On September 25, 2025, we returned to Europe after crossing the Black Sea by ferry from Batumi (Georgia) to Burgas (Bulgaria). We were lucky with the calm and sunny weather during the sea voyage, as it was quite windy during the first few days in Burgas. We found a nice place to stay for the night on its northern beach, where we could play with the waves of the still pleasantly warm water of the Black Sea.

Old bunker with a beautiful painting on the Burgas beach promenade

Impressive Georgia is an extremely mountainous country located almost entirely in the South Caucasus in Western Asia. Its northern border with Russia stretches along the main ridge of the Greater Caucasus, which includes some of the highest mountains in Europe, as the watershed forms the boundary between Asia and Europe. Its western limit is the Black Sea.

Mighty Shkhara, which at 5193 meters above sea level is the tallest mountain in Georgia and the third highest in Europe

A small part of Georgia is geographically part of Europe. Most of the approximately four million inhabitants consider themselves European and call their country the Balcony of Europe. For us, however, it was a stressful country, as we sensed a lot of aggression, possibly caused by the conflicts between East and West. The roads are often terrible, and many drivers are very reckless. Nevertheless, it is a great country with magnificent landscapes, a breathtaking culture, and mostly friendly people.

We immediately felt in love with Armenia – with its amiable people, its magnificent landscapes, and its breathtaking history with its many impressive monuments.

Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) Church in the Noravank Monastery in central Armenia

Many people invited us, gave us small gifts, and conversed with us in German. We were amazed at how close the connection between Armenia and Germany is. Our first morning was quite typical: We were able to spend the night in the parking lot of the first-class Caucasian fish restaurant Cherkezi Dzor in Armenia's second-largest city, Gyumri (population 110,000). The owner came to our camper in the morning and welcomed us to Armenia. He then took us to his garden, where his wife was gardening. She gave us tons of delicious vegetables and fruit, including the best apricots we'd ever eaten.

Of course, we had to try the food at this incredible restaurant where we ate sturgeon. The home-brewed beer was also exceptionally good, and all at a reasonable price.

On July 24, 2025, one of our dreams came true – we climbed the archaic Mount Ararat, where, according to the Bible, Noah's Ark landed.

Klaus from Saxonia, our guide Faruk, Alfred, Rüdiger from Saxonia and Marion on top of Ararat which is with 5137 meters sea-level the highest mountain of Türkiye

It's a perfect shaped volcano adorned with a ice cap, overwhelming it sourrounding more the 1200 meters. Ararat is located near the border triangle between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey, so its political situation is quite complicated, but thanks to local Turkish organizations and guides, climbing its summit is now easily possible.

Since the Early Bronze Age (2000 BC), Anatolia has been a melting pot of various tribes and kingdoms, including Persians, Seljuks, Phrygians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans. There are countless places where you can find their impressive legacy and testimonies.

Collapsed lion's head in the Phrygian Valley (about 250 km south of Istanbul) from the Yılantaş rock tomb probably for Phrygian nobles, dated 800 to 700 BC

On June 21, 2025, we crossed the border from Bulgaria into beautiful Türkiye and explored the bustling mid-sized city of Edirne (population 170,000), Türkiye's westernmost city.

On Whitsunday 2025 (June 8), we began our long journey to Turkey in our motorhome, traveling through Austria, Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Thanks to the excellent highways, we reached the Turkish border after 10 days – including several two-day stops. Our first stop was breathtaking Budapest, the capital of Hungary, where we were both visiting for the first time.

The Hungarian Parliament

We found a good parking spot in a suburb about 10 km southwest of the center, so we took our bikes and spent a whole day strolling through downtown Budapest, including Margaret island in the mighty Danube.

Alfred's mother wanted to revisit the city of Cesky Krumlov (German: Krumau) in the Czech Republic, where she was born and attended elementary school, with her children and their partners. So we organized a three-day trip to this beautiful city.

Castle of Ceský Krumlov with Vltava river (German: Moldau)

We had the idea of ​​cycling to Český Krumlov and then continuing on to Prague after the family reunion. So we took the train from Munich to Passau and cycled around 365 kilometers to Prague in 7 days, with a total elevation gain of over 4,600 meters.

On April 9, 2024, we took the ferry from Tangier, Morocco to Tarifa, Spain and continued home. In Spain we experienced three highlights this time: the excellent Gala Dalí Museum in Púbol, the impressive city of Girona and the mighty Sierra Nevada. The first two are in Catalonia, near the French border. We had been in the Sierra Nevada exactly eleven months earlier, see article Mountains of Andalusia, but this time we were able to use our skis.

Thanks to a large low pressure area at the beginning of April, there was a lot of snow in the Pradollano ski area, which is quite large with 23 lifts and 113 kilometers of slopes. We had traveled with skis in our little motor-home through France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco for almost six months without using them, but finally we needed them nearly at the end of our trip. We were so happy to be able to enjoy the only ski resort in Andalusia.

