You know me. I love summer. In late September 2024, in a vain attempt to prolong the warmth, we took a short trip to the Balkan states. Here is how it panned out:

Day 1 Munich to Lake Bled, Slovenia

WOW is Bled beautiful. It is really just like the postcards. So, of course, I squealed like a little girl. I did fall into the trap of trying the “famous Lake Bled Cake”, which any kiwi will recognise as nothing grander than a good old custard square. We camped our van directly on the lake and it was wonderful.

Day 2 Lake Bled – Drage, Croatia

We love the Fledermaus Hotel and couldn’t wait to get back there. Of course, off season there wasn’t much going on, but the view was still fantastic and it is a good place to unwind! From here we explored Pakoštane where the locals think they are funny.

Day 4 Drage – Šibinek – Split

Šibinek must be the safest town in the world – it has 3 forts! Glorious for meandering through small alleyways. Agony for the legs.

I first visited Split in around 2001. well…she has done growed up some! Split is Gucci Restaurant Ville. It is something else from what I remember, which was cafes using parts of ruins as tables. I am not sure I approve.

Days 5 – 8 Dubrovnik

The weather looked to be misbehaving, so we took off straight down to Game of Thrones town. Even though this is “off season” it was still full of tourists and very full of t shirts advertising a show that ended (with maybe the most disappointing ending ever) in 2019. It is still gorgeous, the food was great and we spent 3 nights playing guitar and drinking beer in the campsite, all the while losing friends and negatively influencing our neighbours. We did leave the campsite to visit a bar inside a cave. Difficult to find but the sunset was worth it.

Days 9-10 Kotor, Montenegro

My 60th country is a beaut! Tiny lake side roads, churches in the middle of said lake and towns that look like Venice. Not very busy and many restaurants were shut outside of Kotor. Also out of Kotor….not much going on except good road trip roads. The weather was taking a turn for the not so summery, so we busted out to country 61…..

Days 11-13 Bosnia and Herzegovina

What FUN! Some of the things I found most interesting:

• the tourists were totally different here, mostly due (I guess) to the high percentage of Muslims in B&H.
• the Museum of War and Genocide Victims
• The hidden hanger for aircraft… so hidden no one knew where it was! However, our perseverance paid off and we got ourselves good and scared!
• Gorgeous waterfalls at Kravica
• The crazy men who jump off the Mostar bridge for money
• The wonderful coffee ritual

After driving down empty roads, we eventually arrived back in Split and spent the night in the castle listening to musicians and generally being tourists.

Days 14 Plitvica Lakes, Croatia

I had heard that these were not to be missed. I heard right. Even in off season the lakes were busy, however the changing colours of Autumn were very special. Unfortunately/fortunately we found no bears.

Day 15 Zagreb, Croatia

Despite having a nice literary themed bar, Zagreb just didn’t grab me. I found it confusing and somewhat generic compared to other places we had seen on this trip. The most interesting things were The Museum of Broken Relationships and the man who loved old cars and wanted to tell us all about his life. In excellent German!

Days 16-17 Ljubljana, Slovenia

In contrast to Zagreb, Ljubljana really did capture my heart. I mean the place is protected by dragons! Think small boutiques, a river lined with restaurants and beer flights. Absolutely stunning place to celebrate the husband’s birthday.

And then back home to Munich.

While the weather may not have been warm and not exactly the summer we were looking for, we definitely enjoyed this Balkan road trip and it did make the camping season last just that little bit longer!