Balkans bound.

[Grianan]

Not sure how I missed this thread . Just caught up now - thank you! We loved Munich and the surrounding area and Llubljiana. You’re now in new territory for us so even more exciting.

 

[Leith Laddie]

A great campsite about 18km outside Dubrovnik with a bus next to the campground.lovely view from our terraced pitch. We went into Dubrovnik this afternoon for a quick look and it has already blown us away. Looking forward to further exploration tomorrow. There are plenty steps, down to the town, up to the walls and back up to the bus stop. Here for a few days so apologise in advance for the deluge of pictures .

 

[Leith Laddie]

Dubrovnik has been a great city to visit lots to see and with the weather to match all in all an excellent choice. Tomorrow we have signed up for an all day boat tour of 3 islands.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Our last day in Dubrovnik was spent on a full day 3 islands boat trip and it was superb. Great company and good atmosphere on board. We headed firstly to Lopud then on to Sipan and finally Kolocep. The pictures we took don’t capture the beauty of the islands nor the Adriatic.

 

[Leith Laddie]

We are off to Bosnia in the morning so until I can sort out some data sim I might not be able to post. The web says it is straight forward but i always take that with a pinch of salt.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jane And Rog]

Our last day in Dubrovnik was spent on a full day 3 islands boat trip and it was superb. Great company and good atmosphere on board. We headed firstly to Lopud then on to Sipan and finally Kolocep. The pictures we took don’t capture the beauty of the islands nor the Adriatic.

View attachment 748788 View attachment 748789 View attachment 748790 View attachment 748791 View attachment 748792 View attachment 748793 View attachment 748794 View attachment 748795 View attachment 748796

Looks fantastic - which islands did you visit?

 

[JillyB]

Leith Laddie
Thanks for sharing!
Loved hearing your tales, in particular the Dalmatian coast.
We’re off to a few of the places you mention in Croatia next year.
It looks great!
Sea Organ in Zadar sounds like it’s worth a visit

 

[MisterB]

Great thread, thanks for sharing...

Would be nice to see some info on the cost of sites, excursions and mileages - and I know all prices change but its useful for those of us who are planning a similar trip in the next 12 months?

 

[Leith Laddie]

Dubrovnik site cost us €19 per night with ASCI the site is Pod Maslinom. Split we stayed in Stobrec - Camping Split with ASCI €29 pn Sibenik we at Amadria Park €28 per night. Zadar cost €25pn at Falkensteinet. We are currently in Mostar in Camping Wimbledon I think it will cost us about €23 pn. We have done about 2500 miles from Scotland to Mostar. We paid €10 for a vignette for Austria and Slovenia we also bought a vignette but can’t remember exactly how much. We also paid tolls going through the Alps in Austria and in Croatia
Some pictures of Mostar.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Regarding our 3 islands full day trip with lunch it was going to cost us €60 each but I negotiated a Hibby discount and got it for €50 each but we didn’t get picked up from our campsite at stupid o’clock but got the bus at 9.15 we sailed at 10.15 and got back at about 6pm.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Leith Laddie]

Finally got my Bosnian SIM card working on my phone which is essential to us for google maps when we travel. I struggled with it last night with no success but had a brainwave and asked our waiter who handed it to a 15 year old customer who sorted it out in 10 minutes with great apologies for the lack of clarity from BH the sim provider.

 

[monzer]

Not much to mostar but an interesting place nonetheless. We got 'welcomed' by the locals a few years back when over for a europa league tie.

 

[125BEER]

Regarding our 3 islands full day trip with lunch it was going to cost us €60 each but I negotiated a Hibby discount and got it for €50 each but we didn’t get picked up from our campsite at stupid o’clock but got the bus at 9.15 we sailed at 10.15 and got back at about 6pm.

The boat trips are a great way to see the small islands,did it a few years ago great fun.
Nice blog thank you.
It's a right "game" all those steps in Dubrovnik

Cheers

 

[Soycd]

Regarding our 3 islands full day trip with lunch it was going to cost us €60 each but I negotiated a Hibby discount and got it for €50 each but we didn’t get picked up from our campsite at stupid o’clock but got the bus at 9.15 we sailed at 10.15 and got back at about 6pm.

Does the Mostar Diving Club still exist? When we were there about 18 years ago a guy would come around the bridge and collect a bit of change of everyone then he'd dive from the bridge into the river. Crazy. It's a long way down and the river didn't look particularly deep either.

 

[monzer]

Does the Mostar Diving Club still exist? When we were there about 18 years ago a guy would come around the bridge and collect a bit of change of everyone then he'd dive from the bridge into the river. Crazy. It's a long way down and the river didn't look particularly deep either.

Pretty sure that's an annual event there. I think Red Bull do something there.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Leith Laddie]

Does the Mostar Diving Club still exist? When we were there about 18 years ago a guy would come around the bridge and collect a bit of change of everyone then he'd dive from the bridge into the river. Crazy. It's a long way down and the river didn't look particularly deep either.

