Wednesday, April 12th Week 1

Unbelievable - but true - we are on the way!!

Long but mostly mild winter months are behind us. Instead of skiing and cross-country skiing, I (Heidi) got a new hip. And it's already working perfectly. So we're finally heading south.

After 4 years, our journey takes us once again, or rather once again overland, to Greece. We want to drive through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania before we reach Greece. We look forward to every kilometer.

We have already reached Italy today and we just hope that you will join us again and travel with us! We will report back as usual.

Thursday, April 13

After a rainy night, we start the morning dry, but a few snowflakes whirl through the air every now and then.

On the drive through Vinschgau we come across an enormous number of motorhomes and caravans, all with license plate D.

Shortly after Bolzano the rain starts and stays with us more or less the whole day.

The truck traffic on the Brenner motorway is massive in both directions and heading north we encounter about a thousand motorhomes.

But on the A4 towards Trieste we actually drive for about 38 kilometers!!! past a line of trucks that are constantly at a standstill!! For a few kilometers the truck traffic jam is even two lanes wide!!

The traffic and the weather are tiring and so we don't reach Slovenia today. But it doesn't matter. Shortly before Trieste we head for the Mare Pineta campsite.

Supposedly an ACSI pitch for 23 euros.

Now you can park right at the back of the pine forest for 30 euros. The premium pitches cost 40 euros. And then there are the paradise pitches right at the front with a view of the sea and Trieste for an incredible 60 euros!

We spontaneously say to ourselves - one day we won't be able to take any money with us, and today we won't be eating out because there is no restaurant, but we at least want to go to one of the most beautiful places.

So after this exhausting day, we enjoy the beautiful view, our own kitchen, have a cozy evening and listen to the rain dripping down on our roof.

Conclusion: The weather can definitely get even better!

Friday, April 14

OK, the next rainy night is behind us. Shortly before 10 o'clock we are ready to go and drive on the familiar

Route to Croatia. Something completely new for us - you can simply drive through the Slovenia/Croatia border and you don't even need any kuna anymore.

The weather is very changeable. You think the sun will come out soon and then it starts pouring again!

In Senj we're done for today. Our campervan is right by the sea and we can even take a walk into town with dry feet and come back without a rain shower.

And yay - the sun is coming out and it's getting pleasantly warm.

A huge "off-road 4x4 (approx. 4 meters high!) has fallen in love with the spot to our left. The spots are narrow, but there are still plenty of free ones, so we now have a high and dark wall 2 meters away! No problem for us - we park somewhere else, we are never too lazy for that, and for us the world is right again.

Today we set off again at around 10 a.m. and actually want to do our shopping in Senj. The Konzum has been modernized and there is now also the Plodine right next door. But the parking lot at both shops is full and we can't find a place for our Pfüdi.

So we just chug along the Adriatic highway towards the south. The sun even comes out and we revel in the wonderful views and memories of previous trips through Croatia.

In Starigrad Plakencia we can still do our shopping - comfortably and without the stress of finding a parking space.

We want to go a little further - the small, idyllic Camp Bakija, which we know, is already open according to P4N. But you can never really trust this app and so we are disappointed today too.

The camp doesn’t open until the beginning of May.

So today we land in Pakostane at Camp Nordsee, which fortunately is not very busy at this time of year but at least, no surprise given the name, is already firmly in German hands.

But now in April there are still places available right at the front by the sea.

In June 2019 we passed by here with our bikes (on the way back from Greece) and it was packed.

Yes, actually the whole of Croatia was full.

We had to postpone grilling our chicken legs because of the strong wind, but we still didn't starve. We also enjoyed the Asian-inspired chicken strips.

Meanwhile, it has started raining again and we are now looking forward to a cozy evening in the shade.

Well, the nights are tough at the moment. Torrential rain has also completely dusted off our Pfüdi this night ;-)

Today our journey takes us leisurely further along the main roads and the Makarska Riviera.

And all this without rain with structured skies, some blue gaps and even some sunshine.

In any case, the sunglasses are used briefly.

Thanks to the new Peljesac Bridge, we no longer have to cross Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is no more traffic jam at the border - great!

Our navigation system does not yet know this new bridge. We did not notice this and so the intended

250km is now 310km, which easily means an extra hour of travel time.

And since we are already on the Peljesac peninsula we drive to Orebic to the Camp Lavanda.

The view is beautiful even when the weather is bad and the best thing is that the restaurant is open and turns out to be a pleasantly warm and beautiful place with a varied menu and the food is excellent.

After this long day of traveling, this is a successful conclusion.

Hmmm, one could easily take a break here!?