A European Tour… with crochet along the way! (Part 2)

And here’s Part 2 – my second blog post about our European tour, with the crochet and creative inspiration I discovered along the way, back in the summer – if you missed Part 1 it’s here.

From Salzburg in Austria it’s only a couple of hours drive to get to the border with the Czech Republic (or Czechia as it was renamed a couple of years ago) – Neither my husband or I had been before so we were all a little excited to visit a new country…

We were staying by Lake Lipno in the very south of the country… yet again a campsite by water… this time a lake created by a dam. We are a water loving family so like to find places to stay with water nearby… and this campsite was really special. Not only because it’s lovely to crochet beside the lake (my crochet purse project from Little Box of Crochet was nearly finished)…

…but because the campsite we stayed at Camping Olsina faces west across the lake so each evening we were treated to the most spectacular sunsets!

And I couldn’t resist a photo opportunity with my Seaside Stash Busting Blanket…

There were no local yarn shops to visit… it was a pretty rural location except for the many tourists lining the shores of the lake. The nearest town is the amazing Český Krumlov which the Lonely Planet website describes as:

“one of the most picturesque towns in Europe. It’s a little like Prague in miniature – a Unesco World Heritage Site with a stunning castle above the Vltava River, an old town square, Renaissance and baroque architecture, and hordes of tourists milling through the streets”

And yes, although we too were of course tourists, I have not been anywhere with quite so many coach tour groups- there were, as Lonely Planet said, quite literally “hordes!”…

But it’s very obvious why…

It is a truly beautiful town with photo opportunities everywhere… my purse was finished and here it is with the beautiful town as a backdrop…

And what about crochet around the town… well there were no yarn shops but there was a craft market in one of the squares and I spotted these crocheted bears…

…and a little crocheted doll in the window of a shop!

Back at the campsite the family got back to doing what they love most…

And there was another sunset to take in…

Our next destination was The Netherlands but we planned to take it easy and had given ourselves 3 days and 2 nights to get there travelling right across Germany.

These are the bits of traveling in a campervan that I love most and make it feel like a real adventure… you never quite know where you’ll be sleeping that night! And as we made our way across Germany we found a gem of a campsite just north of Nuremberg to stop for a night…

And I couldn’t believe it when I saw they had a gorgeous Filet crochet window hanging in the wash block! Perfect…

There was no water nearby but we enjoyed the most gorgeous walk around the local countryside. It felt like we were miles from anywhere! I shared this photo on my Instagram with the following caption…

Having driven across Germany we really appreciate how big it is and there are so many forests and open spaces too – it’s beautiful!

The next day whilst travelling on the motorway we all got pretty excited when a gorgeous little caravan overtook us and it had little crocheted curtains in the window! I couldn’t get my camera out in time to get detailed photos but here it is…

And our second ovenight stop in Germany was at a campsite which had a crocheted rabbit in the reception…

It was on a window sill and the lady could see me admiring it so she happily held it up for a close up photo…

I also spotted this funny figure on a radiator- wearing a knitted hat and a crocheted scarf! Possibly something to do with the football World Cup…?!

Crochet is certainly alive and well all over Europe – Yay!

We made it into The Netherlands for our final 6 nights and we camped near to my dear aunt… as many of you know, I’m half Dutch and being there with family (my parents joined us too) was wonderful.

And whilst there we popped into Amsterdam to visit a yarn shop… Hooks and Yarn We weren’t actually going into Amsterdam itself but were passing it to visit friends and this shop was only a 5 minute drive from the motorway! So we pulled off, my husband waited in the van, and my daughter and I popped in for a delightful visit…

It’s a wonderful shop full of yarns I love and the lovely owner already followed me on Instagram  and was aware of my crochet along – she herself is the designer behind the popular ‘Elements Crochet Along’- a wonderful blanket that you can see photographed above. It was so nice talking to her about all things crochet and I promised I would visit again next year!

Here are my yarn purchases…

I couldn’t resist yet another photo opportunity – this time of my blanket in Amsterdam!

We did some kayaking… yes Salty came too!

And later in the week I visited another craft shop which I have been to in previous holidays… it stocks all the ‘Scheepjes Catona’ colours and I always love picking out a few…

And one of the highlights in relation to crochet has to be when I popped into a newsagents to look for Dutch crochet magazines and they had the Dutch version of Simply Crochet with my ‘Waves’ cushion design!

Yes, there I was with my name in print and my design in a Dutch magazine! Definitely a special moment… 🙂

Oh what wonderful travels we had! It was time to come home… you’d think we’d be glad to get back to our house and luxuries after 3 weeks in a campervan but no, I can honestly say we could all have kept on going…

The change in sceneries, the places we saw, the people we met, the crochet we saw, the yarn shops I visited plus just the general family stuff that I haven’t shared too much of here, meant I felt rested, rejuvenated and of course inspired- all good for my creative juices!

And this photo taken on our last evening sums it all up really… we spent a lot of time enjoying different inland waterways, there wasn’t much time for actual crocheting except during those long drives and I also enjoyed some stunning backdrops for my blanket!

Thank you so much for following along…

Happy Crocheting! 🙂