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Greece is the word
  • Andy Powell
  • Sara Hunt
  • Andy Powell
  • Sara Hunt

Greece is the word

Our second European van trip. 11 weeks to Greece and back, taking in 17 countries. Read more
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  • Greece is the word
    Cooking in my new 'middle of Lidl' shoes

    Camping Mimoza

    May 13, 2025 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Andy was up early for a swim at the beach below the campsite. Sara had a lie in. Then breakfast. Then off to Montenegro via Lidl!

    In our excitement (not about Lidl) we managed to leave last night's campsite without paying ☹️. Unintentionally obviously! Have now emailed them to ask how to pay remotely.

    Crossing the border was a bit tedious. We queued for about 30 mins to leave the EU. Then about the same to get into Montenegro. In both cases, we were waved thru very easily - but they were definitely taking much longer with some people, including searching their cars. I think they must like Brits in blue vans.

    We had to show our passports and the V5 for the van at both crossing points. We don't know why Montenegro does this. Bosnia didn't.

    We hadn't actually agreed on where we were heading in Montenegro before we got here so we followed the coast south to the Bay of Kotor. Then, more or less on a whim, joined the queue for the ferry to Lepetane. As we moved towards the ferry we realised that we needed to buy our ticket before boarding. Sara had to jump out of the van, buy a ticket at the kiosk, then literally run back to the van as I was boarding. Very exciting.

    After one false start, choosing, then leaving, a campsite that wasn't very good, we are now at a nice little place on the coast more or less opposite Perast - you'll have to look at a map to understand the strange geography.

    It's a beautiful area with mountains climbing straight out of the sea, not dissimilar to Crete. After settling in, we cycled back the way we had come to visit Tivat, mainly to find an ATM because the campsite is cash-only.

    Again, lots of money in the marina area, Regent Porto Montenegro, but in this case, some of it is flowing into the local economy - or at least into the local economy close to the marina. Huge developments of new buildings and shops going on. It felt like a completely different world to the one we had left on our bikes about 20 minutes before.

    We ended the day with a quick drink at the campsite bar before having a meal made with horrible Croatian sausages. Yum.    Read more

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    Around Kotor

    May 14, 2025 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Another two night stop at this campsite so we had time to cycle into Kotor today (the opposite direction to yesterday). Lovely coffee stop on the way.

    Looks like an interesting walled town but was a bit disappointing tbh. Very, very busy with people which we think was because there were two cruise liners in the bay. We had a quick look around, including an aborted attempt to climb up to the fort at the top of the walls, then cycled back to grab our Kindles and find a nice quiet beach.

    This evening we have had a proper meal out, sitting right on the waterfront as the sun set. So peaceful.

    PS think we've managed to pay for the camping two nights ago, but it involved an international bank transfer so we'll have to wait and see. Lesson learned.    Read more

  • Greece is the word
    Another friendly campsite dog!

    Camp Kljajevića Luka

    May 15, 2025 in Montenegro ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    It has been a bit of a strange day today, mainly because we didn't have any kind of plan. Originally, we wanted to head south along the coast towards Albania but looking at the weather we decided to head inland instead.

    So we crossed back on the ferry that we were on 2 days ago and then took the road north. Wow, what a great road. Much of our route covered the same ground as some of the Panoramic Roads of Montenegro - see https://www.montenegro.travel/en/explore-monten….

    We had a brief stop for coffee overlooking the lakes at Niksic, then tried to go into the town itself. We were defeated. The town looked pretty horrible tbh and parking was almost impossible. We shopped on the outskirts, then moved on, still unsure where we were headed.

    About an hour later, after we had stopped for lunch, we joined a long queue of traffic on a mountain road above a town called Šavnik. We sat there for about 2 hours, completely stuck and with nobody in the queue quite sure what the problem was.

    Eventually we started moving.

    Apparently, there is some sort of ongoing dispute in the town and the protestors have been blocking the road for 3 hours every afternoon. Nice!

    By this time we had decided where we were going but about halfway there we crossed a narrow bridge over a gorge, which we naturally stopped to photograph. We realised that there was a campsite at the end of the bridge, one that we had rejected earlier when we looked at it on Google maps. We decided to take a closer look and it is actually really nice, so we have stopped here for the night.

    We are in the Durmitor National Park which has some stunning scenery.

