Road trip Italy -Slovenia- Croatia - Bosna and Herzegovina- Montenegro - Albania - Italy
9-23 Aug 2018
Day 1
Departure London - Venice
Vinegar Gorge
The plane took off from Gatwick Airport on Thursday morning 6.30am. My friend and I landed in Venice at 9.40am. It was quite a challenge to find the rental car Avis office, after we turned around the whole airport. We’ve been given the automatic Mercedes. I was struggling to make the gears work automatically, instead of making my life easier they made it more difficult. We went on the highway and after 5 hours of driving ended up in the most stunning water falls place in Slovenia - Vintagar Gorge.
We ended up not having any cash in Euro. We though we had some Pounds and asked someone for currency exchange. Unfortunately we forgot the money in the car and having only the card to pay put us in the tricky situation. We were finally offered the money 10€ by a generous man. After we walked for an hour
the experience was incredible, a beauty of the river, turquoise colour of the stream. A freezing cold waterfall made me enter the subconscious state of mind, initially I hardly could feel my body and eventually I’ve got used to that freezing cold river and swam for a good 20min. After I came out of the water I had hyperthermia, I was shaking for another 20min like crazy. I haven’t regretted it. It felt magical.
We were wondering why nobody who was coming back from the waterfall wasn’t wet. We found an answer when we jumped into the ‘iceberg’ water 😲
We went for a dinner at the Bled lake. It was a beautiful lake surrounded by the mountains with the stunning views. We had to come back to the Vingar Gorge for the night to free camp.
Day 2:
Slovenia:
The lake Bled
Ljubljana
Izola
We woke up the next day immersed in the green surrounded by the mountains and trees. The waterfalls car park started filling up quickly. At some point we had to put down our tent and leave.
We did some shopping at the nearest Shopping Centre “Mercator” by the lake Bled. Beside buying some fruit and vegetables we had to sort out some blankets for the following night. We almost froze to death the first night at Vintgar Gorge as the outdoor temperature during the night went down to approx 12 cel-degrees.
Vintage Gorge is definitely the must see in Slovenia. Is in the middle of the country far away from the sea in the mountains.
The lake Bled was also an amazing experience. We drove around the lake in search for a spot to have some swim and picnic. It has taken us a while to find the free place to park. Not far away from the castle we stopped for a couple of hours (free car park allowance). It took us a half an hour walk to go down the lake and refresh. I swam back and forward to the church on a little island opposite to the place we were resting. An advantage of this lake was that no engine boats were allowed so I could swim wherever I wanted. The lake was ruff as the weather was changing. Probably not far away from us was some storm but it didn’t affect us.
My friend made for us such a nice mixed salad with some tuna, mozzarella cheese and dry cranberries. As we didn’t have any cutlery we ate it by hands which felt so liberating.
On the way to the coast on the highway we stopped to offer a help to some guys from Lamborghini. They were fine, waiting for the car service staff member to come over to fix up the car. They recommend us to go to Izola. So we did. We parked in front of the sea where we could sea a beautiful sunset.
After we filled up our stomachs with scamps cream and seafood polenta we took our camping equipment from the car and hoped for the best😩 After wondering around in the parks by the Izola’s Marina in search for the best spot to camp, looking like nomads we gave up and came back to the car to drive somewhere else. We wondered around for a couple of hours and eventually we found the spot to put our tent on. We camped at Seca by the canal. When we got up the next day in the morning we were by the little harbour in the middle of the corn fields.
Day 3
Croatia:
Rijeka
After a quite night by the Seca Canale, in the morning we were greeted in Italian by the cyclists and runners and offered a cup of coffee. We didn’t take advantage of the invite but it was nice of them. We went back on the road and ended up in a nice isolated nudist beach (Šetalište Milića Jardasa, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia). We spent 24h there, just swimming, sunbathing and catching up with emails. It was a great place to camp and spend some time by the sea on the rocky beach.
Day 4
Rijeka
Jasenice
After a morning swimming, yoga practice and sunbathing during the shivasana (yogic rest) on the nudist beach we packed up our tent and left Rijeka. We went back on the road. We were heading towards Split (3.5h). We stoped in Jasenice. As we drove on the highway that moon look 👀 coast looked very appealing and inviting to come of the car and jump into the turquoise water of the Adriatic sea. We drove for 1 km literally by the sea and there were no buildings at all. It was us, few other cars, sales people and tourists. We refreshed in the water had some supper and went back on the road towards Split.
