thank you for reading

 

[Tucsontom]

Loving it all!

 

[ITTOG]

Hopefully you made time to visit Èze France. It is stunning and just west of Monaco.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[tacototheworld]

Hopefully you made time to visit Èze France. It is stunning and just west of Monaco.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

Unfortunately we drove right by it on the ocean road. ☹️

 

[tacototheworld]

The little country of Andorra

Central square of Andorra La Vella, Andorra’s capital
Wild camping was simple throughout the region, with a multitude of remote spots available. We felt that we had definitely found a theme though. Our best Park4Night spots often seemed to be up corkscrew winding roads taking us slowly and painstakingly away and above urban centers after dark (this was true at Lake Como, Monaco and in Andorra).

Ran into a group of the biggest vultures we had ever seen

After leaving Andorra with our 38th country sticker and two cases of duty free alcohol in preparation for a family Christmas (yup, we’re a bit behind in our writeups) in Morocco, we made our way into the mountains of Spain. Our first stop was the picturesque village of Benasque in the heart of the Pyrenees.

Northeastern Spain

Pyrenees day hike outside of Benasque, Spain

Learning the Spanish rhythms - everything closed in the afternoon, time for a rest

Another high camping spot, sleeting rain, no problem with our warm duvet.

Continuing in the Pyrenees, our next destination was re-visiting a place which held enormous romantic magic for us. Thirty-four years ago, with stars in our eyes we embarked on our first trip together (before we were married). We stopped briefly in a town called Torla and said to each other that some day we would come back and actuallty spend some time there.

The time had come and we were nervous. Sometimes you should leave those enchanted places of the past in the past. We were not sure it would be the same gorgeous stone village with a mountainous backdrop that we remembered. Luckily, Torla held up to the test of time and we spent a welcome rest evening in a cozy hotel with an excellent chef. Our first meal out in weeks was well worth it (even though we had to wait until 8pm after our hike, because, Spanish dining schedule . . )

Once again, glad we are not in a full size, squeezing down the streets of Torla

View from our hotel room

Beautiful mountain hike in the nearby national park

And then squeezing our way back out of town. Another 8” wider we would have been forced to back out of town. (Thinking of you F150/F250! Bah!)

Feeling like we were racing against winter, we continued our exploration of the Pyrenees, heading to Valles de Hecho and Anso for more spectacular views and hiking.

Trailhead at Valle de Hecho

As it continued to get colder, we eventually made our way down in elevation, back to exploring history and architecture. We stopped off at Olite to see the “fairytale” castle. Impressive from a distance, we quickly realized it was more restored than original so after walking around the town and the castle, we declined to pay the entrance fee.

View of Olite Castle coming into town

Then for a more urban experience, we stopped off in Pamplona. A city with a blend of contemporary architecture and a historic feel, we couldn’t help but imagine the bulls running down the old cobbled streets.

Pamplona, one of the streets the bulls run down

There is something about the mystery of an island with an access path that only appears at low tide that always pulls us in. Lekeitio ‘s offshore island was equally enthralling as Holy Island in England or Parque Nacional Marino Ballena in Costa Rica.

Low tide path rises out of the ocean providing a walking path to Lekeitio’s offshore preserve

We found Spain to be a particularly fun grocery shopping place. It helped that excellent wine is $2 a bottle, bread is always fresh and cheap and meats, cheeses and vegetables flavorful with a dizzying array of varieties.
We spent a pleasant afternoon wandering Bilbao, the capital of the Basque region. Although it is an industrial port city covered in skyscrapers, we still found a few architectural gems

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

And then back to the mountains! We meandered our way visiting scenic villages, hiking the Cares trail, visiting an epic cathedral in Burgos and then landed in Madrid.

Found this awesome wild camping area outside of Bilbao

Beautiful village of Santillana del Mar

We liked this little guy hiding in his hole watching the people go by

Gorgeous hiking trail, our favorite in Spain, “The Cares” along a scenic river gorge

Dawn is the tiny blue spot

Burgos Cathedral

That’s it for now. Cell service was been very spotty despite having three different cell services.

