Travel Notes

The Adventures of the Cycling Pixies Through Wine and Space

Previous Tour of the Americas

Photos
Newsletters
Media Publications

THANK YOU's

Home

V.O. Blog de Richard
FAQ & Introduction
Photos
Stani's Blog
Daily Diary

Wine Notes
Unesco Sites
Mileage Log
Travel Notes
Equipment
Media
Waffle
Newsletters
Links

Travel Notes

This page is for the information we would have liked to have known! Bike shops, routes, visa, internet access points, maps, receiving mail, sending mail etc

Algeria

Getting to Algeria

Despite reports suggesting that there may be possibilities for crossing from Morocco to Algeria according to the Algerian Consulates in France (both Nantes and Montpellier) there are no official border crossings and we could only get visas for Algeria by buying ferry tickets from Spain. There do not seem to be any no problems for crossing from Algeria to Tunisia.

Ferry from Sete to Tanger

Company:    Comarit
Cost:                  55 Euros per person Pullman class
Bicycles:             free
Crossing Time:    36 Hours
Other facts:        The line runs about 3 times a weeks. We requested the most economical seats but we still thought this was a great deal for the price. To our surprise we found out meals were included. The food was excellent and whilst there was no choice even as a vegetarian Stani was full after every meal. Bottled water is also provided at mealtimes. Although there is alcohol in the duty free it cannot be purchased until the final day of the crossing. As you can buy (more expensively priced) drinks at the bar we presumed this to be simply a case of the company not wanting to have to deal with drunken passengers as opposed to any other law or regime. Shame as Richard found a bargain for 5 Euros which we fancied the 2nd evening of our crossing.

Tourist Offices

Rare and despite their friendly attempts the information they could provide was next to nothing. The information they gave was 90% of the time, inaccurate, out of date or just plain wrong. We thought we were asking normal questions - what tourist sites were there to see, where we could find a budget hotel, were there ATM's, where was the route out of town etc!

Youth Hostels

We don't normally stay in YHA's due to the fact that we have found that they are normally more expensive than a double room in a cheap hotel. But there are many Youth Hostels in Algeria and they are the deal of the century at 100 / 120 DH per person. Unfortunately you may never get in! They are normally booked out to school sports teams. Also although many are 0fficially part of the International Youth Hostel organisation they are "reserved" for the old, homeless, refugees etc. Few have hot water facilities or even a shower. Some will insist you have a YHA membership card, others won't. As a couple we were normally given a separate room to ourselves but sometimes only single sex dorms were available. At Mostagen (where they were very unfriendly and hostile to us) we were asked to prove we were married. Initially we were turned away with the explanation that the hostel was booked out with a school football team. Luckily in town we met a friendly policeman and he called them so we were permitted to put our tent in the Salle de Reunion. The next day someone else pulled a few strings for us and a room was found. But in our 2 days there we never saw or heard a single schoolchild football player - nor did any of the other guests staying there.

The other major disadvantage is that they are often far out of town and normally in a pretty dodgy area.

Here in brief is our experience of the different YHA's we stayed at:

Oran: Tourist office gave us the wrong address - the YHA had moved to the other end of town. Full when we arrived but told us to hang around - they wanted to see if they could find something for us - eventually a room was found. Breakfast not included but a free breakfast was provided as a friendly gesture.

Mostagen:

see notes above.

Slovenia

ITALY

Austria

Germany