Journeys Through Europe

This page is (for now) a placeholder for various trips around Europe I have made, together with my family (which is why I will often refer to myself as we ;) - details on the trips, cities and other hints will be added in the future.

Cities in the route stops are bold to indicate stays for one or more nights and there is an *asterisk to show just a night stop, without actual sightseeing.

The trips start or end in Gdańsk, my hometown - my travel tips about Gdańsk are in a separate article, and so are tips about travelling from Finland to Poland by car.

The Balkan Tour (2008)

It started with Let's go to Dubrovnik, followed by Let's go to Athens instead, followed by Why not both?.

The route ended up as follows:

• Gdańsk (Poland)
• Wrocław
• Wien (Austria)
• Graz
• Maribor (Slovenia)
• Zagreb (Croatia)
• Jajce (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Sarajevo
• Mostar
• Dubrovnik
• Kotor (Montenegro)
• Podgorica
• Tirana (Albania)
• *Ιωάννινα (Ioannina, Greece)
• Αθήνα (Athens)
• Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloniki)
• София (Sofia, Bulgaria)
• București (Romania)
• Cluj-Napoca
• Tokaj (Hungary)
• Budapest
• *Kraków (Poland)
• Gdańsk

Logistically this trip was a challenge, as in 2008 the possibilities of booking a hotel online were not that wide-spread as today. To top that up GPS navigation systems did not have full maps of the Balkan area, so it was sometimes necessary to use paper maps and city plans.

The Iberian Tour (2009)

Following the success of the first trip we decided to escalate things and go even further, but to more touristically recognised areas.

• Gdańsk (Poland)
• *Koeln (Germany)
• *some obscure motel in France, probably near Bordeaux
• Burgos (Spain)
• Oviedo
• Lugo
• A Coruña
• Santiago de Compostela
• Vigo
• Braga (Portugal)
• Citania de Briteiros
• Guimarães
• Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia
• Tomar
• Batalha
• Alcobaça
• Lisboa
• Sagres
• Cabo de São Vicente
• Lagos
• Sevilla (Spain)
• Cádiz
• Gibraltar (UK)
• *Los Barrios (Spain)
• Granada
• Valencia
• Barcelona (Spain)
• Andorra la Vella (Andorra)
• *some obscure motel in France, probably near Lyon
• *Bonn (Germany)
• Gdańsk (Poland)

The biggest problem with this trip turned out to be France, and in particular their sleeping infrastructure. Or the lack of it in reasonable prices.

The Spaghetti Tour (2010)

For the third adventure we decided to head to Italy, at least the northern parts of it.

• Gdańsk (Poland)
• *some hotel in Germany, near Jena
• Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
• Milano (Italy)
• Certosa di Pavia
• Pavia
• Torino
• Genoa
• Lucca
• Pisa
• Firenze
• San Gimignano
• Siena
• Assissi
• Perugia
• Urbino
• San Marino (San Marino)
• Venezia and *Mestre (Italy)
• Padova
• Vicenza
• *Tautenhein (Germany)
• *Szczecin (Poland)
• Gdańsk

The Second Iberian Tour (2011)

Spain and Portugal are so big and diverse that a significant part of both countries was left on the first trip.

• *an overnight ferry from Turku (Finland) to Stockholm (Sweden)
• Helsingor (Denmark)
• *Luebeck (Germany)
• *Poitiers (France)
• Bilbao (Spain) / Bilbo (Euskadi)
• León
• Salamanca
• Coimbra (Portugal)
• Évora
• Mérida (Spain)
• Córdoba
• Baeza
• Úbeda
• Toledo
• Ávila
• Madrid
• San Lorenzo de El Escorial
• Zaragoza
• *some obscure motel in France, probably around Lyon
• *some motel in Germany, probably around Frankfurt
• Gdańsk (Poland)

There is simply no avoiding France on a trip to Spain.

The Small Trip (2022)

It took some time, but we were back to travelling - although on a limited scale, just to try things out.

• Turku (Finland)
• Sigulda and Krimulda (Latvia)
• Olsztyn (Poland)
• Grudziądz
• Gdańsk

A departure from mostly city sightseeing, this trip included a wonderful trip through a nature park in Latvia.

Pomerania-Brandenburg Tour (2023)

Shorter distances and longer stays turned out to be a really good thing.

• Gdańsk (Poland)
• Trzebiatów
• Trzęsacz
• Kamień Pomorski
• Szczecin
• Ratzeburg (Germany)
• Luebeck
• Schwerin
• Jueterbog
• Berlin
• Gubin (Poland)
• Krosno Odrzańskie
• Zielona Góra
• Gdańsk