 

[tacototheworld]

Central & Southwestern Spain

In Madrid we found our favorite city solution, a campground at the end of a subway line. We used Camping Osuna as a base for a few days, making day trips into the city. Our favorite feature of European campgrounds is, hands down, the ability to order daily fresh bread for breakfast.

Every kind of empanada you can imagine

Stately, beautiful architecture everywhere

Wine cheaper than soda and beer in a wine glass - so civilized

Using Madrid as a base, we set out to explore three of Spains’s most iconic historic centers: Segovia, Avila and Toledo. They were a visual feast.

Alcázar de Segovia, despite being highly renovated we thought it was well worth the visit, magnificent views down the valley. The ceilings, wow!

Roman aqueduct in Segovia

Cathedral door in Avila

Central plaza in Toledo

View down on Toledo from hill across the river

Next stop in our historic villages of Spain, Trujillo.

Trujillo Castle, built in the 13th century on the site of an old Arab fort built in the 10th century. Always re-using and re-cycling.

Somehow Spain brought back our prior interest in ancient architecture and our fatigue from blasting through five European countries in the previous blog faded away (we had been saturated with Habsburg empire buildings). We can always tell when we are excited about a place as we cannot stop taking pictures. Mérida, founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC was one of those places.

Ruins of Roman theatre in Mérida

And then leaving town we got to drive through a Roman aqueduct

Driving over the Alcántara Roman Bridge


Finally, our tour brought us to visit three iconic southern cities: Seville, Córdoba and Grenada. Seville was our favorite city of the three. It was incredibly lively and vibrant. That being said, parking was literally impossible and Andy ended up having to take the truck to a Park4Night camping spot to find a spot - it is not an easy vehicle to park in a historic city, especially when most of the parking is underground and height limited.

The Giralda, Seville. Bell tower built with ramps so that the bell ringer could ride his donkey to the top.

The architecture in Southern Spain beautifully reflects the Moorish aesthetic, the attention to artistic detail is amazing and it is fascinating to see the blend of Islam and Christian traditions. For us, the most notable example of this was the Córdoba Mosque-Cathedral, literally named after the fact that it flipped back and forth over time between being a Mosque and a Cathedral, but with significant respect of each tradition for the artisans who came before.

Inside Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral

And back to the realities of preparing for Africa. Balcony of our Airbnb with all our bedding hanging to dry. Last full washing machine wash for a while!

Our final visit in Spain was the incredible Alhambra in Grenada. Built over time by a series of sultans starting in the 13th centures, the complex now lays claim to being one of the best preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world. Of course, it also features Christian and renaissance add ons by subsequent rulers, including Ferdinand and Isabella. It is enormous to visit, with buildings from each age and style telling the story of its human occupants.

Nasrid Palace, so much artistic detail

The ceiling is a magnificent mosaic of tiny pieces of wood

An other incredible ceiling, this made of plaster

At the Algeciras port, ready to board the ferry for Tanger-Med in Morocco

We are equal parts apprehensive and excited about the next phase of our journey - heading down the West Coast of Africa where we don’t speak any of the languages and know some of the infrastructure we are used to will be missing. Definitely, adventures ahead. As always, thank you for reading

 

[Ozarker]

Today has been a very special Saturday finding this thread and following your journey. I traveled a lot in the '70's throughout Europe. While I hit many of the areas you did, I missed the Soviet Countries and only saw Iceland from the airplane on the ground. Things have really changed while they remain the same, very interesting. Fantastic pictures and writings of your journey. On your route through France I saw Paris and Nice marked but I missed that in this thread.

Glad I found this, getting away from the forum stuff has been a pleasant break, I'll be following. Thank you for taking the time to post here.

