June 2017 Road trip europe 2017
Bridget and TT Road Trippin'
The Trip Synopsis: Bridget Scanlan and I did a road trip through Central Europe, mostly the Balkan Peninsula, from June 12 - 25th, 2017. We are longtime friends and co workers from two different companies. We began in Dubrovnik, Croatia on June 12 and ended in Budapest, Hungary on June 25th. The trip included a lot of one lane country roads and roads less traveled as well as exploring the cities along the way. We planned the trip loosely prior to beginning, but for the most part planned day by day along the way. Below is a short description and photos from each day's activities.
Number of Days: 14
Car Driven: 2017 Dacia Duster (Diesel) rented from Sixt
Petrol Used: 169 Litres / 43 Gallons
Miles/Kilometers Driven: 2954 Kilometers / 1836 Miles
8 Countries Driven Through: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary
Pre road trip June 8 - 11th
I flew into Dubrovnik, Croatia and met my friend Mati from Mallorca on June 8th prior to Bridget's arrival on June 10th and the commencement of the road trip on June 12th . By the time we got settled into our Airbnb on June 8th it was almost dinner time, so we took the bus from our Airbnb into the Old Town part of Dubrovnik and had dinner and drinks. We found a really cool bar that was carved out of the cliff facing the ocean for after dinner drinks.
On the second day, May 9th, Mati and I took the rental car into Bosnia and Herzegovina for a day trip. Growing up and being a teenager in the early 1990's I will always remember the war the wreaked havoc on the region. I was a bit nervous to visit because since the war I really haven't heard a lot of news from Bosnia. It turned out to be an excellent journey and I'm very glad that I did it, although I wish we had included Sarajevo. We traveled to the city of Mostar to see the Stari Most Bridge which was a 3.5 hour drive including stops and several changes to our route. The Stari Most Bridge was destroyed on November 9, 1993 during the war and reconstructed and reopened in July 2004. It was interesting to drive around the city of Mostar and in some parts of the city with older buildings there were still bullet holes in the buildings from the war. During our route back and forth we exited and entered both Croatia and Bosnia several times because of their meandering boarders. At one point on our way there we did turn back and take another route because we found ourselves on a very narrow old paved road and lost all mobile phone service. Being our first time in Bosnia, we decided it was best to stay on a more traveled road. Overall it was a very good trip to get used to driving in this part of the world.
May 10th, Bridget arrived! I hadn't seen Bridget in over 2 years and it was great to see her smiling face at the DBV airport when she arrived. Bridget was a trooper and survived jet lag until later in the evening. After we settled her into the Airbnb we went to Old Town Dubrovnik to have a late lunch and to walk the fortified old city walls. It was a beautiful view out to the Adriatic Sea and a great view of all of the red roofed ancient buildings within the city's walls.
On May 11th we took another day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina and ventured to Karvica Waterfalls about 3 hours from Dubrovnik.
Day 1 - June 12, 2017 - Drove From Dubrovnik, Croatia to kotor, Montenegro
We saddled up our Dacia Duster and began the first day of our Epic European road trip. We drove from Dubrovnik, Croatia through Bosnia and Herzegovina, into Montenegro. We had a very windy route on day one because of the mountainous terrain. It was learned quickly that our navigation would be taking us on some very interesting isolated roads, so we used the car's navigation, the Garmin (Emily), and at least one of our phones to ensure we didn't get lost. We also saw a lot of critters along the way. Westopped at the beautiful monastery, Manastir Ostrog, that is built into a cliff. Then, we had a long drive on one lane roads through the mountains down into Kotor, Montenegro. A total of 257 KM or around 160 Miles were driving on Day 1. We stayed in an Airbnb in Kotor.
Day 2 - June 13, 2017 - Drove from kotor, montenegro to Plav, montenegro
After a long first day of travel, we slept in a bit and then explored Kotor, Montenegro until early afternoon. We walked around the old city center and had some lunch. It was a very hot day, but we ventured onto the city wall and explored a little bit prior to heading to our next destination. We traveled 231 Kilometer or around 144 Miles from Kotor, Montenegro to Plav, Montenegro. Along the way we stopped to admire a lot of the natural beauty several times on the mostly windy paved mountain roads. We did stumble upon a monastery that we purchased some honey at and also a very old chruch in the middle of the mountains. We stayed in a cool, spooky old stone and wood hotel Hotel Kula Damjanova.
Day 3 - June 14, 2017 Grebaje, Montenegro - Epic hike
We did an Epic Hike close to Grebaje, Montenegro and spent our second night in the spooky old hotel. Through our two days of driving through Montenegro we learned how diverse the country of Montenegro is. We went from costal views with soaring cliffs to the interior mountainous and farm region of Montenegro. During our hike we found the path that we thought we were looking for, but to this day, we're not sure which one we did (LOL!). It was definitely NOT a beginner hike. We were hiking directly to the boarder between Montenegro and Albania, however, we turned around prior to reaching Albania.
