Tuesday 15th October                                                                    Back into Croatia                                              54 miles

 

We got up early to finish and send the website (4). It was misty until the sun came up. We had an email from Talita, and later from Chris, to say that Lilian, Janice's mum, had died, aged 99. Such a lovely lady.

We left at 9.35, and drove on through Sid, which we found was much bigger than we'd thought. We passed a little group of nursery children going for a walk in the park, and then we passed a big market, but not the petrol station we were hoping for to spend the last of our Serbian money.

We very soon came to the border with Croatia. We were 'done over' on the Serbian side, and again on the Croatian side. We found nowhere to exchange our bit of money.

We stopped in the village of Tovarnik just after the border, and Adrian bought a loaf of bread.

There was nowhere at all to pull off in this flat land of straight roads where the vegetation came right down to the road.

Nursery children off for a walk in Sid

Adrian had hoped to get down to the Danube here, but all the roads were closed for road works, which didn't please him. We passed a Lidl store, and as there was a car-park, we stopped - mostly because this is the first supermarket car park we could stop in easily for the last 5 weeks. We bought a few things, but not any marmalade! We had lunch afterwards - hardly the Danube, but at least a place to park!

We left at 1.40 and made our way to Osijek. This was a large town, which we drove through, but not to the old centre. It had wide streets, and was so quiet! No mad driving or parking. Adrian thought that it was the most peaceful town we'd been to.

On the other side we came to Kopacevo, where there was a little camping place for us - again in someone's back garden. We were greeted by the pleasant, pert little lady owner, but before we settled in, we made our way to Kopacki Rit Nature Park which we plan to visit tomorrow. This is a huge wetland area at the confluence of the Drava and the Danube rivers. There were smart entrance buildings, where we managed to get a leaflet in English from the efficient lady official.

We came back to the sunny campsite, where the washing machine was too good a chance to miss! We had trouble making it work, but left it to 'Charlie' to sort and came back to our place to enjoy a cup of tea, with a rather too creamy cake from Lidl.

We had our drinks outside, and Adrian cooked the fish outside, but we ate in.

Eventually we managed to stop beside some vines for coffee. Just to be confusing, this area of Croatia is known as Slavonia!

We came to the town of Vukovar, which had been badly devastated in the war of the 90's. The damaged water tower still stood as a memory. Apparently Serbs and Croats still lead separate lives, with the children going to different schools - a bit like N. Ireland.

 

Sweetcorn and vines grow right down to the road

The war damaged water tower at Vukovar

Peaceful sunny site at Kopacevo

Wednesday 16th October                     Disappointing bird trip but a lovely evening                   15 miles

 

It was a lovely morning. We ate croissants for breakfast, and then hung out the washing.

At 9.50 we left for Kopachi Rit, intending to catch the 11.00 boat. We were there at 10.00. The efficient lady wasn’t there this morning we were served by a pleasant lady with a mop of fair curls, which looked like a wig! There was a problem with the computer, but once we had our tickets, we walked for a short way along the extensive boardwalk. As so often happens, there was nothing to see just a muddy area where a man was clearing the reeds.

There was a ‘petit train’ ride to the boats, as it was quite a way away. Then it was a little walk down rough ground to the boat. They are working on making it more accessible here, as at the moment the boat is just tied to a tree stump!

The boat left at 11.00 as planned. From the beginning, Adrian wasn’t happy with it firstly as there was no commentary, then when there was, it was just a man doing a long spiel in Croatian. There was no excitement at seeing any birds. I tried to think of it as a quiet trip down the Thames, with no other traffic! Initially there were hundreds of cormorants, dozens of herons and a few grebes. Many of the cormorants were in the trees. Taking off from the water was a sight and sound to behold, with the great swish of wings. After that we didn’t really see anything, as we cruised along for half and hour and then turned round. Three white tailed eagles flew ahead of the boat.

