 | Home > My Range Rover > London (UK) To Jammu (India) Roadtrip |
 
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33   
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Yes you read it absolutely right, a road-trip from London (UK) to Jammu (India) Facebook Page. No, we (my wife and me) are not the first ones to do it and actually got inspired by one another Indian couple who did it via Russia, and another Indian who did it all alone via Pakistan . We started planning about it mid 2013. To give a little background, i am a Software Professional who loves to drive/ride and my wife is a Travel Consultant who loves to travel. So she popped me this question one fine day if we can do a cross country, i loved the idea but had to run it through our mother (yes we need blessings from parents to embark on something of this magnitude  ). Once she agreed, there was no looking back.
We got all formalities done by end of August 2014 and flagged off on 6th September 2014. Internet helped us in gathering as much information as possible to conceive this trip and this is an effort to help some other souls who might also want to traverse the same adventure. The countries we will be passing through are: UK France Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Germany Switzerland Italy Austria Czech Republic Slovakia Hungary Croatia Bosnia & Herzegovina Montenegro Albania Macedonia Greece Turkey Russia Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Turkmenistan Iran India
We had originally planned our trip via China, we even got the visa stamped but then border between China & Tibet closed because of land slides and there was no definite date on when it might open again! I am on Indian Passport and my wife is on British Passport, so she has to apply less Visa's than mine.
* For additional information you will have to refer the website. We have tried to provide some information on how to apply for Visa and important places that are not supposed to be missed once in that country. We would be more than happy to answer any question that any of the members might have that may assist them in any such similar planning. Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] Last edited by cooldudesunny on 5th Apr 2015 9:38pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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5th Apr 2015 9:20pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 1: London To Paris
Our Precious Friends We bought euro tunnel tickets a week in advance which came around for GBP 79.00 one way. We decided to choose this boring journey because we wanted to cross the country ASAP. We were running late to reach Euro Tunnel, as they wont allow you if you are late and any last minute ferry tickets, they can be quite heavy on the pocket! Euro tunnel takes only 35 mins from Folkestone to Calais as compared to Ferry from Dover to Calais which takes roughly 2.35hrs. Our Euro tunnel departed at 15:50 hrs and we are in France at 16:35. Wohoooo!!!
Akhil had his Supernap And as we entered the first leg of out journey i.e. France, driving pattern changed. I am not so comfortable driving on the opposite side and i have been doing all of the travel planning, so it comes down to my personal driver i.e. Akhil Pathania to display his skills .. he he Now, we are on right side of the road while our steering is also on the right side, double whammy .. init! We took our first pitstop in Paris, staying at Akhil�s old mates and it was an absolute pleasure meeting them In France. Thanks Priya Soni & Pankaj Singh
As we crossed Arc-De-Triomphe roundabout, our GPS screamed �Take the 7th Exit�, we were like did I hear that rite. Yes 7th exit! Something not very common in UK/USA/INDIA. By the end of our first day, we strongly believe, had this been UK, we would have received 2 penalty tickets at least � Let�s see if they send us tickets to UK
Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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5th Apr 2015 9:24pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 2: Breakfast in Paris, Tea in Luxembourg & Dinner in Belgium
Reached LUX by half 5. There is nothing much to see/do here, just roam around the city center and eat out. We had tea and decided to move on. Entered Brussels at night and had amazing Kadai Paneer, Chicken Curry with rice at friends place (Thank you Mrs. & Mr. Vijay Singh and the cute little Princess). This trip is actually giving us an opportunity to meet friends we had not seen in a long time and we are loving it
NOTE: You cross lots of tolls on the way. Since we had a roof rack as well, our car�s height is now 2.4 M roughly and at one booth we had to pay EUR 22.00 .. Wow! Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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5th Apr 2015 9:28pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 3: Belgium & Netherlands
We strolled around Grand Palace, Manneken P i ss, clicked few pictures, had a little drive around in Brussels city and then we started towards Brugge by 2PM. Brugge has been in my list for long time now. Especially after watching �The monuments Men�. If you have seen the movie, I am sure you know what I am taking about. �Ghent� and �Church of our Lady� both were in our list but due to limited time we decided to do just �Church of our lady�. We reached the museum but a little too late as the area was closed where �Church of our Lady� is kept <Heartbroken>!! The saving grace however was the doorman who gave in to my cat eyes and let us in to have a glimpse of church excluding the main area which is other side of the church. �Church of our Lady� is Michelangelo�s last painting and we really wanted to see but due to shortage of time and since we had to be in Amsterdam same day, we decided to continue and promised each other to come again to Brugge and do it peacefully