    We are expecting rain all day tomorrow so planning on a long drive into Serbia.    Read more

  • Greece is the word
    I think that someone should do a Phd in how different countries represent farm animals on road signs

    Camp Plum

    May 16, 2025 in Serbia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    "Putting the plum into plum brandy".

    We are at Camp Plum in Serbia after a longish 5 hour drive today.

    It was pouring with rain when we got up. More annoyingly, the electricity was off, presumably because of the rain. No morning cup of tea for us!

    The rain turned to snow as we climbed out of Montenegro, with visibility often down to next to nothing. Then, after a relatively easy border crossing into Serbia we dropped in altitude a little and the snow turned back to rain which has stayed with us all day pretty much.

    The roads have been fair to middling, the driving awful - so many near misses with overtaking on blind corners (not by us!)

    We stopped for coffee twice. The first place literally just said "No" quite aggressively (three times) when I asked for coffee. Mind you, the place was populated by 5 burly men all smoking so I don't think we would have wanted to stay anyway. It felt a bit intimidating though. The second was a motel with a resturant that wouldn't have looked out of place in Crossroads. But at least they were willing to give us coffee and let us pay by card.

    A stop at Lidl felt a bit more like home.

    We managed to get some local currency at a petrol station exchange bureau. Apparently, this is the best way to do it - just hand over Euros and get back whatever money it isvthey use here!

    This site is crazy busy - empty when we arrived but steadily filling up ever since. We are just off the main north/south main road thru Serbia so I think it gets used as a bit of a transit stop.

    An early evening cycle ride to get some exercise was a bit of a waste of time - the roads aren't great for cycling on, the bars don't look inviting and there are stray dogs roaming around in packs!

    We definitely need to do something tomorrow to improve our Serbia experience - it feels like a real low point of the trip at the moment. Not really enjoying it at all tbh.

    On the plus side... the campsite owner seems very nice. He gave us (and everyone else on the site) a couple of shots of his homemade plum brandy (slivovitz), which was really nice, to have with our meal. Yum.    Read more

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    Popoland Camp

    May 17, 2025 in Serbia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    A short hop today and probably another into Bulgaria tomorrow.

    We were going to go further but when we stopped for coffee on the motorway this morning, we spotted this place near Niš (pronounced Nish) and decided that we would take a chance on it.

    We went to a supermarket in Niš (actually a pretty good one) on the way and randomly discovered a Decathlon right next door. Ooh, we were pleased!

    However, we were oddly accosted by a begging child who wouldn't leave us alone when we got out of the van in the carpark. I say 'oddly' because this was the most up-market bit of Serbia that we have been to, an oasis of modern shops in an otherwise very run down area. But, on reflection, I guess it makes sense that it is also the best place to beg. It's the first face-to-face begging we have seen.

    Anyway, we managed to buy a couple of accessories for the bikes and a pair of long trousers for Andy. We were also hoping to buy CampingGaz but Decathlon in Serbia don't appear to stock it. We will need to find some in the next week or so.

    We tried cycling into Niš this afternoon but found the roads too fast/dangerous to cycle on so gave up and went to the campsite bar instead.

    Then met the first UK people of the trip so far on the campsite when we got back. Almost everyone else we meet is either German or Dutch. Nice to have a natter.

    Then went back to the bar later for a meal out, including a starter of Urnebes (described as "cow cheese with pepper and garlic") which was delicious.

    Again, we ended the meal with plum slivovitz - two nights running!

    Overall, a much better day than yesterday.    Read more

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    7 Lakes Camping

    May 18, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The campsite owner delivered free fresh bread to everyone on the site this morning. Nice touch. We weren't in a rush so had a nice leisurely breakfast in the sun. By the time we left, we were almost the last people there.

    We are now in Bulgaria.

    The border crossing added about an hour to the drive and we then lost another hour because the clocks went forward which meant that we didn't have time for the walk we had planned for this afternoon.

    We also managed to get lost as we approached the campsite and ended up driving down a very bumpy dirt track. Luckily, an old man spotted the lunatic Brits and gesticulated for us to follow him. We did and he led us all the way to the site. Very kind of him.

    Luckily, this campsite is attached to a thermal spa so we went and used that instead of doing the walk. Very nice... lovely warm water. Almost like having a bath.

    We don't have any local currency and we think we might need some for parking for a walk tomorrow. Unfortunately, when we walked up to the local town to get cash, the ATM ate my card :-(. To make matters worse, as we were trying to report the lost card to Nationwide, a mad beggar woman with a toy doll (!) and a dog came up and started hassling us for money.