Clearing the reeds at Kopachi Rit

The 'petit train' to the boat

As we alighted, a frog leapt up the bank. We went back on the little train to the Ixi it was not the best trip. Enjoyable but not inspiring. We don’t feel that this park has got it right!

It was now hot, as we set off to have lunch at a large picnic table where the train had dropped us for the boat. We set off on a round trip along the straight roads, following a small canal, and lined with yellowing trees. We stopped by a sign saying about Hereford cattle, which were in the field behind. People were fishing along the canal, and we saw a lot of swans.

Kopachi Rit boat trip

When we got back to Kopacevo, we drove to the centre of the village at the end of the road. It seemed a pleasant place, rather eastern European, like the other villages.

Driving round the flat, straight roads of Kopachi Rit reserve

We got back to the campsite at 2.10. Then later we had an unexpectedly lovely evening.  There was a fireplace by our pitch with a little bit of wood. Adrian collected up some more wood, and we had a memorable time sitting outside with 'cheese and wine'! We'd decided to open the bubbly as a celebration for accomplishing what we wanted to in the Balkans.

 

 

 

The village of Kopacevo

Thursday 17th October                            Northern Croatia                              137 miles

 

We both woke late, having been awake early. This meant that we could enjoy breakfast out in the sunshine. By the time Adrian had done the 'jobs', we didn't leave until 10.00am. The nice lady didn't seem surprised by our reaction to the nature park.

We followed straight roads across the flat land back to Osijek. We had decided to revisit this town, which we'd only driven past on the way to Kopaveco. We drove through attractive Bilje, with two nice church spires. Today we needed to get some LPG, so we were dismayed when the garage which Adrian had sussed out no longer existed. We did get some on the way out of Osijek, but even this wasn't easy, as it was hidden away behind the carwash.

The town of Osijek was very large. We parked in the old citadel, and walked back to the main cobbled square. The many nice buildings were enhanced by the cornflower blue sky. The town had been badly damaged by fighting in the war of the 90's, but was now looking good. In the centre of the square stood a high monument of 1729 to the eradication of the plague.

We walked past a fence into part of the fort, but then found that there was no way out!

Back at the van, we drove on and managed to park by the river, close to a fine pedestrian suspension bridge. This was a great place to have coffee, sitting beside the Drava River, and watching a grebe dive for fish. A group of young schoolchildren crossed the bridge with their teacher, and after instructions from her, ran along the newly surfaced running trail.

Osijek

We left Osijek and continued on through the pretty village called Sag, with a signpost to Nard! On the outskirts of Valpovo, we shopped in a large Spar store. We couldn't find salted butter, and eggs only came in 12’s, but Adrian found some marmalade! We drove past the former castle, now a museum, and soon afterwards we stopped for lunch in a shady parking lane opposite the smart cemetery and beside a field of ready to cut sweetcorn.

We left here at 2.00, and drove through more long villages of a line of houses with an unfenced  lawn in front, and a ditch. At one there was a brightly coloured children’s playground. It was one long village after another. We drove around the outskirts of Virovtica, and then came into welcome hilly country with a lot of trees.

We reached Bjelovar, a large ancient, spacious town with some nice buildings.

Further on we came to the village where we could camp. We couldn’t find the house, and drove up and down the road. We turned into a side lane and encountered a large herd of goats!  A nearby man smoking a fag, and with a little boy, told us that it was the house on the corner. It was now gone 5.00pm. It was indeed the right house. The man came out, and said that he closed on 1st October. Adrian said that his app said it was open, to which he replied that he keeps telling them that he closed in October! Of course he let us in.

I was in need of a cup of tea, but the cheery wife had now arrived back, and invited us over for a drink on the veranda. We both enjoyed a good local beer, while chatting to both the husband and the wife. She was actually Belgian. He had gone to Belgium as a little boy with his parents, and had lived there until 10 years ago, when his wife decided to return to Croatia. His mother still lived in Belgium. Both were very chatty. She was 52, quite large, and seemed older. She had MS, so was trying to make the best of things. Tomorrow she was leaving early for a holiday with girlfriends in Benidorm. They had one son, aged 13, after thinking that she couldn’t have children. He was still at school one week mornings, the next afternoons, so he didn’t finish until 7.30.