The final part of our Morocco trip in 2024 was along the valleys southeast of the Middle Atlas and the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, more or less the same route we took in 1987 with our four-year-old daughter. As on our first trip, there are still almost no tourists in this part of Morocco. But the locals here are incredibly friendly and lovely.

Thanks to several sandstorms (see article about the Anti-Atlas), we had already enjoyed far too much sand and, unlike in 1987, we skipped the beautiful oasis of Tafilalet, where the Sahara looks like a picture book. In 1987 we climbed an almost 200 meter high sand dune there and rolled rapidly down the steep slope - an unforgettable experience, but we had sand everywhere, even in our ears.

The magnificent High Atlas is the mightiest mountain range in the Atlas Mountains with peaks almost as high as the Alps or Rocky Mountains. Its tallest peak Mount Toubkal, at 4167 meters above sea level, is the highest point in Morocco and North Africa. Therefore it is a very popular destination for mountaineers and hikers.

Before we came to Imlil, we visited the metropolis of Marrakesh at the southwestern foot of the High Atlas Mountains for the third time in our lives after 1986 and 1987.It's the most famous city of Morocco with a lot of exciting museums, palaces and more culture, and also the eponym for Morocco. Its Medina has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and the huge main square Jemma el Fnaa - The assembly of Death - was the first entry on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

The Anti-Atlas or Little Atlas is the southernmost range of the mighty Atlas Mountains. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 500 kilometers northeastwards between the High Atlas and the Sahara desert. The Anti-Atlas is a traditional region of the Berber people with various dialects and a totally different writing which reminded us a little bit on Greek characters. Mainly they live in oasis in the extreme dry desert climate with huge differences between the settlements. Famous are its castles - Kasbah and fortified granary citadels - Agadir.

From our westernmost point on this trip to Morocco - Sidi Ifni on the Atlantic coast we came directly to our southernmost - busy Guelmim which is called the door to the Sahara desert. Its is an old medium sized city with approximately 200,000 people where in former times the camel caravans from Mauritania, Senegal and other sub Sahara areas ended, and traded their goods.

On February 7th 2024 we came the third time in our lives to Morocco.  We had been there in the years 1986 and 1987 with our little daughter (two and half years / four years) and our self equipped tiny camper Volkswagen Bully T2. We were very curious how Morocco had been changed in these 37 years. Indeed there are a lot different items like less poverty but a lot of waste, more paved streets but many policemen and much more tourism. But the people are as amiable and the landscapes are as magnificent as we had them in our memory.

This time we crossed the strait of Gibraltar with the convenient ferry from Tarifa, Spain (southernmost village of the continent Europe) directly to busy Tangier which is with approximately 1 million inhabitants one of the biggest city of Morocco.

We came to again Spain on January 8th 2024 and we continued to awesome Seville which is with nearly 700,000 inhabitants the largest city and the capital of Andalusia. Two kilometers south of its center is the decent official overnight staying place for little money in a vehicle distribution center directly on shore of the channel Canal de Alfonso XIII. Outstanding is Seville's cycle path network thus we strolled around per bicycle and on foot in its old town and surrounding.

The cape Cabo de São Vicente is the southwestern end of the continent Europe. There the coast of Portugal turns from west to south. This region is part of the Algarve region with awesome beaches but also a lot of tourists.

There is also a short south coast few kilometers south of Lisbon with marvelous beaches, mountains, caves and trails where we spent some nice days

Wonderful Portugal has its name from its second largest metropolis Porto on the delta of the river Rio Douro. Porto simply means port and it had during the times of the Roman Empire the name Cale - PortoCale finally became Portugal.

Bridge Ponte Dom Luís I in Porto with Rio Douro

We came the second in our lives to Portugal via the international bridge between Tui, Spain and Valença, Portugal on November 16th 2023. The bridge crosses the river Rio Minho and there is a nice cycling trail along its Portuguese shore. We started in Alto de Cerejas and pedaled upriver 26 kilometers to the nice village Monção. This trip is very convenient because it uses an former abandoned railway track, but there were some obstacles on the way...

On October 16th 2023 we returned to Spain and we had the idea to cruise along its marvelous north coast where we had been with our little daughter in the years 1984 and 1987.

The weather forecast was good for the next two days so we dared to cross with our camper 1632 meters high pass Somport in the western Pyrenees and to hike a little bit in the mountains. Soon we came into the virgin snow.

We chose the winding route via Clermont Ferrant from Geneva, Switzerland to the western Pyrenees because it traverses the region Auvergne of France with a lot of nature, marvelous little villages, and the stunning mountains and extinct volcanoes of Massif Central. There we did three superb hikes including its major peak Puy de Sancy which is with 1885 meters sea level the highest point between the Alps and Pyrenees.

