Adventures by Stef

Sadly the weather was a bit foggy so the seaside view could have been better. I drove along the coast to the isle of Møn but first stopped to take a look at Femmetofte kloster, I'm not sure if it's possible to visit the inside but I'm interested in the architecture not so much the interieur and I had the day fully planned. On the isle of Møn I stopped at Keldby kirke, it had the touristic attraction logo so I had to find out what's so special about this church because it doesn't look much different from other Danish churches from the outside. Well, the attraction is on the inside, paintings on the walls and ceiling, really beautiful. Elmelunde kirke has the logo as well but I safe this one for later.

I parked at GeoCenter Møns Klint, best place to start a hike according to my guidebook.Møns Klint (beach route 4, maybe not)It has the description of a route looking a lot like route 4 & 5 of the folder combined. It discribes walking north (route 4), going down the stairs, walking south (4 & 5), going up the stairs and walking north back to the Geocenter. I had planned to do this hike but since I couldn't see much of the cliffs from the top I decided to start by going down to sea level. Good choise! Route 4 on sea level is gone (or you have to swim) so I started walking south on route 5. Some parts are quite narrow and the crashed tree with still some green leaves on it are not very comforting but the route is beautiful. The stairs up are not so much fun, but they had benches to rest every now and then. The route through the forrest is very nice, some parts are close to the edge and you can enjoy the view, but most part you have no idea the world ends in just a few meters.

Back at the Geocenter I bought a big drink and sat on the terrace for a bit. Then on to Liselund Slot. It's a beautiful little castle/outhouse with beautiful gardens surrounding it. The grounds are right on the Cliff edge and in 1905 it got a lot smaller due to a big landslide. I walked around the gardens, peeked through windows. I don't want the guided tours of the interiour but I am curious sometimes.

I spotted a grave field (I think Bronze age burial mounds) on the way to Liselund and wanted to take a closer look. Apperently these things a quite common in this area so no sign, no place to park (I stopped on the side of the road to take pictures) and no path leading up there. I drove a bit further up the coast and tried to walk to the cliff edge from there but I think I took a wrong turn so after a while walking through the forrest I just turned and went the same way back.

Elmelunde kirke was already closed when I arrived back there but the sign said it's beautiful painted walls and ceilings again. The other special thing about this church is the Bronze age burial mound on church grounds, I always thought they were considered heresy in the old days.

Rødvig Havn beakon (Rødvig Flintovnen)As I had the ferry fare earlier than planned, and putting up my tent goes faster every time, I had enough time to go sightseeing at Stevns Klint. At Rødvig havn I got hold of a flyer with all the sites around the cliffs and started following the coastline to the first on the list (or actually the second if you count the beakon at Rødvig havn), Boesdal Kalkbrud, an oldlimestone quarry wich is nowadays used for events. Building works for such an event are ungoing and since I wanted to visit the church at Højerup wich closes at 17:00, I decided to come back later to take a good look around. Next on the map the cold war museum Stevnsfort, if I had more time I would have visited it but it was 16:30 and I really wanted that church. What's so special about it? Well, half the church dropped in the sea in 1928 when a part of the cliff collapsed and took half the building with it.Højerup Gamle KirkeI parked my car, paid the fee and went up to the church. The parking fee actually also includes entrance to the museum where they explain more about the reason this area is a Unesco world heritage site, the gray layer in the cliff which is evidence of the asteroid impact which is probably the reason why the dinosaurs went extinct.

The church was build right at the cliffs edge and after the landslide it became an attraction. They reinforced the remaining edge and build a balcony on the spot where part of the building broke off. In 1928, when the collaps happened the church was already abandoned and a new church was build further away from the cliff edge, so nobody got hurt. After visiting the inside of the church and standing on the balcony enjoying the view I went down the stairs to sea level. The asteroid layer is clearly visible as a dark line in the cliffs edge. The beach at the cliffs bottom is all dark pebbles since the limestone dissolves in water this is all that's left behind. You can go fossile hunting here but I think there are better places for that (the quarry maybe)

Then on to the lighthouse, the visiting tours have ended allready but the site is still open. The sign at the entrace speaks of two lighthouses but I see only one. Untill I've walked further up the site that is. After taking some pictures I decided to go back to the quarry and take a closer look there before returning to my tent.

I started my trip on wednesday the 7th september with a five and a half hour drive (lunch, coffee and toilet breaks not included) My car fully packed with camping stuff (the extended versions, not the backpack stuff), big tent, table, comfy chair, gas cooker, camp bed, sleeping bag fit for minus 10 degrees celcius, a big (real) pillow, electric coolbox (who said camping is back to basic? Not me!) and all the other stuff I can't do without. In my big camping guide I picked Seecamp Süsel, located about 1,5 h from Puttgarden [Puttgarden-travel-guide-405534] where the next day I have my pre-booked ferry ride to Rödby Denmark. I hate to be late for anything so I didn't risk the ferry crossing after such a long drive. strangely the night in Süsel didn't feel like vacation yet, yes I had to put up my tent and stuff but since I've been to Germany so many times (I have family living there) it somehow still feels like my trip hasn't started yet.

