CONOR POWERhad always wanted to motor around Europe. When his wife and children signed up for it, too, they set off on an adventure through France, Switzerland and Italy
I HAD ALWAYS wanted to see what it would be like to drive across Europe, inspired by childhood memories of engrossing slide shows of an intrepid travelling uncle.
My wife and three children liked the sound of it, too, so one day last summer we put on our safety belts and started the engine for a European adventure of our own.
As Brittany Ferries’ flagship, Pont-Aven, brought us across the Celtic Sea I sipped a pint on deck and snoozed in the afternoon sun. We awoke next morning at 5.45am and, giddy with excitement, drove into France.
As the children yawned in the back, we used our guile and our sense of adventure – plus our essential satellite navigation system – to find our first pit stop, five hours and 550km later, in the swish Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, where friends waited with an early-afternoon barbecue on the balcony of their apartment.
Our stomachs full, we kissed goodbye in Gallic style and continued another 45 minutes to Parc Astérix, where we were going to stay. Although it’s not quite as large as the Disneyland down the road, this theme park, based on the adventures of Astérix the Gaul, has rides to suit adults, teenagers and children as young as toddlers – pretty much everyone in our family, in other words – and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, particularly on the insane Tonnerre de Zeus roller coaster and in a colourful Gaulish village in the centre of the park.
The next leg of the trip was from Paris to Switzerland. The journey to the border was quite varied: rolling hills in the distance, plains with pretty villages in the middle distance.
The children made the most of the latest five-hour journey. We had decided against installing a DVD player to keep them occupied. So far their patience and ours was holding out, thanks to our conversation, their Nintendo DS consoles, our 11-year-old’s rare ability to read in the car without feeling sick and many games of I spy and yes, no, black, white. We also gave our eldest son, who is now 14, the task of tracing our 540km route with red marker on a map of Europe as we drove.
After an early rise the next morning we left genteel Geneva and were soon driving on French tarmac once more. As the motorway snaked higher into the Alps the sunny air took on a crisp, clean light. We gazed reverentially at scree slopes and blue glaciers.
At the end of a 15-minute drive through the Mont Blanc Tunnel we emerged blinking into the daylight of the Italian Alps, where the weather was considerably warmer. Driving along a dizzyingly high autostrada, we noticed some striking differences in habits behind the wheel; attitudes to speed limits, for example, are more cavalier in Italy than in France or Switzerland, to say the least.
Italian protocol also seems to dictate that the inside lane is to be used solely for entering the motorway at top speed, after which you can slow down a little and move into the overtaking lane.
After lunch in Milan – this time at my wife’s aunt’s place – we rested our car and ourselves in Bergamo. A night in this beautiful city was too short a stay, but we had to hit the highway again the next morning for Peschiera del Garda, on the shores of Lake Garda.
Bella Italia, the campsite that was to be our home for 10 nights, is far removed from the dolce vita of night-time Bergamo, but it’s fun, has a good choice of reasonably priced restaurants and was much loved by the children. It packs in 10,000 campers in high season – many of them Irish, as we could tell by the almost constant background chatter of familiar accents. We seemed to be the only ones who hadn’t come by plane, a fact that drew looks of disbelief, as if to say: “You what? You drove over?”
If you can tear yourself away from the dream-like facility of the lake itself – in which you can swim, canoe or windsurf every day – there is a huge choice of places to go nearby. Starting with a passeggiata, or traditional evening stroll, into Peschiera itself, you can also explore the exquisitely beautiful nearby towns of Lazise and Sirmione or take a tour around the lake, on a scenic drive through beautiful towns, punctuated by pauses for swimming or ice cream.
It was very hot every day, and every night there was what sounded like the mother and father of all thunderstorms, the sort that cause panic and destruction in Ireland every few years. But every morning in Bella Italia began as if nothing had happened.
Cramming the car once more – we seemed to be gathering more possessions every time we stopped – we took the autostrada west, my driving getting more Italian all the time.
After re-entering France via the Fréjus tunnel, we spent the next night in the centre of Lyons. France’s second city is considered by many to be the gastronomic capital of the world, but in the interests of family harmony, and despite the culinary temptations on every romantic corner, we ate at a pizzeria.
Then it was on for four days in Saumur, a seductive town, 600km from Lyons, of white limestone buildings dominated by a magnificent 11th-century chateau on the River Loire. Apart from the castle, the big draw here is the French Riding School, home of the elite Cadre Noir dressage display team.
It’s a great place to visit, with guided tours that take you through the day-to-day running of the centre, as well as giving you a chance to see riders and horses being put through their paces in one of the huge indoor arenas.