    She would not give up!

    Stressful... just a little!

    Ah well, the campsite is quite nice with very new facilities so it is not all bad.

    I'm a bit fed up with long hours of driving so I need a day off. Will hopefully get up into the mountains for a walk around the Seven Lakes tomorrow.    Read more

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    Seven Lakes hike

    May 19, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    We woke up this morning with a plan to walk 5 of the 7 Rila lakes but when we spoke to our campsite host she confirmed what we had been told yesterday... that the chair lifts to the lakes were not running on Mondays and that if the website said they were it must be out of date.

    Despite this, we decided to drive the 30 minute trip up to the lakes anyway. Lucky we did because it turned out that the chairlifts were running!

    Parking was interesting... cash only. We were initially turned back by the parking attendant on the basis we had no cash. Then Sara remembered that we had some Euros so we turned round and tried again. The parking guy practically snatched a 5 euro note out of Sara's hand and gave her some local currency in change. Turns out that parking only cost about £2.50 for the day.

    Then, on to the chairlifts, where we still weren't sure if we could pay using a card. Luckily we could so it was all systems go.

    Onto the chairlifts and up to about 2100m, getting colder by the second.

    The walk itself was fantastic, if a little muddy and slushy in parts. Fantastic views and beautiful weather. Pretty much perfect. Lots of snow about. Too much for us to go up to the 2 highest lakes but that didn't matter - we wouldn't have wanted the extra climbing anyway.

    Then, back down on the chairlifts and back to the campsite for a dip in the pool and a quick sauna.

    We ended the day by going up to the local town for a pizza this evening.

    Overall, a pretty much perfect day.    Read more

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    Melnik

    May 20, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We are in Melnik, staying at the Hotel Bulgari Melnik, a bit of a last minute decision after doing a fairly long and hot walk from Melnik up to the Rozhen Monastery and back.

    We started the day with an indoor breakfast, making use of the kitchen/lounge on the campsite. It meant that we could use the grill to toast some of our stale bread. It felt a bit like having breakfast in a hotel! We also tried the new Wild Strawberry Jam that we bought at one of the stalls near the bottom of the chairlift yesterday.

    The walk was interesting, giving us views of the Melnik Pyramids, strange formations of very soft sandstone. It was quite flat and easy going at the beginning but very steep towards the end.

    We were hoping that the monastery would be selling some kind of liquid refreshment, given that it was listed on various wine tours. Unfortunately, it wasn't. But it was very beautiful and serene. No photography allowed, although we snuck a couple of shots outside, so we bought a postcard instead.

    When we got back to Melnik, we decided to book into one of the hotels we had walked past, grabbing a quick beer at a bar while we did so.

    Once we had checked in, we realised the hotel was also a wine museum. So we did that as well. Basically a wine tasting of 5 wines (including Winston Churchill's favourite wine!??) plus a rakia. Three reds, only one of which we liked, a white and a rose. All local.

    We had an interesting conversation with the woman running the wine tasting. She was a similar age to us, left Bulgaria with her family after the breakup of the Soviet Union and moved to the US but decided to move back because the US "isn't a good place to be any more".

    We ended the day with another meal out - ordering a tomato and mozzarella salad, fried potatoes, a mixed meat local stew and garlic bread. We finished with pistachio and green fig ice cream. All really good.    Read more

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    Camping Sylvia

    May 21, 2025 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We have made it to Greece. Hurrah!

    We crossed the border from Bulgaria at around 10.30 this morning. Within 30 minutes it had started raining, the roads had got noticeably worse and we had managed to find the worst cup of coffee of the trip so far.

    Oh well.

    This is a lovely campsite, next to the coast below Mount Olympus. We are hoping to stay for a couple of days but we're still planning our next move so watch this space. The weather hasn't been great so far in Greece but it should improve for the next couple of days. Then worse again according to the forecasts.

    We spent the afternoon washing our clothes and bedding and sitting on the beach.

    Then a quick bike ride, well supposedly, up to the nearest town which didn't quite go according to plan. We got turned away from the first bar we tried because we didn't want to order any food. Then we ordered horrible shandies rather than actual beer by mistake in the next bar. Finally, we got lost on the way back. Hah!

    More positively, when we walked back down to the beach this evening we were treated to a massive show of lightning over the coast south of Thessaloniki coupled with the tiniest flashes of light from loads of fireflies on the beach and in the bushes up to the campsite.