Once we reached Split we didn’t like the idea of staying there at all so we continued driving.
We decided to stay in the hotel Zanjice in Podstrana.
Day 5
Croatia
It was nice to spend some quite night in the hotel with the front sea room. It was like we have been still camping but in a little bit more comfortable circumstances. Even thought I would prefer camping but I need to compromise with my friend’s needs. Also sometimes it’s just better to take the hotel as during the night it’s not easy to find a wild spot for camping.
After a morning swim and yoga practice we drove further down to south of Croatia.
We stoped by the nudist beach in Šetalište Milića Jardasa, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia
https://goo.gl/maps/xkPENZmr2vp
Such a beautiful place to swim and rest. It was quite hard to get there down the hill on a very difficult path. My friend’s feet were blooding. After an hour of walk in the desert we walked down the beach. It was such a nice reward to swim and rest in the paradise. We met some Croatians who worked on the boat. They were very kind to us. Antonio and Zoran invited us for a very tasty fish dinner and paid for the accommodation at the Apartments San Antonio
Stablinska ul. 1a, 20340, Ploče, Croatia +385 20 676 192
https://goo.gl/maps/T8muBJqSz2K2
We had a nice night of sleep in a comfortable accommodation.
Day 6
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kravica Waterfall
Mostar
Međugorje
After early morning yoga practice on the terrace at the Apartments San Antonio in Ploce my friend and I came back on the road. We drove for 1.5h to the border between Croatia and Bosna and Herzegovina to go to the Kravica Waterfalls. Unfortunately we’ve been stopped by the border officer control as we apparently needed a green card. We could have bought it at the border for 20€ but we refused it as we already had an international car insurance. While we were on the side to decide what to do we’ve been told by the same official that we weren’t allowed in Bosna and Herzegovina at all. The reason why we couldn’t go through the border was that we didn’t have the original car registration papers. We had to turn back and drive to Croatia. I made a phone call to make sure at the car rental agency Avis if we were allowed to drive in the following countries, such as: Bosna and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. And the answer of a very impatient Italian agent was “no”. We couldn’t drive in those countries as for the international car rental regulations. There was nothing to argue about and discuss further.
As we were driving along the coast down to Dubrownik we accidentally entered Bosna and Herzegovina without any checks.
Then we decided to go back on track and visit the Kravica Waterfall and Arabic part of Mostar further north, both in the mainland.
The Kravica waterfalls were amazing, must do and see experience.
It took us only 1.5h to get to waterfalls from Croatian coast Neum. Bosna and Herzegovina is similar to Croatia in terms of the landscape just with less coast line and more mountains. It’s much poorer and polluted but still very beautiful and cheap. We didn’t have a good experience initially with local officials by the borders which we crossed few times back and forth but eventually we met some nice Bosnian representative. At the waterfalls as we were falling down the stones to get to the heart of the falling water we met some kind men who were saving us from drawing. One from Bosna and Herzegovina who is currently living in the States - Marco and his Italian friend - Gaetano who lives in Germany. We spent a couple of hours on having a nice hydro massage across the whole body. The effect of the nature bitting us up was phenomenal. We loved every moment of it. The sky became covered by clouds. The outdoor temperature was high almost 40 cel degrees. When we came out of the water we were cold. Eventually we’ve got a first cup of tea since we left the Uk. If was a mission impossible to find the normal black tea. As we were already in Bosna we were advised to go to Mostar. When we arrived the beauty of the city didn’t appeal to us at all. Eventually when we drove into the old town we suddenly realised why everyone was so excited about this place. The Arabic influence made this medieval city unique. https://goo.gl/images/t9Hsqx
I was speechless from the moment we’ve entered the old town.
The cafes and restaurants spread out along the Neretva river, colourful Arabic style shops and a beautiful Stary Most (Old Bridge) above the river makes Mostar such a main touristic attraction point.
My friend had some fish dinner with a desert and it all costed only 8€. We were sitting in a very Porche restaurant “Divan” to catch up with our work on line. We had some WiFi and socket to plug the computers.