Down by the Drava River at Osijek

The husband had plenty to say about politics and the state of things. He had no desire to go to Albania he said. He didn’t think much of the coast of Croatia, where they charged high fees for campsites. He made us think of a Peter Sellers character. As well as doing the campsite in the summer, they sold honey and home made spirits. They had 2 dogs, eight cats and some chickens.

Mateo Mansion,  Hrsovo

 

Our hosts at Mateo Mansion - Carine and Kruno

Friday 18th October                                    A place of pilgrimage amongst lovely scenery                   54 miles

 

It was a lovely autumnal morning. We’d heard the wife, Carine, leave at 4.15 am for her trip to Spain. Cluno, the husband, came to say goodbye to us at 9.30. We drove through fertile, rolling country, stopping to shop in a Plodine supermarket, which was rather tatty food items were mixed amongst the household goods. We bought some gin (for Adrian) and some eggs, but no salted butter!

As always, it was difficult to find anywhere to pull off. We finally found a small space at Kisevsci, opposite a little church for coffee. We found that the village was really attractive, with part timbered ancient houses. The soil in this area was dark brown and rich.

We were making our way to Marija Bistrica, which Carine had told us we must visit as it was so beautiful. It was actually a place of pilgrimage, a bit like Lourdes or Fatima. There was a black Madonna in the church, which had survived when things around had been lost. Today it was really quiet, but we could see signs that it became crowded out. We had lunch in the huge carpark, before walking up to the church. There were a few stalls selling religious tat and plastic toys, but we could see many stalls not open today. There was a vast area set out in the open with bench seats it made me think of St Peters, Rome.

The church was pretty inside. The actual black Madonna was quite small. We walked back down the steep lane to the van, leaving at 1.45.

Half an hour later we arrived at Valtravel, Simuncevec, not far from Zagreb, which we hope to visit tomorrow.

We were greeted by the husband, and soon afterwards the wife brought us a ‘welcome plate’, with pieces of cheese and raw ham, along with a basket of bread. We sat in the sunshine to eat these (or what we could! Not the ham, which was too chewy even for Adrian, and I don’t eat anyway.) In the summer, there was a raised swimming pool, and swings and a trampoline for the children.

Aspects of Zaistovec - like a 'folk museum village'

Saturday 19th October                                  Zagreb in the sunshine

 

I had visited Zagreb with Val in 1962, but have very little memory of it. Adrian had done a lot of research in order to find a way that we could visit Zagreb, as he knew that it was too large a town to drive in to. Valtravel, where we were staying, had been recommended, as the owners drove you down to Zagreb and collected you. This in fact proved perfect!

We’d arranged to be taken at 10.00, and at this time the son was ready to drive us for the half hour journey. He speaks quite good English, so Adrian was able to chat to him. We'd already met his bright little boy of 17 months, and his friendly little 5 year old boy. This was a family run business which hires out campers as well as having the campsite, and had a few animals, notably chickens, too.

Zagreb is huge a quarter of Croatians live in the city.

We were dropped near the centre, and would be picked up from the same place at 3.00. Being Saturday, it was extra busy, with lots of tourists, notably many Japanese, all in their groups. It seemed a very western city, with young people in particular looking like any other Europeans.

We made our way first to the cathedral, one of the spires of which was under scaffolding. Next to it was part of the city walls. Inside the cathedral was quite attractive, with many stain glass windows.

