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Western Balkans '24

August - September 2024
A 19-day adventure by Ulrich Read more
  • 28footprints
  • 19days
  • 103photos
  • 32likes
  • Greece
  • Albania
  • Montenegro
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Croatia
  • Slovenia
  • Austria
Categories
4x4, Camper, Camping, Car, Nature, Photography, Self discovery, Short trip, Solo travel, Wilderness
  • 6.7kkilometers traveled
  • 4x42,516kilometers
  • Flight2,238kilometers
  • Car58kilometers
  • Hiking43kilometers
  • Walking11kilometers
  • Bicycle-kilometers
  • Motorbike-kilometers
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometers
  • Train-kilometers
  • Bus-kilometers
  • Camper-kilometers
  • Caravan-kilometers
  • Swimming-kilometers
  • Paddling/Rowing-kilometers
  • Motorboat-kilometers
  • Sailing-kilometers
  • Houseboat-kilometers
  • Ferry-kilometers
  • Cruise ship-kilometers
  • Horse-kilometers
  • Hitchhiking-kilometers
  • Cable car-kilometers
  • Helicopter-kilometers
  • Barefoot-kilometers
  • Heels-kilometers
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  • 28footprints
  • 19days
  • 103photos
  • 32likes
  • 6.7kkilometers
  • 2.5kkilometers
  • 2.2kkilometers
  • 58kilometers
  • 43kilometers
  • 11kilometers
Date descending
  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 1–2

    Pizza Party

    August 25, 2024 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    With no real plan except "southeast toward Albania" and a handful of "want to go" spots on the map, questions of routing and overnight spots buzz around my mind.

    During a rest stop, I see that friends in Austria are preparing pizza for the evening and (half-)jokingly send a text: "I'm on my way."

    The joke immediately becomes serious and I decide on the (admittedly tiny) detour, grateful for friendly company, dinner and a comfy bed.    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 2

    Morning Coffee

    August 26, 2024 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    It was hard to tear myself away from the comforts of a nice house this morning, but I know that I want something different. Nature and the outdoors are eternally pulling on my soul.

    With a planned stop in Slovenia, I put some miles behind me, but when I had to stop to use the restroom, I couldn't just drive on without first making coffee.

    After a cool, rainy night, the sun is out again, but still I can feel autumn approaching fast. It's in sound of the leaves crunching below my feet, in the smell of the air and in the way that despite the heat, the sun just doesn't have the power it had just a few weeks ago.

    PS, note to self: That girl with the Vienna plates, the one that smiled at you, you should have asked her if she wanted to join you for coffee!    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 2

    Beer Fountain Žalec

    August 26, 2024 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Four years ago, in that first Covid summer, I spent two weeks in Slovenia. The plan had been to travel the entire Western Balkans – an epic case of biting off more than you can chew.

    Call it luck that all countries southeast of Slovenia were considered "hot spots", meaning I'd have had to go into quarantine for 14 days after returning. Not interested in house arrest, I decided to concentrate on the small country at the eastern end of the Alps, and it was the perfect decision.

    I'm certain I could spend months in Slovenia and not take in all the wonders of this beautiful piece of planet Earth. That's something for another year, but as the country is on the way to Albania, there was one stop I wanted to make, one thing I missed out four years ago because I didn't make it this far east.

    Slovenia has a very vibrant craft beer scene and the area around Žalec is known for its hops-growing. Reason enough to build a monument to the green gold, the beer fountain. Since 2016, the architectural attraction in a small park draws visitors, who buy a a small beer glass with an NFC chip at its base. The chip activates each of six beer taps, dispensing 0.1 liters of different local beers (one time only, but you can pay for a new NFC chip).

    High-tech art to give you a nice buzz in the afternoon before strolling through the small town – what could be better?    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 2

    Dinner by the Sea

    August 26, 2024 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Well, technically it's an inlet, but connected directly to the Adriatic, so let's call it dinner by the sea. I've spent the second half of the afternoon driving and this is first contact with water in a long time!

    I pull out at the first chance and find a little beach bar. As I wait for the girl behind the counter I count my coins and wonder if they'll be enough, laughing but not really surprised when she rings up the half liter at 2,70 €. I can get used to this!

    With the water gently gurgling against small boats tied to the pier, crickets singing their late summer song and a warm breeze carrying the murmur of adults enjoying a drink and their kids playing in the growing dark, I reheat some chili I made at home and take a seat a bit removed from the socialites.

    Is it the lager or the water that nearly instantaneously transforms me from the frantic pace of the highway to a much calmer state of mind?    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 2–3

    A New Flag

    August 26, 2024 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    There's much to see and do in Croatia, but I don't have nearly enough time and feel myself drawn to Albania on this trip. So even though this is my first time driving here, I push onward through the night, reaching a campsite near the border to Bosnia & Herzegovina.

    Located right beside a rushing stream, it's a secluded spot with only the sound of the water and crickets. Private enough to go skinny-dipping in the cold water before drifting off to sleep for the first night in the rooftop tent.

    Under the shade of acacia, willow and fig trees, I start a lazy morning of reading and coffee, jumping back into the stream for a refreshing bath before adding a new flag sticker to the back of the car and heading back onto the road.    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 3

    Kravice Waterfalls

    August 27, 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    What the actual fuck?! I am so done with the "tourist" shit. Yeah, I realize the irony. I'm a tourist, too. But how can you seriously enjoy this?