    Lovely.    Read more

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    Mount Olympus

    May 22, 2025 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Over breakfast we decided to stay a second night at Camping Sylvia and go for a hike on Mount Olympus. However, we needed to drive to get to the start of a walk. So we packed up, unhitched the bikes and bikerack from the van, left everything with the table and chairs on our pitch and drove up to the Mount Olympus Information Centre.

    They advised us to drive up to the Old Holy Monastery of Saint Dionysios of Olympus, then walk about 5k up the E4 footpath and back.

    It was a really nice walk, mainly thru cool, shady wooded areas. We went past the Enipeas Waterfall, continually catching glimpses of the mountains thru the trees. The walk ended at the Prionia Resturant which, despite being busy with coach parties (!), still had some vacant outside tables. Ignoring the sandwiches that we had brought with us, we had a lovely lunch of aubergine with garlic and feta, cheese and tomato bake, and fries. (We fried the sandwiches for tea later so nothing was wasted).

    It was a steep climb to get up there but fairly quick to get down again. On the drive home we went via an "outdoors" shop that claimed to sell CampingGaz. It was shut :-(. However, when we asked in the small supermarket across the road, they had some (well, the Greek equivalent) so all was good.

    We also called in at Lidl, and therefore ticked off another country on the Lidl app! We bought shorts for Sara and cushions for our camping chairs from the middle isle. Result!

    We finished off a lovely day with a short walk along the beach.    Read more

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    Camping Melissi

    May 23, 2025 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We are at Camping Melissi near Sykia, at the end of the middle Halkidiki peninsular. We are about 2.5 hours drive from our last campsite.

    We stopped for diesel and coffee on the way and then for a supermarket, which turned out to be our second visit to Lidl in as many days but we didn't buy a single thing from the middle aisle, so basically a trip wasted. Then we stopped again for lunch.

    The coast here is beautiful except for the beach right in front of the campsite, which is a bit of a wasteland. The sea is some incredible shades of blue, The views across the sea to Mount Athos are pretty stunning as well.    Read more

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    Around Sykia

    May 24, 2025 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We drove about 20m (that's meters not miles) today - just enough to get us to the next pitch, which was a bit more open than the one we were able to get yesterday. All without incident except that I managed to reverse into a tree (mainly because Sara was busy holding the pop top roof down so that we didn't have to bother putting the bed away and therefore couldn't do her normal marshalling duties!). No damage done luckily!

    Then a leisurely breakfast followed by cycling a little way around the coast to the start of a walk. The walk took us inland a bit, then to a nice beach where we stopped for a swim (well, one of us did) and to read our books. It was very hot so by the time we got back to the bikes after walking 5k we were knackered.

    This evening we walked back round the coast to have a meal at a resturant that we had passed yesterday with tables on beach - literally on the beach.

    Nice to have a relaxing day today.

    We are moving on tomorrow, effectively starting the long journey back to the UK.    Read more

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    Camping Natura

    May 25, 2025 in Greece ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    We have moved up the coast towards the border with Turkey and are at Camping Natura, just south of Xanthi.

    The weather has deteriorated quite a bit. Rain and high winds this evening. We were hoping to head back up into Bulgaria tomorrow but there are severe weather warnings over much of our proposed route so we are thinking of leaving it until Tuesday.

    Other than driving, we haven't done much today but we did stop at the Aristotle Theme Park (spoiler: not a theme park!) which made for a nice 30 minute break at about the mid-point of the drive.    Read more

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    Around Abdera

    May 26, 2025 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    As mentioned yesterday, we have stayed at Camping Natura for an extra day to avoid the extreme weather warnings in Bulgaria.

    This morning we cycled to the Archaeological Museum of Abdera, via a beach bar for coffee. The museum was pretty interesting and included a lot of artefacts from the the pre-Roman, Roman and Byzantine periods. It was also small enough to be done in about an hour which suited us fine.

    On the way back we stopped at one of the archeological sites where many of the museum artefacts had been found.

    Then we stopped at another beach bar for lunch. Places here are open but mainly empty - though they still blare out dance music for some reason.