The pilgrimage site of Marija Bistrica

Outside we noticed a Route-master open top tourist bus. Just the thing for us we thought, as neither of us can now walk far. We spoke to the driver Theo, who said the bus was leaving at 12.00. This gave us an hour to look around first. We located the large market, which was both indoors and out. Walking downstairs, we spied a ‘coffee shop’ and made our way there. The other customers were all men, most drinking alcohol of various sorts. I had a minute coffee and Adrian was able to have a green tea.

Around the cathedral, Zagreb

Now 11.30, we made our way to the bus, where we sat on the top deck, with a useful little table in front of us.

The trip was perfect for us. The driver also acted as ‘guide’, and came upstairs several times  to tell us what we were going to see. He spoke in English, although we were the only English people. We had been given a plan of the route, with relevant places marked on it, but often he went a different way if he thought that the road was blocked. It was all great fun, and we saw far more than if we’d just been walking. Most of the town has been restored, but we did pass some decrepit parts. Colourful St Marks church stood out, with its red, white and blue roof. We saw a medieval tower and gateway. On one corner, a lady in costume was playing a barrel organ, which was really atmospheric

The coffee shop and market, Zagreb

Our tour lasted over an hour we didn’t get off the bus until 1.15. In the main square, a man was dressing up and acting as a clown, drawing the crowds. We ate our sandwich, then sat by another square where a farmers market had all kind of goods, notably bread, cheese, ham, honey and also lavender products. We walked on to the start of the short funicular railway, and would have liked a ride, but we hadn’t managed to get any Croatian money, and they didn’t take euros. Similarly at the stall selling churro type doughnuts.

Our 3 oclock pick-up worked well, so it was back to Valtravel for a cup of tea in the sunshine, before a shower. The shower-block had 3 loos plus a pissoir, and 3 showers, each with a plastic curtain - all in together. Luckily there was only us there.

Our open top bus ride in Zagreb

The barrel organist lady and our driver/guideTheo

The main square in Zagreb, with performer, and the short funicular

Sunday 20th October                                        Into Slovenia, with a visit to Maribor                        103 miles

 

It was a fine morning

The grandma, son and baby boy all waved goodbye to us when we left at 9.15. At first we were retracing our route to Marija Bistrica, joining the motorway an hour later. We thought how Austrian the houses looked.

It was a fine bit of motorway, with a lot of short tunnels, and the inevitable roadworks.

At 11.15 we left Croatia, and came back into Slovenia with almost no formalities. Adrian realised that we had no vignette for motorways in Slovenia, so we turned off and travelled on the ordinary roads to Maribor. On the outskirts we passed a new Aldi store (called Hofer here). Adrian thought that he'd get some bread, remembering too late that Aldi in England doesn't sell fresh bread. In fact they did have some, but no salted butter, so he decided to try the large adjacent Lidl store. This had good bread, but still no salted butter. By now we thought it best to have lunch in the car park, knowing our lack of success with finding somewhere to park. Something had been going on when we'd first arrived - cars were parked everywhere, but they’d gone by the time we left at 2.00 perhaps it was a market or a car boot. It had now become very windy.

We did manage to park by the River Drava at Maribor. There was nothing that I remembered from my previous visit. It is now a large and attractive town, with a big pedestrianised area, which is what we headed for. We came to the Franciscan church, and then made our way along to the cathedral. Both were large, so not my memory of the one that Val and I photographed in 1962, which resulted in us being frogmarched to the police station. (I only found out many years later that this was the reason why. The sad thing was, we lost the camera  - my dads so have no photos anyway!)

Grandma, grandson and son all wave goodbye

View on the way to the motorway in Croatia

We walked back down to the river, passing the supposed oldest vine, growing along the front of a building. It was all really pleasant on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with just a few people about. We returned to our van by the old water tower.

Aspects of Maribor - the Franciscan church and the cathedral, the chestnut sellers and the accordionist

It was now hot as we set off westwards, following the Drava River, stopping an hour later at 4.40 at a freebie place, Vodni Park, near the river. We were at Radje ob Dravi. We walked across to the nearby fishing pond, which was still quite busy with fishermen.

