Miles on trip: 16063 miles
Countries: 27 (no more new countries :-()
Days on trip: 170
Our next longer stop was Germany which meant we had to cover about 1700km in a few days. Better get going then. Our plan was to drive for as long as we could during the day, find somewhere close to the route to stay the night and then continue the next day until we found ourselves further up north.
Day 1 was through Albania and into Montenegro. We didn’t cover as many kilometres as you might expect from a full day’s driving which was partly because we enjoyed a late breakfast and also because the bad road conditions and speed limits only allowed us to go 50km/h. We stayed somewhere just outside of Budva in Montenegro, close to the sea but unfortunately without a nice sea view – we were a little rushed finding a cheeky spot to park up for the night as dusk approached. It was fine for another nice home made dinner though.
Day 2 was a good day for crossing borders. First we went from Montenegro to Croatia. Usually Andi dealt with the border officers, but this time the customs hut was on Martin’s side. The border guy asked us where we had come from today to which Martin responded very confidently: “Montenegro”. Given that we were about to leave Montenegro, the border guy could have figured that one out himself. He was after the name of a town really and so Andi quickly said “Budva”. Close enough.
Back in Croatia we drove past Dubrovnik and had the same dilemma as last time about how to cross the Neum corridor, which is part of Bosnia. This time we decided to drive through it. It’s only 20km in Bosnia but technically we didn’t have the right papers. Luckily nobody asked for them and after a slightly nervous 20km we were back in Croatia and the EU.
Croatia has one bit motorway from the south to the north. Not sure how many people take that motorway the entire distance but since we had done the scenic coastal drive and we were just after doing as many km as possible we went on it. It was very empty, which made it more relaxing to drive but just before sunset we pulled into one of the parking / rest places on the side and stayed there the night. Certainly not our most scenic of stops, but we were far enough from the traffic and it was safe. We began to feel the cold for the first time in a while, so we were wrapped up fairly early.
Day 3 we realised we were making great progress up north and decided that we could think about visiting somewhere for a couple of nights. Originally we thought about Bratislava since Andi hadn’t been and we had skipped it on the way south. However, the weather wasn’t supposed to be great and also we weren’t keen on paying the motorway toll for Slovakia. Looking over a map at what other places were nearby we spotted Linz in Austria. Neither of us had been and obviously Austrian towns are usually gems – so we decided why not.
Unfortunately Linz doesn’t have a campsite and this late on, the hotels and airbnbs there are very expensive. However, our cunning plan was to stop just outside of Linz along with all the lorry drivers and then drive into Linz the next morning and only have to pay for one night. This worked out very well. The parking just off the motorway was actually very good. They had facilities, even including a shower, and an information board for Linz and surroundings. This was probably better than some of the camp sites we had stayed at and it was free. Yay.
The next day we headed into Linz, checked into our hotel (luxury) and then went straight to the Christmas market. Christmas market season, one of the best times of the year! Linz has several smaller markets, which are very nice. They weren’t too busy (maybe because it was still quite early in the season and a work day) but our first (and second) mulled wine of the season tasted great. We also checked out the churches and the pedestrian zone in Linz, which was all very cute, then went for a typical Austrian dinner of schnitzel and walked back to the hotel via the river. Overall, a nice relaxing stay and good to have a break after all the driving.
We were now close enough to Germany to be able to make it there in one big day. First stop: Dresden, to see Andi’s parents. We arrived there just after sunset and had a fun evening, catching up on the last few months and relaxing with some lovely wine.
The next day we had a quiet relaxing break in Dresden, planning our visit to see Peter, Andi’s cousin in Berlin. Originally our plan was to drive to his straight from our big drive from Tirana, but we managed to make such great progress that we could stop in Dresden before. And now, being in Dresden and having driven a lot, we thought it might be more relaxing and easier to go to Berlin by bus. So we booked a Flixbus to and from Berlin for the next morning.
It was our first experience with an intercity bus in Germany and it all worked quite well. It was much cheaper than the train, dropped us off at a great place and we got there reasonably quickly. In Berlin we met up with Peter, who gave us a great tour of Berlin. We went up the Kollhoff tower for a fantastic view over the city and then walked around some of the main sights, like the Holocaust memorial, the Bundestag, the museum’s island and the Berliner Dom. We also went to one of Berlin’s Christmas markets for a quick gluwein and a small bite and then for a wander around the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market. This is now Christmas market number 2 this season. We’re doing well. Berlin doesn’t have one main one, but rather lots of little ones, all with their own charm and plenty of treats to try.
The next day Peter had to work, so we would entertain ourselves in town and then meet him for dinner. We weren’t exactly sure what to do. Berlin of course has plenty of options but we have also been a few times already. But then Martin found the Trabi Safari. It’s a 75min sightseeing tour in which you drive one of the iconic east German Trabis. Martin was especially excited after reading all the reviews of Trabis breaking down during the tour, so we signed up for one of these at once.
The tour was with three other groups (three other Trabis) and we managed to pick the giraffe Trabi, i.e. a Trabi painted like a giraffe. When familiarising ourselves with this vehicle it definetly wasn’t the most comfortable one. Basic seating, small, no heating, no fancy displays, … Baloo would definitely win a comfort competition against one of those cars. Driving wise, the pedals were the same but the gear stick was next to the steering wheel. Each of the cars had a walky talky receiver, so the guide could tell us what way to go, where to turn and give us some background on the sights as we passed them. The guide himself was driving in front in an electric car and then we followed in a convoy.
Martin was the first to drive the Trabi. He quickly got used to it and enjoyed driving through Berlin in it. At the half way point we swapped and Andi got to give it a go. She won the competition of going fastest (which still wasn’t very fast), going into third gear the most number of times but unfortunately also the stalling competition. Ooops. Anyway, we had a great drive.
After the tour we visited a few more of the sights that we had passed: part of the wall and checkpoint Charlie, then we bought some gloves and went to another one of Berlin’s Christmas markets until it was time to head to see Peter and enjoy a curry.
Since a couple of other friends, Sarah and Klas, also live in Berlin, we arranged to meet them for brunch the next day. It was really nice seeing both of them and also meeting Freya, their little baby girl, for the first time. We had so much fun chatting and time flew bye until we had to head back to Dresden.
The rest of the week we spent in Dresden with Andi’s parents. It gave us some time to chat with them a bit more, plan the next parts of our trip, go to the Strietzelmarkt (Christmas market number 3), go ice skating, check out the bars in Neustadt and enjoy some delicious wine and food. Andi also got some pampering at the local hair dresser and her parents arranged her some Spanish lessons for the South Marican leg. In Chile, we would later learn it’s a common German thing to do to be so prepared 🙂
We had a great time back in Dresden, enjoyed all the evenings with Andi’s parents and had a lovely pre-Christmas celebration. Now it was time to continue on our way to the UK.
Road Monkeys 