    After paying the 10 € fee for the Kravice Waterfalls, I use the restroom and contemplate whether the graffiti on its wall isn't a bit over the top: "exploit nature, lose morality."

    But as I walk down the paved path, past a little train transporting sweaty adipose people toward a circus of live music, paintings and fruit for sale, beach chairs and restaurants surrounding an otherwise stunning lush oasis, I realize: When the Lonely Planet writes Disney-esque, you'd better believe it! Nothing "Lonely" here!

    Instead of paying for a carton of figs, I pluck a few from the tree right next to the fruit stand, take a dip in the refreshing water and make my way back to my car. This is too sad for me to bear!

    Note to self: Do not, ever again, pay to see a natural site unless you know for certain it's being protected in its natural state, and not just by a life guard whistling people back from climbing up the waterfall.    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 3–4

    Meeting Friends From Home

    August 27, 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Every day I'm further from home than I've ever traveled with my car. As I cross the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I giggle like a giddy child, incredibly grateful to have the time and resources for this adventure.

    Friends from home – they own the same model of truck that I'm building a mobile home from, too – are on their way back from Albania and today our paths cross. We decide to spend the night at a simple campground next to a river, talking late into the night over food and drink.

    Again, it's hard to leave in the morning, but it's still 500 km and an eight hour drive to southern Albania. Still, I'll be taking the foot off the gas now, making slower progress and seeing more of the places I pass...    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 4

    The End of the Road

    August 28, 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    I've mentioned repeatedly in the last few days that I've never been so poorly prepared for a trip and it's finally caught up with me.

    When border patrol at the crossing to Montenegro asks me for my car papers, I think "shit!" – I have registration papers. At home.

    There's no chance to continue as planned, and even if I got permission to enter Montenegro without the document, it's doubtful I'd be let into Albania.

    This sucks! But it's my own responsibility and I own it. Will I just spend the rest of my time in Croatia? A friend is on Hvar, but leaving in two days. Head back to Slovenia? It's a beautiful country and I could spend months in the Soča Valley alone. Take a ferry to Italy and drive north along the boot?

    As I make my way toward Dubrovnik, thinking of getting an Airbnb and enjoying the Game of Thrones flair for the night while considering my options, another possibility enters my mind. I check my options and realize: If everything works to my advantage, this can work!

    An hour later, I'm sitting at Dubrovnik airport, my car parked overnight (6 €) with a return trip ticket (62,65 €) and a rental car in Frankfurt (30,05 €). For one hundred Euros and a lost day, I can continue as planned. If things keep working out this well. I'm sure they will!    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 5

    Back in the Game

    August 29, 2024 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    A mere 24 hours and an unforgettable story. Few people are crazy enough to decide in 30 seconds and to organize in five minutes an overnight return home – 1200 km by plane and rental car – to retrieve a small but decisive piece of paper and continue their planned journey.

    But I'm not normal. I do crazy shit like that. And irrespective of what's to come, I know it was worth it.

    In times of frequent operational irregularities, I was impressed by the smooth sailing from Dubrovnik via Munich to Frankfurt, to picking up my rental car and grabbing dinner at the Thai place at the airport, to driving home and finding my registration papers right where I expected to, to a great night's sleep—

    No! Actually, I did not sleep well. In the beautiful home I built as a contrast to my jetset life, the home that no longer feels right, I woke up with the racing heart and thoughts of responsibility I've come to know so well again weighing heavy on me.

    Time to make changes!

    Eight hours later, I'm reunited with my camper, as if nothing happened. But so much did! It feels so right to smell the sultry air, see the trees full of ripe figs at the roadside. It feels much more like home than the place I built as a home.

    Life is full of lessons.

    This time, the border crossing is uneventful. The customs guard in Montenegro asks me to roll down my rear window. Seeing my homemade wardrobe, he asks in his heavy Slavic accent: "Whooat is diis?" I blank, can't think of the word "wardrobe", doubting he'd understand anyway. I point to the rooftop tent, saying I'm driving to Albania to go camping. "Oooh, caaamping, ookieeey, bye."

    Well, then! Bye!    Read more

  • Ulrich BeinertWestern Balkans '24
    Day 5

    Mixed Grill in Kotor

    August 29, 2024 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    One of the best known places in Montenegro is Kotor and I'm curious if it will live up to the hype. Situated at the end of a narrow bay, the old stone buildings are a magnet for tourists. Traffic is the worst I've had on the entire trip. Parking lots overflowing.

    I find improvised (free) parking a bit removed from the city center and walk to the old town. So! Many! People! A massive, elegant cruise ship towering above the fortified historic walls, its population eager to conquer and occupy them for a few hours.

    The old town is beautiful indeed! As well preserved as the prettiest Italian cities, and at least as plastered with touristy shit, stuff for everyone to buy so we won't ever forget this day. Or something like that.

    There are a few restaurants with elegant outdoor seating, but I'm not in the mood for a romantic date with myself. I want something down to earth, and I remember seeing a BBQ joint on the way down.

    The first impression is seriously sleazy, but the refrigerated counter full of meat is mouth-watering. Order from the menu or mix and match, pay, wait 45 minutes.

    Damn, that was good! The Montenegrin IPA, too! And a surprisingly nice atmosphere in the garden patio out back.    Read more

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