For all Belgium fans: I must say you need 2 nights stay if you really want to enjoy Brugge. It�s one of the most beautiful towns I have even been and definitely very underrated. It�s like stepping back in time. Everything is so pretty, boats all around, pubs around canal, medieval buildings, stunning architecture, those cobbled lanes with beer museums, chocolate factories, diamond shops, vintage tea rooms � Ahh!! What a beautiful walk in the town! It is 27 degrees today and we are making most of it
We left Brugge around 1700 hrs and reached Kontich by 1800 hrs to meet other friends on chai. We stayed with them for an hour and then drove to Amsterdam. After 3 hrs of driving, we realized that we are heading down south � Nooooo!! I had accidentally used wrong post code  and now we are delayed by 3 hours! So took a U-Turn and we reached Amsterdam around midnight. Had dinner with awesome hosts Nitika & Sachin Mukesh
FYI � We have started noticing the difference in our car mileage. Normally with full tank (100 Ltrs) it would go roughly 480 miles but now with more than 200 kilos in our car (Winch@front, Roof Rack with 2 Spare Tyres on top, 50cc Scooter etc.), it has come down to 350-400 
Moreover with so much additional weight, we could not see �Dhanno� doing higher speeds on Autobahn � What a shame !! <Sniff> Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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5th Apr 2015 9:36pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 4: Netherlands & Germany
We left home around 1300 hrs and went to meet Kapilian from Amsterdam.
Then we headed towards Rijksmuseum, Leidseplein, IAmsterdam sign, strolled around the Canal for a while. Spent roughly 4 hours there and then called it a day in Amsterdam with fresh mint tea with traditional Dutch Pancake. Happy me again
You can get good quality Magic Mushroom and bit of Marijuana. After all it�s all legal in Amsterdam ;-D Around 1700 hrs we started driving towards Frankfurt, around 1800 hrs we noticed that speed limit had vanished from our GPS! Guess what! We were on Autobahn .. Yey!! But we ended up being moderate drivers in the middle lane, thanks to 1000′s of KG�s we have laden in our Dhanno Darling. Dhanno was not willing to move beyond 160kms/hr and we had no choice but to be content with that. We reach Frankfurt around 10 PM, booked Flemings Conference Hotel. Quiet a decent hotel and great location. Parking and Wi Fi has been two important parameters for our all Hotel reservations. I would give Flemings 7.5 out of 10
We chose this Hotel as it was closer to Iranian Embassy and Frankfurt city. We knew next morning at 9 am we have to reach Consulate of Iran to get our Iran visa. Dozed off around 0100 hrs. Akhil has been working hard, long drives and then work from hotel for quite some hours and then again next day ready to drive further � Tough one!
Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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5th Apr 2015 9:43pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 5: Germany
Mrs. & Mr. Surinder Pabla with their Grand Daughters Mrs. & Mr. Surinder Pabla�s warmth and hospitality brightened up our day and we went up and checked into Radisson Blue Hotel to go on with our rest of the day. I had quite some work from office, so started clearing my backlog and spent rest of the day inside. For dinner we explored one of the Hotel�s restaurant and it was a great dining experience
Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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5th Apr 2015 9:46pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Thanks Ian. For that you will have to wait till Day 32 and onwards |
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16th Apr 2015 1:00am |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 6: Switzerland (Wildkirchi � An Adventure to REMEMBER)
Our plan was to dine at Wildkirchi and call it a day. We were running late and we wanted to reach Aescher (location where restaurant was) while there was enough sunlight to enjoy the view. We tried our best and by the time we reach the station, the last cable car was awaiting its last departure (1800hrs) for the day. The moment we entered Ebenalp station to buy cable car tickets for Wildkirchli, the station guy looked at us and told us that this was the last cable car for the day and there is no way we will find any transport on the way back. We started convincing them that we were expert trekkers and our plan was to trek our way down and that we were aware that it takes more than an hour and we came prepared. He looked at both of us and said, �Sorry with those shoes�? I was wearing Converse trainers and Aarti had her Hunter boots on! He he. Aarti ran back to the car, changed her shoes to �Scarpa� and obviously that did the trick and they agreed to let us go. Took us 10 minutes and we are at the Wildkirchli station. We still had to walk for another 5/10mins before we could reach the restaurant. We crossed few caves which were quite amazing and let me tell you that 5/10 minute walk is going to be one of the most memorable walk of your life. You will end up spending lot of time on top of the hill capturing pictures. You have to force yourself to keep walking. If it is a sunny day then consider yourself to be lucky, we sure were.