    Talking of noise, there is a singing ringing tree (you have to be of a certain age to get that reference) on the campsite which is full of baby birds, all of which tweet non-stop from sunrise to sunset. We moved pitch when we first got here yesterday because we couldn't believe how loud it was but, tbh, it hasn't made much difference... it is loud from everywhere on the site.    Read more

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    Alexandrovo Camping

    May 27, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We are at Alexandrovo Camping in Bulgaria. We came here because the website implied that there would be good walking opportunities but in reality there aren't so we will move on tomorrow.

    It is a lovely site but in the middle of nowhere - there's no bar and only a very small shop.

    The owner is a Brit so nice to have a chat. We have picked up a booklet of Bulgarian campsites from him which also lists a lot of tourist attractions and route suggestions, so we will make use of that over the next few days.

    We came via a bird sanctuary in Greece near to last night's campsite. Unfortunately, it is either the wrong time of year or we went to the wrong area, because we didn't see anything other than one egret!

    The electricity was off at the campsite this morning which gave us a bit of a problem... no working card machine and we had no cash. So we left with their bank details and did a transfer when we got here. Hopefully that will work.

    We did manage to find an ATM on the way here and got some Euros out (without losing another card) so we are slightly better prepared than we were.

    All in all, a slightly less than exciting day but it has hopefully given us food for planning the rest of our time in Bulgaria.

    Oh... this campsite does have the cutest little puppy, rescued from a large green bin just up the road about a week ago but she seems none the worse for it.    Read more

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    Camping Dragijevo

    May 28, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We are at Camping Dragijevo near the old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo. The frogs here are really loud this evening which Sara is loving! There are also plenty of fireflies about (we just had one inside the van which was weird) and also, apparently, jackals (which the owners told us sound like children).

    We drove here via Stara Zagora, where we went to a Decathlon to buy new air mattresses because our old ones are starting to leak. Then we drove up into the Balkan Mountains to see the Buzludzha Monument, a massive architectural relic of the country’s communist past. Officially known as the House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party, it was completed in 1981 to commemorate socialist efforts and the founding of the party.

    It looks like a UFO but in its now decaying state could easily be used as the set for a post-apocalyptic zombie horror movie.

    The views from the top were glorious but it was quite cold so we had to eat lunch inside the van.

    The drive down thru the heavily wooded slopes of the mountains was also really good. We went past another big monument, the Monument of Freedom, Saint Nicholas peak but we were too lazy to climb up to it.

    Btw, we got stopped by the police today for driving without a "vignette" pass - which is the Bulgarian (and Romainian) way of collecting road tolls. We do now have a valid pass but we didn't until today and there are cameras everywhere so we probably triggered one at some point yesterday. Luckily, the language barrier led to enough confusion that we were let off. We have been told that the fine is about 40 Euros so fingers crossed that we don't get stopped again.    Read more

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    Cut and blow dry

    May 29, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We did some washing this morning, then hung around the campsite pool while we waited for it to dry.

    At lunchtime we drove for about 30 minutes to find the Emen Canyon hike. Not the best of walks tbh. The canyon itself was very nice, starting with a very impressive cave (full of bats), and most of the route was along the top edge of the gorge which gave some good views of the surrounding countryside but the waterfall at the end was a complete washout (sorry!). It wasn't possible to see it because the walkway had collapsed - the whole area had the feel of being messy and unloved. Shame.

    We ended the day by going to the city of Veliko Tarnovo where we visited some of the fortified walls and then walked for about 30 minutes to find a barbers. Andy needed a haircut. Lucky that we did because it meant we got to see parts of the city that we would have otherwise missed.

    Touted as one of the most beautiful cities in Bulgaria, and the country's historical capital, it is certainly impressive in the way it is built on three hills with the Yantra River winding it's way between them.    Read more

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    Koukery Camping

    May 30, 2025 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We woke up to rain which got heavier as we had breakfast and packed up. By the time we left it was pouring so instead of heading for the cave tour we were planning on doing we went to the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo. We only saw one of the churches but it was carved high up into the cliffs above the Rusenski Lom river (to provide protection against attackers) and included many medieval Christian frescoes.

    After the second worst coffee of the trip (an espresso with creamer) we headed into the city of Ruse and our first view of the Danube, which we will cross tomorrow into Romania. We had a lovely lunch and then a quick walk around the old town, though it was not as nice as we were hoping.