We bumped into our new friends from the waterfalls and arranged the next meeting in the wholly place Međugorje's Risen - Christ Statue https://goo.gl/maps/sHSzeen7Ef22
Because our computers had still the UK time therefore we’ve arrived to the meeting point 1,5h later. They were still there. The Christian event apparently was very well known especially by the Italian community. We arrived after the mess. Then we climbed up for half an hour to reach the wholly place. The path was nice made of sharp stones and lamps giving us the light to follow. It was a pleasant night which we spent with nice people.
At the end as usual we had to find the place to stay. We stopped by the guest house recommended by our Friends. We spent only 17€ per night in comparison to the hotel in Croatia (70€).
Day 7
The next day after yoga practice we said “good bye” to our friends and left. Marco and Gaetano left for Frankfurt and we headed back to Croatia.
Before reaching Dubrownik we stoped at this beautiful bay by Brsecine. I had a nice 1h swim and sunbathing. It was what I needed. It could be exhausting traveling and having great time 😂Sometimes you just need to rest and do nothing at least for half an hour.
Soon we were ready to go to Dubrovnik. It took us only half an hour from a beautiful beach to get to Dubrovnik.
As everyone mentioned Dubrovnik is such a beautiful city full of bricks roofs, with the stone houses and stone surfaces spread out across the old town. The harbour of this super crowded city is impressive with an access to swim in a beautiful transparent and turquoise water.
We had a great ice cream (2€) and had to go to find a spot for free camping over the night. We went around the Hotel Palace area where I were advised to camp around. Because it was late evening we couldn’t find any spot so we went back to a beautiful beach to camp over night. The spot was stunning but noisy. We could hear any noise during the night.
Day 8
I hardly slept at all but getting up in the morning in front of the beautiful sea and jumping into this cristal clear water was the best reward.
We did some yoga practice, ate some watermelon and headed back to Dubrovnik for lunch. My friend pointed a nice and very pricy restaurant with delicious Italian sea food: Prijeko Palace Prijeko ul. 24, 20000, Dubrovnik, Croatia
https://maps.google.com?q=42.641833,18.108916&hl=en-GB&gl=uk
So we treated each other with octopus ragu pasta and black seafood risotto. We had some dark chocolate mouse with berries for desert. All very sophisticated and tasty. We went for our last swim in Dubrovnik and got back on the road to drive to Montenegro.
Funny enough we entered again the country where we weren’t supposed to drive with our rented car. We didn’t even have any green card and the immigration officers haven’t even questioned it. They just let us in.
Day 9
Montenegro:
Kotor - UNESCO Haritage
Arza Beach near Mirista - free camping
Galija beach - free camping
We were coasting the Herzeg-Novi and Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. The view of the mountains surrounding this natural salty water lake formed of the sea was amazing. I had a swim at some point before we entered Kotor - UNESCO’s Haritage. I’ve visited it twice before and this was a third time but first by night. It’s always nice to wonder around those narrow streets made of stones surrounded by the rocks.
My friend invited us to a tasty dinner: thick fish soup, octopus salad and goat cheese. We didn’t enjoy the goat cheese but the rest was nice.
We had one more hour of drive to get to Arza Beach near by Mirista. I’ve been there twice over last year. It was the first time I did a free camping there. In fact it is a very well knows place for campers and it was a bit too croudy. We choose a nice spot on the concrete platform next to the sea where we put on our tent.
During the night there was a dog barking madly, I was expecting us to have a quite night but it wasn’t a case. In the morning we had to put down the tent quickly as it turned out as it was a private spot. How come the beach can be private...? Without any discussion we put down the tent and practiced some yoga on that platform. Eventually we left around the noon and headed down to the last destination in Montenegro - Sfenti Stafan- Galija Beach.
This was definitely a highlight of our trip. The beach was isolated from the civilisation and very wild. Rocks around and wonderful transparent crystal clear water. It was a perfect spot for a wild camping, swimming and yoga. It was the first night we slept well and in peace only with the sound of the sea. The night was warm.