Lovely people, delicious Rosti, great laugh and you see people getting drunk with the schnapps. We enjoyed our meal and decided to walk back around 7.45 PM. It has started getting dark and we still had 1hr 30mins walk back to the town where our car was parked. Now comes the funny part as the trek was not going to be as easy as we thought. So we started trekking back after our meal talking how amazing day we had, lovely food and were patting ourselves that well done, bucket list ticked.
So after 15mins of trek, we realised that we have no clue which directions to follow. We got to one point where you see the signs but there were signs for different village but nowhere for Wasserauen (where we parked our car). We were supposed to follow signs for Wasserauen. Still i told Aarti that lets follows signs for this village and then via main road we can reach our car but do wives listen? We started following our own way and realised after 40 mins we are in the middle of woods. I was kind of enjoying the adventure and things got scary for Aarti when some wild rabbits decided to run around in the dark making all kind of scary noises. I was carrying a torch and it was getting dark pretty quickly, switched it on but the battery was not showing much promise. We reached end of the woods and then there was no way forward but sudden drop which i thought we should try, fortunately or unfortunately Aarti was in no mood for adventure and decided to go back to the restaurant. I had no choice but to follow her. Torch was getting dimmer and so was the sun and we could barely see where we were going, Aarti was getting impatient and out of nowhere we saw two twinkling light coming down the hill. She started walking towards them and i like a sensible husband, just followed In another 20 minutes we were stone throw distance from the lights and were happily surprised to know that it was another couple who was walking down to the same parking spot we were. We request if we could join them and they were happy to help. They took us the same trail i was asking Aarti to take and the trail was not pointing to a different village but said �Hiking Track� in German.
After 40 mins walk, it started raining heavily. I was slipping and sliding in my Converse while all of them were trekking down the hill effortlessly. By the time we reached Wasserauen station, we were totally drenched. Our DSLR, shoes, clothes were all fully soaked but we were not complaining, it was an amazing adventure. This experience made our Aescher visit even more memorable and we had great laugh in the car on our way back. Experience which will live in our heart forever. We changed out clothes and dried ourselves, then started looking for direction for the hotel we had booked. Aarti called them up as we were running and to our surprise, they told us that we cannot reach the hotel now as we need to take a cable car to reach them, now it was too late and last cable car was already gone. My personal travel expert immediately looked up and arranged for another accommodation, three cheers for her .. Hip Hip Hurrey!! We drove to Zurich and checked into Marriott, the hotel staff was very kind to throw in quite some goodies complimentary. Three cheers for them as well Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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16th Apr 2015 1:02am |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 7: Switzerland (Contd�)
* The path marked in RED is that dangerous road. There is a proper way to the hotel from the other side, and thats what we used for rest of our commute to and fro from the hotel. There was a white Audi behind us ever since we took on the narrow road, and as it turned out to be they were lost and following us to catch us and ask for directions. They were an Arab family of four, and Aarti told me that lady in the family too was terrified on the way up. We were happy, scared, lucky and excited at the same time. Trying to digest that we almost got lost in the woods yesterday and today again could have been in trouble but there we were in one piece. Spoke to the lady at the hotel desk but she wasn�t amused and suggested that we should have taken the proper road. We told her that we saw direction marks for the hotel on the road directing people this way, to which she agreed and replied that they will be removing those signs soon .. Duh!