    We had parked the van in an underground carpark. We got in without incident but on the way out, the van jammed to a stop, which I interpreted as the roof of the van touching the ceiling of the carpark. Our stress levels also went thru the roof! It turns out it was the emergency brakes coming on when the parking sensors thought we were about to hit something (because the angle of the exit ramp was so steep I think). Anyway, we hadn't hit anything above us - phew! However, we did ground on something as we went over a bump further up the ramp - fingers crossed no damage done (I can't see any signs of damage but the VW Transporter is so low it is hard to get a decent view).

    We are now at Koukery Camping, which probably has the nicest view of anywhere we have stayed on the trip.

    We spent the evening booking a short hotel break in Bucharest for Sunday and Monday nights.

    Once it got dark, we listened to what we think are jackals howling at the new moon (we heard them at the last two campsites as well).    Read more

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    Camping București Belvedere

    May 31, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Weird day!

    We left last night's campsite after breakfast, initially with a plan to go to the Therme Spa outside Bucharest but when Sara read up various reviews we realised that it would be very busy on a Saturday. So, instead, we turned round and went to the Orlova Chuka Cave, a limestone cave system not far from the campsite.

    The guided tour took about 30 minutes. The cave itself was ok, improved by the lack of any health and safety nonsense! At one point we were asked to walk like ducks because the roof was so low.

    Then we drove across the Danube (which is also the border) and into Romania. The bridge over the Danube is closed in one direction because of repair work so we were warned that there might be very long queues.

    There were long queues... but in the other direction. We were lucky. We must have turned up at just the right time. Straight thru passport control and straight across the bridge. Result!

    We are now at Camping București Belvedere on the outskirts of Bucharest. This has got to be the noisiest campsite we have ever been to. Last night we were listening to birdsong and jackals. Tonight we are listening to three competing sources of music - all very loud - a Romanian wedding (which is actually quite good) and two local bars (which are possibly hosting parties). All just over the road.

    Earlier there was also a party in the nearby park which was even louder even though when we went there there was hardly anyone about. And we have been treated to a local airshow to boot!

    Really not sure how much sleep we are going to get tonight but hey ho... tomorrow we are in a hotel in the centre of Bucharest!    Read more

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    Bucharest

    June 1, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We left last night's campsite at around noon and drove to our hotel via a Kaufland supermarket. The first part of the drive was a bit stressful because we weren't really sure where we were going. The second part was more straightforward.

    Once at our hotel, we parked up and stowed our bikes in the van, then headed out for lunch.

    This evening we went to the top-rated resturant in Bucharest via a nice roof-top bar. The food was good but we got a bit ripped off for the wine which was a bit annoying.    Read more

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    Around Bucharest

    June 2, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today, we have mainly been walking. Seeing the sights of Bucharest. We took the metro to get to the start of our free self-guided walking tour but that was mainly to see what the metro was like - answer, pretty good, if a little crowded. Each trip costs about a euro.

    I think we got to see most of the buildings listed in the travel guides but mainly from the outside. Monday is not a good day to visit Bucharest if you want to go to museums... they are nearly all shut!

    We did go to the Museum of Communism in Bucharest which was a really nice little place documenting what life was like under communism. Spoiler alert... it wasn't great.

    It's been hot in the city today, very hot. We walked back to the hotel to cool down. Then went to see the Palace of Parliament - a rather long and pointless walk tbh. We are now sat in a bar drinking cocktails, en route to the Restaurant Hanu' lui Manuc. That's the plan anyway.    Read more

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    Heaven Camping

    June 3, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We are at Heaven Camping (or Haven Camping according to their WiFi network) which was a bit of a last minute find after we had been to Bran Castle.

    Turns out to be very nice, although we initially got stuck in the mud and had to be towed off the first pitch we chose by the owner.

    It is surprising how little the slope/mud combination has to be to cause the van wheels to spin. To make matters a lot worse, I then managed to totally mess up reversing onto our chocks (which we use to level the van) and ended up both damaging the plastic trim under the van and having to ask the owner for another tow. I think I have managed to repair the damage but it was a bit annoying and somewhat embarrassing with the whole campsite watching.

    Urgggh!

    Bran Castle, supposedly the inspiration for Dracula's castle, was a tourist nightmare. Queues of people as we went round and not really a lot to see. The only interesting bit was the exhibition of medieval torture instruments which was truly horrible.    Read more

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    Camping Arges

    June 4, 2025 in Romania ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    We managed to get off our pitch without further incident this morning. Phew!

    Then off to Dâmbovicioara for a canyon hike.