Day 10
Montenegro:
Galija Beach
After the morning swim and yoga practice we had to go to the Galija beach next to our wild beach to search for some shade. The cost of hiring the umbrella with two sunbathing beds was 25€. The beach was wonderful but people not at all. It was such a fake ambient with people who became very rich recently and they thought they were the most important in the world. We didn’t have any choice to go anywhere else if we wanted to spend some more time on this marvellous beach. We were isolated from the people and spent a nice time in a shade chilling out and catching up with some reading and writing. The staff members weren’t that nice, quite arrogant and with such a narrow window of tolerance.
After such a colourful and wonderful sunset we headed back to our little beach to rest for the night in our tent. I went for a swim just after sunset and the water was warm and smooth. My favourite swim of the trip. We went to sleep at 9pm and slept well again.
Day 11
Montenegro:
Galija Beach
Albania:
Border
Lezhë
Cape of Rode
Montenegro
The morning on our desert beach was hot and the water very ruff and cold. The swim was great. After yoga practice we packed and were ready for the rode trip to Albania. On Galija Beach we encountered some Albanian Americans from New York. They had some houses in Montenegro on the former Albanian land. They recommended us to go to Albania. Albania is cheap, beautiful and the food is delicious. My friend was concerned about the time we’ve got left before our plane on 23rd of August. She miscalculated the days left of our trip and thought we had less time. In fact we had one more week left and we could have visited Albania. Eventually we were going to the Montenegro-Albania border but probably we needed to turn around and head back north later on on that day.
We met the French hitchhiker on the way to the Albanian border. He was a mason and he was walking from France to Indonesia, occasionally hitchhiking. He had a job in Istanbul to build a fountain for a rich property owner and in Indonesia to make some stone sculptures. He was planning to get the plane licence and fly back to France from Indonesia. The coast of the plane is approx 6000€. I wish I could join him for the second leg of his journey from Albania down to Istanbul and further on to Indonesia.
It’s been so far quite an adventure to drive on the Albanian roads. The GPS kept redirecting us back and forth on to the countryside nasty roads and we couldn’t find the right track. The restaurants by the roads were not selling any fish, only pork.
Eventually we found a nice spot to eat some grilled fish with mixed salad and home made fries which was delicious. Also the sheep cheese was amazing. Nobody really enjoyed it as much as I did. We were still carrying on with us this poor French hitchhiker who must have though we were slightly mad. My friend was stoping literally at each restaurant. There was no restaurant which would have served other than the pork food. Pirre was such a great company and he played a guitar to make our trip more joyful. The radio in all Balkans really sucks. There is no channel with a good music. So either my friend was singing for us or on this occasion our new French friend was playing and singing.
Eventually we’ve reached the pick of the Cape of Rode. The beach was nice with a beautiful view. It was a first sandy beach we ended up on during our whole 2 weeks trip but the sand wasn’t nice. It looked grey and dirty. The bottom of the sea was muddy, the water wasn’t that transparent as we were used to. Even swimming wasn’t that enjoyable because of the stones and rocks in the sea. The north Albania especially the Tale Beach is not the best place on our must visit list. We passed by Lezhë to see the medieval castle which was nice, located on the top of the hill with a nice view on Lezhë. Albanian borders officials weren’t happy with us driving in their country without the green card and original insurance papers. The roads were disgusting and we understood why the rental car companies didn’t have insurance which would cover them. Everything ended up well. After a day of traveling in Albania we came back to Montenegro where we felt much more comfortable. The dream of a wonderful beaches and tasty Albanian food will remain just a dream until we get back there on a different occasion and will give this country a second chance to be beautiful and friendly.
My friend is a day driver and I am a night driver. After some time of driving we’ve got tired and my friend booked us by Hotwire some luxurious apartment (75€ per night). I had a shower before going to sleep and the whole room was flooded and even the corridor outside of our apartment. The apartment looked very Porche but the bathroom facilities weren’t reflecting it at all.
Day 12
Montenegro
After a good night sleep in the apartment I woke up at 8 am and had some yoga practice. My friend joined as well. I did some work on my Mac. We had some issue with the manager of the apparent who kept coming into our room and asking for things like signing her guest book and then reminding us what time we need to leave. She would enter our room without nocking. It was distressing. We left at noon and headed up by the coast to Croatia.