Don�t know whether the hotel was empty or she was moved by our experience, she upgraded us to a Junior Suite and that was simply amazing. We checked in, refreshed ourselves and started for Schilthorn, as per the lady at the desk we were running late and if we missed it today there was not time to visit it again tomorrow. Took the proper road this time and reached our destination, only to find out that the observation point on top of Schilthorn was too foggy and there was no visibility. At the reception counter, the lady showed us the live feed via the cameras at the top, and it was no point buying the ticket. Schilthorn has a revolving restaurant and this is where James Bond movie �On her Majesty�s secret service� was set. This restaurant, Piz Gloria revolves full 360 degrees. Disappointed we got back into the car and left for Interlaken. On the way to Interlaken we came across a cow processions taken out by local villagers. Cows with big bells tied around their necks, here is a video of the same below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZZI9TiYIw
We take our selfies very seriously. Our food was followed by cup of coffee and hot chocolate. The cafe we had our drinks had lot of flyers lying around regarding para jumping, there were videos also being played on big screen and it was quite luring. Me and Aarti looked at each and decided to give it a go but when we spoke to the company who did this, they mentioned the weather was not great and they cannot really confirm if they will be doing the jumps today. We got out of the cafe and clicked few pics. Some videos from our time spent on the beautiful roads of Switzerland (ignore the wind sound please ;-D): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbxG_mXcKAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RWoWjDLFBg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXffbnkpm6Y Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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16th Apr 2015 1:15am |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 8: Switzerland (Contd�) (Jungfrau � Top of Europe)
[In front of hotel entrance]
[No .. That's not a Monkey! That's Aarti for Christ's sake :-p] Plan was to go check out Jungfrau, so we left for the train station. We parked Dhanno in the parking lot, and in an effort to receive a phone call while trying to get stuff out of Dhanno i dropped my phone and cracked the screen :-/ If that was not enough, 2 tickets for a return journey cost us Euro 250+, man were they expensive.
We tried exploring the idea to drive up there but i guess there are no roads! Train had nice clean glass windows giving maximum view of the outside and with the weather being absolutely clear, the views were breathtaking. The train had an interesting mechanism to pull the coached to such great heights, and if i am not wrong Indian government did seek guidance from Swiss authorities before starting the train to Srinagar.
[Grindelwald Station]
[Notice the straight metal gear in between the tracks] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7gC6dcnVi4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebmc1t9Znpk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKQg7GmPs60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4RgOnCYtmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0z-6lfzz60 Once we reached the top, all we wanted to do was click, click and click. It was just beautiful.
The tourist center at the top had many spots setup to enjoy your experience at Jungfrau. 1. Ice Museum
[Yup .. That's the squirrel from the Ice Age series] 2. Outpost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfEWU7nMcE4 3. Play/Slide Area There was play area setup down below, where families were having a good time with their kids. I had purchased a telephoto lens before leaving for the trip and this was a great spot to check it out. It indeed turned out to be a good buy.
After enjoying the views, we started looking for a spot to eat. Food cannot be delayed because based on my experience of more than 2 years, one among us (not me  ) can get �HANGRY� (Hungry + Angry) and trust me this situation is a strict no no. There was surprisingly an Indian Restaurant available as well. I decided to have my lunch there, while Aarti went to a different cafe and brought herself something else. Indian food while being costly (�Expensive� is Switzerland�s middle name) was decent, i enjoyed my share. Then we grabbed a cup of masala chai and boarded train back to Dhanno.
The sky was still and we started our journey towards Italy. As the road unfolded, we were soon on Wassen drive. It was hardly half an hour into appreciating how beautiful the drive was when it started to get foggy. The road was narrow and there were lot of bike riders out on a jolly ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpvRrGzzqbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie0OpO4kx0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKNxp3pRdLM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDSCz4FI8Vw Carefully we drove through the mountain passes and reached Lake Como. It was already late but we still had to drive till our destination i.e. Cinque-terre. We had booked a home for few days at: Corte Paganini Via Caste 41 Caste Ricco Del Golfo Do Spezia IT � 19020 We had a little trouble finding the address, but the host was very kind and came to guide us back to the house. Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE. Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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16th Apr 2015 1:41am |
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| Emperor Mong Member Since: 07 Jul 2010 Location: London Posts: 1435  
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Epic! |
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16th Apr 2015 6:10am |
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| ebajema Member Since: 24 Mar 2011 Location: New Plymouth Posts: 4782  
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16th Apr 2015 6:37am |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Thank you guys Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE.
Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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18th Apr 2015 8:04pm |
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| cooldudesunny Member Since: 14 Dec 2013 Location: Chicago Posts: 33
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Day 9: Italy (Cinque Terre)
After a good night sleep, we woke up charged up as �Italian Riviera� was on the list for quite some time. Aarti had already started blabbering in Spanish which only she could understand :-p We got ready, had our breakfast with whatever was available in the house. The moment we stepped out, we were welcomed by a nice, bright and warm sun. What else can you ask for eh! Plan was to hop on a boat and check out all 5 coastal villages that constitute Cinque-Terre (The Five Lands) i.e. � Monterosso al Mare � Vernazza � Corniglia � Manarola � Riomaggiore We hopped into Dhanno, the point from where you board a ship was not too far. Finding a spot to park your car be a hassle though. Luckily we point a place a little far from the actually location of the boarding point and then started walking towards it. There was still some time for the boats to start so we decided to grab something in the meantime and click some pictures
Thanks to us waking up late in the morning and then spending a good amount on clicking photographs, we were only left with 2 � 3 hours before we could catch the last boat to our starting point. There was an option of taking a train on the way back, and that�s what we did in the end. When the gate opened, we bought two one way tickets and boarded the ferry. In about an half an hour or so, we were at the first stop i.e. Portovenere. This was not one of the villages but a stop for the ferries. There were so many tourists and places too crowded, so we just took a stroll, clicked few pictures and boarded the same ferry again for the next village.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yfby1FYeAJE In another 15-20 minutes we were walking to get down at village Riomaggiore. The moment you get down the ferry, you have to walk through a narrow trail which is already occupied by people standing in queue to board the ferry. With the sun shining bright, and cool breeze blowing, at least I wasn�t complaining. We could see plenty of people getting sun baked, swimming i.e. having fun. We had no plans of doing either, after confirming from the visitor help-desk we decided to take a stroll in the village market and explore some shops. Although, i keep using the term �village�, these were more like small towns and less of villages. With so many colourful shops on the either side of the streets and restaurants having their full menu displayed outside, we finally gave in to the temptation and took shelter under one restaurant which looked promising. We had our lunch and it was about time to board the next ferry to the next village.
[Hop-On Hop-Off ferry and people waiting in queue]
[Village of Riomaggiore] https://youtube.com/watch?v=HL1EoK4xBtg Next village i.e. Manarola, had almost the same feel. Thanks to some tall rocks next to the shore, we saw many people jumping into the water from those heights. Looked very tempting but again we dint come prepared for this and next time will see if we can spend a night or so, in order to enjoy the village the way those people were. There was a nice looking �Gelato� store, we grabbed one each, relished it, click few more pictures before it was time to board the ferry again.
[Village of Manarola] https://youtube.com/watch?v=cDuA8WchHd4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=MGc14JzDaUI We skipped getting down at Corniglia as it was already getting dark and we dint want to miss Vernazza. Vernazza was more popular as compared to other villages because of more picturesque location. We too captured few at the famous spot, no way were we going to miss that
[Village of Vernazza] It was getting darker, and train that we were supposed to catch for our return journey was from Vernazza. So we decided to skip Monterosso al Mare as well. The train station was jam packed. We bought our tickets and started waiting for the train. Almost all the people on the station were tired, seemed like they had been hopping on and off the ferry whole day. Traversing through all these villages can be quite tiring actually but if you have a smart wife, you dont have to do all the villages and just visit the important ones .. ahem ahem .. no i am not trying to show off After letting go quite a few overcrowded trains, we finally got into one and got down in La Spazia. Got into Dhanno, reached our hotel and called it a day Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE - The word itself says I M POSSIBLE.
Roadtrip - London 2 Jammu [Facebook] [Instagram] [Twitter] [Website] |
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26th May 2015 2:22am |
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