Down by the River Drava - the oldest vine and the former water tower

Adrian had done the much needed job of cleaning the windscreen.

We ate sushi for supper before doing a bit more of the website.

 

The fishing pond by the River Drava at Radje ob Dravi

It was a fine but windy morning. We left before 9.00, following the Drava River and driving through lovely country which already looked like Austria. Very soon we were in Austria, with no border at all. We were just disappointed that there weren't any viewpoints above the river. It was very beautiful, often with little churches on the top of hills. I was enjoying being able to take photos through the now clean windscreen!

Monday 21st October                    Across Austria and into Germany                  211 miles

We followed the Drava River in Slovenia

At Griffen we were joining the motorway, but we had a problem! You needed to have a vignette motorway pass for Austria as well and we didn't know how to get one. Adrian thought that petrol stations sold them, but the only one here was automatic, with no shop. We tried in the local supermarket. There was nobody serving at the checkout, and a short queue formed. When the harassed assistant arrived, she started to serve the next customer. When I asked about a vignette, she didn't want to know, and just seemed to say to get one in the town! Come back the Balkans, where everyone was so helpful! Our faith was restored in the little town, when we tried at a tabak, and had a very cheery and helpful assistant to get our vignette from.

We drove straight on to the motorway, with the lovely autumn colours enhancing the beautiful countryside. We stopped for coffee at Grafenstein nord, only seeing the picnic tables too late, which were hiding round the back. We drove past Klagenfurt, seeing names familiar to us from 1965, our first camping trip abroad together - St Michael in Lungau, St Johan in Pongau and Ossiachersee. We drove through a lot of tunnels, but Adrian had chosen this route as there were no really long tunnels. The two main ones, the Katchburg & the Tauern were 6km each and were at an elevation of 1400m. We stopped for lunch and Adrian filled our water bottles from a tap which appeared to have spring-water, judging by the number of people filling their bottles. We needed some drinking water, as he had inadvertently bought fizzy water last time.

Griffen - then we joined the motorway

We left at 2.00, and continued on the motorway. There were a lot of roadworks, meaning very narrow lanes, then suddenly at one point there were vertical barriers, one of which Adrian hit with the wing mirror. This necessitated pulling off through the barriers, fixing the mirror, then driving back onto the motorway again! Not easy!

Entering the 6km Katschberg tunnel

Adrian collecting springwater

Just south of Salzburg we had a long, tiresome hold-up for road works. We left the motorway at Salzburg, and were almost immediately into Germany. Adrian had sussed out a place to overnight, from our rather out-of-date book, but when we got there at 3.45, it was all being dug up and worked on! Not what we wanted at that time of day! We drove on towards another place that he had note of, but when we came across a spa carpark at Bad Reichenhall half an hour later, we pulled in amongst all the other vehicles. A man standing by his motorhome said yes, it was fine to stay the night so we pulled in.

Narrow lanes in the motorway roadworks

Tuesday 22nd October                               A hard motorway day across Germany                     281 miles

 

It was a fine morning. There were several motorhomes and lots of cars in the car park when we left at 8.50. It looked beautiful with the autumn colours on the mountains.

We soon reached the motorway, and that's how it was going to be today. A nice bonus was pulling off by Chiemsee, which looked surreal with its misty blue. We saw a lot of water birds at this most un-German pull-off from the motorway.

Lovely autumn morning

Sadly the weather now became increasingly misty. We had several hold-ups for roadworks, the first at Rosenheim. We felt for the dozens of lorry drivers, who weren't allowed to overtake. The queue on the inside lane stretched for many many miles. We crossed the River Inn, then stopped for an early coffee before Munich.

It was slow on the motorway going round Munich, and still busy when we turned north on the motorway towards Nurnberg. We crossed the Danube at Ingolstadt. We'd seen lots of fields of hops - or at least the nets. We pulled in for lunch at Offenbau rest area, south of Nurnberg.