After a couple of hours drive we stopped at Budva, which I visited in May while running the Ashtanga Yoga Retreat in Montenegro. We went to one of the the most beautiful beaches of Montenegro - Morgen Beach. Unfortunately also the most crowded beach. We found some spot at the very end of the beach on the rocks with some shade. I went for a lovely swim around the rocky coast and I ended up by the caves. There was a narrow passage between both sides of the sea divided by the rocks. It was a very narrow canal which I didn’t want to risk to dive in as I might have ended up clashing into the rocks. The light in between those rocks with the reflection of a blue colour of the sea was unique and very inviting. Later on when I returned there for another swim I saw a few diving boats with some divers who were tempting to jump in.
We experienced some rain in the middle of this tropical heat. The funny thing was that people started hiding from the water dropping from the sky instead they simply could stay in the sea. What’s the difference where the water comes from...?This off course worked on our behalf. We had more space. We left beach after a couple of hourse and walked to the old town of Budva. Budva is another Mediaeval kind of town such as Kotor in Montenegro and Dubrownik in Croatia. It was tiny and pretty. We had some ice-cream and were ready to go further up north. My friend booked us a hotel (60€) near by Dubrovnik.
Day 13
Croatia:
Plitvice Lakes National Park - UNESCO haritage
After we wake up and did some yoga we were ready to go for three hours to the best waterfalls in Croatia - Plitvice Lakes National Park (30€). It was such an experience to go across the lake by the boat and then walking around the lake to reach the biggest waterfalls. Then the walk around the lake took us to see other waterfalls. We spent all day there and it wasn’t enough. We took the shuttle bus and went back to the car park area to pick up our car. We spent a night in my favourite apparent at the Slovenian mountains - Dobra Hiša Zdravja Čičarija, Golac 85, 6243 Golac, Slovenia Dobra Hiša Zdravja Čičarija
Golac 85, 6243 Golac, Slovenia
+386 51 670 888
https://goo.gl/maps/mybg9pPsMtB2
The guest house was hidden in the mountains and the night was very quite. The silence was impressive and the place was amazing.
Day 14
As soon as I woke up I did some yoga filming for my online movement academy. After my friend woke up at 9.30 am we had some continental breakfast consists of: eggs, fried local sheep and goat cheese, some French toasts, cheese and ham toasts, cheese and salami slices, tomatoes from the owners farm, musli with some yogurt and honey and a cup of tea with croissant (6€). This breakfast kept us on going until the evening. We drove in 3 hours to Treviso - the Italian harbour city which wasn’t impressive especially with 40 cel degrees of heat. We drove up along the east-north coast of Italy towards Venice. Our last destination was a very beautiful and wild
Beach Canovella de 'Zoppoli, Località Aurisina Cave, 34011 Aurisina TS, Italy. Totally recommended , a very nice spot with a stony beaches. Few people at this time of the year - the third week of August. I enjoyed swimming in between of hundreds of jellyfish. They were huge of a plastic back size, white and violet. I’ve been stank surprising only once, considering that I’ve been swimming for an hour in a Adriatic Sea filled up by jellyfish. I though I was going to have some allergic reaction but likely it wasn’t the case. My friend and I chilled out for 4 hours on this beautiful Italian beach and went back on the road to drive for next 1.5h to Venice to take off to London. It was a challenge to pack up our car house into our bags and close them up. The amount of mosquitos at the rental car park at Marco Polo airport of Venice was disastrous. We were challenged by 40 cel degrees of the heat, without any breeze of the wind and with plague of mosquitoes eating us alive. Eventually we’ve managed to pack up and enter the airport with the AC. For the first time I was so thankful for the AC 🙏 We returned the renter car - Mercedes which was all automatic and had brain on its own. We couldn’t figure out so many things, neither how to turn off the brights which were driving other drivers crazy, nor how to turn off the internal lights while locking the car. Even starting up the car for the first couple of days was a challenge. When we drove into someone’s driveway nobody including the owners had a clue how to reverse back the car. It was quite an adventure to drive this super advanced car which we didn’t expect to have at all in a first place.
Eventually we flew back to London and left behind our dream life which was so good to be truth. Hoping that the next trip will happen some time next year 2019.
