Tomorrow we head into Austria and return to what was
traditionally referred to as ‘Western Europe’ after 7 weeks in Eastern Europe,
Turkey and Greece. The differences between ‘east’ and ‘west’ are in no doubt reducing and it would have been interesting to have made this trip 20 years
ago to see just how much change has occurred.
I don’t think much about the EU when I am at home, I’m
pretty certain most of us don’t – you hear
much complaint about just how much money we pump into Brussels but the facts as
to how much, what it is used for and whether the UK really benefits from being
an EU member state I have not educated myself on and am ignorant to; I don’t know who my MEP is and can’t remember
when I last used my EU election vote. Oddly enough, the Outer Hebrides in
Scotland is one of the few places I have tangibly seen the benefits of EU money
investment in our infrastructure; the EU flag proudly displayed next to single
track roads being straightened or widened to 2 lanes or a next to a new causeway between two
islands.
The growth of the EU state on mainland Europe and its
‘normalising’ impact is very much evident far beyond just the removal of border
posts...add to it the Euro, large company globalisation (supermarket, phones, cars,
McD’s..), ATM’s, chip and PIN, the internet and the old west/east and,to a
degree, country to country distinction is dissolving away.
Slovenia has the Euro, a loaf of bread or a beer costs the
same as it does in Germany as does a litre of fuel; all decent size towns have
large supermarkets; they drive Citroen, Audi, BMW, Peugeot, Fiat, Fords; they
have croissants, baguettes, round loafs and square loaves in the bakeries;
James Blunt is playing in the bars; French Cotes de Rhone, Chilian Red and
German Riesling sit side by side with a Slovenian wine in the wine shelves and I still remain surprised and embarrassed as to just
how many can speak English.
If you were dropped
unknowingly onto a Slovenian street corner and asked where you were then I
think you would need a little time to work it out. When I went to France on
holiday as a kid 90% of the cars were a Renault, Peugoet or Citroen, bread was
long and thin, you couldn’t buy a bottle of wine from outside France, they had
their own currency ( Franc), you got your cash by waiting for Monday morning to
queue in a bank with your travellers cheques and they had their own
supermarkets chains. It wasn’t that every other person was riding a bike around
with a beret, striped top and a ring of onions around their necks but it was pretty obvious that you could only
be in France and France is in western Europe.
Of the 17 countries
we have seen to date Albania is the country least ‘Europe normalised’ and wins
by a clear head with Romania/Bulgaria behind. Buying a bun for breakfast in an
Albanian/Romanian bakery was often a lottery – The English language doesn’t get
you that far so arriving back at the campsite with a bun hiding a sausage or a
banana or packed with brown prune paste is not a surprise. Oddly and partially stocked Mini
market after mini market is where you shop, coca cola is not the leading cola brand
nor is it sold in every shop and large supermarkets are only in the very large
towns.
My parents have
recently come back from a holiday in the Shetland Isles. Lerwick (the island
capital) now has a large Tesco’s and they are about to start their normal van
delivery service. The Shetland isles are large and there are many of them and for
those living in the outer isles this service will be seen as an improvement –
convenience, choice, cost....however there will be a different cost to small
businesses, local shops and the community as the shopping is ordered on a
laptop or i-pad at home. 28 years ago I spent 3 months living and working in
the Shetlands – Lerwick had one average Co-op, local shops did the rest and
those in the outer isles lived with little mainland Shetland
dependence.......you knew you were living somewhere very different from the
average UK town.
What we have been privileged to see in Europe over the past
few weeks is all too similar, albeit on a larger scale, to what we are seeing
at home in the UK and no doubt what is also going on in every EU member state.
Some of each country’s individuality is being lost but just as Lancaster may
now have a ‘Cornish pasty shop’ a pasty in St.Ives in Cornwall will always beat
it hands down as does proper quality beer
in Germany or CZ ( which is
fantastic).
The EU flag is ever present in the ‘east’ and also the rest
of mainland Europe. Perhaps it may be more so in those countries who have
joined in the later waves, and it is often seen , capturing equal importance,
flying next to their own flag.
It will be fascinating to come back in 10+ years, do it all again, and see just how it has all moved on.
It has been 8 weeks since we were in Germany right at the
start of the trip. In mid May it was cold and raining, today the sun is shining
on the van before 6 a.m. and I am up
early to go and sit by the flat calm lake.
Chiemsee is a pretty large lake ( maybe 8km across) with 2
islands of real interest - one with a
Palace built as a replica of ‘Palace of Versailles’ and the other with 1400
year monastery and a small village( with bars ) . As we set off in the Kayak
the wind starts to pick up such that the 2km to the first island is hard work. The
lake also has hundreds ( no exaggeration) of boats on it...sail, motor, launch,
steamer, row, pedalo......and the sail boats need some navigating through as
they do not like to change course.
We head slowly around the larger island and then over open
water to the smaller of the 2 where we leave the boat and start on the
Weissbier ( white beer) and some food. Charlie is bored at the table so decides
to busk with his bottle of bubbles; lots of smiles, no cash but he is not
deterred.
The island attracts loads of visitors and the steamers are
in and out from the piers every 10 minutes...with the wind behind us we head
back over to the large island and then back to the campsite . With the Kayak we
are able to take a sneaky peek at the 1000 m long ‘Grand Canal’ which was built from the Palace to the open lake...they did things properly in those days