We left here at 2.00 and headed past Nurnberg towards Wurzburg. At Hochstadt we turned off for fuel, which we got at Gremsdorf.

We passed the scene of a serious accident involving two lorries on the other carriageway. There were dozens of emergency vehicles, and the queues of traffic went on for miles.

We noticed a lot of neat vine rows in the fields now.

After a long and trying day on the motorway, at 4.25 we reached our destination  Erwin Hymer world at Wertheim, where along with many other motorhomes, we pulled in for the night. It was strange to have ‘lived in’ motorhomes mixed up with new ones for sale! Adrian went across and looked at some new ones, but wasn’t impressed. The bonus for us was that it had now become sunny and warm enough to sit outside with a cup of tea, and later with drinks.

Misty Chiemsee

Wednesday 23rd October                  Another motorway day               316 miles

 

We were up early for another day on the motorway. Adrian did the emptying, and we left at 8.30 on a misty morning, which stayed that way for most of the day, although we did have some welcome sunshine in the afternoon.

Well deserved cup of tea in the sunshine

Initially we drove beside the River Main, passing some pretty villages. Adrian went into into an Aldi store for a loaf of bread. You had to press a button for the type of loaf you wanted. The one he got was heavy, and obviously not fresh. He was also pleased to get some Irish butter, until he found that it was unsalted!

It was 9.00 when we joined the motorway towards Frankfurt. We went straight into a section of roadworks, but today didn't seem as tiresome as yesterday.

It seemed very autumnal when we made an an early coffee stop near Frankfurt. The motorway was very busy, and it was difficult getting back on.

Houses in Wertheim, with the mist

We cross the River Main

 

Our route today took us past Bonn and Koln, although we were nowhere near those places. It was sunny when we stopped for lunch before Koln. When we drove back onto the motorway, there were no cars or lorries at all on our side - a strange sight - they had obviously been held up somewhere!

Autumnal leaves and pumpkins

We passed names familiar to me from my teenage visits in the fifties - Duren and Aachen. We then went through Holland for 36km, which we hadn't expected, so Adrian hadn't bought diesel in Germany, where it's cheaper. Soon we were in Belgium. The only real hold-up we had was on the Brussels Ring Road just before we wanted to turn off for our final night, at Grimbergen. It was after 4 o'clock when we arrived at the Sports Hall car park where motorhomes could stay.

The car park filled up as boys came to play football by floodlight, but emptied again afterwards.

Where are all the vehicles?

Thursday 24th October                                                 Time to go home!                                                278 miles

 

It was dark as we got ready to leave. We came straight to a queue as we left, annoyed that we had to backtrack to get diesel before we got to France, where it is now very expensive.

When we got to the motorway, it was queues in both directions - just the volume of traffic. Luckily for us today, the hold-ups were always much worse on the other carriageway, but Adrian vowed not to drive around Brussels again!

At Ostend, we took the motorway west to Calais. This was newly surfaced, and not so busy. Even so, every rest area was crammed with lorries as they have been everywhere.

We stopped for coffee at a rest area where we had flat rural views, with moorhens and an egret.                    

We entered France, with no signs at all - the sun came out and stayed until we left Calais.

We reached Calais at 11.45 and Adrian made straight for the wine shop to stock up. I had a scary experience while he was in there! Hearing the door open, I saw a man, and assumed that he had opened the door by mistake in passing. Shortly afterwards, a French police van drew up and half a dozen policemen got out. They looked around before knocking on the door and asking if I was OK or needed help. They didn't come in, just asked about 'refugees'. Only then did it dawn on me that the chap had been trying to get in!

At the ferry terminal, Adrian mentioned it, and they gave us a special check over - I was quite pleased! The lorry queue for the terminal was enormous.

