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By Melangebus around Europe - Balkans - 6500 km - 11 countries

Author: melanzbus
Category: Travel reports
By Melangebus around Europe - Balkans - 6500 km - 11 countries – main image

August 15 - departure towards Austria

When we got up on August 15 in the morning, nobody expected that the first day would be full of surprises. The weather was bad, it was cloudy and rainy, and we had to hand over our bus to a mechanic to fix the first failure that delayed our trip by several hours. When we were finally complete, in the evening we set off towards the border crossing in Zwardoń. We spent the first two days in Austria , where we saw the tourist town of Villach, visited the Alpenarena - the famous ski jump complex, and even rested on one of the Danube's tributaries - the Drava River.

Through Slovenia

On the third day we crossed the Austrian-Slovenian border and headed to Bled . We spent two days discovering this region. We were beaching on Lake Bohinj, and the next day we climbed the castle hill of Bled, from where there was a wonderful view of a cobalt lake with a romantic island with a church. We also visited Ljubljana and its castle, and quite by accident we also reached Predjama, where the castle was built in a rock.

Slovenia, although a small country, has many tourist attractions, including caves. We chose the less popular but more beautiful Scotia Caves. They made a great impression on us: the underground canyon with the Reka River is the largest in Europe! The last place in Slovenia we reach is Piran - a beautiful coastal town.

During this time, we spend the night mainly in the wild, near forest roads and rivers .

Towards Croatia

The next points of our trip are Trieste and Rijeka . The Plitvice Lakes National Park makes a great impression on us. The turquoise water and the multitude of waterfalls resemble a paradise landscape. In Croatia, we allow ourselves a bit of luxury. We stay overnight at a campground near Zadar. We rest for two days by the bay, and in the evening we organize a barbecue. But it's time to move on, and on our route, the next city is Dubrovnik. We visit the city at night. The Old Town is beautifully illuminated, and we stroll around its corners for a long time.

Montenegro and Albania

In Montenegro , we travel along the coast. We visit Budva, a tourist town whose only attraction was the Old Town with its citadel. We stroll along the promenade, where the female part of the participants disappeared every now and then in stalls with souvenirs and clothes.

Albania was the biggest surprise for us. We were most afraid of entering this country, but the kindness and help that were given to us changes our beliefs. Traveling around Albania, we visited the capital of Tirana, Vlore and the remarkably scenic Llogara Pass. Our bus had other breakdowns in Albania, but thanks to the kindness of the Albanians, we easily reached Greece. In this extraordinary country we visit Meteora - picturesque rocks where monks settled, Athens and many monuments related to this city, Corinth and the famous Corinthian canal, Mycenae - ancient city, Nafplio and the Epidaurus theater. We also spend a few days on the beach, and a lovely Greek woman offers us vegetables from her own garden. Unfortunately, we missed the climb to Mount Olympus because such a trip would last two days and it was too hot and we were not properly prepared for mountain climbing. At this time, we change the route. We decide to return via Macedonia and Serbia, and we will not visit Romania. In Serbia, we visit Niš, Novi Sad and Belgrade - the beautiful capital of this country. There were also no surprises - we get a parking ticket in Belgrade.

Back home

At the end of our trip we visit Budapest . The city delights us with a lot of beautiful buildings and attractions. We move around the city on one of the oldest metro lines in Europe. We stop for the night behind Budapest, where we drink Hungarian wine for a successful trip. We'll be home the next day.

Summarizing our second trip, we come to the conclusion that once someone gets hooked on this type of traveling , they will never want to go on an ordinary vacation. We will associate this trip with beautiful, unknown places, the kindness that can be found during a trip and a few minor accidents. We have barely returned home, we already have some ideas for the next vacation. First of all, we would like to thank our media patrons and the Tekom Technologia company, which monitored our expedition. We would also like to thank everyone who kept their fingers crossed for us and followed our actions along the route.

The Melanżbus team www.melanzbus.pl

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melanzbus
melanzbus

We tell how we circled Europe in our bus.

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Part one - click: Busik Po Bezdrożach - Balkans 2015 part I. Our forest path was mostly blocked by machines transporting wood from the forest after felling, so the idea of pushing the bus onto the asphalt turned out to be not quite as simple as we thought at first. The devised plan was to push the bus, and at the same time position it so that we could push it efficiently and land on the asphalt, and then use the falling terrain to turn around and roll down... As there was no power steering and the AT/R tires required the use of significant strength to get out of the way, I sat behind the wheel, and Daniel and Łukasz tried to push me out. The first push was effective, we drove about a meter, then we fell into a rut and got stuck again, the wet clay made it impossible to push properly. We dug up the mogul, as the bus was initially pointed in the right direction, so I switched places with Dominika and we tried to push the three of us, but it didn't help. In the meantime, while the boys continued to have fun digging up the mogul, I took care of our safety... I set up a warning triangle on the roadside and equipped the rest with reflective vests. Asia's task was to drive around the triangle so that oncoming drivers would slow down a bit, especially since we were hard to see from behind the bushes and the Romanian drivers were not on their toes. We managed to push the bus again and stop a meter before the ditch so as to have a chance to run through it. To make things easier, we lined the ditch with pieces of wood collected after cutting down and stones, and additionally put a board on top, which I threw into the car just before leaving home in case we got buried somewhere and needed to put something under it... it's a pity I had only one. It was time for the final push, but Tripciak refused to budge. In the meantime, a truck passed us at high speed, not caring about the triangle or Asia standing by the road, and an Italian driving behind the truck ran over a warning triangle placed on the road with his Alfa, making a fuss from behind the rolled-down window for running over our triangle. What a guy. Well, at least a nice elderly couple saw what was going on and stopped and tried to help us get out of trouble. This time, the four of us managed to get the bus moving, but when the wheel hit the board, it moved and we ended up in the ditch again. Extra. Now the bus was impossible to move without the help of a rope. However, I didn't really like the way we were supposed to woo Tripciak. Pulling it straight was out of the question, because there would certainly be a driver of the Romanian bomber who, despite attempts to temporarily stop the traffic, would try to cut the rope stretched between the cars. Seeing our struggles, a small truck stopped and a young team of boys jumped out of it. Our newly met grandpa who was helping us explained in Romanian what it was all about, so the guys didn't wait and started working right away. They attached a steel rope and pulled Tripciak across the ditch at a 90-degree angle at full speed, without asking them to do it slowly enough. It hurts my eyes, but we managed to get onto the asphalt, the fact that they pulled us in the wrong direction, despite explaining how to do it. A quick handshake and everyone went their separate ways, and we stayed on the road. As it was downhill, I rolled backwards into the corner for a bit, making a slight U-turn, and Daniel and Łukasz, waiting for the right moment, when no one was coming from either side, pushed me forward and I was facing the direction of travel. All that's left is to roll down a few hundred meters and wonder what's next?! First, Daniel dismantled the bowl to see the level of damage. The hole was huge, impossible to patch, and there were two cracks from the impact deep into the bowl. At first, there was an idea to find a piece of steel or sheet metal and stick it on silicone from the inside of the bowl, but such a solution would probably only work for a while, and we would lose our supply of oil, of which we only had 2.5 liters anyway.