Before we came to the region Auvergne we enjoyed the unusual warm weather in mid October 2023 with swimming in Lake Geneva and in Lake Lac des Eaux Bleus (10 kilometers northeast of Lyon). Outstanding was our hike to 1623 meters high Crêt de La Goutte in the French Jura mountains - close to the Swiss border where we could see Lake Geneva and the northwestern ranges of the Alps.

Stunning Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, is definitely a must to see in Europe. It is an UNESCO world heritage site; a cultural, political and economical hub of Europe with a rich history. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, residence of several Holy Roman Emperors including Charles IV (1316 - 1378) and an important city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

We started our trip to Prague in marvelous Dresden, Germany and bicycled 5 days along the rivers Elbe and Vltava (German: Moldau) - a  distance of approximately 260 kilometers mainly on paved cycle tracks without significant slopes and disturbing traffic. The first step of this itinerary was really challenging because we took local trains from Munich to Dresden.

The highest mountain range of the Iberian Peninsula and in western Europe outside of the Alps is the marvelous, majestic and pristine Sierra Nevada in Andalusia. It is located few kilometers southeast of famous Granada with its beautiful Moorish palace Alhambra which is one of the most visited sites on earth.

But Andalusia has much more interesting mountain areas than Sierra Nevada. Few kilometers north of Marbella / Costa del Sol is the spectacular Serriana de Ronda.

We came to Andalusia end of the year 2022 and traveled mainly on its wonderful south coast east of Málaga. End of January 2023 we took a plane from Málaga home to Germany where we stayed till mid of March 2023. 

We visited the areas around San Juan de los Terreros, south of Mojacár, La Isleta del Moro and San José on Andalusia's east coast. From the latter one we did a spectacular bicycling tour along the coast to the summit of 212 meters Vela Blanca where we could see Cabo de Gata in the west, which is the southeast corner of Spain. There the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea turns from south to west.

We flew back to Málaga, Andalusia on March 20th 2023 to explore the famous and marvelous beaches of western Costa del Sol including its coastal mountain ranges and the street of Gibraltar.

Unfortunately we brought a serious flu from Germany to Spain. Thus we could not do a lot of activities in the first week. End of March we traveled to the coastal mountain ranges Sierra de los Nieves (Snowy Mountains up to 1919 meters sea-level) and Sierra Blanca de Ojén. Our first destination was the nice little town Coin where to took our bicycles to the 331 meters high hill Sierra Gorda - Fat Mountain. We continued to Tolox which is a marvelous mountain village on foot of mighty Sierra Blanca de Nieves. The 4 hours hike Sendero de las Cascadas leads to some wonderful waterfalls.

The sandy beaches of famous Costa Blanca - White coast in the Alicante province are marvelous, adorned with rocky mountains between its huge and wide sections.

Valencia is with approximately 800,000 inhabitants the third biggest city of Spain. We wanted to visit its old town but we could not find a parking place for our two campers - Marion's sister Jutta and her husband Hermann were with us. Fortunately we had visited the old town with our little daughter in the year 1986. Fortunately we found space for our cars on its southern end close to its modern impressive quarter Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of art and science).

The landscape of Spain is very mountainous. Indeed the third and fourth highest European mountain ranges (after Caucasus and Alps) are in Spain with sea-levels above 3400 meters - Sierra Nevada and Pyrenees. Its marvelous coasts are quite often rough and rocky. In the recent years In the last years Spain has built a lot of via ferratas where you might enjoy climbing without a lot of equipment.

We came to Spain on November 15th 2022 with our camper to enjoy the pleasant winter climate on its southeast and south cost and to follow more ore less our itinerary with our little two daughter Eva (two and a half years old) and Marion brother Tommy in the year 1986. Our first stop was the nice mountain village Agullana which is located few kilometers west of the main border station La Jonquera between France and Spain close to the Mediterranean Sea.

We spent in Mallorca the last two week in May 2022 to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea and to hike a little bit.

There is a spiky mountain range along the northern shore of the island - Serra Tramuntana which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The long distance trail GR221 - The dry-stone route leads from Port d'Antratx (northwest corner of Mallorca) to Polença (northeast corner). This approximately 145 kilometers long hike is challenging due to its remoteness on rough and rocky terrain, and it is barely impacted by mass tourism.

Late Autumn 2021 we returned to Italy again - this time to Tuscany including its beautiful island Elba where we found many superb hiking opportunities, pleasant temperatures up to 20°C and a lot of sunshine for this season.

Again Marion's sister Jutta and her husband Hermann joined. When we drove through the Alps we had very nice weather which we used for two longer hikes. The first one was around was in Klausen (South Tyrol) around its huge monastery.