    Not being completely sure where the hike started, we called in at the Tourist Information Center and spoke to a very helpful woman. Her opening remark was, "the canyon walk is completely safe but don't go into the mountains because of the bears". We had no intention of going into the mountains anyway but she repeated about 3 times that we shouldn't go beyond the end of the canyon hike, which was about 3k along a tarmac road and 3k back.

    Ok, so not the most exciting of walks but we decided to do it anyway, mainly on the basis that it was the only walk on offer! By the time we parked the car it was pissing down. Undeterred, we carried on, picking up a stray dog to keep us company.

    About 0.5k into the walk Sara said, "Look, there's a bear". I initially thought she was joking but sure enough, up in one of the fields above the village, just below the tree line, was a big bear. We stopped and watched for a while... as did a man in the garden of one of the nearby houses. His chickens and dogs were going ballistic - we assume because of the bear, rather than because of us. He certainly watched it very closely until it disappeared.

    He didn't speak any English, but he made it pretty clear that we should go back to the van, which we did. Quite exciting, but probably the shortest walk ever! Unfortunately, neither of us took a photo.

    After driving for what seemed like hours (actually about 2 hours) on the worst road ever - non-stop roadworks for the first half, followed by a really lumpy bumpy surface for the second - we are now at Camping Arges, located at the southern end of the Transfăgărășan, ranked as one of the best roads in the world, at least according to Jeremy Clarkson. Unfortunately, we learned today that the tunnel section (at around 800m) is not yet open so we can't do it all. But we'll drive as far as we can and see what happens. The road itself gets to just over 2000m but we're not sure if that is on the section we are doing.

    Worst case, we'll be back at this campsite tomorrow night! But we are hoping to see a lot of bears en route.    Read more

  • Greece is the word

    Kemping Comarnic Dragos / Transfagarason

    June 5, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Up early to get to the Transfagarason - we were off the campsite well before 9am which must be our earliest start.

    Then a quick stop off at Lidl before heading up the road.

    We have been looking forward to driving this road since we first heard about it from a Dutch couple early on in the trip

    Everything was going well. Then I started to get a stomach ache. Within about 20 minutes, I was in agony, sweating and feeling sick. No idea what I had or where it came from but I felt terrible. We stopped the van in a lay-by and spent the next couple of hours with me either throwing up or sleeping and Sara looking out for bears (which we had already seen at the side of the road).

    Eventually, I felt well enough to move on but couldn’t drive so Sara had to do it - she wasn’t keen as she had not driven the van before, never mind in a different country! We set off in search of a campsite or hotel but didn't find either. By this time I was well enough to drive again so we decided to try and drive up the road to where it closed.

    We didn't get anywhere near it unfortunately. The weather changed for the worse and it started to rain heavily which then turned to hail, so we turned round and headed back down.

    A shame, but probably the sensible thing to do after yesterday's extreme weather warning.

    We did see quite a few bears on the route. There were signs saying that there were fines for giving food to the bears but we suspect people were ignoring them as the bears seemed to be waiting on the side of the road for someone to feed them.

    Seeing the one bear in the wild yesterday actually felt much more thrilling than the multiple bears we saw today, which almost seemed like they were part of a circus act.

    Overall, we think we only saw about 25% off the Transfagarason today 🙁. But I did leave my mark. I'd had raspberries, cherries and blueberries for breakfast so there is now a lay-by on the Transfagarason that is stained forever purple!

    This campsite is a bit weird. We have seen a lot of roadworks being undertaken over the last 100k and most of the campsite/restaurant is taken by the local workmen. Romanian roadworks use a lot of manpower! (Yes, all men).    Read more

  • Greece is the word
    2

    Camping De Oude Walnoot

    June 6, 2025 in Romania ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Over a slightly lazy breakfast in the sun this morning we decided that we have probably spent long enough in Romania so we planned a route up towards Hungary. The border was about five and a half hours of driving away so we decided not to do it in a single day.

    Instead, we drove for about an hour and a half to Sibiu, an historic Saxon walled town. We had a quick look around, including climbing up the tower of the “Saint Mary” Evangelical Cathedral. Then a shared pizza for lunch and our first ice cream of the trip!

    After another couple of hours in the van we arrived in Turda and this lovely little campsite run by a Dutch/Romanian couple.

    Btw, after the first 5k, the roads today have significantly improved, not exactly like UK A roads but much better than the last couple of days, and with very few stopages for roadworks.

    With any luck, we should reach Hungary tomorrow.    Read more

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