What can be more satisfying, creative and tremendously fun, than visiting some of your most loved places in the same vacation, while combining old with new, fun with culture, beach time with hiking, luxury with countrysides and simple living? Well, I would say nothing… but I would lie! I’ll explain why, in the last article of this My European Car Trip series.

We took one month off from our regular life to have a journey around our European favorite places, to get to know them better, and explore the unseen. Moreover, with the car, all the way from Sweden to Italy, and back.

So we wrapped our bags and jumped in the car, with a new GPS and our credit cards, not knowing where we actually are heading to, except the countries we want to explore: We would stop in Siegen, Germany to visit relatives, Zurich to visit friends, other parts of Switzerland, and then southeast France and Italy. No limits on Italy, we planned to not plan Italy at all!

We drove 3 h from Jönköping to Helsinborg where a ferry crosses every 15 minutes for 20 minutes, continuing with more driving in Denmark, all the way South to Rödby, where we took another 45 minute ferry to Puttgarden in Germany. The experience with the ferry was magnificent, more than expected! I always wanted to do this, but never got the chance. To drive the car inside the huuuge boat, park it, go out and take a nice lunch upstairs in the restaurant, from where you can see how the boat is leaving the shore second by second…moreover, there is even duty free’s on the boats, thing I haven’t knew in 27 years! (I know…I sound like a child 🙂 )

First stop was Hamburg just for a coffee and snack, then Hannover was the sleepover place – I must admit, we jumped in bed quite fast after such a long road 🙂

Second day, we’ve been travelling into the East side of Germany, to Siegen – Neunkirschen, a cute little town in Germany, visited relatives and the Old Town.

Interesting fact about Germany:

On every highway, there is a church with amazing design! Don’t miss them, if you pass by!

To be sincere, this part of the trip was all about family and spending quality time with them. I’ve returned to the roots for 2 days, to a childhood full of amazing memories such as picking fruit from the trees or stealing from the neighbors’ gardens 🙂

After creating a few more memories here, we drove to Switzerland where I totally fell in love with Zurich and Lugano and everything in between! See more in the next article. Now the fun begins!

Until then,

Enjoy the last days of summer!

L