 

[tacototheworld]

Today has been a very special Saturday finding this thread and following your journey. I traveled a lot in the '70's throughout Europe. While I hit many of the areas you did, I missed the Soviet Countries and only saw Iceland from the airplane on the ground. Things have really changed while they remain the same, very interesting. Fantastic pictures and writings of your journey. On your route through France I saw Paris and Nice marked but I missed that in this thread.

Glad I found this, getting away from the forum stuff has been a pleasant break, I'll be following. Thank you for taking the time to post here.

Well thank you very much! You're why we're posting. I also traveled Western Europe but in the 80's. And it is as you said, a lot of the same, with quite a bit of change.

 

[roamingyak]

I should add that it has made me realise how much beauty I have just sitting on my doorstep here in Portugal... Europe is a very beautiful place ;-)

 

[tacototheworld]

I should add that it has made me realise how much beauty I have just sitting on my doorstep here in Portugal... Europe is a very beautiful place ;-)

Funny you mention Portugal. As soon as i have decent cell coverage I’ll post our all-to-brief visit to Portugal

 

[tacototheworld]

PORTUGAL

During our Spain adventure we took a quick drive through Portugal. Thought I’d post that before moving on to Morocco

Our first stop in Portugal delighted us and once again we could not stop taking photos. Monsanto was a charming village, built into and around huge boulders and topped by a castle that you could scramble around at will.

Cobbled main street of Monsanto, weaving around the landscape of the mountain and the enormous boulders throughout the village.

Random colorful little doors along the way, a little short for Andy

Our favorite stop in Portugal

With views out on the valley below

Intriguing architecture incorporating the natural granite features

No idea what the door goes to, definitely Hobbit-like

Re-finding our interest in Roman ruins after Merida, our next stop was Conimbriga and the ruins of a Roman town.

Beautifully preserved mosaics


Next, on to the coast and then to Lisbon where we would pick up our daughter, Claire, the first of the family group of eight who would join us for Christmas in Morocco.

Nazare, home of the Big Wave, no surfing while we were there

Found a great spot to wild camp behind the dunes

But not before we accidentally drove into the deep sand and got stuck. No worries, aired down and made our way out. Stayed aired down until we hit the pavement, notice the smushed tire

Looming big for us, prepping for Africa. Topping off the propane tanks while we can.

Re-united with Claire in Lisbon!

Adventures with the Truck

Now for another technical aside. One of our CV boots had come loose, despite being attached at a Toyota dealer 500 miles previously. We queried the Overlanding Europe site for an overlanding mechanic in Lisbon and were given the name Tuff Tracks. Rafael was super! He took care of the CV Boot and a whole host of other minor issues (cut off some stripped bolts on the flatbed so we could replace them, diagnosed an annoying squeak, cleaned the injectors from bad gas), everything we needed fixing before we set off for Africa.

Excellent mechanics at Tuff Tracks in Lisbon

Cromeleque dos Almendres - mythical rocks

So from here a temporary departure from living in the truck as we didn’t want to horrify our tall, adult daughter by making her sleep on our dinette a full 2 feet from her parents. The pleasure of her company was well worth the investment in a few Airbnb’s. Although it also brought home for us how much easier it truly is to live and travel out of our vehicle as opposed to moving in and out of city apartments and hotels.
So we hit the road to see a bit more of Portugal before dipping back into southern Spain.

Activating the third seat - shortest person in the back (normally we have lightweight plywood shelves here to help keep our stuff organized - shoes, daypacks etc.). The fourth super hind the driver has been permanently removed in order to install our water purification system.

Beautiful village of Evora

Our first morning bakery run for breakfast in Evora

Clambering around the cliffs at Algar Seco

Ok! Next up Morocco!!

 

[Tucsontom]

Great photos! - woo hoo - Morocco!

 

[tacototheworld]

Great photos! - woo hoo - Morocco!

Yes sir! Heres a peek at one of our favorite photos

We know these women have stories to tell, we only wish we spoke the same language. Taken in Chefchaouen, Morocco