We also visited Puy du Fou, an unusual theme park about 90 minutes’ drive away. Instead of rides, it features a series of spectacular shows, each of which tells a story that originated in the area and each of which is worth the entry fee.
One, for example, takes place in an impressive re-creation of a Roman amphitheatre, complete with real tigers and lions and a chariot race. The children loved it, as did we adults – and, best of all, there were no queues.
After that there was just one more marathon drive, back to the ferry at Roscoff. On such a long family road trip you have to bear in mind the cost of food. Picnics are great: they save money, and no country better facilitates picnickers than France, with its aires, or picnic spots, every half hour along the road. We compromised, by taking the picnic option on the way out but then stopping at good-value restaurants on the way back.
Despite also stopping to buy wine, which we crammed into the boot, we made Roscoff with time to spare. Sixteen smooth sailing hours later we were docking in Ringaskiddy.
As we sat in our vehicles, waiting for the signal to start our engines, the mouth of the ship yawned open before us, revealing curtains of Irish rain. But we were home, and content that we, at least, had found our Europe.
Highs and Lows
Highlights
- Driving through the Alps.
- Shopping in French hypermarkets.
- Bergamo's Città Alta, or Old Town, at night.
- Sitting on the shores of Lake Garda at any time of day or night.
Lowlights
- Coping with the unexpected collapse of the plastic underside of the car in a supermarket car park in Italy in 36 degrees of heat and with a carful of shopping.
- Hitting the wall – the psychological one, not a brick one – after 3,500km and a total of 40 hours of driving, on the way back to Roscoff.
Where to stay
- Hôtel des Trois Hiboux. Parc Astérix, Plailly, France, 00-33-3-44623131, parcasterix.fr. Comfortable three-star accommodation in woodland setting next to the theme park.
- Hôtel Bernina. Place Cornavin, Geneva, Switzerland, 00-41-22-9084950, bernina-geneve.ch. Central three-star hotel offering great value in an expensive city.
- Mercure Bergamo Palazzo Dolci. Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy, 00-39-035- 227411, mercure.com. Smart mid-range hotel in the elegant heart of Bergamo, next to a park.
- Camping Bella Italia. Via Bella Italia, Peschiera del Garda, Italy, 00-39-045- 6400688, camping-bellaitalia. it. Large campsite on shore of Lake Garda. Four-star facilities.
- Camping de l'Île d'Offard. Rue de Verden, Saumur, France, 00-33-2-41403000, cvtloisirs.com. Four-star campsite on an island in the middle of the Loire, overlooked by Château de Saumur. Superb facilities in a relaxing setting.
Where to eat
- Autogrill. autogrill.com. International chain with a range of styles of restaurant all over the Continent. Its motorway maps let you plan where to stop for your next meal. One branch in France fed all five of us for €30.15.
- Chez Ma Cousine. Place du Bourg-de-Four, Geneva, Switzerland, 00-41-22-3109696, chezmacousine.ch. Not much on offer if you don't like chicken, but for budget eating it's an ideal choice in an expensive city, with main courses for about €10.
- Ristorante a Modo. Viale Vittorio Emanuele II, Bergamo, Italy, 00-39-035-210295, ristoranteamodo.com. Superb mid-range choice, with main courses between €18 and €22 at the foot of medieval Bergamo.
- Le Grande Bleu. Rue du Marché, Saumur, France, 00-33-2-41674183. Good-value family-friendly seafood restaurant in the atmospheric heart of the old town.
Where to go
- Parc Astérix. Plailly, France, 00-33-3-44623404, parcasterix.fr. Theme park based on the animated hero. A must for fans young and old.
- Canevaworld. Lazise, Italy, 00-39-045-6969900, canevaworld.it. American-style theme park consisting of Movieland Studios and water park on shores of Lake Garda.
- École Nationale d'Équitation. Saumur, France, 00-33-2-41535050, cadrenoir.fr. One of Europe's great equine schools, featuring the famous Cadre Noir equestrian display team.
- Le Grand Parc du Puy du Fou. Les Epesses, France, 00-33-820-091010, puydufou.com. Spellbinding daytime shows (with no queuing), plus even more spectacular displays at night.
And finally
We stuck to motorways where possible, as they are so much faster than other roads. Tolls cost us an average of €5 per 100km. The charges for the Mont Blanc and Fréjus tunnels were €33 and €32, respectively. Switzerland has one annual charge of 40 Swiss francs, or €28, to use all its motorways.