We were told that we would go on the 1.25 ferry, but in fact this left about half an hour late. We ate the sandwich I'd made while we were waiting. The weather had now become quite cloudy, and the crossing wasn't totally smooth, but we did have a bit more sun.

A egret and a moorhen as we stop for coffee in a Belgian service area

On board, we did a bit more of the website.

We arrived at wet and grey Dover at 2.30 (3.30) By 3.50 we were on our way home. As so often, there were long delays. There is a 50mph speed limit on the M20 between Folkestone & the M26 as most lanes are blocked off for 'Operation Brock' - stacking lorries in event of a 'no deal' Brexit.   This was most tedious, and then traffic on the M25 was stopped before Cobham services and things just got worse. We turned off at junction 11 and took a cross country route through Chobham, trying to avoid the worst of the queues, but there was traffic wherever we went. By the time we got to the M3 at Lightwater, there was a queue to Bagshot, so we went along to Hook and across to the A33 at Reading. We arrived home just before 7.00pm, which was 8.00 to us. We had decided to sleep in the van, on the drive, but first Adrian had to unload all the wine! The heating hadn't been on in the house, so Adrian turned it on for the night. We ate supper in the van (beans on toast!) and looked through our eight weeks post. It had been a great time away.

 

Tomorrow we are going to Janice's mum Lilian's funeral in Bournemouth so will have to be up early

 

 

Dover here we come!

Sid, Serbia to Home

    

A few notes on the Balkans

Politics, religion and history too complicated to understand

Still rumblings of dissent and underlying problems

EU countries more touristy and outwardly better off

Very little signs of the past troubles

Young people dressed like any Europeans 

Many people had mobile phones

No traffic problems in the country, but in cities as bad as anywhere

Worse traffic problems in Albanian and Macedonian cities, as there were no road markings

People friendly and helpful everywhere

Shops fairly European (except Albania)

Visa cards accepted in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia

Money difficult as it was different in each country

Croatia is in the EU but does not use Euros

Slovenia and Montenegro use euros, although Montenegro is not in EU!

Everything cheaper outside EU

Virtually no recycling outside EU

Albania very rural outside cities - agriculturally orientated

No signage in Albania

Campsites varied, generally simple but mostly with facilities

Campsites mostly family run, so more caring

At no time did we ever feel threatened

 

Countries we drove through - in order

France

Switzerland

Italy

Slovenia

Italy (again - one night)

Croatia

Montenegro

Albania

Greece (for the day)

Albania (again)

North Macedonia

Serbia

Croatia

Slovenia

Austria

Germany

Holland

Belgium

France

 

Places that we particularly enjoyed

Lake Geneva - picnic with Simon & Laure/Manolo & Millie

Palmanova (Italy)- walk around town & to town square

Julian Alps

Kransa Gova - meeting by chance with Julia & George - former Priors Court parent

Bled - coffee by the river near Lakes Bled and Bohinj

Skofja Loca and other old towns in Slovenia

Lubljana - Presernov Square - unexpectedly

Muggia, Italy - overnight by the sea

Jajce (waterfalls)

Sarajevo - walking round and good night stop

Autocamp at Stolac, above the river

Boat journey back from Dubrovnik at sunset, on Adrian's birthday

Lake Skadar - unexpected early morning boat trip

Lake Koman - gorge boat trip

Drinks in Tirana carpark with two French couples

Berati - the 'houses up the hill' and the castle

Camping by the beach at Vlore

The experience of the hot springs at Benji

Lake Ohrid - in both Albania and Macedonia

Driving along beside the Danube

Belgrade - petit train ride

Campfire with cheese and bubbly, Kopak

Osijek - coffee beside the peaceful river

Zagreb - open-top bus ride

 

Names that we got to

Slovenia

Croatia

Bosnia

Macedonia

Montenegro

Serbia

Sarajevo

Tirana

Belgrade (visited by train 1963 - R)


 

Overall Mileage   -   5400 miles                                We were away  59 Nights