Miles: 1275
Total Mileage: 15,648
Stowaways: Mr. John Pitcher (Pa)
Extremely hot chilli peppers eaten mistaken for a sweet pepper: 1
Suspicious Slovenian cars circling the van: 1
Old friends seen: 2
New friends met: 2
Vague route:
- Cluj-Napoca – Romania
- Sárvár – Hungary
- Budapest
- Szigliget
- Lake Balaton National Park
- Zagreb – Croatia
- Ljubljana – Slovenia
- Cerknica
- Osilnica
- Ičići – Croatia
- Venice – Italy
- Marsciano
A photo diary of my Pa and I driving from Romania to Slovenia.
In Pa’s words this man and his family were ‘very nice, pleasant, and extremely helpful’. They let us park Tina in their back yard for an indefinite amount of time whilst we went home to be with Susannah’s family. Pa was really taken aback by their hospitality towards us and their help in the situation.
In reaction to the content at this Roma Gypsy car boot sale, Pa said ‘it was stuff you would just scrap! A car boot scale but on a very grand scale’ and we had an enjoyable afternoon here.
Pa had never been to Romania and says he would probably never have gone if he wasn’t invited by me. He really took to the culture, as you can see by the hat, and was amazed at the Roma Gypsy houses with polished stainless steel roofs and Mercedes Benz logos on the pinnacles. He is very sad he didn’t take a picture of these but shows many people versions of them on google images.
This was a Chateau we visited in Hungary which we both found odd. There was ‘an interesting carriage museum’ and a very odd and garish hunting trophy collection.
Pa was particularly happy with he weather describing it as ‘glorious’. He particularly remembers the colours of the trees driving from Romania to Hungary and their autumnal tones.
Pa felt we were ‘very fortunate with the campsites we visited’, one was free, one had ‘piping hot water’, but the one pictured above Pa described it as ‘a dreadful night and we thought we might not see the next day’. Pa slept with a kitchen knife beside him just in case as he felt the area and site was slightly strange and menacing.
Pa was very taken with Budapest, we had some great meals, a ‘central, convenient, and well appointed Air BnB’, and we visited some interesting museums.
I greatly enjoyed the time driving with my father, we had never been on holiday as a pair and I would definitely do it again though it was an experience like no other. Sharing a van with my girlfriend can be hard enough, sharing with your father is a different ball game all together, but they could say the same about me! Thank you Pa.
Pa sadly went back to England from Ljubljana but I met two other Brits, Jess and John, living and travelling in their van who I camped with. We took the canoe out for a paddle on the river Čabranka, the border between Slovenia and Croatia.
I then headed for Croatia to meet an old colleague and friend Vedran and his fiancé Jasmine whom I stayed with for a few days at their home in Ičići.
In Transit 