Yes he still dives in to the river.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Today we drove from Mostar to Sarajevo. The road wasn’t the greatest and it was pretty much single carriageway almost all the way. The views were very pretty but difficult to admire when driving. We are parked up at camping Sarajevo with has a short walk to the train halt. It is literally a metal platform about 10 metres long at the side of the tracks. Very cheap return ticket at 7 Marks for 2 people return that equates to €3.50. We had a late lunch in a restaurant near the train station. It is about 3-4 km into the Old Town we got a bus in opposite St Joseph’s Church and a return bus to the Kampus of the University where we had a short walk back to the train station. The campsite has no restaurant or shops nearby so we picked up bread in town. I never took any pictures because of all the warnings about pickpockets and thieves, I’ll try to be braver tomorrow.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Our final day in Bosnia and despite the BBC weather forecast for a day of light showers we have had glorious weather. We took the train in to Sarajevo and then caught a bus to the old town. The buses are always packed and make for quite an uncomfortable experience. We visited the Orthodox and Catholic Cathedrals we were not allowed to take photos in either but the custodian of the Orthodox one let us take as many as we wanted, the wee nun in the Catholic one was not having any of that kind of behaviour. They had a magnificent statue of StJohn Paul II so we made do with that. Sarajevo has many mosques so I just picked one to take a picture of. Unfortunately we didn’t find the synagogue so missed the full set. Our day was completed with the best cafe gourmand I’ve had.

 

[monzer]

That spiral alter or pulpit (not sure what it is actually called) is really impressive.

 

[Leith Laddie]

That spiral alter or pulpit (not sure what it is actually called) is really impressive.

It's a pulpit and it is very special.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Leith Laddie]

We’ve broken the long drive from Sarajevo to Novi Sad by stopping in the small Croatian town of Garcin and are staying at a park for night recommend site Ranc Ramarin which is a horse stud. The last few nights have seen us getting little sleep due to the constant barking of dogs, hopefully tonight it won’t be the horses!

 

[Leith Laddie]

Novi Sad on a wet Thursday afternoon is like a ghost town. The centre is completely deserted with few cafes and bars open. Some great architecture. The Serbians smoke as much as any of the Balkans if not more even inside restaurants.

 

[Leith Laddie]

It’s cold today in Belgrade with a lazy wind that cuts right through you. However the weather didn’t stop us having a wee look at the city. Staying on a campsite on the banks of the Danube we had a pleasant 10-15 minute walk to the bus stop and then 45 minutes to the city centre. We visited the tourist information centre which is the least accessible one I’ve ever seen , if Serbia wants to welcome tourists it really has to up its game. The signage to places of interest is sparse to non existent. That being said if you do your homework you can find plenty to see.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Belgrade was bathed in sunshine today so we enjoyed a day of strolling around the city eating drinking coffee and best of all people watching.

 

[Leith Laddie]

We are staying at Camp Dunav on the banks of the Danube which I can see clearly from where I am posting this. The campsite is smallish and has mainly grass pitches which with electricity costs €23 per night it has a washing machine which been made use of today and a dryer. The toilets and showers are adequate but could do with updating. a real bugbear of mine is that someone on the camp should have to use the facilities for a few days so that they can see if there isn’t enough pegs, places to put your soap bag and a squeezee to dry the floor.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Leith Laddie]

I should have said the it is a brisk 10-15 minute walk to the bus stop and buses run every 20 minutes into the city centre and take 45 minutes. The bus is currently free! The bus station is a bit of a sh..hole and the fruit and veg market is right next to it. A short walk takes you to the main shopping street with all the usual city centre shops.

 

[Leith Laddie]

We crossed from Serbia to Romania at the smallest border crossing I’ve ever seen but both sides checked and stamped our passports checked our car registration and my driving license. Our visit to Timisoara was curtailed by a distinct lack of Motorhome parking and any campsites. It looked fabulous. We moved an hour and a half up the road to a lovely small site run by a Dutch couple . We had a great birthday dinner at goulash with potatoes and a pudding of pancakes. With a litre of local red wine.

 

[bobnick]

We crossed from Serbia to Romania at the smallest border crossing I’ve ever seen but both sides checked and stamped our passports checked our car registration and my driving license. Our visit to Timisoara was curtailed by a distinct lack of Motorhome parking and any campsites. It looked fabulous. We moved an hour and a half up the road to a lovely small site run by a Dutch couple . We had a great birthday dinner at goulash with potatoes and a pudding of pancakes. With a litre of local red wine.

Whilst in Romania do you have any intention of having a look at The Transfergarran Road?

 

[Leith Laddie]

I don’t think so although the very steep and poor quality road we’ve just come up to our campsite in Cluj Napocca might lead you to believe that we will have a go at anything.

 

[Leith Laddie]

Cluj Napoca is well worth a visit for a day or so. A very historic centre with many churches, Romania is big into religion with churches galore.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}