Hi,
As promised in a previous post here is a small view of our road trip. 🙂 We loaded the car with our luggage and Charlie’s bed and toys and we started out late Friday night around 11pm, the best time to drive through Germany is during the night to avoid Friday night weekend traffic and to get to the Austrian boarders early Saturday morning.
The weather throughout Germany was a big help no rain or wind etc. except for a certain area in the bavarian region named Passau Germany OMG!!! it is either always raining or strong wind and even snow, believe it or not. Anyway, when your in the car for so many hrs there are so many topics of conversation, and one of them was what kind of weather will we find in Passau. As were are driving along and heading towards Passau very early in the morning, we were shocked to see that there were clear skies and the sun was just about to rise. My husband and I were stunned didn’t see that coming at all, we looked at each other like what in the world is going on here, so we took it as a good sign and went on our way into Austria.
Austria is a beautiful country, with beautiful mountains, (something that doesn’t exist in the NL well in Limburg but they are baby mountains more like hills) :), beautiful small villages with lovely cafe/restaurants if you need a break, farms, cows, grass hahahaha no city centers. Actually, we have been to Austria a few times so we kind of know our way around the cities…My two favorite cities are Vienna, and Salzburg, Innsbruck is pretty, very historical but the other two are just a bit more impressive to me. 🙂 We stopped to get coffee and to stretch our legs from the long drive and took in the Austria mountain views, before heading for the Slovenian boarder. Just beautiful 🙂
The boarder of Slovenia is about a 3 hour drive through Austria, Slovenia is a small country and on the highway you really don’t see much besides gas stations and cars and valleys ummmm that’s about it. I am sure that there is much more to this country but we really never have the time to stop because the road trip is 2 days, and 3,000 kilometers so we have to pass through without any stops.
The next country we entered is Croatia, its funny how life turns things around, when we were still living in Greece and vacationing in Europe my husband always said he wanted to visit Zagreb, so on one trip we stayed at hotel on the outskirts of Zagreb, back then we always travelled by motorcycle, that was about 9 years ago, so we stayed for 2 days and found it to be a beautiful and very interesting city, the people are warm and friendly, and very clean and the food is great.!!!! 🙂 We did most of our sightseeing via motorcycle so we kind of got a different view than the bus or the car. We have a friend who is a journalist and he has told us many times to visit the sea side of Croatia starting off with Split and drive down, we will at some point do the drive down as he has recommended it is worth it! absolutely visit Croatia, I’ve heard they have beautiful spas. (Just saying) 🙂
After leaving Croatia we entered the Serbian boarders they usually speak to us in Greek…the normal words Geia sou, Ti kaneis, Pou pas…Hello, How are you? Where are you going? We had booked a The Holiday Inn Express in Belgrade, Serbia because after working all day on Friday and driving for so many hrs, we needed to shower and rest. It is a wonderful hotel and very budget friendly, and sooooo clean, the staff is very polite, warm and friendly. We arrived around 11:30 pm and the employee at the reception desk was so helpful, it surprised me that he remembered us from 2 years ago..:).
I have posted a few pictures of the hotel so that you can see. We chose to stay here again, because we had a great time last time and for us it happens to be excellent choice, there is a private underground parking area and has a great breakfast buffet included in the price, oh, before I forget there is also outside area if you want to have your breakfast it’s not big but it is very nice with murals on the walls.
The rooms are a great size and the beds OMG the mattress is so comfortable, you get a good nights rest, it’s actually better than the one I have at home. The shower is huge, no bathtub but the counter space in the bathroom, enough space to put all your things, shower gels, shampoos etc. On the corner of the hotel there is a 24hr Deli shop with a variety of Serbian and International products to choose from in case you arrive late like we did and your hungry. 🙂
Entrance of the hotel
Reception desk
Room Entrance
There is also a small corner with coffee machine and tea kettle stacked with everything from coffee to tea to sugar.
Hotel Lobby
We tried to take pictures without anyone being in there, but it was hard because the hotel was fully booked. 🙂
Breakfast Buffet
Dining area
Sitting area in front of the hotel….
Living on one salary is a challenge, budgeting on everything all year to be able to go anywhere let alone Greece…(as you can see I am unemployed haven’t had much luck finding work here, so this is how this how my cooking blog started, to keep my mind off of going crazy in the house but that’s another story but I do love cooking). 🙂
We went up to our room and just left the suitcases and then headed for the outside sitting area just to rest. Coming from NL where it was cold and raining to Serbia where it was already 25 degrees at 12 in the evening, was putting on shorts and t-shirt time and enjoying the nice warm weather. We stayed for about a half hour before heading back to our room.
The following morning, we had a wonderful breakfast, loaded the car, we thanked everyone and went on our way. I just wanted to mention that the last time we were in Belgrade we walked around the city, I must say it is absolutely beautiful and very intriguing…the buildings, the parks they all have a history of its own. The architecture of the old buildings are just amazing!!! On almost every corner you will find a bakery, with those delicious smells of bread, and cookies just delicious, they even make this fantastic pizza, American slices huge and so tasty. Most speak English which I didn’t expect, but it’s true.. Serbia is a must see country.
The last country we drive through is Macedonia, small villages built next to the highway, that’s about it, so sorry about this never had the pleasure to visit we just drive through Macedonia on our way to the Greek boarders.
We finally arrived at the Greek boarders late Sunday evening, that is about it for now…..to be continued. 🙂
Sophie
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