So, this is it. The last day. But not without another country to visit. Luxembourg. There’s not much to write really as although it’s a small country, it’s got towns and a capital city. However, the capital, Luxembourg, is always very nice to visit because it’s very efficient and they’ve managed to get a lot in there. The other good thing is that you can see the influences from all the surrounding nations – and again, it seems that everyone can speak at least two languages.

This is the entire weekend in one update – one which I thought would be relatively uneventful compared to the rest of the trip but I was proved very wrong….

This morning I had a quick look around Bilbao, a cosmopolitan major Spanish city which includes the Guggenheim museum and a train station with a massive stained glass piece of artwork. I have been here before – and there’s been grey skies all day today – so I stayed to have some morning tapas and coffee, walked around by the river and got back into the car.

‘Barcelona Reus’ Airport, it’s called. It’s over an hour away from the city – still that’s budget airlines for you. This was the point where I had to say goodbye to my wife. It was a shame that she couldn’t stay for longer but I’m glad she shared the middle part of this epic journey and experienced everything from Austria to Spain.

We went to Marseille city centre for brunch by the sea. The city is quite standard – quite run down in places, in fact - but when we reached the area by the marina it all changes again. Helped by the baking hot, Mediterranean sun, this bit of town was very enjoyable to look at, even if it was just for half an hour.

 

But that’s one of the joys of this trip – one morning you can be taking a quick walk along the marina in Marseille and the same evening you can be strolling along the beach in 40 degree Barcelona.

After a late night last night, it was time for a lie in this morning and also the maps needed updating on my phone for navigation – the memory card was full of pictures and other maps so that France and the other remaining countries could be put on there. These needed downloading, so it meant a relaxing morning in the hotel bar, before setting off at lunchtime on what would be a spectacular journey. Lots to see whilst on the road, judging by the number of pictures we’ve taken today.

I’ve wanted to visit Switzerland for a long time – it’s always held a certain mystery for me. In the middle of the European continent, but not part of the EU at all; several official languages, mainly depending on which bit of the country you’re in; and always known as a neutral country – does this show in how things are done?

Well into the mountains now, the first trip of the day was south to Italy and to the resort town of Bolzano / Bozen. Again, the drive itself was great as it involves lots of twists and turns as the Autobahn – and then the Autopista – worked its way through the mountains of the Tyrol region.

We spent the day exploring everything Salzburg has to offer. The city is set into the mountains and it’s easy to see why it became the inspiration for so many musicians, artists and of course those hills were very much alive in The Sound Of Music.

Went to Vienna city centre for a few hours and basked in the baking hot sunshine. This is a very historic city and seems to have two big bits to its history – religion and the arts, particularly music of course. They certainly build things big over here – the cathedrals, the musems, even the parliament building is massive – I’ve never seen anything like it before. Also there are loads of parks and gardens. I think they have a lot of pride in their city. The whole flavour of the place was of course captured in that famous song.  Having said that, I don't know the words.

Two more trips into Eastern Europe today. The first was to the Czech Republic and I decided to go completely away from the motorway and take an hour and a half long drive (each way) from the Autobahn, through the countryside, to my destination, Bayerisch Eisenstein, a lovely German village set inside a great landscape.

 

On the journey here and yesterday I really noticed the difference between the flat Northern European countries and here. At a point on the motorway yesterday hills suddenly started appearing – and then mountains. Makes for great motorway driving as there’s lots of curves, hills and long-distance panoramic views to keep you busy. But as you would expect, the country road drives are even better.

Two places visited today. The first one was quite exciting as it was my first trip into Eastern Europe. So, I visited Poland, crossing a long-spanning bridge into the East. This was the first big border crossing I’ve seen – just a few years ago these would have been guarded, with passport and vehicle checks in abundance as this was the edge of the EU. Since expansion, it’s just there to remind people what used to be.

A walk around Malmo, again a nice Scandanavian city, and a stop-off for a coffee reminded me how lucky we Brits are that most people in shops in the cities abroad speak English. Without this we’d be lost. It’s often said that we are a bit lazy because we know we’ll get by with a local English speaker close by, but I think I am excused from learning 15 languages….?  This is the most northerly point of my trip.

With Hamburg visited, it was on to the next destination. Heading north from almost the top of Germany can only mean one thing. After an hour an a half of driving, I reached the gateway to Scandanavia. This is the main point to enter this vast Northern European land by road and I’m so pleased they decided to mark this point properly. Big flags of all the Scandanavian nations mark the entry point to this massive region with an identity all of its own. There’s a small car park here so I decided to stop off again.

A relatively short journey today (compared to days to come) takes me across the border to Germany. I stopped at the border and took some pictures. There is a service station here and they’ve drawn the border around it. The Dutch side (north of the motorway) contains the shop and restaurant and the other side – German – has the police and customs station. Both are connected via a bridge. There is a sign to mark the point where the two roads meet. It’s a shame in a way, because I think there’s something just a little exciting about stopping at a border customs station (like going from Canada to the US) – it’s almost like because they need to protect it with a grand building and lots of armed people, there must be a great land to explore on the other side and it builds up the anticipation that you’re crossing a specific point where loads of stuff will change.

Right then, the first day’s gone well.

 

Starting where I left off, I found the car. So, bags loaded, on-board computer changed to English, radio set up, km count reset to zero (very important!) and off I go – once I find my way out of the multi-storey car park with very tight corners, left-hand driving a big car and trying hard to remember that I need to leave a lot more space on the right between me and the concrete posts and other people’s cars!

I’ve just completed the first leg of the trip – an incredibly quick 1 hour 10 minute trip from Ebbsfleet International in Kent to Lille Europe in France, via the new ‘it took us decades longer to do it, but we got there eventually’ high-speed rail link. It’s definitely worth the wait.

 

Ebbsfleet International is an interesting station. What is Ebbsfleet? A very small place, that’s what it is. It seems to be a small village, ever-expanding with its new found fame and glory as the gateway to Europe. A housing developers dream. Now you too can work in France and commute every day. But that might not appeal to you because [insert stereotypical French joke]. But it does have a football club – Ebbsfleet United. Not sure if their home ground is actually in the village but they do have a great player in the shape of… Neil Barrett.

 

Seriously though – move your family here and you’ll have no excuse when the kids pester you to go to Disneyland. It’s now do-able as a (long) day-trip.

Welcome to my European driving trip, visiting virtually every Western EU country and hopefully a handful of Eastern European nations over the course of two and a half weeks. I already have a head start - I went to Ireland for a wedding in July and I live in the UK so that’s two.