Next morning I had lots of time to get my tent and stuff back in the car, have breakfast with fresly brewed coffee, but I got that 'I'm gonna be late' feeling. What if there's a traffic jam or something. So I started my drive to Puttgarden a bit early. Result, half an hour early at the check in. I just drove up to the booth with the personal service (just in case) and presented my pre-booking form. No problem, no questions, the man just gave me my vouchers and said: second lane. There were only a few cars in my lane where the other lanes were full so I thought I might have to wait there untill my original boarding time. So I got my camera out of the bag and took a picture of the waiting cars in front of me, and as I did that lane 2 started to move. I quickly put the camera away and got moving.

The ferry ride is about 45 minutes, just enough for a coffee and a sandwich. It's a special kind of ferry, the first of his kind, a hybrid ferry (more info https://stateofgreen.com/en/profiles/scandlines/solutions/scandlines-hybrid-ferries [https://stateofgreen.com/en/profiles/scandlines/solutions/scandlines-hybrid-ferries]) Nice to know this fare is ecological responsible.

On my way to Rødvig I was looking for the Change/ATM sign on the roadsigns, but no such luck. When my route left the highway I decided to try my luck at a town centre so I drove to the first church tower I spotted. No luck here, but while I'm here I might as well take a look inside. The next town looked not much bigger so I drove to my next camp site and asked directions to the nearest ATM there.

I first installed my home away from home, then drove to Rødvig Havn where a ATM is. Then I had enough time left to go sightseeing at Stevns Klint.

This is our last day in Morocco, we leave the pittoresque town of Essaouira [Essaouira-travel-guide-1079514] behind to go to the big city of Casablanca [Casablanca-travel-guide-1076970]. A 4,5 hours drive. Most of us are tired of these long drives so it's mostly reading a book or trying to get some sleep, not very exciting at all.

Due to the festival a lot of stores and restaurants are still closed so at lunch time we had to drive around a bit until we found somethng. A fast food fish restaurant, nothing like the places we've eaten the rest of our time in Morocco. Our driver didn't think it was suitable and wanted to go look for someplace else but hey, we're hungry and we don't care the cheap plastic seats! So fast food fish it was! The owner didn't know what happened to him, stress, too many people, some of the orders got mixed up, I had to point out they gave me too much change, but it all turned out alright.

We arrived in Casablanca late midday and first visited the Hassan II mosque. We weren't allowed to take a look inside, there are tours but they are early morning so we had to do with 'only' the exterior. The building is huge! You can see it from far but somehow it doesn't look that big from a distance. But if you get close you'll find it's really really big!The square in front is also huge and at special occasions this also fills up with people joining the holy service, that's a lot of people! But today only a couple of nosy tourists.

We walk around for about half an hour, being amazed. Then it's back in the bus, on to the hotel. In the afternoon some of our group go for some last minute souvenir shopping, not me. The ones left behind (including me) go for a small walk and a tea on a terrace, and we have dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The next morning my roommate gets up early, I think. It turns out my phone has the wrong time for Casablanca (thanks Samsung!) Here we have another reason for sharing a room! I just got up, took a shower and almost forgot about it until we were waiting to go to the airport. Ilona was late, turned out she also has a Samsung phone and it also gave the wrong time. Mohammed went and knocked on her door and she hurried to get in to the bus. Turned out we still had some time to spare so nothings lost.

After breakfast we walk to the old town of Essaouira [Essaouira-travel-guide-1079514] (our hotel is situated in the 'new' part of town). At the town gate our group plits in to two, half go shopping, me and four others go and take a look in the harbour. It's a nice small fishing harbour with lots of small blue boats (and some yellow) and also a couple bigger fishing trawlers. On the end of the harbour area is a restaurant called 'Chez Sam', it's closed this early but me and Cynthia want to try and have dinner there tonight. The others don't like the idea very much because the building looks a bit shabby, I peeked through the window and the inside looks nice and tidy to me.

We walk to the town gate, a real fortification complete with the big cannonry on the wall. After a small walk on top of the wall the group splits up again, three go have lunch somewhere. Cynthia and I are not hungry yet so we go on exploring the town.

Prayer service in the mosk is done and there are a lot more people in the streets, we see a medicine man trying to sell his special ointments,I think he has something for every ailment. We walk through some narrow streets untill we come to the old jewish section (Mellah) A big part on the outside, near the city wall is weathered, collapsed, burned and partially demolished. It's a pity to see it like this but I think they will rebuild this part in time. It's probably caused by the residents leaving and nobody taking care of the houses.

We walk around the old town some more, drank some tea then went to the beach area for a nice cold beer (finaly!) Then back to the hotel for a bit.

Later that evening Cynthia and I went back to Chez Sam for dinner. The restaurant is open and almost full, we managed to get a table but it would have been better tomake reservations as many others did. Most tables have the reserved sign on them. The inside looks very nice, not shabby at all, actually quite chic. We had a lovely dinner. No disco tonight (or gnawa) we are pretty tired so straight back to the hotel.