Day 4 - June 15, 2017 Drove from Plav, Montenegro to skopje, Macedonia (through kosovo)
On our way out of Montenegro, again on very narrow sometimes dirt country roads, we decided to hike to Hridsko Lake. During our drive to the lake the road kept getting worse and worse with steep inclines, big rocks and in some places the road washing out, so we decided to ditch the Duster on the side of the road and hike the remaining few kilometers to the lake. The side trip to Hridsko Lake took quite a bit longer than expected, but it was worth the detour. Once we were on the road again we headed in the direction of Kosovo so that we could make our way to Skopje, Macedonia for a 2 night stay. Kosovo was definitely the most tense I was driving as the border crossing was a bit more secured and we were also told that we would have to turn around to a little kiosk on the side of the road to buy Kosovo liability insurance. All in all though, we made it through without too much fuss. We made it to Skopje, Macedonia around 2130 that night and stayed in an Airbnb in Skopje.
Day 5 - June 16, 2017 Explored Skopje, Macedonia
No driving on Day 5. We Explored the Old Town Bazaar and the town around the Airbnb.
Day 6 - June 17, 2017 drove from Skopje, Macedonia to Sapareva Banya, bulgaria
On our drive into Bulgaria, we wanted to go to Chalet of Seven Falls, but it was raining too hard so we went to Rila Monestary instead and saved Chalet of Seven Falls for the next day. Along the way we encountered a lot of huge old apartment and factory buildings that I suspect were built during the communist era of Bulgaria (this is to be researched further). We stayed in Yuliya Guest House in Sapareva Banya.
Day 7 - June 18, 2017 Tried to go to Chalet of Seven Falls and drove to Sofia, bulgaria
We tried to go the the Chalet of Seven Falls. It started to rain very hard as soon as we bought our lift tickets to get up to the area of the falls. On the way up the chair lift to go to the falls we got soaked and were miserable! We were not properly prepared for the weather on this day. We, along with a few dozen other brave or crazy souls that made the trip up spent an hour or so in the lodge huddled by the fire and decided to come back down because of the rain and fog. We drove to Sofia, Bulgaria and walked around our airbnb. That night we had a traditional Bulgarian dinner at Hadjidraganovite kashti which consisted of lot of meat.
Day 8 - June 19 Drove from sofia, bulgaria to Veliko Tărnovo, bulgaria
Along the way we stopped at two caves Sаeva Dupka (Съева Дупка) and Devetàshka cave (Деветашката пещера). We stayed in Veliko Tărnovo that night at the Concorde Hotel.
day 9 - june 20 drove from Veliko Tărnovo, Bulgaria to bucharest, Romania
All along the way through Bulgaria and Romania there were fields and fields of sunflowers and wheat. There were also a lot of horse carts on the roadways along this part of our journey. Our first stop was at the ancient ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum. Our second stop was at the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo. Once we reached Bucharest we encountered the craziest traffic of the trip. The next two nights we stayed in Bucharest in an Airbnb.
Day 10 - June 21 Explored bucharest, romania and did the hop on hop off tour bus
No driving during Day 10, explored Bucharest.
day 11- June 22 drove from bucharest, Romania to sibiu, romania
Along the way we stopped at Bran Castle (where Dracula/Vlad the Impaler was rumored to have lived because of the movie version of Dracula) and and the ancient Fortress of Cetatea Făgăraş. We got into Sibiu in time for dinner and ate at a wonderful steakhouse called Benjamin Steakhouse. There was a film festival going on the first night we stayed so we wandered around Sibiu's Old Town after dinner. We liked the town enough to stay an extra night so that we could do a hike the next day in the Carpathian Mountains. Sibiu was actually one of my favorite cities that we visted during the trip.
Days 12 - June 23 Stayed in Sibiu and hiked
We headed out of Sibiu for the day to hike. As soon as we determined our path, a dog appeared out of nowhere and followed us the whole day up until about the last 10 minutes when the dog disappeared. We called the dog Lady and sometimes we called it Fluffy, we never did find out it's real name of course, but it was good to have a canine companion.
Day 13 - June 24 Drove from Sibiu, Romania to Budapest, hungary
Day 13 was our last day of driving long distances. We got up early and drove the 6 hours from Sibiu, Romania to our final destination of Budapest, Hungary. I had been to Budapest before for New Years 2016 and it was good to return, if only for a day, to see it during the summer as well. We explored the final city of the trip during day 13 and then went to bed early so we could return our trusty Dacia Duster the next morning at the airport and fly back to our respective homes.
Day 14 - June 25 Road Trip complete! Headed back to London!
Bye Bye Duster!! Flew through Vienna back to London to recuperate prior to my next trip.
