Balkans or Bust

After our trip to Asia we had a whirlwind three-weeks back in the UK, where, with winter behind us, we moved back into the Beastlet (our Benimar Mileo 201 motorhome), got her serviced, mot-ed and otherwise ready for our next European trip, this time around the Balkans.

With hindsight, three weeks back home didn’t provide us with much time to catch up with everyone we wanted to see, as well as getting ourselves and the motorhome ready but on the other-hand, the weather through April in the UK wasn’t brilliant and heading South in search of some sunshine seemed like a good idea.

After overnighting at the motorhome Aire in Canterbury (otherwise known as the New Dover Road Park & Ride) we caught an early morning ferry from Dover to Calais. All went smoothly and we were soon on French soil again, this time turning left, heading towards Belgium.

The ‘smoothness’ of our departure soon hit a minor bump. We had planned to stock up at a French supermarket before driving further South but unbeknown to us, we had arrived on one of the many French Bank Holidays, so of course everything was shut. We decided that after our early morning wake-up and three weeks of chaos it mightn’t be a bad idea to chill for an afternoon, so after finding a free Aire just North of Calais, we took a breath and relaxed.

Having spent the last three months travelling around Asia we hadn’t done much research for this trip, other than a rough plan to only spend the first 30 days in the Schengen Zone. This would then allow us a full three months back in Schengen at the end of the trip to make our way home. Let the Schengen shuffle commence!

We wanted to spend as much of the 30 days as possible in Slovenia and Croatia before heading out of the EU into Bosnia and Herzegovina, so this meant a few big driving days.

Our first day took us down through Belgium (avoiding the pricey French toll roads), through Luxembourg and into Germany. We had found what sounded like a good place to spend the night in the town of Merzig.

The Wolfspark Werner Freund is a rescue centre for wolves which are kept in large fenced enclosures. There is parking for motorhomes right outside and the toilets are open 24 hours, making it a great overnight stop. The Wolfspark doesn’t charge admission but there is a donation box.

After a peaceful night we walked around the park and saw some curious wolves who were keen to check us out.

Back on the road, we continued our journey South to a stop just North of Munich at a motorhome dealership, where there were probably at least 40 motorhomes staying overnight in their overflow parking – another free stop. A genius idea by them as we saw countless people coming our of their salesroom with their new buys.

This was also a good stop for us as it was just a few km’s from the Dachau Concentration Camp, which has now been turned into a memorial.

It is free to visit and there is an interesting museum on the site. Most of the buildings where the inmates were kept have been demolished but one has been reconstructed to help provide more insight.

Also still standing is the crematorium. There are gas chambers alongside it but according to the literature they were never actually used.

As you would expect, touring Dachau was a very sobering experience. However, it is important that places like this are maintained and visited so that we can never forget the horrors that were perpetrated in WW2 and hopefully never allow them to be repeated.

After a couple of hours in Dachau we were back on the move heading South into Austria. Our final stop on our headlong journey South was in a tiny village, just a stone’s throw from the Slovenian border.

We noticed that we were parked next to another British motorhome so we went over to say hello and to our surprise it was a British couple, Clive and Eva, who we had met on our travels last year in Normandy. It was lovely to see them again and we had an enjoyable evening catching up.

The next morning we drove into Slovenia and headed for what many consider the jewel in the crown of the country, Lake Bled. We stopped at a motorhome Aire just outside Bled but close enough for us to cycle to the lake.

We were only staying 2km from the lake but unfortunately road works were ongoing rebuilding the cycle path, so the diversion was a 5km route up a very steep hill. Alright for Sarah with her electric bike! However, once we were at the lake there is a nice flat path all the way around.

The lake is very pretty, with the castle on a crag above it and a church on an island in the lake. We stopped off on the lake shore for our first Slovenian pint, Lasko, which was much needed after our hot sunny day.

There are a couple of gorges in the area, so the next day we cycled to Vintgar Gorge, just the other side of the lake from where we were staying. Curiously though the river in the gorge flowed away from Lake Bled despite being higher.

The gorge consists of a walkway through very narrow sections and finishes with a big waterfall. There was quite a long walk back to the parking lot and over the cliff walls of the gorge. Overall though it was very pretty.

Roughly 25kms southwest of Lake Bled and definitely worth the short drive is Lake Bohinj. A beautiful rural area which is much less developed and consequently less busy. It was a bit of a rainy day but we had a lovely cycle from our park-up through the countryside and along the river to the lake, said hello to a couple of rambunctious donkeys and enjoyed an ice-cream despite the somewhat chilly day.

Wild camping is not allowed in Slovenia and we were finding it to be quite expensive, not to mention that we had only bought a seven-day vignette, so we moved on pretty quickly towards the tiny Slovenia Adriatic coast, all 47km of it, but first, we stopped off at the utilitarian town of Postojna.

Postojna is home to the Postojna cave which is one of the largest in the world and consists of 24km of tunnels. This though is a good example of how Slovenia is an expensive place to be a tourist – the entry fee to the cave was €30 each.

You start the journey on a small train which whisks you 5km through tunnels dripping with stalagtites to the biggest section of the cave where you have to get off and walk. After this there is a a 1.5km walk through some large tunnels where there are some very large stalgtites and stalagmites.

The walk ends in a massive cave which is known as the concert hall with great acoustics where concerts are actually held for up to 10,000 people.

You then exit the cave via the train which takes you back to the entrance. It’s an interesting cave but I’m not sure it added anything I haven’t seen before and certainly not for the price.

Our last stop in Slovenia was the pretty seaside town of Izola. This is a small town with a marina lined with bars and restaurants and a tiny beach with the clearest water. We visited on a hot sunny day and found lots of locals sunbathing on the promenade and dipping into the water to cool off.

We stopped at a great local restaurant for a seafood lunch and after we had finished exploring, we headed back to the motorhome to pick up our hammock and books and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in park at the waters edge.

Slovenia is a beautiful country and we have left much to explore, but with limited time, we were keen to head onto our next destination, Croatia.

Now we are travelling in Europe again we have joined a travel tool called Polarsteps, which tracks our journey in real time. If you are interested, you can find us on the link below or through the Polarsteps app.

http://www.polarsteps.com/markprior3/11448382-balkans-2025

We are also attempting the ‘Instagram a day’ challenge for 2024 which is called: fromatob2024.