After five weeks it is time to leave Bosnia and head to Slovenia, where we have rented a place for a few days in order to meet up with some family.
We left Bosnia near a town called Izacic (just north of Bihac) and crossed into Croatia. The entry into the EU was incredibly fast. No lineups and only a few minutes to get our passports stamped. Waaay faster than our entry into Bosnia. We expected it to be harder to get into the EU than to leave it!
We noticed an immediate improvement in the economic conditions as soon as we passed the border and entered Croatia. We saw more police in 15 minutes than we saw in the past 5 weeks. Could be due to the proximity to the border, but don’t know for sure. No evidence of destroyed and abandoned buildings (lots on the Bosnian side of the border). Residential and commercial properties look well maintained and prospering.
It will take us a couple of days to get to Bled in Slovenia and we see some signs along the highway advertising a place, in a town called Slunj (Croatia) where motorhomes can stay overnight. Throwing caution to the wind, we follow the signs up a windy road until we get to a parking lot that overlooks a scenic bit of town. This place has electrical hook-ups for RVs, showers, washrooms and a bowling alley! All the necessaries for the travelling RVer.
A couple of hours after we arrived another RV pulled in to the parking lot. We met the Hungarian owner and he suggested that we visit Heviz near Lake Balaton in Hungary.
The next night we stopped at the Hotel & Restaurant Dolenjc, in Nova mesto, Slovenia. We had heard that this was a good stop for an overnight stay, and it was! An RV parking area is being built (not finished yet) just behind the restaurant/hotel and there was no charge for parking overnight. We visited the outdoor bar for a beverage and went back for dinner. Pizza was very good. Forgot to take any photos (boo).
The next day is a short drive to Bled, Slovenia where we manage to squeeze Rosie into a non-Rosie sized driveway! But she fit and we have arrived!
We didn’t have any info about Bled before booking our rental place, we were just looking for a small town, a big enough driveway for Rosie, and walking distance to stuff.
Bled met the requirements and then some. It turns out that Bled is quite the tourist destination. Nice town nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. Extremely scenic lake, castle perched on a hill, church on an island! Photo at top of this post shows the lake and island church.
Tour of the castle was ok, but the castle itself looks better from afar. Inside the castle was modernized. It had a small museum which gave a good account of the history of the castle and area (dates back to 1004 ce). Great walking around the lake and around town. Tourist season is just starting, so more places are open, but not too many tourists yet.
After Bled we are heading back to Schladming, Austria, to spend some more quality time at Krug! We have a few little things to get fixed up, including our high-power alternator and the bike racks. We have ordered e-bikes and they are being delivered to Krug, so looking forward to that.
They don’t know how to make real peanut butter in Europe – putting peanuts in a blender and calling it peanut butter is just wrong. So, I ordered some Skippy Peanut Butter from Ama-Claus (Amazon) and getting it delivered to Krug, so I am definitely looking forward to that!
Wonderful pictures and descriptions that evoked pleasant memories.